KR19990085967A - Plasma display panel driving method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of driving a plasma display panel configured to eliminate unnecessary discharges.

The driving method of the plasma display panel according to the present invention comprises the steps of: supplying a first forced erase pulse for suppressing unnecessary discharge in an address section of every subfield, and a method for suppressing unnecessary discharge in a sustain section of every subfield. Supplying a forced erase pulse.

Accordingly, the driving method of the plasma display panel improves the contrast of the plasma display panel by eliminating unnecessary discharge of the non-display area.

Description

Method of Driving Plasma Display Panel and Apparatus Thereof

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to flat panel displays, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for driving a plasma display panel configured to eliminate unnecessary discharges.

Recently, a liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as "LCD"), a field emission display (hereinafter referred to as "FED") and a plasma display panel (Plasm)

a Display Panel; Flat display devices such as " PDP " are being actively developed. Among them, PDP has a simple structure, easy to manufacture, high brightness and high luminous efficiency, a memory function and a wide viewing angle of 160 ° or more. In addition, it has the advantage of realizing a large screen of 40 inches or more. The PDP obtains a discharge through voltage control applied between vertical and horizontal electrodes of a cell constituting a pixel, and the amount of light discharged is controlled by changing the length of the discharge time in the cell. In other words, the PDP includes a write pulse for inputting a digital image signal to the vertical and horizontal electrodes of each cell, a scan pulse for scanning, a sustain pulse for maintaining a discharge, and a discharge. By applying an erase pulse for stopping the discharge of the cells, the cells are driven in a matrix form. Here, the step brightness required for image display, that is, gray scale, implements different lengths of time for discharging individual cells within a time when a screen of one frame is displayed (16.67㎳ for an NTSC TV signal). I express it. Contrast, which represents the difference in contrast, is determined by the brightness and luminance of the background, such as lighting. In order to increase the contrast, not only the background needs to be darkened, but also the brightness needs to be increased. Such PDPs are generally classified into AC and DC types according to driving methods. Among the AC PDP driving methods, an ADS (Addressing Display Separated) driving method is a method of dividing and driving one frame into a plurality of subfields according to the gray scale to be implemented.

Referring to FIG. 1, a plasma display panel according to the related art includes an address electrode A disposed in a vertical direction on a glass substrate 2 and a first sustain electrode Y disposed in a horizontal direction on a glass substrate 2. And a second sustain electrode Z arranged to alternate with the first sustain electrode Y. In the PDP, discharge is generated in a discharge cell formed by the address electrode A and the first and second sustain electrodes Y and Z arranged to intersect the address electrode A. FIG. At this time, the area formed by the main discharge cells becomes the display area 6 on the glass substrate 2. That is, the display area 6 is formed by the first and second sustain electrodes disposed to intersect the address electrode A. FIG. In addition, a discharge space is formed in each cell by applying and sealing the sealant 4 between the glass substrates 2. At this time, when the glass substrate 2 is sealed, discharge at the periphery of the display area 6 becomes unstable due to the gas discharge of the sealant 4, so that the non-display area 8 having a small size is formed outside the display area 6. ) Will be sealed. On the other hand, the surface discharge PDP has Y and Z electrodes which cause a discharge in the discharge cell, and an address electrode A which selects a specific cell by addressing together with the Y electrode. The Y and Z electrodes are AC driven using wall charge. It is located inside the discharge space by a dielectric for forming a discharge holding electrode pair for each display line. During surface discharge, the wall charge is selectively accumulated in the cell to emit light, and then a sustain voltage is applied to the Y and Z electrodes to control the number of times of the surface discharge per unit time causing the surface discharge to realize the gray level. However, since this surface discharge is a discharge generated between the Y and Z electrodes, an unwanted discharge (hereinafter referred to as "discharge discharge") occurs in the non-display area, which causes the contrast at both edges of the display area to decrease. As described above, in order to prevent the lowering of the contrast caused by the unnecessary discharge, a method of removing the unnecessary discharge by forming a thick dielectric layer and a method of removing the unnecessary discharge by forming a wide gap of the display electrode has been proposed. In the case of forming a thicker, there is a problem that the number of manufacturing processes increases, and in the case of forming a wider gap of the display electrode, a problem in that the unnecessary discharge is not sufficiently removed simply by forming a wider gap of the display electrode.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for driving a plasma display panel configured to eliminate unnecessary discharges.

1 is a plan view showing a configuration of a plasma display panel according to the prior art.

2 is a plan view showing the configuration of a plasma display panel according to the present invention;

3 is a waveform diagram illustrating a method of driving a plasma display panel according to the present invention;

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

2: glass substrate 4: sealing material

6,12 display area 8,14 non-display area

16: first erase electrode plate 18: second erase electrode plate

In order to achieve the above object, a method of driving a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes supplying a first forced erase pulse for removing an unnecessary discharge in an address period of every subfield, and an unnecessary discharge in a sustain period of every subfield. Supplying a second forced erasing pulse to remove.

In addition, the driving apparatus of the plasma display panel according to the present invention includes an erasing electrode plate formed on the entire surface of the non-display area to shield light.

Other objects and features of the present invention other than the above object will become apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

With reference to Figures 2 to 3 will be described a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, an apparatus for driving a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes an address electrode A disposed in a vertical direction on a rear glass substrate and a first sustain electrode Y disposed in a horizontal direction on a front glass substrate. And a second sustain electrode Z disposed alternately with the first sustain electrode Y, and first and second erase electrode plates disposed in the vertical and horizontal directions in the non-display area 14 of the front glass substrate. 16,18). The display area 12 is formed at the intersection of the address electrode A and the first and second sustain electrodes X and Y. The erasing electrode plates 26 and 28 are disposed vertically or horizontally on the non-display area 14 to surround the entire surface of the non-display area 12 to shield the light generated by the unnecessary discharge of the non-display area 14. Let's go. That is, the first erasing electrode plate is formed in each of the non-display areas positioned above and below the display area 12, and the second erasing electrode plate is formed in each of the non-display areas located at the left and right sides of the display area 12. Lose. In addition, the first and second erase electrode plates 16 and 18 use a metal material, and a forced erase pulse is applied to the erase electrode plate. Meanwhile, referring to the PDP driving method, an address section in each subfield is a section for accumulating wall charges such that the next sustain discharge is possible for the pixels to be lit in accordance with the address discharge. To this end, a relatively high front writing voltage pulse is applied between the X and Y sustain electrodes of the PDP to form wall charges in the dielectric layer inside the cell. Subsequently, an erase pulse is applied to the Y sustain electrode to neutralize most wall charges. Then, by causing the address discharge by the image data pulse applied to the address electrode and the scan pulse applied to the Y sustain electrode, wall charges are formed inside the cell to be lit. At this time, a forced erase pulse is applied to the first erase electrode plate 16 to remove unnecessary discharge of the non-display area. In each subfield, a sustain period is a section for generating sustain discharge only for a cell in which an address discharge occurs by raising a sustain pulse under the wall charge. To this end, a sustain voltage (Vs) pulse applied between the Y and Z sustain electrodes of the PDP is added to the wall charges formed inside the lit cell in the address period to generate sustain discharge. In this case, a forced erase pulse having high logic is applied to the second erase electrode plate 18 to remove unnecessary discharge of the non-display area.

As described above, the first and second erase electrode plates are formed in the horizontal and vertical directions of the non-display area to shield the light of the non-display area, and the forced erase pulses are applied to the first and second erase electrode plates. By applying unnecessary discharge in the non-display area to improve the contrast.

As described above, the plasma display panel driving method according to the present invention has an advantage of improving contrast by eliminating unnecessary discharge in the non-display area by applying a forced erase pulse to the first and second erase electrode plates.

In addition, the driving apparatus of the plasma display panel according to the present invention has an advantage of improving contrast because the first and second erasing electrode plates are formed in the horizontal and vertical directions of the non-display area to shield the light of the non-display area. .

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (5)

A method of driving a plasma display panel in a frame unit including a plurality of subfields including an address section for accumulating wall charges in a discharge cell to be lit and a sustain section for determining the brightness of the lit discharge cell. , Supplying a first forced erase pulse to remove unnecessary discharge in an address section of every subfield; And supplying a second forced erasing pulse to remove unwanted discharge in each sustain period of each subfield. The method of claim 1, And the second forced erase pulse has a high logic during the sustain period. A plasma display panel having a display area where an image is displayed and a non-display area where an image is not displayed. And an erasing electrode plate formed on the front surface of the non-display area to shield the light. The method of claim 3, wherein The erasing electrode plate, First erasing electrode plates respectively formed on non-display areas positioned above and below the display area; And a second erase electrode plate formed on each of the non-display areas positioned at left and right portions of the display area. The method of claim 3, wherein And a material of the erasing electrode plate is made of metal.