KR20010073680A - Method for Driving Plasma Display Panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method of driving a plasma display panel is provided which supplies an auxiliary pulse synchronized with a discharge sustain pulse to electrodes opposite to sustain electrodes during a discharge sustain period to generate plane discharge and opposite discharge, improving brightness without reducing an address period. CONSTITUTION: A method of driving a plasma display panel includes an address discharge step of selecting a discharge cell according to a video data signal, and a discharge sustain step of sustaining discharge in the selected discharge cell for a predetermined period. Plane discharge and opposite discharge are generated in the discharge sustain step. The plane discharge is generated by a sustain pulse alternately applied to a pair of sustain electrodes formed on a substrate in parallel, and the opposite discharge is created by an auxiliary pulse synchronized with the sustain pulse and supplied to electrodes formed on another substrate, opposite to the pair of sustain electrodes. The auxiliary pulse is provided to an address electrode to which the video data signal is applied.

Description

Method for Driving Plasma Display Panel {Method for Driving Plasma Display Panel}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of driving a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a method of driving a plasma display panel capable of improving the brightness of a screen by driving at a low voltage.

Recently, a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP"), which is easy to manufacture a large panel, has attracted attention as a flat panel display device. As a PDP, a three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP having three electrodes and driven by an alternating voltage is typical.

Referring to FIG. 1, a discharge cell of a three-electrode alternating surface discharge type PDP is formed on a scan / hold electrode 12Y and a common sustain electrode 12Z formed on an upper substrate 10, and a lower substrate 18. An address electrode 20X is provided. The upper dielectric layer 14 and the passivation layer 16 are stacked on the upper substrate 10 having the scan / suspension electrode 12Y and the common sustain electrode 12Z side by side. Wall charges generated during plasma discharge are accumulated in the upper dielectric layer 14. The protective layer 16 prevents damage to the upper dielectric layer 14 due to sputtering generated during plasma discharge, and increases emission efficiency of secondary electrons. As the protective film 16, magnesium oxide (MgO) is usually used. The lower dielectric layer 22 and the partition wall 24 are formed on the lower substrate 18 on which the address electrode 20X is formed, and the phosphor 26 is coated on the surfaces of the lower dielectric layer 22 and the partition wall 24. The address electrode 20X is formed in the direction crossing the scan / sustain electrode 12Y and the common sustain electrode 12Z. The partition wall 24 is formed in parallel with the address electrode 20 to prevent the ultraviolet rays and the visible light generated by the discharge from leaking to the adjacent discharge cells. The phosphor 26 is excited by ultraviolet rays generated during plasma discharge to generate visible light of any one of red, green, and blue. Inert gas for gas discharge is injected into the discharge space provided between the upper and lower plates and the partition wall.

These discharge cells are arranged in the form of a matrix as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the discharge cell 1 is provided at the intersection of the scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym, the common sustain electrode line Z, and the address electrode lines X1 to Xn. The scan / sustain electrode lines Y1 to Ym are sequentially driven, and the common sustain electrode line Z is commonly driven. The address electrode lines X1 to Xn are driven by being divided into odd-numbered lines and even-numbered lines.

The three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP is driven by being divided into a plurality of subfields, and gray scale display is performed by emitting light a number of times proportional to the weight of video data in each subfield period. For example, when an image is displayed in 256 gray scales using 8-bit video data, one frame display period (for example, 1/60 second = about 16.7 msec) in each discharge cell 1 is divided into eight subfields. Will be divided into Each subfield is further divided into a reset period, an address period, and a sustain period, and 1: 2: 4: 8:... The weight is given at the ratio of 128. Here, the reset period is a period for initializing the discharge cells, the address period is a period during which selective address discharge occurs according to the logic value of the video data, and the sustain period is such that discharge is maintained in the discharge cells in which the address discharge has occurred. It is a period. The reset period and the address period are equally assigned to each subfield period. However, since the discharge sustain period is reduced by the time occupied by the reset period and the address period which do not contribute to the luminance, the conventional PDP has a disadvantage of low luminance. For example, in the case of single scan of 480 scan lines, an address period required in one frame requires one line scan time (i.e., width of scan pulse) x 480 scan lines x 8 subfields. . When using a scanning pulse with a pulse width of about 3μs for sure address discharge, a total of 11.52ms is required for the address period and 13ms or more for including the reset period, which can be allocated to the discharge sustain period within one frame. The time is 16.67ms-13ms absolutely short, there is a problem that the brightness is low. Furthermore, when the conventional PDP driving method is used for a high-resolution PDP in which the number of scanning lines is increased, the discharge sustaining period is further insufficient due to the increase in the address period, thereby making the display itself impossible. In this case, a method of reducing the width of the scanning pulse may be considered to shorten the address period. However, when the width of the scanning pulse is reduced to 2.5 μs or less, there is a possibility that erroneous discharge may occur due to the discharge delay phenomenon inherent to PDP.

In order to solve this problem of PDP, methods for reducing the address period by fast addressing have been proposed. Among the conventional high speed addressing methods, there is a method of dividing the panel up and down and simultaneously driving the address period by 1/2. However, in this screen division driving method, the scan / suspension electrode lines and the address electrode lines must be divided up and down to drive, so that the manufacturing cost of the PDP is increased by doubling the number of driving driver ICs.

On the other hand, the PDP requires adjustment of the white balance. This is because luminous efficiency of R, G and B discharge cells is different due to different discharge voltages and emission characteristics of phosphors of red (hereinafter referred to as R), green (hereinafter referred to as G) and blue (hereinafter referred to as B). This is because they are different. In particular, the light emission efficiency of the R discharge cells is higher than that of the G and B discharge cells, and the light emission efficiency of the G discharge cells is higher than that of the B discharge cells. Accordingly, in the related art, the white balance is adjusted by adjusting the adjustment point to B having the lowest luminous efficiency to achieve color balance as a whole, but in this case, the overall luminance of the PDP is lowered.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of driving a PDP that can improve the brightness of a screen using auxiliary discharge.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of driving a PDP capable of adjusting white balance without degrading luminance by using an auxiliary discharge.

1 is a perspective view showing a discharge cell structure of a conventional three-electrode AC surface discharge plasma display panel.

FIG. 2 is an overall electrode arrangement diagram of a plasma display panel including the discharge cells shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a planar configuration diagram of a plasma display panel applied to a drive control method of the present invention.

4 is a driving waveform diagram of a method of driving a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a driving waveform diagram of a method of driving a plasma display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a driving waveform diagram of a method of driving a plasma display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a driving waveform diagram of a driving control method for a plasma display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention;

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10: upper substrate 12Y: scanning / holding electrode

12Z: common sustain electrode 14: upper dielectric layer

16: protective film 18: lower substrate

20X: address electrode 22: lower dielectric layer

24: partition 26: phosphor

1, 30: discharge cell

In order to achieve the above objects, the PDP driving method according to the present invention is characterized in that the surface discharge and the opposite discharge occurs in the discharge maintenance step.

Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above object will be apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

5 illustrates an electrode arrangement structure of a PDP applied to a PDP driving method according to the present invention. The PDP of FIG. 5 includes address electrode lines X1 to Xn and auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An formed in a column direction, and scan / hold electrode lines Y1 to Ym formed in a row direction. And common holding electrode lines Z1 to Zm are formed in a row direction of the panel. The discharge cells 30 are positioned at the intersections of the data electrode lines X1 to Xn, the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An, the scan / hold electrode lines Y1 to Ym, and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm. Done. Here, the address electrode lines X1 to Xn and the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An are formed side by side on the lower substrate, and the scan / hold electrode lines Y1 to Ym and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm are on the upper side. It is formed side by side on the substrate. The address electrode lines X1 to Xn are driven at the top of the panel and the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An are driven at the bottom of the panel. The address electrode lines X1 to Xn are divided into address electrode lines for applying R, G, and B color signals. For example, the 3i + 1th address electrode lines X3i + 1 (R) supply an R color signal, and the 3i + 2th address electrode lines X3i + 2 (G) supply a G color signal, The 3i + 3 th address electrode lines X3i + 3 (B) supply the B color signal.

4 illustrates a driving waveform supplied to each electrode line of the PDP shown in FIG. 3 in the driving method of the PDP according to the embodiment of the present invention. First, the discharge cells are initialized in the lighting discharge in the reset period, not shown, so that uniform wall charges remain. In the address period, the scan pulse SP is sequentially applied to the scan / suspension electrode lines Y1 to Ym, and the data pulse DP is applied to the address electrode lines X1 to Xn in synchronization with the scan pulse SP. ) To cause selective address discharge. Next, in the sustain period, the sustain pulse SUSP is alternately applied to the scan / hold electrode lines Y1 to Ym and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm, and the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An The sustain pulse is generated in the discharge cells selected by the address discharge by applying the auxiliary pulse AP synchronized with the sustain pulse Sup. Accordingly, in the discharge sustain period, surface discharge occurs between the scan / hold electrode lines Y1 to Ym and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm, and the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An are scanned / maintained electrode lines ( The opposite discharge is generated alternately with Y1 to Ym) and the common holding electrode lines Z1 to Zm, so that the amount of visible light emission is increased and luminance is increased. Here, the light is applied to the scanning / holding electrode lines Y1 to Ym. The first sustain pulse SUSP1 is supplied to the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An so as to have a predetermined time difference t1 with the first auxiliary pulse AP1 applied to the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An to generate a discharge before the start of the sustain discharge. Allow charged particles to be produced. The charged particles generated in this way help the subsequent maintenance discharge so that the maintenance discharge can be easily generated.

This PDP driving method can be easily applied to the PDP of the three-electrode AC surface discharge structure shown in FIG. In other words, even when the auxiliary pulses AP supplied to the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An are discharged to the address electrodes X1 to Xn as shown in FIG. In the sustain discharge period, surface discharge and counter discharge occur simultaneously, thereby increasing the luminance.

In addition, when the number of auxiliary pulses (AP) supplied to the auxiliary electrode lines (A1 to An) separated by R, G, and B are differently adjusted, the white balance can be easily adjusted and the brightness can be increased. Will be. Referring to FIG. 6, a driving waveform for explaining a PDP driving method according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown. In the PDP shown in FIG. 3, the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An also correspond to R, G, and B corresponding to the address electrode lines X1 to Xn divided into R, G, and B to determine the number of auxiliary pulses. Different supplies. For example, the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An may include 3i + 1th auxiliary electrode lines A3i + 1 (R) corresponding to R pixels, and 3i + 2th auxiliary electrode corresponding to G pixels. The auxiliary pulses are supplied to the lines A3i + 2 (G) and the 3i + 3rd auxiliary electrode lines A3i + 3 (B) corresponding to the B pixels. In FIG. 6, the reset period (not shown) and the address period occur in the same manner as in FIG. 4. In the discharge sustain period, a sustain pulse SSUS is alternately applied to the scan / suspension electrode lines Y1 to Ym and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm, and to the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An. The sustain discharge is generated in the discharge cells selected by the address discharge by applying the auxiliary pulse AP synchronized with the sustain pulse SSUS. In this case, the white balance can be adjusted by varying the number of auxiliary pulses supplied to the auxiliary electrode lines corresponding to the R, G, and B cells having different luminous efficiency. For example, relatively many auxiliary pulses AP are applied to 3i + 3rd auxiliary electrode lines A3i + 3 (B) corresponding to B pixels having relatively low luminous efficiency, and light emission higher than B Smaller auxiliary pulses AP are applied to the 3i + 2th auxiliary electrode lines A3i + 2 (G) corresponding to the G pixels having the efficiency, and are applied to the R pixels having higher luminous efficiency than G. Smaller auxiliary pulses AP are applied to the corresponding 3i + 1th auxiliary electrode lines A3i + 1 (R). As such, in the cells in which the auxiliary pulses AP are supplied to the auxiliary electrode lines, surface discharge occurs between the scan / hold electrode lines Y1 to Ym and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm, and the auxiliary electrode line A1. To An are alternately generated with the scan / hold electrode lines Y1 to Ym and the common sustain electrode lines Z1 to Zm, thereby increasing luminance as much as the auxiliary pulses AP are supplied. . Accordingly, the white balance can be adjusted by correcting the difference in luminous efficiency of the R, G, and B cells having a relationship of R> G> B. In contrast, the white balance may be adjusted by supplying auxiliary pulses only to auxiliary electrode lines corresponding to cells having relatively low luminous efficiency or cells requiring color correction. For example, the white balance may be adjusted by applying the auxiliary pulses AP only to the 3i + 3rd auxiliary electrode lines A3i + 3 (B) corresponding to the B cells. As described above, in the present invention, the luminance is increased as a result of adjusting the luminous efficiency of the other G and B cells by adjusting the white balance adjustment point to the R cell having the highest luminous efficiency. Here, the first sustain pulse SUSP1 applied to the scan / suspension electrode lines Y1 to Ym is a predetermined time difference t1 from the first auxiliary pulse AP1 applied to the auxiliary electrode lines A1 to An. It is supplied so as to generate a discharge before the start of the sustain discharge, so that sufficient charged particles are generated. The charged particles generated in this way help the subsequent maintenance discharge so that the maintenance discharge can be easily generated.

This white balance adjustment method can be easily applied to the PDP of the three-electrode AC surface discharge structure shown in FIG. Specifically, the auxiliary pulses AP supplied to the R, G, and B auxiliary electrode lines A3i + 1 (R), A3i + 2 (G), and A3i + 3 (B) in different numbers are shown in FIG. 7. As described above, by supplying to the R, G, and B address electrode lines X3i + 1 (R), X3i + 2 (G), and X3i + 3 (B), the white balance can be adjusted in the same manner as above. It is possible to increase the luminance.

As described above, the PDP driving method according to the present invention further shortens the address period by further supplying an auxiliary pulse synchronized with the discharge sustain pulse to the electrode facing the sustain electrodes in the discharge sustain period, thereby causing surface discharge and counter discharge. It is possible to improve the brightness without. In addition, in the PDP driving method according to the present invention, the white balance can be adjusted by separately supplying the number of auxiliary pulses synchronized with the discharge sustaining pulses to R, G, and B cells to the electrodes facing the sustain electrodes in the discharge sustaining period. . In particular, in the PDP driving method according to the present invention, the luminance is increased as a result of adjusting the luminous efficiency of other G and B cells by adjusting an adjustment point to an R cell having a high luminous efficiency.

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 (8)

An address discharge step of selecting a discharge cell in accordance with a video data signal, and a discharge holding step of maintaining the discharge in the selected discharge cell for a predetermined period, the method of driving a plasma display panel comprising: And a surface discharge and a counter discharge occur in the discharge holding step. The method of claim 1, The surface discharge is generated by a sustain pulse alternately supplied to a pair of sustain electrodes formed side by side on the same substrate, And wherein the opposite discharge is generated by an auxiliary pulse supplied to the electrode formed opposite to the sustain electrode pair on another substrate in synchronization with the sustain pulse. The method of claim 2, And the auxiliary pulse is supplied to an address electrode to which the video data signal is applied. The method of claim 3, wherein And controlling the number of the auxiliary pulses according to the light output intensity of the red, green, and blue cells, and supplying the auxiliary pulses to address electrodes corresponding to the red, green, and blue cells, respectively. The method of claim 3, wherein And the auxiliary pulse is supplied only to an address electrode corresponding to a cell having a small light output intensity. The method of claim 2, And the auxiliary pulses are supplied to an auxiliary electrode formed in parallel with an address electrode to which the video data signal is applied. The method of claim 6, And controlling the number of the auxiliary pulses according to the light output intensity of the red, green, and blue cells, and supplying the auxiliary pulses to the auxiliary electrodes corresponding to the red, green, and blue cells, respectively. The method of claim 6, And the auxiliary pulse is supplied only to an auxiliary electrode corresponding to a cell having a small light output intensity.