KR20020080769A - An image signal processing device and a manufacturing method of a display panel being applied the device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An image signal processing device and a method for fabricating a display panel employing the device are provided to carry out the speedy signal processing by using a plurality of controllers by dividing an inner signal processing circuit instead of the inside of a display, thereby reducing the delay or errors generated during signal processing. CONSTITUTION: An image signal processing device includes a signal distributor(20) for distributing image control signal provided from an image signal source into different areas(DS1..DS4) in a single display, and a plurality of signal processing controllers(31-34) mounted in outer blocks of the display areas for dividing the inside of the display into a plurality of signal processing areas to send image signals to different signal processing areas according to screen position values provided from the signal distributor.

Description

An image signal processing device and a manufacturing method of a display panel being applied the device}

The present invention relates to an image signal processing apparatus and a manufacturing method of a display apparatus for applying the processing apparatus, and more particularly, by mounting a plurality of controllers for processing an image signal in one display and simultaneously displaying signals in different signal processing regions. It relates to a technique that enables processing.

There are many devices that show people video. CRT CRTs used for TVs and monitors, LCDs, PDPs, and FED and EL displays, which are widely used as flat panel displays, are used. While these products differ in how they display images on displays, they also have much in common. What makes most displays different is probably how they convert video signals to color. CRT and FED use electrons to represent colors, PDP uses plasma, LCD uses color filters, and EL displays use EL. Although the methods of representing colors are different from each other, they have a common point in terms of using video signals to represent colors. Therefore, in every product, there is a controller for processing video signals, and as the product expressing precise colors becomes more sophisticated, the video signal controller becomes more sophisticated, and wiring is integrated.

Although it is not possible to give an accurate description of the characteristics and signal processing of all types of displays, the signal processing will be described below, focusing on the displays listed above.

CRT CRT is the first product introduced into the market as a product that displays images on the screen. The CRT CRT is a device that displays images by emitting electrons from an electron gun embedded in a vacuum CRT and hitting a color filter located in front of the CRT. In the CRT CRT, electrons are scanned in two ways. The electrons are scanned from the top to the bottom one by one horizontally, and the other from the left to the right by vertically.

CRT CRT is a device that displays natural color images at a low price, but it is the most used product so far, but emits light by emitting electrons and hitting the color filter, so that ultraviolet rays and electromagnetic waves generated outside of visible light are CRT It has the disadvantage of irritating the eyes and body of people watching CRT. In addition, as the size of the CRT CRT increases, the surface of the CRT becomes curved rather than flat, causing the viewer's eyes to have a curved image rather than a flat image. Increasingly, users are getting little by little.

Products such as liquid crystal display (LCD), field emission display (FED), and plasma display panel (PDP) are made to overcome the shortcomings of the CRT CRT and provide viewers with higher quality images. Although the FED shows a flat image, the FED cannot be easily used by the general public because the driving method is similar to the CRT CRT and the manufacturing cost is very high. In the case of the PDP, the image is not clear and high voltage must be used. However, since excessive heat is generated, it is difficult to use. On the other hand, LCD is a product that displays an image through the arrangement of the liquid crystal, when the voltage is applied to the liquid crystal to change the arrangement of the liquid crystal light emitted from the back light (located below the liquid crystal) passes through the liquid crystal to display the image. Liquid crystals include both solid and liquid features, which are usually arranged in a specific direction like solids, but the direction of the array changes when an electrical signal is applied.

Due to the characteristics of the display described above, nowadays, the largest product development market is LCD, and the LCD is based on TFT (thin film transistor) to make the image signal more precise and to produce high definition and high definition image. Adopted and used.

The TFT LCD's video driving method is to send an electrical signal to a transistor without scanning the video signal, thereby causing the transistor to turn on / off the video signal. The most basic unit for expressing a video signal in a TFT LCD is pixels. Pixels consist of transistors, storage capacitors, liquid crystals, and color filters. Thus, in order to produce a very clear image, hundreds of thousands or millions of pixels are required, and for this, the same number of transistors capable of controlling an image signal sent to the pixels is required. For this purpose, the transistor is very small integrated at the thin film level, and the equivalent circuit is shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, the TFT is connected to a controller that controls an electric signal on the upper side and the left side. The controller is attached to the outside of the TFT panel and is connected to a data bus line (horizontal line) and a gate bus line (vertical line) for applying an electrical signal to the TFT.

To apply an electrical signal to a transistor via a data bus line and a gate bus line, the time is divided into small units and voltage is applied at small intervals. As described above, in order to display an image with a CRT, a method of scanning electrons one by one from top to bottom or from left to right should be used. In a similar manner, TFTs send electric signals line by line to charge a capacitor connected to a transistor, and display images by turning on / off through a capacitor. To explain this in more detail, the display resolution is 800 × 600, which is SVGA, that is, the TFT has 800 data bus lines and the gate bus lines are 600 lines. As follows.

2 shows a method of applying a signal. First, if the frequency of the current used is 60Hz, the screen changes 60 times per second, and if the current frequency is 50Hz, the screen changes 50 times per second. 2 shows a case where the frequency of the current is 60 Hz, and the frame time of the screen is 1/60 second. Resolution is needed to know the time width of the voltage passing through the gate. The resolution is expressed as the product of data bus lines and gate bus lines on the screen. If the resolution is SVGA, the number of gate bus lines is 600, so the description will be based on 600 gate bus lines. Since the frame time of the screen is 1/60 second, in order to signal 600 gate bus lines during the frame time, a voltage must be applied for the time divided by the number of gate bus lines. Thus, dividing 1/60 second by 600 again yields approximately 34.7 μsec, during which time a voltage is applied to signal one after another to charge the capacitor connected to the transistor. The capacitor charged by the electric signal remains charged until the next signal. In this case, the signal is turned off when it is in a charged state because the signal does not come on, and on when the capacitor is discharged by the next signal. . In the case of off, the screen is black because the small pixel including the transistor connected to the capacitor is closed, but in the case of on, the screen is black. In addition, the color is displayed through the color filter.

However, there is a limit in reducing the time width for applying a voltage. Therefore, increasing the size of the display naturally increases the resolution and increases the number of data bus lines and gate bus lines present in the display, thereby reducing the voltage application time. If the voltage application time is too small, the transistor may not recognize the applied voltage, and thus the image may not be displayed properly. Due to this problem with TFTs, the size limit of TFT LCDs is about 30 inches. If the TFT LCD is manufactured with a size larger than this, the delay of the signal and the superposition of the signal may prevent it from functioning properly as a display.

Therefore, in order to increase the size of the display and increase the quality of the screen, it is necessary to improve the quality of the image shown through the display by introducing a more improved signal scanning method.

An object of the present invention is to provide a video signal processing apparatus for implementing a high-definition, high-quality display.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a video signal processing apparatus capable of simultaneously sending video signals to a plurality of divided signal processing regions.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a display equipped with a plurality of video signal controllers.

An image signal processing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a signal distributor for distributing image control signals provided from an image signal source to different areas within a display and a plurality of interiors of the display. And a plurality of signal processing controllers provided at the outer side of the display area for simultaneously sending video signals to different signal processing areas according to screen position values provided from the signal splitter. It features.

A detailed feature of the image signal processing apparatus according to the present invention is that each of the plurality of signal processing controllers is provided to the gate bus line so that the images appearing in the assigned display area according to the control signal provided from the signal distributor can appear in a continuous image. A timing controller for adjusting the time interval of the signals to be stored, and a temporary controller for temporarily storing signals sent to the gate bus line and the data bus line according to the output signal of the time controller, and then outputting the signals in line units. It is composed of line memory, which is a memory location.

The manufacturing method of the display panel for applying the image signal processing apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the wiring is separated at the boundary of the display area allocated to each signal processing controller.

A detailed feature of the display panel manufacturing method according to the present invention is that the wiring separation process changes the wiring design of the mask in the photo mask process during thin film deposition so that the wiring portions are separated.

1 is an exemplary view showing a configuration of a general thin film liquid crystal panel,

2 is an exemplary diagram of pulses applied to a thin film liquid crystal panel;

3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a video signal processing apparatus according to the present invention;

4 is a plan view of a divided display generally conceivable;

5 is a detailed view of a thin film liquid crystal panel,

6 is a plan view of a display divided according to the present invention;

7 is a detailed configuration diagram of a display according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, a configuration of an image signal processing apparatus and an operation according to the configuration will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of a video signal processing apparatus according to the present invention. As shown, a signal distributor 20 for distributing image control signals provided from the image signal source via the central processing unit 10 to different areas within one display, and the interior of the display. Is divided into a plurality of signal processing areas DS1, DS2, DS3, and DS4, and the image is simultaneously divided into different signal processing areas DS1, DS2, DS3, and DS4 according to the screen position value provided from the signal splitter 20. FIG. It includes a plurality of signal processing controllers 31, 32, 33, 34 installed outside the display area to send a signal.

The signal processing controllers 31, 32, 33, and 34 are configured to display the signals provided to the gate bus lines so that the images appearing in the display area allocated according to the control signals provided from the signal distributor 20 may appear in a continuous image. Signals sent to gate bus lines and data bus lines according to timing controllers 31T, 32T, 33T, and 34T for adjusting time intervals and output signals of the time controllers 31T, 32T, 33T, and 34T. It is composed of line memories (31M, 32M, 33M, 34M), which is a temporary memory location for temporarily storing and outputting signals in units of lines.

When the CPU 10 sends an image signal, the signal distributor 20 distributes the signal to each area of the divided display, and then each signal is sent to the timing controllers 31T, 32T, 33T, and 34T. The data is stored in the line memories 31M, 32M, 33M, and 34M, which are temporary memory locations for storing signals in lines, and are sent to the display panels DS1, DS2, DS3, and DS4 line by line.

In the case of a display using a single video signal without dividing the video signal, only one time controller and one line memory are used. That is, in order to display an image on the entire display, signals are sent line by line based on the gate bus line. The time controller adjusts the time interval of the signals appearing through the gate bus lines so that the images appearing in the entire display appear as continuous images. The line memory temporarily stores a signal sent to one gate bus line at a time interval and transmits the signal. Therefore, as the size of the display increases, the time interval of the video signal transmitted through the time controller becomes very short, and the information to be stored in the line memory increases, so the performance of the time controller and the line memory should also be improved. Moreover, if the display grows larger than 20 inches, it will not be able to properly signal the display unless the time controller performs significantly better.

Compared to the display of the method of controlling a single video signal described above, the present invention uses a plurality of video signal controllers. Therefore, since there are a plurality of time controllers and a plurality of line memories, there is less risk of overload in signal processing, and signal processing is easy because the signal is distributed and processed.

Currently, the display is divided among the products on the market, and signal processing is also misunderstood to use a plurality of controllers, such as multi vision and multi image display. Multivision combines different displays into one, so there is an interface between the displays. Thus, they do not represent one continuous image and are not generally used and are used for large events such as meetings. Multi-image display is a product that divides the screen that is produced on one display and two or more screens appear on one display. Multiple image displays do not send video signals to different screens at the same time, but send signals to appear on each screen as split screens within the display. Thus, in the case of surveillance cameras, several channels appear in the CRT CRT, but the signal transmission method is the same as that of a general CRT CRT. In addition, the TFT LCD multi-image display uses a method of displaying images by sending signals line by line based on the gate bus line, and a display having a split screen in one display is the same as the conventional method in terms of signal processing. Take the way.

In this regard, the present invention does not merely have a divided screen in a display, but is equipped with a plurality of controllers for processing video signals in one display, and thus enables signal processing simultaneously in different signal processing regions. It has the characteristics to improve the quality of the image.

In more detail, the signal splitter 20 connects different displays, monitors, or TVs such as multi-vision to use a signal as a display for each display, monitor, or TV. It is already used for the purpose of distributing. Although the signal divider used in the present invention is similar to the signal divider used in multivision, it has a feature of distributing signals, but different display areas (DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4) within one display rather than different displays. The signal is distributed by

The principle of distributing signals is basically as follows. The video signal appearing on the display is a digital signal. Thus, the image value according to the position of the screen is transferred together with the screen position value. The signal splitter 20 determines which path to send the image value through the screen position value. The screen position value indicates a position of an image to be displayed on a display. Generally, a computer recognizes a screen as a set of numerous coordinates. At this time, the coordinate value has a value while moving from the upper left to the upper right with respect to the upper left of the display, and this value becomes an X value, and the value possessed while moving from the upper left to the lower left is a Y value. Therefore, the screen position value is composed of X and Y, and has a value starting from 0. For this reason, a larger resolution of X or Y requires a display with higher resolution.

The signal splitter 20 knows information about the divided display, and sends an image signal according to the screen position value of each divided display. In the divided display of FIG. 3, the area of DS1 is 0 to 399 and Y is 0 to 299. Similarly, the DS2 is 400 to 799, Y is 0 to 299, and DS3 is 0. To 399, Y is 300 to 599, DS4 is X to 400 to 799, and Y is 300 to 599. Then, the point where the screen position value is X = 200 Y = 200 should be located in DS1, so it appears in DS1 through 31T and 31M. Similarly, the point where the screen position value is X = 500 Y = 100 should be located in DS2, so it appears in DS2 through 32T and 32M. At this time, the image value is connected to the position value so that when the position value is sent and displayed as a dot on the screen, the image value is displayed with the help of the correct image value.

The process of expressing an image is as follows. If the image at the top left of the display is black (black is R = 0, G = 0, B = 0 at the color number represented by 256 colors), send the video signal to the time controller 31T to send it to the DS1 display window. When the signal is sent, the time controller 31T sends a signal back to the line memory 31M, which causes the display to show black. If the image at the bottom right of the display is white (white is R = 255, G = 255, B = 255 in the color number represented by 256 colors), a signal splitter ( 20) sends a signal to the time controller 34T, and the time controller 34T sends a signal to the line memory 34M so that an image appears in the DS4 region. Thus, the images appearing in the divided display regions DS1, DS2, DS3, and DS4 are transferred from the signal distributor 20 to different paths and processed to form images on each display at the same time.

Considering that the signal is divided by the area of the display, it can be generally considered as shown in FIG. However, in the case of FIG. 4, although the area of the display is divided, there is a space between the display and the display, so that when a large image is to be shown on the display, it cannot be represented as a continuous image. Thus, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of controllers for applying a signal to the TFT are installed on the outer side of the display, and a plurality of data bus lines and gate bus lines connected to the controller are installed, as well as the data bus lines and the gate bus lines as a whole. By placing them outside the display, the images on the display have a continuous shape.

In order to install a plurality of controllers that apply voltage to a transistor, the shape of the display must first be designed. In general, if you want to mount multiple controllers at the same time, you have to be careful because the display is split. To this end, let's first look at the structure of the TFT LCD.

5 shows a part of a TFT LCD panel. In FIG. 5, TF1 is a thin film transistor (TFT), TF2 is a color filter, and TF3 is a storage capacitor, which stores electric signals received through TF1. In addition, TF4 is a form in which the liquid crystal is drawn briefly, and the liquid crystal controls the amount of light reflected from the bottom while the arrangement is changed by the applied voltage. In order to express light in natural colors, three kinds of light are required: red, green, and blue, and three colors must be mixed to express natural colors.

A backlight is positioned under the TFT LCD panel to generate white light. The light generated from the backlight passes through the liquid crystal and then passes through the color filter TF2 to have a natural color. TF2 is a color filter, and there are three types of red, green, and blue, and these three color filters constitute a pixel, which is a basic image element, and a pixel composed of a small piece composed of one color filter and one small TFT. This is called a sub pixel. In the period when TFT technology was not developed, three colors were superimposed on the color filter. However, as the thin film technology developed, the size of the thin film was smaller as the three colors were separated to make the color filter smaller. The three colors generated from the two can be combined into one to produce very fine light.

When the electrical signal is transmitted to the transistor TF1 through the data bus line based on the gate bus line, the transistor transmits the electrical signal to the storage capacitor TF3 so that when the storage capacitor is charged, the next time the signal comes, As the charged charge is discharged, a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal TF4 to change the direction of the liquid crystal and to pass light through the liquid crystal in which the arrangement direction is changed. The light passing through the liquid crystal passes through the color filter to display color.

As shown in FIG. 5, since the data bus line and the gate bus line are each connected to one side of the display, the data bus line and the gate bus line may send signals, so the data bus line and the gate are divided by dividing the outer surface of the display, not a method of dividing the display. By connecting the bus lines, the inside of the display is divided to prevent discontinuous images.

6 is a plan view of a TFT LCD panel used in the present invention. FIG. 6 makes it possible to control signals in different zones at the same time by creating several data bus lines and gate bus lines for applying a video signal without splitting the screen, and creating several zones for controlling the signals. . At this time, a space does not exist between the zone and the zone, but is a form in which the data bus line and the gate bus line previously connected are separated as shown in FIG. 7.

7 shows an image signal transmission unit of a display divided into four parts. Each part independently sends a signal so that the image appears on the display. To this end, the circuit design of the TFT LCD can be made into a new form, but work can be performed using the existing TFT LCD panel.

There are two ways to use the existing TFT LCD panel. First of all, the first method is to keep the basic TFT LCD panel intact, so that the wiring is separated at the boundary so that the wiring at the boundary (DCV and DCH in FIG. 7) is not connected. have. With this method, the order and method of the process are not changed, and the internal shape of the mask used for the photolithography is only slightly changed to renew the shape design of the wiring. In this case, the wiring design is not a completely different form, but only a portion in which the wiring is not connected at the boundary (DCV and DCH in FIG. 7) is discontinuous.

Another way to use TFT LCD panels is to add processes to existing processes. The additional process requires the process of breaking the wiring of the DCV and DCH, which is the boundary of the display. Methods that can be used for this may include etching or cutting by a laser beam, among which an etching method is easy.

The wiring that makes up the data bus line and the gate bus line is made of metal such as aluminum or copper. At this time, there is a method of making a cut point such as DCV that distinguishes the different display areas, and a method of making a cut point such as DCV by directly corroding the metal. In addition to the direct corrosion of wires, the oxidation of a metal wire leads to the oxide being an insulator. At this time, the region of the oxide can be made large so that it becomes a non-conducting region so that the signal cannot be transmitted. However, in order to reduce noise or errors occurring during signal processing and to clarify the signal processing, the oxide region can be removed by corroding. Therefore, the connection part of a circuit can be cut | disconnected by corroding an insulator oxide with an acidic substance or an alkaline substance.

The cutting point creates a division of the controller-controlled area. Z1 is an area where an electric signal is applied by the data bus line D1 and a gate bus line G1, and G2 is an area where an electric signal is applied by the data bus line D2 and the gate bus line G2. Similarly, Z3 is an area where an electric signal is applied by the data bus line D3 and a gate bus line G3, and Z4 is an area where an electric signal is applied by the data bus line D4 and the gate bus line G4.

If you want to display the image on the display of zone Z1 via the gate bus line GL1, you can signal from the data bus lines DL1 to DL3. The signal sent through GL1 is delivered up to the point where it meets DL3, and the DL4 part is cut off so that no signal is transmitted. Since signal processing is performed in four zones at the same time, no delay occurs in different zones during signal processing. In addition, since image signals appear in four zones at the same time, it can help to solve the nonuniformity of signal processing according to the size generated in the conventional TFT LCD display, and can help to increase the size of the TFT LCD.

As mentioned above, most displays differ from each other in terms of color, but have similar characteristics in the method of processing video signals. Therefore, if the present invention is applied and used, it can be applied to all types of displays that can be used based on TFT as well as the TFT LCD panel mentioned and described mainly in the present invention, It can be applied to FED and PDP.

Therefore, the quality of the display can be improved by dividing the signal processing area of the panel of the EL (electro luminance) display, which is difficult to increase in size due to the signal processing delay, and simultaneously sending image signals to different signal processing areas. Also, if the PDP or FED panel divides the signal processing area and sends the video signal to different signal processing areas at the same time, the image quality can be improved and the video quality such as delay, noise and overload generated during signal processing can be improved. The ability to eliminate dropping elements can improve overall display performance.

As described above, the present invention installs a plurality of controllers necessary for signal processing, and also positions the controller on the outside of the display, thereby dividing only the internal signal processing circuit without dividing the inside of the display. Signal processing can be performed, which can reduce elements such as delays and errors that occur during signal processing, thereby making it possible to produce fast image speeds and high quality displays. In addition, when the size of the display is large, such as TFT LCD, screen delay caused by fast signal processing speed can be avoided, thereby increasing the size of the display such as TFT LCD, EL or FED more than twice the size of the existing size. This enables the development of display related industries.

Claims (15)

A signal distributor for distributing image control signals provided from a video signal source to different areas within a display; And a plurality of signal processing controllers installed on the outside of the display area for dividing the inside of the display into a plurality of signal processing areas and simultaneously sending image signals to different signal processing areas according to the screen position values provided from the signal splitter. Image signal processing apparatus, characterized in that made. The method of claim 1; The display, Image signal processing apparatus, characterized in that the use based on the thin film transistor. The method of claim 1; The plurality of signal processing controllers, respectively A timing controller that adjusts a time interval of signals provided to the gate bus lines so that an image appearing in an assigned display area according to a control signal provided from the signal splitter appears in a continuous image; An image comprising a line memory, which is a temporary memory location for temporarily storing a signal sent to a gate bus line and a data bus line according to an output signal of the time controller, and then outputting the signal in units of lines. Signal processing device. The method of claim 3; The display, Image signal processing apparatus, characterized in that the use based on the thin film transistor. The method of claim 4; The display, An image signal processing apparatus, characterized in that the liquid crystal display (Liquid Crystal Display). The method of claim 1; The display, It is an EL (Electro Luminance) display device. The method of claim 1; The display, An image signal processing apparatus, characterized in that the field emission display (FED). The method of claim 1; The display, Image signal processing device characterized in that the plasma display panel (PDP). A method of manufacturing a display panel for applying the video signal processing apparatus according to claim 1; A method of manufacturing a display panel, characterized in that the wiring is separated at the boundary of the display area assigned to each signal processing controller. The method of claim 9; A method of manufacturing a display panel comprising performing a process of changing a wiring design of a mask so that a wiring part is separated in a photo mask process. A method of manufacturing a display panel for applying the video signal processing apparatus according to claim 1; And removing the wiring portion of the boundary portion of the display area assigned to each signal processing controller. 12. The method of claim 11; The wire removal step, A method of manufacturing a display panel, characterized in that by removing the wiring portions adjacent to different signal processing regions by etching. 12. The method of claim 11; The wire removal step, A method of manufacturing a display panel comprising melting and removing wiring portions adjacent to different signal processing regions using a laser. 12. The method of claim 11; The wire removal step, A method of manufacturing a display panel comprising an oxidation process of oxidizing wiring portions adjacent to different signal processing regions to form an oxide. The method of claim 14; And etching the oxide region generated by the oxidation process.