KR20050100208A - Apparatus and method of driving plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a driving device of a plasma display panel to minimize power consumption when the resolution is variable.

An apparatus for driving a plasma display panel of the present invention includes a panel, an input unit for generating a control signal when a resolution change signal for changing the resolution of the panel is input, and at least i (i is two or more natural numbers) formed in the panel. A plurality of scan drivers connected to the scan electrodes for supplying the drive waveform, a sustain driver for supplying the drive waveform to the sustain electrodes formed on the panel, and a timing controller for controlling the scan drivers and the sustain driver. The timing controller controls the sustain pulse not to be supplied from at least one of the plurality of scan drivers when the control signal is input from the input unit.

Description

Driving apparatus and driving method of plasma display panel {Apparatus and Method of Driving Plasma Display Panel}

The present invention relates to a driving apparatus and a driving method of the plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a driving apparatus and a driving method of the plasma display panel to minimize the power consumption when the resolution is variable.

Plasma Display Panels (hereinafter referred to as "PDPs") are characterized by emitting phosphors by 147 nm ultraviolet rays generated during discharge of an inert mixed gas such as He + Xe, Ne + Xe or He + Xe + Ne. An image containing graphics is displayed. Such a PDP is not only thin and easy to enlarge, but also greatly improved in quality due to recent technology development. In particular, the three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP has advantages of low voltage driving and long life because wall charges are accumulated on the surface during discharge and protect the electrodes from sputtering caused by the discharge.

Referring to FIG. 1, a discharge cell of a three-electrode AC surface discharge type PDP includes a scan electrode Y and a sustain electrode Z formed on the upper substrate 10, and an address electrode formed on the lower substrate 18. X). Each of the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode Z has a line width smaller than the line widths of the transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z and the transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z and is formed at one edge of the transparent electrode 13Y, 13Z).

The transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z are usually formed on the upper substrate 10 by indium tin oxide (ITO). The metal bus electrodes 13Y and 13Z are usually formed of metals such as chromium (Cr) and formed on the transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z to reduce voltage drop caused by the transparent electrodes 12Y and 12Z having high resistance. The upper dielectric layer 14 and the passivation layer 16 are stacked on the upper substrate 10 having the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode Z side by side. In the upper dielectric layer 14, wall charges generated during plasma discharge are accumulated. 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 X is formed, and the phosphor layer 26 is coated on the surfaces of the lower dielectric layer 22 and the partition wall 24. The address electrode X is formed in the direction crossing the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode Z. The partition wall 24 is formed in parallel with the address electrode X to prevent ultraviolet rays and visible light generated by the discharge from leaking to the adjacent discharge cells. The phosphor layer 26 is excited by ultraviolet rays generated during plasma discharge to generate visible light of any one of red, green, and blue. Inert mixed gas is injected into the discharge space provided between the upper and lower substrates 10 and 18 and the partition wall 24.

The PDP is time-divisionally driven by dividing one frame into several subfields having different number of emission times in order to implement grayscale of an image. Each subfield is divided into an initialization period for initializing the full screen, an address period for selecting a scan line and selecting a cell in the selected scan line, and a sustain period for implementing gray levels according to the number of discharges.

Here, the initialization period is divided into a setup period in which the rising ramp waveform is supplied and a set down period in which the falling lamp waveform is supplied. For example, when the image is to be displayed with 256 gray levels, as shown in FIG. 2, the frame period (16.67 ms) corresponding to 1/60 second is divided into eight subfields SF1 to SF8. As described above, each of the eight subfields SF1 to SF8 is divided into an initialization period, an address period, and a sustain period. The initialization period and the address period of each subfield are the same for each subfield, while the sustain period is increased at a rate of 2 ⁿ (n = 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7) in each subfield. .

3 is a view showing a driving apparatus of a conventional plasma display panel.

Referring to FIG. 3, a conventional PDP driving apparatus includes an address driver 32 for driving address electrodes X1 to Xm provided in the panel 30, and scan electrodes Y1 to X1 provided in the panel 30. A scan driver 34 for driving Yn and a sustain driver 36 for driving the sustain electrodes Z1 to Zn provided in the panel 30 are provided.

The scan driver 34 supplies reset pulses, scan pulses, and sustain pulses to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn. Here, the reset pulse and the sustain pulse are commonly supplied to all the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn, and the scan pulses are sequentially supplied to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn.

The address driver 32 supplies data pulses corresponding to the image data supplied from the outside to the address electrodes X1 to Xm. Here, the data pulses are supplied to be synchronized with the scan pulses sequentially supplied to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn.

The sustain driver 36 supplies the positive voltage and the sustain pulse to the sustain electrodes Z1 to Zn. Here, the positive voltage and the sustain pulse are commonly supplied to all the sustain electrodes Z1 to Zn.

The driving waveforms supplied from the driving units 32, 34, and 36 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4. First, the rising ramp waveform Ramp-up is applied to all the scan electrodes Y during the setup period during the initialization period. It is applied at the same time. This rising ramp waveform (Ramp-up) causes a slight discharge in the cells of the full screen to generate wall charges in the cells. In the set-down period, after the rising ramp waveform Ramp-up is supplied, the falling ramp waveform Ramp-down falling at the positive voltage lower than the peak voltage of the rising ramp waveform Ramp-up is applied to the scan electrodes Y. It is applied at the same time. Ramp-down generates weak erase discharges in the cells, thereby eliminating unnecessary charges during wall charges and space charges generated by setup discharges, and uniformly distributing the wall charges required for address discharges in the cells of the full screen. Will remain.

In the address period, a negative scan pulse scan is sequentially applied to the scan electrodes Y and a positive data pulse data is applied to the address electrodes X. As the voltage difference between the scan pulse and the data pulse and the wall voltage generated in the initialization period are added, an address discharge is generated in the cell to which the data pulse is applied. Wall charges are generated in the cells selected by the address discharge.

On the other hand, the positive electrode DC voltage of the sustain voltage level Vs is supplied to the sustain electrodes Z during the set down period and the address period.

In the sustain period, sustain pulses sus are alternately applied to the scan electrodes Y and the sustain electrodes Z. FIG. Then, the cell selected by the address discharge is sustained in the form of surface discharge between the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode Z each time the sustain pulse sus is applied while the wall voltage and the sustain pulse sus in the cell are added. Discharge occurs. Finally, after the sustain discharge is completed, an erase ramp waveform (erase) having a small pulse width is supplied to the sustain electrode Z to erase wall charges in the cell.

Such a conventional PDP may be displayed in various resolutions under user control. For example, the user may display an image at a resolution of 640 × 540 using the panel 30 having a resolution of 1920 × 1080 as shown in FIG. 5. In this case, the panel 30 displays the image only in the center region 40 having a resolution of 640 × 540, and does not display the image in the other outer region 38 (that is, the data pulse only in the center region 40). (data) is supplied)

However, in the conventional PDP, there is a disadvantage in that unnecessary power is consumed when the resolution is displayed in a variable manner. In detail, when the resolution is changed in the conventional PDP, the data pulse is only supplied to the center area 40. Therefore, the address discharge corresponding to the data pulses is generated only in the center area 40 of the panel 30. Thereafter, the scan driver 34 and the sustain driver 36 supply a sustain pulse su to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn and the sustain electrodes Z1 to Zn, and the panel is sustained by the sustain pulse su. In the center area 40 of 30, a predetermined image corresponding to the data pulse is displayed.

Here, conventionally, even when an image is displayed only in the center area 40 of the panel 30, the sustain pulse su is supplied to all the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn. As described above, there is a problem in that unnecessary power consumption is wasted by supplying the sustain pulse su having a high voltage value to the outer region 38 which does not contribute to image display. In addition, the switching elements connected to the scan electrodes Y of the outer region 38 perform a predetermined switching operation in order to supply the sustain pulse sus, and thus additional power is consumed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a driving apparatus and a driving method of a plasma display panel that can minimize power consumption when the resolution is variable.

In order to achieve the above object, a driving apparatus of a plasma display panel of the present invention includes a panel, an input unit for generating a control signal when a resolution change signal for changing the resolution of the panel is input, and at least i (i is A plurality of scan drivers for supplying a driving waveform connected to each of the two or more scan electrodes, a sustain driver for supplying a drive waveform to sustain electrodes formed on the panel, a scan driver and a sustain driver The timing controller controls the sustain pulse not to be supplied from at least one of the plurality of scan drivers when the control signal is input from the input unit.

When the control signal is input, the timing controller controls the sustain pulse to be supplied only to the scan drivers connected to the scan electrodes formed in the area where the image is displayed in the panel.

The driving method of the plasma display panel according to the present invention includes the steps of displaying an image in a partial region of the panel in response to a resolution change signal supplied from the outside, and scanning electrodes positioned in the region where the image is displayed so that the image can be displayed. The sustain pulse is supplied, and the sustain pulse is not supplied to the scan electrodes positioned in the region where the image is not displayed.

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

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8B.

6 is a view showing a driving device of the plasma display panel of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, the driving apparatus of the PDP of the present invention includes an address driver 42 for driving address electrodes X1 to Xm provided in the panel 40, and scan electrodes Y1 provided in the panel 40. Scan drivers 44a, 44b, 44c, and 44d for driving to Yn, sustain drivers 46 for driving sustain electrodes Z1 to Zn provided in the panel 40, and drivers 42 And a timing controller 48 for controlling 44a, 44b, 44c, 44d, and 46, and an input unit 50 for receiving a resolution change signal from a user.

The address driver 42 supplies data pulses corresponding to the image data supplied from the outside to the address electrodes X1 to Xm. Here, the data pulses are supplied to be synchronized with the scan pulses sequentially supplied to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn.

The sustain driver 46 supplies the positive voltage and the sustain pulse to the sustain electrodes Z1 to Zn. Here, the positive voltage and the sustain pulse are commonly supplied to all the sustain electrodes Z1 to Zn.

The scan drivers 44a, 44b, 44c, and 44d are respectively connected to i (i is a natural number of two or more) scan electrodes Y, and are driven by i scan electrodes Y connected thereto. Supply the waveform. For example, the first scan driver 44a supplies a driving waveform to the first scan electrodes Y1 to i-th scan electrodes Yi. The second scan driver 44b supplies a driving waveform to the i + 1th scan electrodes Yi + 1 to 2i scan electrodes Y2i. In addition, the third scan driver 44c supplies a driving waveform to the second i + 1 scan electrodes Y2i + 1 to the third ii scan electrodes Y3i. In addition, the fourth scan driver 44d supplies a driving waveform to the third i + 1 scan electrodes Y3i + 1 to the n th scan electrodes Yn.

The input unit 50 supplies a predetermined control signal to the timing controller 48 when a resolution change signal is input from the user.

The timing controller 48 controls the drivers 42, 44a, 44b, 44c, 44d, and 46 to supply a predetermined driving waveform. In addition, when the control signal is input from the input unit 50, the timing controller 48 controls such that the sustain pulse is not supplied from at least one of the plurality of scan drivers 44a through 44d. .

The operation of the PDP driving apparatus as described above will be described in detail with reference to the waveform diagram of FIG. 4. First, during the initialization period, the scan drivers 44a to 44d apply the rising ramp waveform Ramp-up and the falling ramp waveform Ramp-down to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn. Then, the wall charges necessary for the address discharge remain uniformly in the cells of the full screen.

In the address period, a negative scan pulse scan is sequentially applied to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn from the scan drivers 44a to 44d. At this time, the data pulse data synchronized with the scan pulse scan is supplied from the address driver 42 to the address electrodes X. FIG. As the voltage difference between the scan pulse and the data pulse and the wall voltage generated in the initialization period are added, an address discharge is generated in the cell to which the data pulse is applied.

On the other hand, the positive electrode DC voltage of the sustain voltage level Vs is supplied to the sustain electrodes Z during the set down period and the address period.

In the sustain period, the drive waveforms are set differently in response to the control signal input from the input unit 50 to the timing control unit 48. First, when a control signal is not input from the input unit 50 to the timing controller 48 (that is, when the resolution of the panel 40 does not change), the timing controller 48 may include the scan drivers 44a to 44d and The sustain driver 46 is controlled to supply the sustain pulse su to the scan electrodes Y and the sustain electrodes Z alternately. Then, sustain discharge occurs in the discharge cells in which the address discharge is generated to display a predetermined image.

On the other hand, when a control signal is input from the input unit 50 to the timing controller 48 (that is, when the resolution of the panel 40 is changed and displayed), the timing controller 48 includes a plurality of scan drivers 44a to 44d. At least one of the scan driver 44 is controlled so that the sustain pulse is not supplied.

In detail, the user controls the input unit 50 to display an image at a resolution of 640 × 540 using the panel 40 having a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (for example) as shown in FIG. 7. Resolution Change Signal Input) Then, a control signal is supplied from the input unit 50 to the timing controller 48.

The timing controller 48 receiving the control signal controls the sustain pulse not to be supplied from at least one scan driver among the scan drivers 44a through 44d. For example, if i is set to 270 (each scan driver is connected to a scan line of 270 lines), the timing controller 48 controls the first and fourth scan drivers 44a and 44d to control the first and fourth. The sustain pulse su is not supplied to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yi and Y3i + 1 to Yn connected to the scan drivers 44a and 44d. The timing controller 48 controls the second and third scan drivers 44b and 44c to scan electrodes Yi + 1 to Y2i and Y2i + connected to the second and third scan drivers 44b and 44c. Sustain pulse (sus) is supplied to 1 to Y3i).

At this time, a predetermined image is displayed at the resolution of 640 × 540 in the center area 54 of the panel 40. In the outer region 52 of the panel 40, no image is displayed. Here, the sustain pulse su is supplied to the scan electrodes Yi + 1 to Y2i and Y2i + 1 to Y3i provided in the center region 54 of the panel 40 as shown in FIG. 8B and supplied to the outer region 52. As shown in FIG. 8A, the sustain pulse su is not supplied to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yi and Y3i + 1 to Yn.

That is, in the present invention, when an image is displayed only in a partial region of the panel 40 (that is, when the resolution of the panel is changed), the sustain pulse is supplied only to the scan electrodes Y overlapped with the region where the image is displayed. The sustain pulse is not supplied to the scan electrodes Y located in other regions. As such, when the sustain pulse is not supplied to the scan electrodes Y positioned in the region where the image is not displayed, power consumption can be reduced as compared with the conventional art. Meanwhile, in the present invention, the number of scan electrodes Y connected to each scan driver 44 (that is, i) may be variously set in consideration of the resolution of the panel 40.

As described above, according to the driving apparatus and driving method of the plasma display panel according to the present invention, when the resolution of the panel is changed so that an image is displayed in a partial region of the panel, the scan electrodes are sustained in regions where no image is displayed. Do not supply pulses. As such, when the sustain pulse is not supplied to the scan electrodes positioned in the region where the image is not displayed, power consumption can be reduced. In addition, since the switching elements connected to the scan electrodes located in the region where the image is not displayed do not perform the switching operation, it is possible to prevent additional power consumption.

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.

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

2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a luminance weight of a plasma display panel.

3 is a view showing a driving apparatus of a conventional plasma display panel.

4 is a waveform diagram showing a driving waveform applied to a subfield of a conventional plasma display panel.

5 is a view showing an image displayed in a partial region of a conventional plasma display panel.

6 is a view showing a driving apparatus of a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating an image displayed in a partial region of the panel illustrated in FIG. 6. FIG.

8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating driving waveforms supplied to scan electrodes from the scan drivers shown in FIG. 6;

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10: upper substrate 12Y, 12Z: transparent electrode

13Y, 13Z: bus electrode 14, 22: dielectric layer

16: protective film 18: lower substrate

24: partition 26: phosphor layer

30, 40: Panel 32, 42: Address driver

34, 44a, 44b, 44c, 44d: scan driver 36, 46: hold driver

48: timing controller 50: input unit

Claims (3)

Panel, An input unit for generating a control signal when a resolution change signal for changing the resolution of the panel is input; A plurality of scan drivers connected to at least i (i is a natural number of two or more) scan electrodes formed on the panel to supply a driving waveform; A sustain driver for supplying a driving waveform to sustain electrodes formed on the panel; A timing controller for controlling the scan drivers and the sustain driver, And the timing controller controls the sustain pulse not to be supplied from at least one of the plurality of scan drivers when the control signal is input from the input unit. The method of claim 1, And the timing controller controls the sustain pulse to be supplied only to scan drivers connected to scan electrodes formed in a region where an image is displayed in the panel when the control signal is input. Displaying an image in a partial region of the panel in response to a resolution change signal supplied from the outside; Supplying a sustain pulse to scan electrodes positioned in a region where the image is displayed so that the image can be displayed, And the sustain pulse is not supplied to scan electrodes positioned in an area where the image is not displayed.