KR20060056821A - Driving apparatus and method for plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for driving a plasma display panel that adjusts scan timing of scan signals applied to scan electrodes according to whether image data is the same. By being able to increase the length of the sustain period, there is an effect of increasing the brightness and improving the driving efficiency.

The driving device of the plasma display panel according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a driving device of the plasma display panel for applying a signal to a plurality of data electrodes, scan electrodes and sustain electrodes to represent an image, is input from the outside A data alignment unit for aligning the subfield-mapped image data, a data driver for driving the plurality of address electrodes with the aligned image data, and data of the data between the scan electrodes with the aligned image data in the data alignment unit. A plurality of timing controllers configured to control the scan timing of the scan electrodes based on the same data determination unit for determining whether the same data is identical to the data between the scan electrodes determined by the same data determination unit, and the plurality of timing controllers according to the scan timing of the timing controller. Scan signal to scan electrode It characterized in that it comprises a scan driver for.

Description

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

1 is a view showing the structure of a typical plasma display panel.

2 is a view illustrating a driving waveform according to a driving method of a conventional plasma display panel.

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

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a scan signal applying method of a scan driver in the conventional plasma display panel driving apparatus of FIG.

5 is a view showing a driving device of a plasma display panel according to the present invention;

6 is a view for explaining a method of driving a plasma display panel of the present invention.

7 is a view for explaining an example of a method of driving a plasma display panel of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to an apparatus for driving a plasma display panel, which improves driving efficiency by adjusting scan timing of scan signals applied to scan electrodes according to whether the image data is identical. And to a method.

In general, a plasma display panel is a partition wall formed between a front substrate and a rear substrate to form a unit cell, and each cell includes neon (Ne), helium (He), or a mixture of neon and helium (Ne + He) and An inert gas containing the same main discharge gas and a small amount of xenon is filled. When discharged by a high frequency voltage, the inert gas generates vacuum ultraviolet rays and emits phosphors formed between the partition walls to realize an image. Such a plasma display panel has a spotlight as a next generation display device because of its thin and light configuration.

1 illustrates a structure of a general plasma display panel.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plasma display panel includes a front substrate in which a plurality of sustain electrode pairs formed by pairing a scan electrode 102 and a sustain electrode 103 are formed on a front glass 101, which is a display surface on which an image is displayed. The rear substrate 110 having the plurality of address electrodes 113 arranged to intersect the plurality of sustain electrode pairs on the back glass 111 forming the back surface 100 and the rear surface is coupled in parallel with a predetermined distance therebetween. .

The front substrate 100 is made of a scan electrode 102 and a sustain electrode 103, that is, a transparent electrode (a) formed of a transparent ITO material and a metal material to mutually discharge and maintain light emission of the cells in one discharge cell. The scan electrode 102 and the sustain electrode 103 provided as the bus electrode b are included in pairs. Scan electrode 102 and sustain electrode 103 are covered by one or more upper dielectric layers 104 that limit discharge current and insulate between electrode pairs, and facilitate discharge conditions on top of upper dielectric layer 104. For this purpose, a protective layer 105 on which magnesium oxide (MgO) is deposited is formed.

The rear substrate 110 is arranged such that a stripe-type partition wall 112 for forming a plurality of discharge spaces, that is, discharge cells, is maintained in parallel. In addition, a plurality of address electrodes 113 which perform address discharge to generate vacuum ultraviolet rays are arranged in parallel with the partition wall 112. On the upper side of the rear substrate 110, R, G, and B phosphors 114 which emit visible light for image display during address discharge are coated. A lower dielectric layer 115 is formed between the address electrode 113 and the phosphor 114 to protect the address electrode 113.

The driving waveforms according to the driving method of the plasma display panel are shown in FIG. 2.

2 is a view illustrating a driving waveform according to a driving method of a conventional plasma display panel.

As shown in Fig. 2, the plasma display panel erases the reset period for initializing all the cells, the address period for selecting the cells to be discharged, the sustain period for maintaining the discharge of the selected cells, and the wall charges in the discharged cells. It is divided into an erase period for driving.

In the reset period, the rising ramp waveform Ramp-up is applied to all the scan electrodes at the same time in the setup period. This rising ramp waveform causes weak dark discharge within the full discharge cells. By this setup discharge, positive wall charges are accumulated on the address electrode and the sustain electrode, and negative wall charges are accumulated on the scan electrode.

During the set-down period, after the rising ramp waveform is supplied, the falling ramp waveform (Ramp-down) starts to fall from the positive voltage lower than the peak voltage of the rising ramp waveform and falls to a specific voltage level below the ground (GND) level voltage. By generating a weak erase discharge in the inside, the wall charges excessively formed in the scan electrode are sufficiently erased. By this set-down discharge, wall charges such that the address discharge can stably occur remain uniformly in the cells.

In the address period, the negative scan pulses are sequentially applied to the scan electrodes, and the positive data pulses are applied to the address electrodes in synchronization with the scan pulses. As the voltage difference between the scan pulse and the data pulse and the wall voltage generated in the reset period are added, address discharge is generated in the discharge cell to which the data pulse is applied. In the cells selected by the address discharge, wall charges are formed such that a discharge can occur when the sustain voltage Vs is applied. The sustain electrode is supplied with a positive polarity voltage Vz during the set down period and the address period so as to reduce the voltage difference with the scan electrode so as to prevent mis-discharge with the scan electrode.

In the sustain period, a sustain pulse Su is applied to the scan electrode and the sustain electrodes alternately. In the cell selected by the address discharge, as the wall voltage and the sustain pulse in the cell are added, a sustain discharge, that is, a display discharge, occurs between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode every time the sustain pulse is applied.

After the sustain discharge is completed, in the erase period, a voltage of an erase ramp waveform Ramp-ers having a small pulse width and a low voltage level is supplied to the sustain electrode to erase the wall charge remaining in the cells of the full screen.

Looking at the driving device of the conventional plasma display panel driven according to the driving waveform as shown in FIG.

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

As shown in FIG. 3, the driving apparatus of the conventional plasma display panel is attached to a plasma display panel in which a plurality of discharge cells are formed in a matrix structure to supply a predetermined pulse to the above-described discharge cells. For example, the driving apparatus of the plasma display panel includes a data alignment unit 300, a timing controller 301, a data driver 302, a scan driver 303, and a sustain driver 304 as shown in FIG. 3. do. The data alignment unit 300 of the conventional driving device arranges the image data input from the outside to be applied to each of the address electrodes X1 to Xm, and the aligned data is plasma-displayed through the data driver 302. It is applied to the address electrodes X1 to Xm of the panel 305. In addition, according to the control of the timing controller 301, the scan driver 303 applies a scan signal and a sustain signal to each of the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn, and the sustain driver 304 supplies the sustain signal to each of the sustain electrodes ( Z). Through this process, the plasma display panel 305 is driven.

The operation of the scan driver in the conventional plasma display panel driving apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 4. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the scan driver of the conventional plasma display panel 305 driving apparatus sequentially scan signals to all scan electrodes Y1 to Yn irrespective of image data input under the control of the timing controller. Apply. As a result, the length of the address period to which the scan signal is applied to the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn is fixed. As a result, the length of the sustain period is fixed so that the luminance is also fixed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for a plasma display panel for increasing driving efficiency of a plasma display panel by simultaneously applying scan signals to the same image data for each scan electrode.

The driving device of the plasma display panel according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a driving device of the plasma display panel for applying a signal to a plurality of data electrodes, scan electrodes and sustain electrodes to represent an image, is input from the outside A data alignment unit for aligning the subfield-mapped image data, a data driver for driving the plurality of address electrodes with the aligned image data, and data of the data between the scan electrodes with the aligned image data in the data alignment unit. A plurality of timing controllers configured to control scan timing of the scan electrodes based on the same data between the same data determination unit determining whether the same data is identical to the scan electrodes determined by the same data determination unit, Scan signal to scan electrode The applying is characterized in that it comprises a scan driver.

The timing controller controls scan timing such that scan signals are applied at the same time point between the scan electrodes of the same data due to the same data between the scan electrodes determined by the same data determination unit.

The timing controller may adjust an address period based on whether data between scan electrodes determined by the same data discrimination unit is the same.

The same data discriminating unit may have the same data between the scan electrodes when the image data value input to the discharge cells located on one scan electrode is the same as the image data value input to the discharge cells located on another scan electrode. It is characterized by determining that.

In addition, the driving method of the plasma display panel according to the present invention for achieving the above object is to drive the plasma display panel by applying a signal to a plurality of data electrodes, scan electrodes and sustain electrodes to represent an image by a combination of a plurality of sub-fields The method may include the same data determination step of determining whether data is identical between the scan electrodes and a scan signal applying step of applying a scan signal to the scan electrodes as a result of the determination in the same data determination step. .

In the scan signal applying step, scan signals are applied at the same time point between the scan electrodes of the same data according to whether the data between the scan electrodes determined in the same data determination step is identical.

The length of the address period is adjusted according to whether the data between the scan electrodes determined in the same data determination step is identical.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a view showing a driving device of a plasma display panel according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the driving apparatus of the plasma display panel 500 includes a data alignment unit 501, an identical data determination unit 502, a timing controller 503, a data driver 504, and a scan driver 505. ) And a sustain driver 506.

The data alignment unit 501 aligns the image data input from the outside and mapped to the subfield. For example, the above-described image data is aligned for each scan electrode so that a predetermined image data value is input to each of the discharge cells of the plasma display panel 500 in which the discharge is generated. That is, the image data values input to all the discharge cells located on the Y1 scan electrode of FIG. 5 are aligned, and then the image data values input to all the discharge cells located on the Y2 scan electrode are aligned. This aligns the image data values input to the discharge cells located on all scan electrodes from Y1 to Yn.

The same data determination unit 502 determines whether or not the data between the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn is identical with the image data arranged by the data alignment unit 501. In the above-described data alignment unit, image data arranged for each discharge cell positioned on each scan electrode is used to determine whether the data between the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn is identical. In more detail, the same data discriminating unit 502 may be configured such that the image data value input to the discharge cells positioned on one scan electrode is the image data value input to the discharge cells positioned on the other scan electrode and for each discharge cell. If all are the same, it is determined that the data between the scan electrodes is the same. For example, a total of four discharge cells positioned on the Y1 scan electrode, that is, Ca, Cb, Cc, and Cd discharge cells are sequentially arranged on the Y1 scan electrode, and the discharge cells located on the Y2 scan electrode Assuming a total of four discharge cells, namely Ce, Cf, Cg, and Ch, are sequentially arranged on the Y2 electrode, the data values input to Ca and Ce are the same, and the data values input to Cb and Cf are mutually equal. It is determined that the data between the Y1 scan electrode and the Y2 scan electrode is the same only when the data values inputted by Cc and Cg are the same and the data values inputted by Cd and Ch are the same.

The timing controller 503 controls the scan timing of the scan electrodes based on whether the data between the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn determined by the same data determination unit 502 is the same. At this time, when the above-described data between the scan electrodes (Y1 ~ Yn) is the same, the scan timing is controlled so that the scan signal is applied between the scan electrodes of the same data at the same time. That is, as described above, the data values input to the discharge cells of Ca, Cb, Cc, and Cd of the Y1 scan electrode and the data values input to the discharge cells of Ce, Cf, Cg, and Ch of the Y2 scan electrode are the same. In this case, the Y1 scan electrode and the Y2 scan electrode are simultaneously scanned. As a result, the scanning timing of the Y1 scan electrode and the Y2 scan electrode is the same.

In addition, the timing controller 503 may adjust the address period based on whether the data between the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn determined by the same data determination unit 502 is the same.

The data driver 504 is supplied with image data arranged from the data aligning unit 501 described above. The data driver 504 samples and latches data in response to the timing control signal CTRX from the timing controller 503, and then supplies the data to the address electrodes X1 to Xm to supply the plurality of address electrodes. Drive them.

The scan driver 505 applies a scan signal to the plurality of scan electrodes Y1 to Yn according to the scan timing of the timing controller 503 described above, and applies a sustain signal to each of the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn. do.

The sustain driver 506 applies a sustain signal to each sustain electrode Z. Through this process, the plasma display panel 500 is driven.

The driving method using the driving apparatus of the plasma display panel according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

6 is a view for explaining a method of driving a plasma display panel of the present invention.

Although the driving method of the plasma display panel of the present invention is not shown in FIG. 6, the scan signal is applied to the scan electrode as a result of the same data determination step of determining whether the data is identical between the scan electrodes and the same data determination step. And a scan signal applying step.

Here, the same data determination step is a step in which the same data determination unit 502 of FIG. 5 determines whether the data between the scan electrodes Y1 to Yn is the same based on the image data arranged by the data alignment unit 501. . An example of such identical data discrimination has been described with reference to FIG. 5, and thus repeated description is omitted.

Further, in the scan signal applying step, scan signals are applied at the same time point between the scan electrodes of the same data according to whether the data between the scan electrodes determined in the same data determination step is the same. For example, among the scan electrodes of the plasma display panel 500, scan electrodes of Y1, Y3, Yn-1, and Yn are scanned at the same time point t0 as shown in FIG. That is, the scan timings of the scan electrodes of Y1, Y3, Yn-1, and Yn are the same. The other scan electrodes are sequentially scanned after time t0. For example, the Y2 scan electrode is scanned at time t0 + Δt and the Y4 scan electrode is scanned at t0 + 2Δt.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the scan timings of the scan electrodes Y1, Y3, Y (n-1) and Yn are the same, the scan time is reduced by 2Δt compared with the conventional case of FIG. Can be. Note that the scan time reduction by 2Δt here is an example of the case where the plasma display panel includes only six scan electrodes of Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Yn-1, and Yn. As a result, the address period can increase. That is, the length of the address period is adjusted according to whether the data between the scan electrodes determined in the same data determination step is identical.

An example of the image display according to the driving method of the plasma display panel of the present invention is as follows.

7 is a view for explaining an example of a driving method of the plasma display panel of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, for example, when a movie having a 16: 9 aspect ratio is watched by a panel 700 having a 4: 3 width to width ratio of 4: 3, the panel ( Image data input to the upper portion A or the lower portion A of the 700 may be the same. An image may be displayed only on the screen B having a 16: 9 ratio of the center portion of the panel 700, and no image may be displayed on the remaining portion A. FIG. In this case, scan signals are applied to the scan electrodes of the remaining screen A except for the screen B on which the image is displayed. As a result, the address period for applying the scan signal is reduced. As a result, the sustain period can be increased by the time of the decreasing address period, so that the brightness can be increased and the driving efficiency can be increased.

As described above, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the technical configuration of the present invention may be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention.

Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be understood as illustrative and not restrictive in all respects, and the scope of the present invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than the detailed description, and the meaning and scope of the claims and All changes or modifications derived from the equivalent concept should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

As described above in detail, the present invention can reduce the length of an address period by inputting a scan signal between scan electrodes of the same image data at the same time point, thereby increasing the length of the sustain period, thereby improving luminance. There is an effect to increase and improve the driving efficiency.

Claims (7)

In the driving apparatus of the plasma display panel to apply a signal to a plurality of data electrodes, scan electrodes and sustain electrodes to represent an image, A data alignment unit for aligning subfield-mapped image data input from the outside; A data driver configured to drive the plurality of address electrodes with the aligned image data; An identical data discrimination unit for discriminating whether or not the data between the scan electrodes is identical with the aligned image data in the data alignment unit; A timing controller configured to control scan timing of the scan electrodes based on whether data between scan electrodes determined by the same data discriminator is identical; And A scan driver for applying a scan signal to the plurality of scan electrodes according to the scan timing of the timing controller Driving apparatus for a plasma display panel comprising a. According to claim 1, The timing controller controls scan timing such that scan signals are applied at the same time point between the scan electrodes of the same data due to the equality of data between scan electrodes determined by the same data determination unit. Drive system. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the timing controller adjusts an address period according to whether data between scan electrodes determined by the same data discrimination unit is the same. The method of claim 1, The same data discriminating unit may have the same data between the scan electrodes when the image data value input to the discharge cells located on one scan electrode is the same as the image data value input to the discharge cells located on another scan electrode. And a driving apparatus for the plasma display panel. A driving method of a plasma display panel in which an image is represented by a combination of a plurality of subfields by applying a signal to a plurality of data electrodes, scan electrodes, and sustain electrodes, An identical data determination step of determining whether data is identical between the scan electrodes; And Scan signal applying step of applying a scan signal to the scan electrode as a result determined in the same data determination step Method of driving a plasma display panel comprising a. The method of claim 5, And in the scanning signal applying step, a scan signal is applied between the scan electrodes of the same data at the same time point according to whether the data between the scan electrodes determined in the same data determination step is identical. The method according to claim 5 or 6, And the length of the address period is adjusted according to whether the data between the scan electrodes determined in the same data determination step is identical.

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