Transparent dual-sided display device and driving method thereof

• US 10,249,247 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2017
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Wang, Zhenling, Hwang, Taijiun
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdin, Shaheda A
• Application Number:
  US15/742,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20190066600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/023 Display panel composed of stacked panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0439 Pixel structures
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0297 Special arrangements with multiplexing or demultiplexing of display data in the drivers for data electrodes, in a pre-processing circuitry delivering display data to said drivers or in the matrix panel, e.g. multiplexing plural data signals to one D/A converter or demultiplexing the D/A converter output to multiple columns
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/08 Details of timing specific for flat panels, other than clock recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3275 Details of drivers for data electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/348 based on the deformation of a fluid drop, e.g. electrowetting

Abstract

The present invention provides a transparent dual-sided display device and a driving method thereof. The transparent dual-sided display device includes a display panel including a plurality of sub-pixel groups that each include a front-side OLED sub-pixel, a back-side OLED sub-pixel, and an electrowetting sub-pixel and a plurality of multiplexer modules that each include three thin-film transistors and a timing controller is involved to control a multiplexer module and a source driver, wherein the source driver writes the front-side and back-side output data signals to the front-side OLED sub-pixel and the back-side OLED sub-pixel respectively and applies a reference voltage to the electrowetting sub-pixel, such that controlling can be, through the timing controller, a voltage controller to output a voltage value of the reference voltage to the source driver to control transparency or light-blocking of the electrowetting sub-pixel for simultaneously fulfilling transparent displaying and dual-sided displaying.

Claims

1. A transparent dual-sided display device, comprising a display panel, a source driver electrically connected to the display panel, a timing controller electrically connected to both the source driver and the display panel, and a voltage controller electrically connected to both the timing controller and the source driver;

wherein the display panel comprises a transparent substrate, a plurality of sub-pixel groups arranged in an array on the transparent substrate, and a plurality of multiplexer modules respectively corresponding to a plurality columns of the sub-pixel groups;

the source driver comprises a plurality of output terminals respectively corresponding to the plurality of rows of sub-pixel groups;

each of the sub-pixel groups comprises a front-side organic light emitting display (OLED) sub-pixel and a back-side OLED sub-pixel that are respectively arranged on two opposite sides of the transparent substrate and an electrowetting sub-pixel arranged on one of the sides of the transparent substrate;

each of the multiplexer modules comprises a first thin-film transistor, a second thin-film transistor, and a third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a first control signal, a drain electrode electrically connected to all the front-side OLED sub-pixels of the sub-pixel groups of one of the columns corresponding thereto, and a source electrode electrically connected to one of the output terminals of the source driver corresponding thereto, the second thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a second control signal, a drain electrode electrically connected to all the back-side OLED sub-pixels of the sub-pixel groups of the one of the columns corresponding thereto, and a source electrode electrically connected to the one of the output terminals of the source driver corresponding thereto, the third thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a third control signal, a drain electrode electrically connected to all the electrowetting sub-pixel of the sub-pixel groups of the one of the columns corresponding thereto, and a source electrode electrically connected to the one of the output terminals of the source driver corresponding thereto;

wherein the voltage controller comprises a fourth thin-film transistor and a fifth thin-film transistor, the fourth thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a fourth control signal, a source electrode input with a second voltage, and a drain electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the fifth thin-film transistor and outputting a reference voltage to the source driver, the fifth thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a fifth control signal and a source electrode input with a first voltage;

the first voltage is greater than the second voltage;

each of the electrowetting sub-pixels is transparent upon application of the first voltage and blocks light upon application of the second voltage; and

wherein the timing controller is operable to receive an input data signal and generating and supplying a front-side output data signal and a back-side output data signal to the source driver, outputting the first, second, and third control signals to control the first, second, and third thin-film transistors to conduct on or cut off, outputting the fourth and fifth control signals to control a voltage value of the reference voltage output from the voltage controller, and outputting a source driving control signal to the source driver to control the source driver to output the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal, or the reference voltage.

2. The transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 1, wherein the transparent dual-sided display device comprises a non-transparent dual-sided display mode and a transparent dual-sided display mode;

wherein when the transparent dual-sided display device is in the non-transparent dual-sided display mode, the timing controller outputs the fourth and fifth control signals to control the fourth thin-film transistor to conduct on and the fifth thin-film transistor cut off and meanwhile, the timing controller outputs the first, second, and third control signals to conduct on the third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor, and the second thin-film transistor in order and outputs the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal and the source driving control signal to the source driver to make the source driver apply the reference voltage to the electrowetting sub-pixel when the third thin-film transistor is conducting on, output the front-side output data signal to the front-side OLED sub-pixel when the first thin-film transistor is conducting on, and output the back-side output data signal to the back-side OLED sub-pixel when the second thin-film transistor is conducting on; and

when the transparent dual-sided display device is in the transparent dual-sided display mode, the timing controller outputs the fourth and fifth control signals to control the fourth thin-film transistor to cut off and the fifth thin-film transistor conducting on and meanwhile, the timing controller outputs the first, second, and third control signals to conduct on the third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor, and the second thin-film transistor in order and outputs the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal and the source driving control signal to the source driver to make the source driver apply the reference voltage to the electrowetting sub-pixel when the third thin-film transistor is conducting on, output the front-side output data signal to the front-side OLED sub-pixel when the first thin-film transistor is conducting on, and output the back-side output data signal to the back-side OLED sub-pixel when the second thin-film transistor is conducting on.

3. The transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 2, wherein when the transparent dual-sided display device is in the non-transparent dual-sided display mode or the transparent dual-sided display mode, the timing controller reads parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in a forward sequence in order to acquire an intermediate front-side output data signal and reads parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in a reversed sequence in order to acquire an intermediate back-side output data signal and then, proceeds with frequency doubling of the intermediate front-side output data signal and the intermediate back-side output data signal to thereby obtain, and also feed, the front-side output data signal and the back-side output data signal to the source driver.

4. The transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 3, wherein the timing controller comprises a data handling unit, a frequency multiplication processing unit electrically connected to the data handling unit, and a control signal generator unit;

the data handling unit is operable for reading the parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in the forward sequence to acquire the intermediate front-side output data signal and reading the parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in the reversed sequence to acquire the intermediate back-side output data signal;

the frequency multiplication processing unit is operable to carry out a frequency doubling operation on the intermediate front-side output data signal and the intermediate back-side output data signal to obtain the front-side output data signal and the back-side output data signal, respectively; and

the control signal generator unit is operable to generate the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth control signals and the source driving control signal.

5. The transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 1, wherein the second voltage is a common voltage;

and

the transparent dual-sided display device further comprises a voltage generator module electrically connected to the source driver and the voltage controller and the voltage generator module is operable to supply an operation voltage to the source driver and supplying the first voltage and the common voltage to the voltage controller.

6. A driving method of a transparent dual-sided display device, comprising the following steps:

Step S1;

providing a transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 1;

Step S2;

entering a non-transparent dual-sided display mode,

wherein the timing controller is input with the input data signal and outputs the fourth and fifth control signals to control the fourth thin-film transistor to conduct on and the fifth thin-film transistor cut off, and meanwhile, the timing controller outputs the first, second, and third control signals to conduct on the third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor, and the second thin-film transistor in order and outputs the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal, and the source driving control signal to the source driver to allow the source driver to apply the reference voltage to the electrowetting sub-pixel when the third thin-film transistor is conducting on, output the front-side output data signal to the front-side OLED sub-pixel when the first thin-film transistor is conducting on, and output the back-side output data signal to the back-side OLED sub-pixel when the second thin-film transistor is conducting on; and

Step S3;

entering a transparent dual-sided display mode,

wherein the timing controller is input with the input data signal and outputs the fourth and fifth control signals to control the fourth thin-film transistor to cut off and the fifth thin-film transistor conducting one, and meanwhile, the timing controller outputs the first, second, and third control signals to conduct on the third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor, the second thin-film transistor in order and outputs the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal, and the source driving control signal to the source driver to allow the source driver to apply the reference voltage to the electrowetting sub-pixel when the third thin-film transistor is conducting on, output the front-side output data signal to the front-side OLED sub-pixel when the first thin-film transistor is conducting on, and output the back-side output data signal to the back-side OLED sub-pixel when the second thin-film transistor is conducting on.

7. The driving method of the transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 6, wherein in Steps S2 and S3, the timing controller reads parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in a forward sequence in order to acquire intermediate front-side output data signal and reads parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in a reversed sequence in order to acquire intermediate back-side output data signal and then, proceeds with frequency doubling of the intermediate front-side output data signal and the intermediate back-side output data signal to thereby obtain, and also feed, the front-side output data signal and the back-side output data signal to the source driver.

8. The driving method of the transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 7, wherein the timing controller comprises a data handling unit, a frequency multiplication processing unit electrically connected to the data handling unit, and a control signal generator unit;

and

in Steps S2 and S3, the data handling unit reads the parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in the forward sequence to acquire the intermediate front-side output data signal and reading the parts of the input data signal that correspond each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in the reversed sequence to acquire the intermediate back-side output data signal;

the frequency multiplication processing unit carries out a frequency doubling operation on the intermediate front-side output data signal and the intermediate back-side output data signal to obtain the front-side output data signal and the back-side output data signal, respectively;

the control signal generator unit generates the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth control signals and the source driving control signal.

9. The driving method of the transparent dual-sided display device according to claim 6, wherein the second voltage is a common voltage;

and

the transparent dual-sided display device further comprises a voltage generator module electrically connected to the source driver and the voltage controller and the voltage generator module is operable to supply an operation voltage to the source driver and supplying the first voltage and the common voltage to the voltage controller.

10. A transparent dual-sided display device, comprising a display panel, a source driver electrically connected to the display panel, a timing controller electrically connected to both the source driver and the display panel, and a voltage controller electrically connected to both the timing controller and the source driver;

wherein the display panel comprises a transparent substrate, a plurality of sub-pixel groups arranged in an array on the transparent substrate, and a plurality of multiplexer modules respectively corresponding to a plurality columns of the sub-pixel groups;

the source driver comprises a plurality of output terminals respectively corresponding to the plurality of rows of sub-pixel groups;

each of the sub-pixel groups comprises a front-side organic light emitting display (OLED) sub-pixel and a back-side OLED sub-pixel that are respectively arranged on two opposite sides of the transparent substrate and an electrowetting sub-pixel arranged on one of the sides of the transparent substrate;

each of the multiplexer modules comprises a first thin-film transistor, a second thin-film transistor, and a third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a first control signal, a drain electrode electrically connected to all the front-side OLED sub-pixels of the sub-pixel groups of one of the columns corresponding thereto, and a source electrode electrically connected to one of the output terminals of the source driver corresponding thereto, the second thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a second control signal, a drain electrode electrically connected to all the back-side OLED sub-pixels of the sub-pixel groups of the one of the columns corresponding thereto, and a source electrode electrically connected to the one of the output terminals of the source driver corresponding thereto, the third thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a third control signal, a drain electrode electrically connected to all the electrowetting sub-pixel of the sub-pixel groups of the one of the columns corresponding thereto, and a source electrode electrically connected to the one of the output terminals of the source driver corresponding thereto;

wherein the voltage controller comprises a fourth thin-film transistor and a fifth thin-film transistor, the fourth thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a fourth control signal, a source electrode input with a second voltage, and a drain electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the fifth thin-film transistor and outputting a reference voltage to the source driver, the fifth thin-film transistor having a gate electrode input with a fifth control signal and a source electrode input with a first voltage;

the first voltage is greater than the second voltage;

each of the electrowetting sub-pixels is transparent upon application of the first voltage and blocks light upon application of the second voltage;

wherein the timing controller is operable to receive an input data signal and generating and supplying a front-side output data signal and a back-side output data signal to the source driver, outputting the first, second, and third control signals to control the first, second, and third thin-film transistors to conduct on or cut off, outputting the fourth and fifth control signals to control a voltage value of the reference voltage output from the voltage controller, and outputting a source driving control signal to the source driver to control the source driver to output the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal, or the reference voltage;

wherein the transparent dual-sided display device comprises a non-transparent dual-sided display mode and a transparent dual-sided display mode;

wherein when the transparent dual-sided display device is in the non-transparent dual-sided display mode, the timing controller outputs the fourth and fifth control signals to control the fourth thin-film transistor to conduct on and the fifth thin-film transistor cut off and meanwhile, the timing controller outputs the first, second, and third control signals to conduct on the third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor, and the second thin-film transistor in order and outputs the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal and the source driving control signal to the source driver to make the source driver apply the reference voltage to the electrowetting sub-pixel when the third thin-film transistor is conducting on, output the front-side output data signal to the front-side OLED sub-pixel when the first thin-film transistor is conducting on, and output the back-side output data signal to the back-side OLED sub-pixel when the second thin-film transistor is conducting on; and

when the transparent dual-sided display device is in the transparent dual-sided display mode, the timing controller outputs the fourth and fifth control signals to control the fourth thin-film transistor to cut off and the fifth thin-film transistor conducting on and meanwhile, the timing controller outputs the first, second, and third control signals to conduct on the third thin-film transistor, the first thin-film transistor, and the second thin-film transistor in order and outputs the front-side output data signal, the back-side output data signal and the source driving control signal to the source driver to make the source driver apply the reference voltage to the electrowetting sub-pixel when the third thin-film transistor is conducting on, output the front-side output data signal to the front-side OLED sub-pixel when the first thin-film transistor is conducting on, and output the back-side output data signal to the back-side OLED sub-pixel when the second thin-film transistor is conducting on;

wherein when the transparent dual-sided display device is in the non-transparent dual-sided display mode or the transparent dual-sided display mode, the timing controller reads parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in a forward sequence in order to acquire an intermediate front-side output data signal and reads parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in a reversed sequence in order to acquire an intermediate back-side output data signal and then, proceeds with frequency doubling of the intermediate front-side output data signal and the intermediate back-side output data signal to thereby obtain, and also feed, the front-side output data signal and the back-side output data signal to the source driver;

wherein the second voltage is a common voltage; and

the transparent dual-sided display device further comprises a voltage generator module electrically connected to the source driver and the voltage controller and the voltage generator module is operable to supply an operation voltage to the source driver and supplying the first voltage and the common voltage to the voltage controller; and

wherein the timing controller comprises a data handling unit, a frequency multiplication processing unit electrically connected to the data handling unit, and a control signal generator unit;

the data handling unit is operable for reading the parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in the forward sequence to acquire the intermediate front-side output data signal and reading the parts of the input data signal that correspond to each of the columns of the sub-pixel groups in the reversed sequence to acquire the intermediate back-side output data signal;

the frequency multiplication processing unit is operable to carry out a frequency doubling operation on the intermediate front-side output data signal and the intermediate back-side output data signal to obtain the front-side output data signal and the back-side output data signal, respectively; and

the control signal generator unit is operable to generate the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth control signals and the source driving control signal.