METHOD OF DRIVING A DISPLAY PANEL, DRIVING UNIT FOR PERFORMING THE METHOD, AND DISPLAY APPARATUS HAVING THE DRIVING UNIT

• US 20110175954A1
• Filed: 08/13/2010
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co. Ltd. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Sang-Won, Um, Min-Sik, Lee, Gyu-Su, Lee, Hyoung-Rae, Kang, Duk-Hwan
• Granted Patent: US 8,502,840 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/694
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0233 Improving the luminance or brightness uniformity across the screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0285 using tables for spatial correction of display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/041 Temperature compensation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2011 by amplitude modulation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/06 using colour palettes, e.g. look-up tables

Abstract

A driving unit of a display panel includes a control part, a gate driving part, a grayscale compensating part, and a data driving part. The control part provides a control signal and a grayscale signal. The gate driving part provides a gate signal to the display panel. The display panel is divided into a plurality of blocks according to a distance from a light source to each of the blocks. The grayscale compensating part outputs a compensating signal of an n-th frame using look-up tables, and the look-up tables respectively correspond to the blocks of the display panel. The data driving part converts the compensating signal of the n-th frame into a grayscale voltage and provides the grayscale voltage to the display panel. Accordingly, the driving unit of the display panel may improve a response speed of liquid crystals and display quality.

Claims

1. A method of driving a display panel, comprising:

providing a control signal and a grayscale signal, the control signal comprising a gate clock signal and a data clock signal;

providing a gate signal to the display panel based on the gate clock signal;

outputting a compensating signal of an n-th frame using look-up tables, the display panel being divided into a plurality of blocks according to a distance from a light source to each of the blocks, the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel, and “

n”

being a natural number; and

converting the compensating signal of the n-th frame into a grayscale voltage and providing the grayscale voltage to the display panel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the compensating signal of the n-th frame comprises:

storing a grayscale signal of an (n−

1)-th frame;

selecting the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel; and

outputting the compensating signal of the n-th frame corresponding to the grayscale signal of the (n−

1)-th frame and a grayscale signal of the n-th frame in each of the selected look-up tables.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel are selected in response to the control signal.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel comprises:

counting a number of pulses of the gate clock signal,

wherein the look-up tables are selected according to the number of the pulses of the gate clock signal.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel comprises:

counting a number of pulses of the data clock signal,

wherein the look-up tables are selected according to the number of pulses of the data clock signal.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the control signal further comprises a carry signal provided to a plurality of data driving chips, and the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel are selected in response to the carry signal.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the control signal further comprises a port designating signal designating a port through which the data clock signal is outputted, and the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel are selected in response to the port designating signal.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel are selected in response to a temperature signal of the display panel.

9. A driving unit of a display panel, comprising:

a control part to provide a control signal and a grayscale signal, the control signal comprising a gate clock signal and a data clock signal;

a gate driving part to provide a gate signal to the display panel based on the gate clock signal;

a grayscale compensating part to output a compensating signal of an n-th frame using look-up tables, the display panel being divided into a plurality of blocks according to a distance from a light source to each of the blocks, the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel, and “

n”

being a natural number; and

a data driving part to convert the compensating signal of the n-th frame into a grayscale voltage and to provide the grayscale voltage to the display panel.

10. The driving unit of claim 9, wherein the grayscale compensating part comprises:

a storing part to store a grayscale signal of an (n−

1)-th frame;

a plurality of look-up tables comprising information on the compensating signal of the n-th frame corresponding to the grayscale signal of the (n−

1)-th frame and a grayscale signal of the n-th frame;

a selecting part to select the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel; and

an output part to output the compensating signal of the n-th frame using each of the selected look-up tables.

11. The driving unit of claim 10, wherein the selecting part selects the look-up tables in response to the control signal.

12. A display apparatus, comprising:

a display panel comprising gate lines and data lines crossing each other;

a light source to generate light and to provide the generated light to the display panel;

a control part to provide a control signal and a grayscale signal, the control signal comprising a gate clock signal and a data clock signal;

a gate driving part to provide a gate signal to the gate lines based on the gate clock signal;

a grayscale compensating part to output a compensating signal of an n-th frame using look-up tables, the display panel being divided into a plurality of blocks according to a distance from the light source to each of the blocks, the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel, and “

n”

being a natural number; and

a data driving part to convert the compensating signal of the n-th frame into a grayscale voltage and to provide the grayscale voltage to the data line.

13. The display apparatus of claim 12, wherein the grayscale compensating part comprises:

a storing part to store a grayscale signal of an (n−

1)-th frame;

a plurality of look-up tables comprising information on the compensating signal of the n-th frame corresponding to the grayscale signal of the (n−

1)-th frame and a grayscale signal of the n-th frame;

a selecting part to select the look-up tables respectively corresponding to the blocks of the display panel; and

an output part to output the compensating signal of the n-th frame using each of the selected look-up tables.

14. The display apparatus of claim 13, wherein the selecting part selects the look-up tables in response to the control signal.

15. The display apparatus of claim 14, wherein the selecting part comprises a counter to count a number of pulses of the control signal.

16. The display apparatus of claim 15, wherein the light source is disposed adjacent to a side surface of the display panel substantially parallel with the gate lines, and the selecting part selects the look-up tables according to the number of pulses of the gate clock signal.

17. The display apparatus of claim 15, wherein the light source is disposed adjacent to a side surface of the display panel substantially parallel with the data lines, and the selecting part selects the look-up tables according to the number of pulses of the data clock signal.

18. The display apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data driving part comprises a plurality of data driving chips, the control signal further comprises a carry signal provided to the data driving chips, and the selecting part selects the look-up tables in response to the carry signal.

19. The display apparatus of claim 14, wherein the control signal further comprises a port designating signal designating a port through which the data clock signal is outputted, and the selecting part selects the look-up tables in response to the port designating signal.

20. The display apparatus of claim 13, wherein the selecting part selects the look-up tables in response to a temperature signal of the display panel.