This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 99145256, filed Dec. 22, 2010. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a display. Particularly, the disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for driving a multi-stable display panel.
2. Related Art
As described above, the conventional driving method of the ChLC is to write corresponding driving waveforms to the scan lines S(1)-S(N) row-by-row. Therefore, the time F for the conventional driving method refreshing the whole panel frame is N x L, as that shown in
The disclosure is directed to an apparatus and a method for driving a multi-stable display panel.
An exemplary embodiment of the disclosure provides a method for driving a multi-stable display panel. The method includes selecting a plurality of target scan lines from a plurality of scan lines of the multi-stable display panel; providing a first voltage level to the other scan lines besides the target scan lines during the line-scanning period; and driving the target scan lines during a line-scanning period, where the line-scanning period includes a plurality of time slots. The target scan lines are respectively provided with a third voltage level during at least a corresponding time slot of the time slots, and are provided with the first voltage level during other time slots besides the corresponding time slot. A data line of the multi-stable display panel is correspondingly provided with a second voltage level or a fourth voltage level in the time slots.
An exemplary embodiment of the disclosure provides an apparatus for driving a multi-stable display panel. The apparatus includes a scan driver and a data driver. The scan driver is used for connecting a plurality of scan lines of the multi-stable display panel. The scan driver selects a plurality of target scan lines from the scan lines, and drives the target scan lines during a line-scanning period, and provides a first voltage level to the other scan lines besides the target scan lines during the line-scanning period, where the line-scanning period includes a plurality of time slots. The scan driver provides a third voltage level to each of the target scan lines during at least a corresponding time slot of the time slots, and provides the first voltage level during other time slots besides the corresponding time slot. The data driver is used for connecting at least one data line of the multi-stable display panel, and correspondingly provides a second voltage level or a fourth voltage level to the data line in the time slots.
An exemplary embodiment of the disclosure provides a method for driving a multi-stable display panel. The method includes providing a first voltage level to a scan line of a pixel during a time slot of a line-scanning period when a state of the pixel is not changed; respectively providing a second voltage level and a third voltage level to a data line and the scan line of the pixel during the time slot when the state of the pixel is to be set to a bright state, where the third voltage level is greater than the first voltage level, the second voltage level is between the first voltage level and the third voltage level; and respectively providing the third voltage level and a fourth voltage level to the scan line and the data line of the pixel during the time slot when the state of the pixel is to be set to a dark state, where the fourth voltage level is smaller than or equal to the first voltage level.
An exemplary embodiment of the disclosure provides an apparatus for driving a multi-stable display panel. The apparatus includes a scan driver and a data driver. The scan driver is used for connecting at least one scan line of the multi-stable display panel. When a state of a pixel is not changed, the scan driver provides a first voltage level to the scan line of the pixel during a time slot of a line-scanning period. When the state of the pixel is to be set to a bright state or a dark state, the scan driver provides a third voltage level to the scan line of the pixel during the time slot, where the third voltage level is greater than the first voltage level. The data driver is used for connecting at least one data line of the multi-stable display panel. When the state of the pixel is to be set to the bright state, the data driver provides a second voltage level to the data line of the pixel during the time slot. When the state of the pixel is to be set to the dark state, the data driver provides a fourth voltage level to the data line of the pixel during the time slot, where the second voltage level is between the first voltage level and the third voltage level, and the fourth voltage level is smaller than or equal to the first voltage level.
In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the disclosure comprehensible, several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, driving waveforms can be provided to a plurality of scan lines during the same line-scanning period, i.e. the scan lines are driven during the same line-scanning period, so as to shorten a time for writing pixel data. For example, if a number of the scan lines is N, the line-scanning period is L, and n scan lines are simultaneously driven during the same line-scanning period L (n≧2), a driving apparatus and a driving method disclosed by the exemplary embodiment of the disclosure can shorten a frame refresh time to N×L÷n. Therefore, a frame refresh speed can be accelerated according to the disclosure.
In the following exemplary embodiment, a multi-stable display medium (cholesteric liquid crystal (ChLC) or other multi-stable display media) is used to describe exemplary embodiments of the apparatus and the method for driving the multi-stable display panel of the disclosure.
If the initial state of the pixel is the bright state (referring to the solid line in
If the initial state of the pixel is the dark state (referring to the dot line in
In the following embodiments, the multi-stable display 100 of
Referring to
The frame driving period F includes a plurality of the line-scanning periods L. The scan driver 120 is connected to a plurality of the scan lines S(1)-S(N) of the multi-stable display panel 130. The scan driver 120 selects n target scan lines from the scan lines S(1)-S(N) (n≧2). The scan driver 120 drives the selected target scan lines during the same line-scanning period L, and the unselected other scan lines are not provided with driving waveforms. For example, the scan driver 120 provides the first voltage level V1 to the other scan lines besides the target scan lines.
For example, the scan driver 120 selects the scan lines S(1)-S(n) as the target scan lines during the first line-scanning period L of the frame driving period F. Then, the scan driver 120 provides driving waveforms to the target scan lines S(1)-S(n) during the same line-scanning period L, and does not provide the driving waveforms to the other scan lines S(n+1)-S(N). Then, deduced by analogy, the scan driver 120 provides the driving waveforms to another set of target scan lines S(n+1)-S(2n) during the next line-scanning period L, and does not provide the driving waveforms to the other scan lines (for example, S(1)-S(n), S(2n+1)-S(N), etc.).
The data driver 110 is connected to the data lines D(1)-D(M) of the multi-stable display panel 130. Based on the scan timing of the scan lines S(1)-S(N) shown in
The driving waveforms of the target scan lines are described below, though implementation of the disclosure is not limited thereto.
The scan driver 120 selects the scan lines S(1) and S(2) as the target scan lines (the scanned scan lines) during the line-scanning period L, and provides the first voltage level V1 to the other scan lines (the un-scanned scan lines, for example, S(3)-S(N)) besides the target scan lines S(1) and S(2) during the line-scanning period L. The line-scanning period L includes a plurality of time slots. The number of the time slots included in the line-scanning period L can be determined according to an actual design requirement. In the present exemplary embodiment, the line-scanning period L includes time slots L1, L2, L3 and L4, as that shown in
The scan driver 120 provides the third voltage level V3 to each of the target scan lines S(1) and S(2) during at least a corresponding time slot of the time slots L1-L4, and provides the first voltage level V1 during the other time slots slot of the time slots L1-L4 besides the corresponding time slot. For example, the corresponding time slots of the scan line S(1) are L1 and L3, and the corresponding time slots of the scan line S(2) are L2 and L4. Therefore, the scan driver 120 provides the third voltage level V3 to the target scan line S(1) during the time slots L1 and L3, and provides the first voltage level V1 to the target scan line S(1) during the time slots L2 and L4. Similarly, the scan driver 120 provides the third voltage level V3 to the target scan line S(2) during the time slots L2 and L4, and provides the first voltage level V1 to the target scan line S(2) during the time slots L1 and L3.
Anyway, the driving waveforms of the scan lines are not limited to that shown in
Referring to
If the states of the pixels on the scan line S(1) are to be set to the bright state, and the states of the pixels on the scan line S(2) are to be set to the dark state, the data driver 110 provides the second voltage level V2 to the data lines during the corresponding time slots L1 and L3 of the scan line S(1), and provides the fourth voltage level V4 to the data lines during the corresponding time slots L2 and L4 of the scan line S(2). The fourth voltage level V4 can be a ground voltage level, 0V or other fixed reference voltages. Moreover, the fourth voltage level V4 is smaller than or equal to the first voltage level V1. Since the voltage amplitudes of the pixels on the scan line S(2) exceed the reflectivity transition voltage (the voltage VA shown in
Deduced by analogy, if the states of the pixels on the scan line S(1) are to be set to the dark state, and the states of the pixels on the scan line S(2) are to be set to the bright state, the data driver 110 provides the fourth voltage level V4 to the data lines during the corresponding time slots L1 and L3 of the scan line S(1), and provides the second voltage level V2 to the data lines during the corresponding time slots L2 and L4 of the scan line S(2). Since the voltage amplitudes of the pixels on the scan line S(1) exceed the reflectivity transition voltage (the voltage VA shown in
Regarding the unselected (un-scanned) scan lines S(3)-S(N), regardless how the voltages of the data lines change, since the voltage of the scan lines S(3)-S(N) is maintained to the first voltage level V1, the voltage amplitudes of the pixels on the scan lines S(3)-S(N) do not exceed the reflectivity transition voltage (the voltage VA shown in
In summary, taking the pixel PX of
The exemplary embodiment of
In the exemplary embodiments of
Corresponding to the driving waveforms exerted to the target scan lines by the scan driver 120 during the line-scanning period L, the data driver 110 respectively provides the second voltage level V2 or the fourth voltage level V4 to the data lines D(1)-D(M) during the time slots L1-Ln. For example, if the state of a certain pixel on the scan line S(i) is to be set to the bright state, the data driver 110 provides the second voltage level V2 to the corresponding data line of the pixel during the time slot Li. Comparatively, if the state of a certain pixel on the scan line S(i) is to be set to the dark state, the data driver 110 provides the fourth voltage level V2 to the corresponding data line of the pixel during the time slot Li.
The line-scanning period L includes a plurality of time slots. Each of the target scan lines corresponds to at least one time slot in the time slots, where the scan drivers 120 and 720 provide the first voltage level V1 or the third voltage level V3 (referring to related descriptions of
In summary, according to the driving method and driving apparatus of the multi-stable display panel of the disclosure, n scan lines (n≧2) can be simultaneously driven during the same line-scanning period L. Compared to the conventional technique that only one scan line is driven during one line-scanning period L, the technique of the disclosure can effectively improve a data writing speed to achieve effects of fast driving and low power consumption, etc. In an application of multiple display panels, one set of data driver 110 is commonly used to simultaneously refresh frames of the multiple display panels, so as to achieve advantages of a low number of integrated circuits, a simplified system and low cost, etc. As a size of the ChLCD panel is increased, a time required for frame refreshing becomes longer, so that the technique disclosure by the disclosure is a necessity in application.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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99145256 | Dec 2010 | TW | national |