This patent application claims a priority on convention based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-147366 filed on Jun. 22, 2009. The disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a differential signal receiving circuit for receiving a small amplitude differential signal and to a display apparatus having the differential signal receiving circuit.
In these years, a thin and low-power flat panel display apparatus is mainly used as a monitor of a personal computer (PC) and a television receiver. In a liquid crystal display apparatus that is representative in the flat panel display apparatus, a technique is rapidly developed to significantly increase the numbers of display pixels and simultaneously displayed colors. In the liquid display apparatus, a digital data signal representing display data is inputted externally, converted into an analog voltage signal, and applied to liquid crystal pixels to display an image on a screen. In transmission of the digital data signal representing the display data, a data transmission standard is applied which uses the small amplitude differential signal such as the RSDS (Reduced Swing Differential Signaling) and the miniLVDS (mini-Low Voltage Differential Signaling). Since a data amount increases as the numbers of display pixels and simultaneously generated colors increase, it is desired in the display apparatus that the transmission of the display data becomes faster. Accordingly, a display driver requires a receiving circuit for converting the inputted small amplitude differential signal into an internal logic voltage signal at a high speed.
In the signal representing the display data, the voltage and amplitude fluctuate due to manufacturing variations, reflections, noises, and the like in a transmission system. For this reason, in a signal outputted from the receiving circuit, a delay time fluctuates and a duty ratio showing a ratio between a period in a high (H) level and a period in a low (L) level in a waveform fluctuates. The techniques for reducing the fluctuations disclosed in a patent literature 1 and a patent literature 2 are known.
A differential signal VIN+ and VIN− is supplied to each of the differential pair 10 and the differential pair 20. The P-channel MOS transistor 31 is connected between the differential pair 10 and a power supply voltage VDD and serves as a current source. A gate of the P-channel MOS transistor 31 is connected to a bias voltage VBSP via the switch 32 and connected to the power supply voltage VDD via the switch 33. The N-channel MOS transistor 34 is connected between the differential pair 20 and a power supply voltage VSS and serves as a current source. A gate of the N-channel MOS transistor 34 is connected to a bias voltage VBSN via the switch 35 and connected to a power supply voltage VSS via the switch 36. The outputs of the differential pairs 10 and 20 are added by the current summation circuit 40, and the addition resultant signal is outputted from an output terminal OUT via the inverter 46.
The open and close of the switches 32 and 35 are controlled on the basis of a control signal Sc. In addition, the switches 33 and 36 are controlled on the basis of a signal having a logic level opposite to that of the control signal Sc due to the inverter 37. Accordingly, the above-mentioned two differential pairs 10 and 20 are controlled by the inverter 37 on the basis of the control signal Sc so that any one of the differential pairs can operate.
An operation one of the differential pairs is switched depending on a voltage range of the differential signal. That is, as shown in
When the voltage Vcm is the voltage VDD/2 or more, to activate the differential pair 20, the switch 35 is closed and the switch 36 is opened. The bias voltage VBSN is applied to the gate of the transistor 34, and the transistor 34 operates as a constant current source to activate the differential pair 20. At this time, the switch 32 is opened and the switch 33 is closed. Accordingly, the voltage VDD is applied to the gate of the transistor 34, so that the transistor 31 will be in an off-state to inactivate the differential pair 10.
When the voltage Vcm is the voltage VDD/2 or less, to activate the differential pair 10, the switch 32 is closed and the switch 33 is opened. The bias voltage VBSP is applied to the gate of the transistor 31, and the transistor 31 operates as a constant current source to activate the differential pair 10. At this time, the switch 35 is opened and the switch 36 is closed. Accordingly, the voltage VSS is applied to the gate of the transistor 34, so that the transistor 34 will be in the off-state to inactivate the differential pair 20.
As described above, by activating any one of the differential pair 10 and the differential pair 20 depending on the voltage Vcm of the differential signal, the voltage range of the receivable differential signal can be extended. However, to realize the extension, it is required to switch the control signal Sc outside the receiving circuit. In addition, when the voltage range of the differential signal is in the vicinity of the voltage Vcm, it is hard to determine the differential pair to be activated. Moreover, the switched differential pair sometimes has a different characteristic, so that a delay time and a duty ratio may be degraded.
Next, referring to a block diagram shown in
Representing a voltage of the input node NV1+ as VIN+ and a voltage of the input node NV1− as VIN−, when (VIN+)>(VIN−), that is, a voltage difference exists between the input nodes, the transistor 52 is turned on and the transistor 51 is turned off. Accordingly, the current I1 flows to the transistor 52.
In this case, when the current values of the constant current sources 61 and 63 are in a relation of I1>I3, a gate voltage of the transistor 54 rises to turn on the transistor 54. Accordingly, the voltage at the node B is in the power supply voltage VSS (GND: an L level). Since the transistor 53 is turned off, the voltage at the node A is in the power supply voltage VDD (an H level). In this manner, the node NA and the node NB are in a reversed phase relation. Accordingly, a latch circuit including the inverters 81 and 82 operates, and the output node NVO1 is in the H level and the output node NVO2 is in the L level.
As described above, when the output nodes NVO1 and NVO2 output the reversed phase voltages, the latch circuit including the inverters 81 and 82 operates, to accelerate the switching of the output voltages. In this manner, it is prevented that the duty ratio representing a ratio between a period of the H level and a period of the L level in an output waveform becomes unstable.
However, in the above-mentioned circuit, when a voltage difference of the differential signal is small, the latch circuit does not operate well so that the output becomes unstable.
Since the transistor 54 operates depending on the gate voltage, a change rate of the gate voltage is correlated to a current difference (I52−I3) between the current I52 flowing through the transistor 52 and the current I3 flowing through the constant current source 63. As the current difference (I52−I3) becomes larger, the operation speed can be made faster. Meanwhile, in a case of Vdiff=(VIN+)−(VIN−)=0.2 V, the current difference (I52−I3) becomes small in comparison with the case of Vdiff=0.4V. Accordingly, the change rate of the gate voltage becomes slow. Thus, when a circuit operation frequency increases, data is switched to the next data before the voltages at the output nodes NVO1 and NVO2 are completely switched. For this reason, the voltages VOUT1 and VOUT2 change in the vicinity of threshold voltages of the inverters 81 and 82. Therefore, the latch circuit including the inverters 81 and 82 does not operate, and the output becomes unstable.
In addition, since the differential circuit in the signal input stage includes the N-channel MOS transistors, the receiving circuit cannot operate in a case of a low input voltage. Regarding this case, the explanation will be made referring to
As described above, since the input voltage range changes in the transmission system due to reflections, noises, manufacturing variations, and the like, the conventional differential signal receiving circuit requires that an input data voltage range and an input data differential amplitude range are wide.
[Patent literature 1]: JP 2004-297462A
[Patent literature 2]: JP-A-Heisei 5-67950
In an aspect of the present invention, a differential signal receiving circuit includes: a first differential circuit comprising a plurality of depletion type transistors of a first conductive type and having a first output node and a second output node; a second differential circuit comprising a plurality of enhancement type transistors of a second conductive type opposite to the first conductive type, and having output nodes respectively connected with the first and second output nodes; and an inverter circuit connected between the first output node and the second output node.
In another aspect of the present invention, a display apparatus includes: a display panel comprising data lines, scan lines, and pixels arranged at intersections of the data lines and the scan lines; a gate driver circuit configured to sequentially drive the scan lines in response to a control signal; and a source driver circuit configured to drives the data lines in response to a data signal. The source driver circuit comprises a differential signal receiving circuit receives the data signal. The differential signal receiving circuit includes: a first differential circuit comprising a plurality of depletion type transistors of a first conductive type and having a first output node (NA) and a second output node; a second differential circuit comprising a plurality of enhancement type transistors of a second conductive type opposite to the first conductive type, and having output nodes respectively connected with the first and second output nodes (NA, NB); and an inverter circuit connected between the first output node and the second output node.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a differential signal receiving method is achieved by receiving a differential signal by a differential pair of depletion type transistors of a first conductive type; by receiving the differential signal by a differential pair of enhancement type transistors of a second conductive type opposite to the first conductive type; by supplying currents corresponding to currents which flows through the depletion type transistors, from current mirror circuits connected with the depletion type transistors to first and second nodes, respectively; by supplying currents corresponding to currents which flows through the enhancement type transistors, from current mirror circuits connected with the enhancement type transistors to the first and second nodes, respectively; and by driving the second node based on a voltage of the first node by an inverter whose input is connected to the first node and whose output is connected to the second node.
According to the present invention, a differential signal receiving circuit can output a stable signal with low jitter even in a case of small differential input amplitude.
The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description of certain embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, a display apparatus using a differential signal receiving circuit of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings.
The source driver circuit 210 drives the data lines along a column direction of the liquid crystal panel 205 on the basis of the display data signal and the control signal. The gate driver circuit 220 drives the scan lines along a row direction of the liquid crystal panel 205 on the basis of the control signal.
Here,
The transistors MN1 and MN2 are depletion type transistors, which configure the differential circuit 110. Accordingly, sources of the transistors MN1 and MN2 are commonly connected to the power supply voltage VSS via the constant current source II1 outputting the constant current I1. A drain of the transistor MN1 is connected to a reference current node of the current mirror circuit 102. A drain of the transistor MN2 is connected to a reference current node of the current mirror circuit 101. The transistors MP1 and MP2 configure a differential circuit 120, and sources thereof are commonly connected to the power supply voltage VDD via the constant current source II2 outputting the constant current I2. A drain of the transistor MP1 is connected to a reference current node of the current mirror circuit 103. A drain of the transistor MP2 is connected to a reference current node of the current mirror circuit 104. Gates of the transistors MN1 and MP1 are both connected to an input node NVI−. Gates of the transistors MN2 and MP2 are both connected to an input node NVI+. A differential signal is inputted to the input nodes NVI+ and NVI−. A voltage of the input node NVI+ is shown as VIN+, and a voltage of the input node NVI− is shown as VIN−.
An output node of the current mirror circuit 102 and an output node of the current mirror circuit 103 are connected to a node NA. An output node of the current mirror circuit 101 and an output node of the current mirror circuit 104 are connected to a node NB. The node NA is connected to an input of the inverter INV1, and the node NB is connected an output of the inverter INV1. Inverters INV2 and INV3 are connected in series between the node NB and the output node NVO of the receiving circuit.
The current mirror circuits 101 and 102 are connected to the power supply voltage VDD to supply currents from the output node to the nodes NA and NB on the basis of a current flowing to a reference current node. The current mirror circuits 103 and 104 are connected to the power supply voltage VSS to supply currents from the nodes NA and NB to the output node on the basis of the current flowing the reference current node.
An operation at timing t1 shown in
Since the relation of (VIN+)>(VIN−) is satisfied, the transistor MN2 is turned on, and the transistor MN1 is turned off. Accordingly, the constant current I1 flows through the transistor MN2 in the differential circuit 110 of the depletion type transistors MN1 and MN2. In this case, the current mirror circuit 101 operates, and the current mirror circuit 102 stops. Similarly, the transistor MP1 is turned on, and the transistor MP2 is turned off. Accordingly, the constant current I2 flows through the transistor MP1 in the differential circuit 100 of the transistors MP1 and MP2. In this case, the current mirror circuit 103 operates, and the current mirror circuit 104 stops.
Since the current mirror circuit 101 operates and the current mirror circuit 104 stops, a voltage of the node NB rises. Similarly, since the current mirror circuit 103 operates and the current mirror circuit 102 stops, a voltage of the node NA falls. Since the voltage of the node NA falls, an output voltage of the inverter INV1 becomes high, which raises the voltage of the node NB. In such an operation, the differential signal is converted into the single end signal in the node NB, and is outputted to the output node NVO as the single end signal VOUT using the inverters INV2 and INV3 as buffers.
Here, referring to
Referring to
In the circuit shown in
Next, an operation when a differential signal of a small voltage difference (Vdiff) is inputted between the input nodes NVI+ and NVI− will be described.
Firstly, in the circuit shown in
Since the current mirror circuit 101 operates and the current mirror circuit 104 stops, the voltage of the node NB rises. In addition, since the current mirror circuit 103 operates and the current mirror circuit 102 stops, the voltage of the node NA falls.
Next, as shown in
In the circuit shown in
As described above, when the differential amplifier circuit of the depletion type N-channel MOS transistors that are non-doped transistors is combined with the differential amplifier circuit of the enhancement type P-channel MOS transistors, the input voltage range can be extended. Moreover, when the inverter is provided between the differential signals whose phases are opposite to each other and an assist operation is carried out by the inverter, the voltage switching can be carried out in a short time, and accordingly the differential signal receiving circuit can operate stably even when the input voltage difference (Vdiff) is small.
As described above, according to the present invention, when the differential stage of the depletion type N-channel MOS transistors is combined with the differential stage of the enhancement type P-channel MOS transistors, the voltage range of the input signal can be enlarged. Moreover, even when the voltage difference of the input difference signal is small, a signal with stable duty ratio can be outputted.
When the input signal is a small amplitude signal near the power supply voltage VDD, it is preferred to combine the differential stage of the depletion type P-channel MOS transistors with the differential stage of the enhancement type N-channel MOS transistors.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2009-147366 | Jun 2009 | JP | national |