This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 112123503, filed Jun. 21, 2023, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to image display technology, more particularly a display panel and an image display method.
With the rapid development of electronic technology, display devices are widely used in daily life, such as smart phones or computers. Display device will separately control the brightness of each pixel of the display panel to present the corresponding image, and the method the display device updates the image will affect its display quality.
One aspect of the present disclosure is an image display method, comprising: setting, by a driving circuit and a plurality of data registers, a plurality of first driving voltages on a first row of a plurality of pixel units according to a first driving signal, wherein the plurality of data registers coupled to the plurality of pixel units; and setting, by the driving circuit and the plurality of data registers, a plurality of second driving voltages on a second row of the plurality of pixel units according to a second driving signal; wherein setting the plurality of second driving voltages in the second row of the plurality of pixel units comprises: when one of the plurality of second driving voltages is equal to one of the plurality of first driving voltages, and both correspond to a same one of the plurality of data registers, disabling an input terminal of the same one of the plurality of data registers, so that the same one of the plurality of data registers maintains the one of the plurality of first driving voltages as the one of the plurality of second driving voltages.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is a display panel, comprising a pixel circuit, a register circuit and a driving circuit. The pixel circuit comprise a plurality of pixel units, wherein the plurality of pixel units is divided into a plurality of rows according to a plurality of scan lines. The register circuit comprises a plurality of data registers. The plurality of data registers is coupled to the plurality of pixel units through a plurality of data lines. The driving circuit is coupled to the register circuit and the plurality of scan lines, configured to set a plurality of first driving voltages on a first row of the plurality of pixel units by the plurality of data registers, and configured to set a plurality of second driving voltages on a second row of the plurality of pixel units by the plurality of data registers. When one of the plurality of second driving voltages is equal to one of the plurality of first driving voltages, and both correspond to a same one of the plurality of data registers, the driving circuit is configured to not output the one of the plurality of second driving voltages, and the same one of the plurality of data registers is configured to maintain the one of the plurality of first driving voltages as the one of the plurality of second driving voltages.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the disclosure as claimed.
The present disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
For the embodiment below is described in detail with the accompanying drawings, embodiments are not provided to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, the operation of the described structure is not for limiting the order of implementation. Any device with equivalent functions that is produced from a structure formed by a recombination of elements is all covered by the scope of the present disclosure. Drawings are for the purpose of illustration only, and not plotted in accordance with the original size.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected to” or “coupled to”, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element to another element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled,” there are no intervening elements present. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes an associated listed items or any and all combinations of more.
The display panel 100 includes a pixel circuit 110, a register circuit 120 and a driving circuit 130. The pixel circuit 110 includes multiple pixel units PL. The pixel circuit 110 is coupled to multiple scan lines GL and multiple data lines DL to sequentially receive driving voltages corresponding to the display signal and to display different pixel value (e.g., grayscale value, brightness value). As shown in
The register circuit 120 includes multiple data registers LA, which are coupled to the pixel units PL through the data lines DL. In one embodiment, the data registers LA may be D-type flip-flops, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.
The driving circuit 130 is coupled to the register circuit 120 and the scan lines GL respectively to set the driving voltages of the pixel units PL by the data registers LA. For example, the first pixel values of multiple pixel units PL in the first row R1 are controlled according to multiple first driving voltages, or the second pixel values of the pixel units PL in the second row R2 are controlled according to multiple second driving voltages. “Driving voltage” is used to control the pixel unit PL to display the corresponding pixel value (e.g., control the flip angle and light transmittance of the liquid crystal). Taking the first driving voltages as an example, each of the first driving voltages corresponds to each of the pixel units PL in the first row R1 of the pixel circuit 110. In other words, “multiple first driving voltages” are used to represent the voltages of the pixel units PL corresponding to the first row R1, and each of the first driving voltages varies according to the pixel value that the image screen needs to display.
In one embodiment, the display panel 100 may be a liquid crystal display using Memory-In-Pixel (MIP) technology. Each of the pixel units PL has a memory to record the state of the liquid crystal, but the display panel of the present disclosure is not limited to MIP technology.
In the embodiment shown in
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the format of the driving signal provided to the display panel is changed (detailed in subsequent paragraphs), so when the display panel 100 updates the screen, it only needs to write the driving voltages that are different from the pixel values of the previous row, which increases the update rate. In other words, when the driving voltages that need to be set for the pixel units PL corresponding to the same position (i.e., corresponding to the same data registers LA) in the second row R2 and the first row R1 are the same (e.g., both need to be set to “white”), the driving circuit 130 does not need to repeatedly output/write the second driving voltages to the data registers LA. At this time, the driving voltages output by the data registers LA maintains the first driving voltages output previously. That is, the data registers LA directly use/set the previously output first driving voltages as the second driving voltages. In some embodiments, the driving circuit 130 transmits a disable signal to the corresponding data register(s) LA (such as the “EN” terminal shown in
For example, the driving circuit 130 first sets the pixel values of the first row R1, and then sets the pixel values of the second row R2. The pixel values R11-R16 of the first row R1 are “black, white, black, white . . . ”, and the pixel values R21-R26 of the second row R2 are “white, black, white, white . . . ”. When the driving circuit 130 sets the pixel values of the second row R2, the driving circuit 130 first updates the first three pixel values “white, black, white”, but the fourth pixel value R24 is equal to the pixel value R14 of the first row, so there is no need to update. The driving circuit 130 can ignore the pixel value R24 and continue to set the last two pixel values R25-R26. In other words, the driving circuit 130 does not need to write data to the data registers LA corresponding to the pixel units PL (the pixel value R24). Accordingly, the update rate of the display panel 100 can be improved.
Please refer to
In one embodiment, the register circuit 120 includes multiple data registers 121-126 (same as the data registers LA shown in
The logic circuit 132 includes multiple switching logic elements AND1-AND6. The output terminal of the first switching logic elements AND1 is directly coupled to the input terminal of the first data registers SHR1, and the output terminals of the other switching logic elements AND2-AND6 are coupled to the input terminals of the corresponding control logic elements OR2-OR6. In one embodiment, each of the switching logic elements AND1-AND6 include an “AND” gate. The input terminals of one of the switching logic elements AND1-AND6 is used to receive a start signal VST.
Referring to
The control circuit 133C is configured to output various control signals of the display panel 100, including a clock signal CLK, a clear signal CLR and a start signal VST. The clear signal CLR is a disable signal, used to stop the operation of the shift registers SHR1-SHR6.
For the convenience of explanation, taking the process of the display panel 100 updating the first row R1 and the second row R2 as an example to describe, the other rows can be displayed and updated in the same way as the first row R1 and/or the second row R2. In one embodiment, the driving circuit 130 first receives the first driving signal corresponding to the pixel units PL of the first row R1 from the processor PR, and sets multiple first driving voltages of the pixel units PL of the first row R1 by the data registers 121-126 according to the first driving signal to display the pixel value R11-R16. Since the pixel units PL of the first row R1 is a first row in the update process, the driving circuit 130 writes the driving voltages corresponding to all pixel units PL of the first row R1 by the data registers 121-126 to set all the pixel values R11-R16 of the first row R1.
In step S502, the driving circuit 130 receives the second driving signal corresponding to the pixel units PL of the second row R2. As mentioned above, in this embodiment, the display panel 100 does not need to update the pixel units PL at the same position (corresponding to the same data lines DL) and with the same pixel value. Therefore, the second driving signal does not need to include the driving voltages of all pixel units PL in the second row R2 (e.g., does not need to include the driving voltage of the pixel value R24). The driving circuit 130 can still set each of the pixel units PL in the second row R2 to the corresponding pixel value R21-R26 according to the second driving signal.
In step S503, the control circuit 133C of the decoding circuit 133 confirms the type of the second driving signal according to the model select data 301 of the second driving signal. The address analysis circuit 133A of the decoding circuit 133 confirms the position of the second row R2 of the pixel units PL that currently needs to be updated according to the scan address 302 of the second driving signal, and drives the scan line GL corresponding to the second row R2. In particular, in this embodiment, the driving circuit 130 sets the pixel value of the second row R2 after setting the pixel value of the first row R1. However, in other embodiments, the order in which the display panel 100 updates the pixel units PL is not limited to “scanning sequentially from top to bottom.” In other words, “the second row R2” indicated by the second driving signal may also be the fourth row of vertical rows of the display panel 100. The processor PR that generates the driving signal can adjust the update order according to the similarity between the pixel values in multiple rows. This application will be explained in the subsequent paragraphs.
In one embodiment, the decoding circuit 133 is further configured to confirm that the second row R2 needs to be divided into several pieces for update according to the update quantity 303 of the second driving signal. For example, since the pixel values in the second row R2 that are different from the first row R1 are “R21-R23” and “R25-R26”, the update will be divided into two pieces.
In step S504, the address analysis circuit 133A of the decoding circuit 133 identifies and enables the corresponding data registers according to the update start address of the second driving signal. Taking
Similarly, when setting the pixel value R25-R26 of the second piece, the address analysis circuit 133A enables the corresponding control logic element OR5 according to the update start address 304B, so that the corresponding shift register SHR5 is enabled, and the corresponding data register 125 will be used as the update starting point. The other shift registers behind the shift register SHR5 will be enabled sequentially with the clock signal CLK, but the other shift registers SHR1-SHR4 in front of the shift register SHR5 will be disabled. In one embodiment, the decoding circuit 133 enables the corresponding switching logic element AND5 according to the update start address 304B, and disables other switching logic elements, thereby enabling the corresponding control logic element OR5.
In step S505, the data generating circuit 133B of the decoding circuit 133 sequentially outputs a part of the second driving voltages corresponding to the pixel units PL of the second row R2 to the corresponding part of the data registers according to the updated data of the second driving signal. In other words, the first pixel values and the second pixel values corresponding to the part of the data registers are different from each other, so the driving circuit 130 needs to actively write the second driving voltages to update the pixel value.
The aboved “part of the second driving voltages” represents the driving voltages need to be actively written to the data registers to update the corresponding pixel units PL, such as the second driving voltages of the pixel value R21-R23 shown in
In one embodiment, the driving circuit 130 uses the data registers SHR1 and SHR5 indicated by the update start addresses 304A and 304B as the update starting points to output the second driving voltages to the corresponding parts of the data registers in sequence. In addition, the driving circuit 130 can also start timing when it starts to output the second driving voltages. When the timing time exceeds the update time of the second driving signal, outputting a clear signal CLR as the disable signal to interrupt all the shift registers to prevent error signals from being continuously input.
The above steps S504-S505 can be performed repeatedly to complete the update of the pixel units PL in the same row. For example, in step S503, after confirming that the one currently to be updated is pixel units PL of the second row R2, the display panel 100 first performs steps S504-S505 once to update pixel values (e.g., R21-R23) of the pixel units of the first piece. Then, the display panel 100 performs steps S504-S505 for the second time to update pixel values (e.g., R25-R26) of the pixel units of the second piece. In order to illustrate the operation of the driving circuit 130,
As mentioned above, at this time, the control terminals (EN) of the shift registers SHR1-SHR4 receives the disable signal, so that the input terminals of the shift registers SHR1-SHR4 will be disabled and will not receive the signal. Therefore, the second driving voltages output by the decoding circuit 133 are provided to the data register 125 corresponding to the shift register SHR5 to update the pixel value R25. The data registers 125 is used to as an update starting point, and in response to the clock signal CLK, the subsequent data registers 126 will be enabled in sequence, thereby updating the pixel value R26, and so on.
In addition, since the pixel value R24 is the same as the pixel value 14, when updating pixel values of the second row R2, the data register 124 corresponding to the pixel value R24 will be disabled and will not receive the input signal. At this time, the data register 124 maintain the output of the first driving voltages input previously.
In some embodiments, the present disclosure further generates the driving signal according to an original image data. As shown in
The processor PR does not need to generate the driving signals sequentially in the same direction (e.g. from top to bottom). In one embodiment, the processor PR will compare the pixel value of different rows (corresponding to the scan lines GL), then set “the first row R1” and “the second row R2” according to the comparison results. Specifically, the processor PR calculates difference values between the pixel values of each row, and then sets a sorting result of the pixel values of each row (i.e., the order of updates) according to the difference values. After confirming the sorting result of pixel values, the processor PR sets/defines “the first row R1” and “the second row R2” accordingly.
Referring to to
Similarly, comparing the physical locations 720 and 740 with the physical location 730, since the physical location 720 and the physical location 730 have more of the same pixel values, the processor PR sets the physical location 720 to “the third row R73” when updating, and sets the physical location 740 to “the fourth row R74” when updating. Accordingly, the number of times the driving voltages need to be actively input is reduced, so the update rate of the display panel can be improved.
The elements, method steps, or technical features in the foregoing embodiments may be combined with each other, and are not limited to the order of the specification description or the order of the drawings in the present disclosure.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the present disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this present disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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112123503 | Jun 2023 | TW | national |