Patent Grant
9520090
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0139265, filed on Dec. 3, 2012, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field
The present disclosure relates to electrowetting display apparatuses and methods of driving the same.
A. 2. Description of the Related Art
A phenomenon in which a shape of liquid droplets is changed when a voltage is applied to liquid droplets is referred to as electrowetting. Using this electrowetting phenomenon, for example, there have been developed electrowetting lenses capable of electrically changing a focus length or electrowetting scanners capable of electrically changing a refraction angle of the lens.
An electrowetting display apparatuses makes use of the electrowetting phenomenon. Electrowetting display apparatuses have a structure in which oil colored by one of red, green, blue, and black for each pixel is arranged on a hydrophobic insulating film. In such electrowetting display apparatuses, a hydrophobic insulating film (e.g., an insulation film that resists mixture with water) is changed into a hydrophilic insulating film (e.g., an insulation film that is soluble with water), thereby collecting the oil in one side when voltages are applied to respective pixels and the oil evenly spread out when voltages are not applied.
If a white reflective plate is disposed on a rear surface of an electrowetting display apparatus, a pixel is tinged with white when applying a voltage that causes the oil to collect is applied thereto. In contrast, a pixel is tinged with a color of the colored oil when a voltage is not applied.
Also, electrowetting display apparatuses may be manufactured as a transmissive type using a backlight unit to produce light and also as a reflective type using external light. Reflective electrowetting display apparatuses may have excellent visibility in the open air where sunlight is strong, may consume a small amount of power, and may have excellent color saturation of natural colors because of coloring oil by using dyes. Accordingly, electrowetting display apparatuses can be applied to flexible electronic paper.
Provided are electrowetting display apparatuses having an improved aperture ratio and reduced power consumption by preventing backflow of a nonpolar liquid.
Provided are methods for driving electrowetting display apparatuses to prevent backflow of a nonpolar liquid by using low power consumption.
Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments.
According to an example embodiment, electrowetting display apparatus includes an electrowetting pixel configured to display an image and a driving circuit. The electrowetting pixel includes a polar liquid and a nonpolar liquid arranged between a common electrode and a pixel electrode. The driving circuit is configured to control operations of the electrowetting pixel, the driving circuit including a memory circuit configured to store an image to be displayed by the electrowetting pixel. The driving circuit is configured to periodically provide a reset signal to the electrowetting pixel while the electrowetting pixel is displaying the image and provide an image stored in the memory circuit to the electrowetting pixel after a reset is finished.
For example, the driving circuit may include a first transistor including a drain connected to a data line and a gate connected to a gate line, a second transistor including a gate connected to a source of the first transistor and a source connected to the pixel electrode of the electrowetting pixel, a capacitor having a first end and a second end. The first end connected to the first transistor and the second transistor and the second end connected to ground, a third transistor including a gate connected to a reset line and a source and a drain connected to the pixel electrode and the common electrode of the electrowetting pixel, respectively, and a fourth transistor including a source connected to a drain of the second transistor such that the fourth transistor is connected to the second transistor in series.
Also, a gate of the fourth transistor may be connected to a reset bar line that is configured to provide a signal opposite to a signal provided to the reset line.
A drain of the fourth transistor may be grounded.
The apparatus may further include a gate driver providing a gate signal to the gate line, a data driver providing an image signal to the data line, and a clock generator configured to generate a first signal and a second signal, and provide the first signal, as the reset signal, to the reset line and provide the second signal to the reset bar line, the first signal being an inverse of the second signal and the first and second having a desired period.
The clock generator may be configured to determine the desired period such that the electrowetting pixel receives the reset signal for at least an amount of time required for the nonpolar liquid to return to a state where the nonpolar liquid is evenly spread.
Also, the electrowetting pixel may include a rear substrate and a front substrate disposed facing each other, the pixel electrode disposed on a top surface of the rear substrate, a hydrophobic insulating film disposed on the pixel electrode, the nonpolar liquid disposed on the hydrophobic insulating film, the common electrode disposed on a bottom surface of the front substrate, and the polar liquid filling a vacant space between the front substrate and the rear substrate.
For example, the front substrate and the rear substrate may be transparent substrates.
As another example, the front substrate may be a transparent substrate and the rear substrate may be a white reflective plate.
Also, the polar liquid may be a transparent liquid and the nonpolar liquid may be colored with a color.
According to another example embodiment, a method of driving an electrowetting display apparatus includes displaying an image by an electrowetting pixel by applying a fixed voltage to a common electrode of the electrowetting pixel and applying a variable voltage to a pixel electrode of the electrowetting pixel according to an image signal, storing the image signal in a memory circuit included in a driving circuit of the electrowetting pixel; and resetting, by the driving circuit, the electrowetting pixel by periodically providing a reset signal from the driving circuit to the electrowetting pixel while the electrowetting pixel is displaying the image and providing the image signal stored in the memory circuit to the electrowetting pixel after the electrowetting pixel resets.
The method may further include storing the image signal in the capacitor by turning on the first transistor by applying a first voltage via the gate line and providing the image signal via the data line.
The method may further include, while the first voltage is being applied via the gate line, turning off the third transistor by applying a second voltage via the reset line, and turning on the fourth transistor by applying the first voltage via the reset bar line, wherein the first voltage is greater than the second voltage.
The method may further include resetting the electrowetting pixel by turning off the first transistor, turning on the third transistor and simultaneously turning off the fourth transistor. The turning off the first transistor includes applying the second voltage to the gate of the first transistor via the gate line, the turning on the third transistor includes applying the first voltage to the gate of the third transistor via the reset line, and the turning off the fourth transistor includes applying the second voltage to the gate of the fourth transistor via the reset bar line.
The providing the image signal may further include providing, after the electrowetting pixel resets, the image signal stored in the capacitor to the electrowetting pixel by turning off the third transistor and turning on the fourth transistor. The turning off the third transistor includes applying the second voltage to the gate of the third transistor via the reset line, and the turning on the fourth transistor includes applying the first voltage to the gate of the fourth transistor via the reset bar line.
In one embodiment, the turning on the third transistor and simultaneously turning off the fourth transistor may be repeated a number of times within a desired period.
In one embodiment, the turning on the third transistor and simultaneously turning off the fourth transistor are performed by providing, via a clock generator, the reset line and the reset bar line with mutually opposite signals that both having the desired period.
These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to example embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. In the drawings, a size of an element may be exaggerated for clarity and convenience of description and the thicknesses of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.
Detailed illustrative embodiments are disclosed herein. However, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing example embodiments. Example embodiments may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only those set forth herein.
It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit this disclosure to the particular example embodiments disclosed. On the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description of the figures.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of this disclosure. As used herein, the term “and/or,” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected,” or “coupled,” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected,” or “directly coupled,” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between,” versus “directly between,” “adjacent,” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.).
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the,” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two figures shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
Various example embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which some example embodiments of the invention are shown. In the drawings, the thicknesses of layers and regions are exaggerated for clarity.
Referring to
In a transmissive type electrowetting display apparatus, both the rear substrate 11 and the front substrate 17 may be transparent substrates. In a reflective type electrowetting display apparatus, the front substrate 17 may be a transparent substrate and the rear substrate 11 may be a white reflective plate.
The common electrode 18 disposed on the bottom surface of the front substrate 17 is commonly connected to the plurality of electrowetting pixels 10 of the electrowetting display apparatus, and a regularly fixed voltage is applied to the common electrode 18. The pixel electrode 12 may be individually disposed for each of the plurality of electrowetting pixels 10, and a voltage applied to the pixel electrode 12 may be a variable voltage varying with a desired color and a gray level.
The nonpolar liquid 15 is a liquid having no polarity such as oil and may be colored by dyes of red, green, blue, and black. The nonpolar liquid 15 is surrounded by the partition 14 inside the electrowetting pixel 10 and is disposed on the hydrophobic insulating film 13. The polar liquid 16 has a transparent liquid having polarity may use one of deionized (DI) water, a liquid obtained by dissolving another polarizable material in the DI water, and ethylene glycol glycerin (EGG). Since a top surface of the partition 14 is separated from the front substrate 17, the polar liquid 16 may fill throughout the plurality of electrowetting pixels 10.
If the electrowetting pixel 10 is in an OFF state, in which there is no potential difference between the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18, that is, when the same voltage is applied to the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18, the nonpolar liquid 15 spread out on the hydrophobic insulating film 13 to cover the entire the hydrophobic insulating film 13. In this case, the electrowetting pixel 10 is tinged with the same color as that of the nonpolar liquid 15. For example, a voltage applied to the common electrode 18 may be fixed at +15 V and a voltage of about +15 V may be applied to the pixel electrode 12 in the OFF state
On the contrary, in an ON state, a voltage applied to the pixel electrode 12 is changed, thereby generating a potential difference between the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18. For example, while the voltage applied to the common electrode 18 is fixed with +15V, a voltage of up to about −15 V may be applied to the pixel electrode 12 according to a gray level in the ON state. When the electrowetting display device turns to the ON state, due to an electric field generated between the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18, a surface of the hydrophobic insulating film 13 is changed to a hydrophilic state.
As shown in
However, in the electrowetting pixel 10 of the electrowetting display apparatus, when the potential difference between the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18 is continuously maintained, for example, when the electrowetting pixel 10 continuously display white, there occurs a phenomenon in which the nonpolar liquid 15 collected to the corner due to the hydrophobic insulating film 13 changed into hydrophilic spreads out again due to a backflow of the nonpolar liquid 15.
This backflow is generated because ions penetrate into the polar liquid 16 due to an effect of the electric field formed between the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18, and thus the nonpolar liquid 15 is charged. When the nonpolar liquid 15 is charged, an electric force acts between the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18 and then the nonpolar liquid 15 covers the surface of the hydrophobic insulating film changed into being hydrophilic, resulting in a reduction of the reflectivity or transparency of the electrowetting pixel cell 10. For example, a voltage applied to the common electrode 18 is fixed as +15 V and a voltage of −15 V is continuously applied to the pixel electrode 12.
To suppress such backflow phenomenon, as schematically shown in
A reset operation of removing the ions penetrating into the nonpolar liquid 15 may be performed between frames of images. In this operation, an image of a frame is displayed and the reset is performed and then an image of a next frame is displayed. However, since the resetting is performed sequentially between the displaying of the frames, a frame rate may be slowed as much as the time required to perform the reset. Also, power consumption of a data driver and a gate driver scanning the electrowetting pixels 10 to perform the reset operations increases, thereby increasing power consumption. Accordingly, it may be more effective to reset without individual reset sections and without using the gate driver and the data driver.
Referring to
The driving circuit shown in
Referring to
Display of a White Image
When the electrowetting pixel 10 displays a white image, the data line D may provide a high voltage (e.g. a first voltage). Then, a node designated as A becomes in a high state and in this case, the second transistor T2 is turned on. On the other hand, while the gate line G is providing the high voltage, a low voltage (e.g. a second voltage) is provided via the reset line R and the high voltage is provided via the reset bar line R bar. Then, the third transistor T3 is in an OFF state and the fourth transistor T4 becomes turned on. In this case, a node designated as B is connected to the ground and becomes in a low state. Accordingly, the electrowetting pixel 10 displays white because the nonpolar liquid 15 is swept away due to the potential difference between the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18.
To provide an image signal to a next pixel row, for example, (n+1)th pixel row, a high voltage is applied to a gate line G connected to the (n+1)th pixel row and a low voltage is applied to the gate line of the nth pixel row. Then, the first transistor T1 in the nth pixel row is turned off. Though the first transistor T1 is turned off, since the capacitor C is charged, the A node is still in the high state and the second transistor T2 is maintained to be in the ON state. Accordingly, the electrowetting pixel 10 may continuously display the white image.
As described above, when the electrowetting pixel 10 continuously displays the white image, ions penetrate into the nonpolar liquid 15 and a backflow phenomenon may occur.
To prevent the backflow phenomenon, it is necessary to remove the ions in the nonpolar liquid 15 by temporarily applying the same voltage to the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18. To accomplish this, while a low voltage is being applied to the gate line G, a high voltage may be provided via the reset line R and a low voltage may be provided via the reset bar line R bar. Then, the third transistor T3 is turned on and the fourth transistor T4 is turned off. Since the source of the third transistor T3 is connected to the pixel electrode 12 of the electrowetting pixel 10 and the drain of the third transistor T3 is connected to the common electrode 18 of the electrowetting pixel 10, when the third transistor T3 is turned on, the same voltage may be applied to the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18. Accordingly, the electrowetting pixel 10 may be reset. While being reset, the electrowetting pixel 10 temporarily displays a black image. However, since a reset time is just several ms the black image may not be recognized by viewers.
When the reset is finished, the low voltage is provided via the reset line R and the high voltage is provided via the reset bar line R bar. Then, the third transistor T3 is turned off and the fourth transistor T4 is turned on. In this case, the B node becomes in a low state and the electrowetting pixel 10 displays white again.
Since the electrowetting pixel 10 displays an original image after the reset, the driving circuit for the electrowetting pixel 10 may be considered as to include a memory circuit that stores the original image. That is, an image to be displayed by the electrowetting pixel 10 is stored in the memory circuit of the driving circuit, the electrowetting pixel 10 temporarily displays the black image while being reset, and the image stored in the memory circuit may be provided to the electrowetting pixel 10 after the reset is finished.
As described above, according to an example embodiment, a reset operation may be performed while an image of a frame is being displayed. For example, concurrently or in parallel with display of the image. Accordingly, the reset operation may be repeated several times with certain intervals in one frame. For example, in
According to an example embodiment, since the reset operations may be performed while displaying the image, to prevent the backflow of the nonpolar liquid 15 it is unnecessary to perform a reset operation by additionally scanning pixels between one frame and a next frame using the gate driver 20 and data driver 21. Accordingly, since the gate driver 20 and the data driver 21 are not used for the reset operation, it is possible to reduce power consumption. Since the reset line R and the reset bar line R bar may be connected to the clock generator 22, which is generally already disposed in an electronic device, it may be unnecessary to install an additional driver for the reset operation. Also, since there is no additional reset section between frames where an image is not displayed, a frame rate of the electrowetting display apparatus may be improved.
Display of a Black Image
When the electrowetting pixel 10 displays a black image, the data line D may provide a low voltage. Then, the A node becomes in a low state and the second transistor T2 is turned off. Since the second transistor T2 is turned off, the B node is disconnected from the ground. Therefore, irrelevant to signals provided to the reset line R and the reset bar line R bar, the B node is continuously maintained being in a high state. Accordingly, since the same voltage is applied to the pixel electrode 12 and the common electrode 18, the electrowetting pixel 10 may maintain the black image, irrelevant to the signals provided to the reset line R and the reset bar line R bar.
Example embodiments of the electrowetting display apparatus with an improved aperture ratio and low power consumption and the method of driving the same have been described above and illustrated in the drawings. It should be understood that the example embodiments described therein should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each embodiment should typically be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other embodiments.
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