This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202011068583.3, filed on Sep. 30, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a field of display technology, and in particular to a gate driving circuit, a driving method thereof, and a display panel.
In the display technology, a gate driver on array (GOA) technology is usually used to realize a gate driving circuit. In the GOA technology, the gate driving circuit is provided on an array substrate, which may drive gates of each pixel in a pixel area without additionally binding a gate driving chip. Generally, each shift register in the gate driving circuit is cascaded-coupled. In this way, each shift register generates a gate driving signal that shifts sequentially, so as to turn on sub-pixels in the pixel area row by row. However, a structure of a traditional gate driving circuit leads to limitations in a display.
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a gate driving circuit including 2N stages of shift registers, the 2N stages of shift registers including N first shift registers arranged alternately with N second shift registers,
wherein the N first shift registers are cascaded-coupled as N stages of first shift registers, and are configured to generate N first output signals under control of K first clock signals; and
wherein the N second shift registers are cascaded-coupled as N stages of second shift registers, and are configured to generate N second output signals under a control of K second clock signals,
wherein K and N are both integers greater than 1, and K≤N.
For example, an input signal terminal of an n-th stage of first shift register in the N stages of first shift registers is coupled to an output signal terminal of an (n−i)-th stage of first shift register in the N stages of first shift registers, and a reset signal terminal of the n-th stage of first shift register is coupled to an output signal terminal of an (n+j)-th stage of first shift register in the N stages of first shift registers; and
an input signal terminal of an n-th stage of second shift register in the N stages of second shift registers is coupled to an output signal terminal of an (n−i)-th stage of second shift register in the N stages of second shift registers, and a reset signal terminal of the n-th stage of second shift register is coupled to an output signal terminal of an (n+j)-th stage of second shift register in the N stages of second shift registers,
wherein n, i, and j are all integers greater than 0, K is an even number, 1<n<N, 1≤i≤K/2, and K/2+1≤j≤K−1.
For example, K=6, i=3, and j=4.
For example, K=4, i=2, and j=3.
For example, K=8, i=4, and j=5.
For example, input signal terminals of first to i-th stages of first shift registers in the N stages of first shift registers are configured to receive a first turn-on signal; and
input signal terminals of first to i-th stages of second shift registers in the N stages of second shift registers are configured to receive a second turn-on signal.
For example, reset signal terminals of (N−j+1)-th to N-th stages of first shift registers in the N stages of first shift registers and reset signal terminals of the (N−j+1)-th to the N-th stages of second shift registers in the N stages of second shift registers are configured to receive a total reset signal.
For example, the first shift registers are odd-numbered stages of shift registers in the 2N stages of shift registers, and the second shift registers are even-numbered stages of shift registers in the 2N stages of shift registers.
For example, the N first shift registers are divided into at least one group of K cascaded first shift registers, and clock signal terminals of the K cascaded first shift registers are configured to receive the K first clock signals respectively; and
the N second shift registers are divided into at least one group of K cascaded second shift registers, and clock signal terminals of the K cascaded second shift registers are configured to receive the K second clock signals respectively.
For example, each of the first shift registers is configured to output a first output signal at an output signal terminal of said each of the first shift registers based on a signal of an input signal terminal of said each of the first shift registers under control of a first clock signal received by a clock signal terminal of said each of the first shift registers, and reset a pull-up node of said each of the first shift registers under control of a signal of a reset signal terminal of said each of the first shift registers; and
each of the second shift registers is configured to output a second output signal at an output signal terminal of said each of the second shift registers based on a signal of an input signal terminal of said each of the second shift registers under control of a second clock signal received by a clock signal terminal of said each of the second shift registers, and reset a pull-up node of said each of the second shift registers under control of a signal of a reset signal terminal of said each of the first shift registers.
For example, each of the first shift registers is further configured to reset a pull-up node of said each of the first shift registers under control of a signal of a total reset terminal of said each of the first shift registers; and
each of the second shift registers is further configured to reset a pull-up node of said each of the second shift registers under control of a signal of a total reset terminal of said each of the second shift registers,
wherein the total reset terminals of the N first shift registers and the total reset terminals of the N second shift registers are configured to receive a total reset signal.
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is further provided a display panel including the gate driving circuit mentioned above.
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is further provided a method of driving the gate driving circuit mentioned above, including:
in a first mode, turning on the 2N stages of shift registers, so that the N first shift registers of the 2N stages of shift registers generate the N first output signals under control of the K first clock signals; and the N second shift registers of the 2N stages of shift registers generate the N second output signals under control of the K second clock signals; and
in a second mode, turning on the N first shift registers, so that the N first shift registers generate the N first output signals under control of the K first clock signals, wherein the N first output signals are shifted sequentially, or turning on the N second shift registers in the second mode, so that the N second shift registers generate the N second output signals under control of the K second clock signals, wherein the N second output signals are shifted sequentially.
For example, in the second mode, the turning on the N first shift registers includes: applying a valid first turn-on signal to the first to i-th stages of first shift registers in the N first shift registers, and applying an invalid second turn-on signal to the first to i-th stages of second shift registers in the N second shift registers; and the turning on the N second shift registers includes: applying a valid second turn-on signal to the first to i-th stages of second shift registers in the N second shift registers, and applying an invalid first turn-on signal to the first to i-th stages of first shift registers in the N first shift registers, wherein i is an integer and 1≤i≤K/2.
The present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings containing optional embodiments of the present disclosure, but it should be understood that those of ordinary skill in the art may modify the disclosure described herein while obtaining technical effects of the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be understood that the description above is a broad disclosure for those of ordinary skill in the art, and the content is not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments described in the present disclosure.
In addition, in a following detailed description, for a convenience of explanation, many specific details are set forth to provide a comprehensive understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, obviously, one or more embodiments may further be implemented without these specific details. In other cases, well-known structures and devices are embodied in an illustrative manner to simplify the drawings.
As shown in
In a first sub-period of an output phase, a high level comes to the clock signal terminal CLK. The pull-up node PU maintains the high level due to the capacitor C, and the transistor M3 remains in a conductive state. Thus, the high level of the clock signal terminal CLK is provided to the output signal terminal OUT, A bootstrap of the capacitor C further increases the potential of the pull-up node PU. In a second sub-period of the output phase, the clock signal terminal CLK changes from a high level to a low level. At this time instant, the transistor M3 still remains in the conductive state, and the output signal terminal OUT further changes to a low level.
In a reset phase, the reset signal terminal RST is at a low level, and the transistor M2 is turned on. Thus, the pull-up node PU is pulled down to a low level of the reference signal terminal VSS. A potential of the pull-down node PD may be controlled by the pull-up node PU. For example, if the pull-up node PU is at a high level, then the pull-down node PD is at a low level, and the transistor M4 is turned off; and if the pull-up node PU is at a low level, then the pull-down node PD is at a high level and the transistor M4 is turned on, thereby pulling down the output signal terminal OUT to a low level.
The input circuit 110 includes a transistor M1, which may input a signal of an input signal terminal IN to a pull-up node PU.
The output circuit 120 includes transistors M3, M13 and a capacitor C. When the pull-up node PU is at a high level, the transistors M3 and M13 are turned on. Thus, a clock signal of a clock signal terminal CLK is provided to output signal terminals OUT_C and OUT_G, respectively. The output signal terminal OUT_C may be used to couple with other shift registers, and the output signal terminal OUT_G is used to provide gate driving signals to sub-pixels in a display area.
The reset circuit 130 may include transistors M2 and M7. When a reset signal terminal RST is at a high level, the transistor M2 is turned on. The pull-up node PU is reset to a low level of a reference signal terminal LVGL. When a total reset terminal Total_RST is at a high level, the transistor M7 is turned on. The pull-up node PU is reset. The reset signal terminal RST may be used to couple with other shift registers; and the total reset terminal Total_RST is configured to receive a total reset signal to realize a total reset of the gate driving circuit.
The shift register 100′ may further include a control circuit 140 and a pull-down circuit 150.
The control circuit 140 may include a first sub-circuit and a second sub-circuit. The first sub-circuit includes transistors M5, M6, M8, M9, and M16, and the second sub-circuit includes transistors M5′, M6′, M8′, M9′, and M16′. The first sub-circuit may control a potential of a first pull-down node PD1 according to a potential of the pull-up node PU, and the second sub-circuit may control a potential of a second pull-down node PD2 according to the potential of the pull-up node PU. For example, when the pull-up node PU is at a low level, the transistors M6 and M8 are turned off and the transistor M9 is turned on. Thus, a node PD_CN1 is at a high level, so that the transistor M5 is turned on, and the first pull-down node is at a high level. When the pull-up node PU is at a high level, the transistors M6 and M8 are turned on to pull down the node PD_CN1 and the first pull-down node PD1 to a low level, and the transistor M5 is turned off. Therefore, the first pull-down node PD1 maintains the low level. The second sub-circuit works in a similar manner, and will not be repeated here. The control circuit 140 may further include transistors M10 and M10′. When the first pull-down node PD1 is at a high level, the transistor M10 is turned on, and the pull-up node PU is pulled down to a low level. When the second pull-down node PD2 is at a high level, the transistor M10′ is turned on, and the pull-up node PU is pulled down to a low level.
The pull-down circuit 150 may include transistors M11, M12, M11′, and M12′. When the first pull-down node PD1 is at a high level, the transistors M11 and M12 are turned on, and the output signal terminals OUT_G and OUT_C are pulled down to a low level respectively. When the second pull-down node PD2 is at a high level, the transistors M11′ and M12′ are turned on, and the output signal terminals OUT_G and OUT_C are pulled down to a low level respectively.
Generally, the clock signals CLK1 to CLK10 are provided to sequentially shift the output signals generated by the shift registers GOA1 to GOA10, so as to scan the sub-pixels of the display area line by line. In this manner, the display area may be displayed in a full resolution. For example, an 8K resolution display panel may be displayed in 8K resolution. However, this is not suitable for low-resolution display, for example, a 4K resolution display cannot be performed on an 8K display panel.
In order to achieve display in different resolutions on the same display panel, gate driving may be performed in two modes. For example, the sub-pixels may be scanned line by line in a first mode, so as to achieve the full-resolution display. The sub-pixels may be scanned two rows by two rows in a second mode, so as to achieve the low-resolution display. This method will be described below with reference to
As shown in
In the first mode, as shown in
In the second mode, as shown in
In practice, if the gate driving circuit shown in
At time instant T1, the clock signals CLK1 and CLK2 both become low levels, so that the output signal OUT1 of the first stage of shift register GOA1 and the output signal of the second stage of shift register GOA2 both become low levels. Since the reset signal terminal of the first stage of shift register GOA1 is coupled to the output signal terminal of the sixth stage of shift register GOA6, the output signal OUT6 of the sixth stage of shift register GOA6 reset the pull-up node PU1 of the first stage of shift register GOA1 to a low level.
At time instant T2, since the reset signal terminal of the second stage of shift register GOA2 is coupled to the output signal terminal of the seventh stage of shift register GOA7, the output signal OUT7 of the seventh stage of shift register GOA7 resets the pull-up node PU2 of the second stage of shift register GOA2 to a low level.
It may be seen that for the first stage of shift register GOA1, the clock signal CLK1 of the clock signal terminal CLK and the reset signal (i.e. OUT6) of the reset signal terminal RST jump simultaneously at time instant T1 (CLK1 changes from the high level to the low level, and OUT6 changes from the low level to the high level). This allows the pull-up node PU and the clock signal terminal CLK to turn to the low level at the same time. At this time instant, the transistor M3 is turned off, while the output signal terminal OUT has not been pulled down sufficiently by the clock signal terminal CLK yet. Therefore, there is trailing for the output signal OUT1 at the output signal terminal OUT.
The second stage of shift register GOA2 is reset by the output signal OUT7 of the seventh stage of shift register GOAT, so that the pull-up node PU2 is pulled down after the clock signal CLK2 of the clock signal terminal CLK becomes low level (that is, at time instant T2). This allows the transistor M3 to remain conductive until the output signal OUT2 of the output signal terminal OUT is pulled down sufficiently by the clock signal terminal CLK. Therefore, there is no trailing for the output signal OUT2 of the second stage of shift register GOA2.
For the same reason, there is trailing for the output signal OUT3 of the third stage of shift register GOA3, while there is no trailing for the output signal OUT4 of the fourth stage of shift register GOA4, etc.
The trailing may be relieved by adjusting the duty cycle of the clock signals, for example, adjusting the duty cycle of the clock signals CLK1 to CLK10 from 40% to 30%. As shown in
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a gate driving circuit including 2N stages of shift registers including N first shift registers provided alternately with N second shift registers. The N first shift registers are cascaded-coupled as N stages, and are configured to generate N first output signals under control of K first clock signals. The N second shift registers are cascaded-coupled as N stages, and are configured to generate N second output signals under control of K second clock signals. K and N are both integers greater than 1, and K≤N. By alternately arranging N first shift registers and N second shift registers and cascading the N first shift registers and the N second shift registers independently from each other, some of the sub-pixels in the display area may be turned on and turned off independently. Therefore, a switching between different resolutions may be realized.
As shown in
The gate driving circuit 700 is controlled by 2K clock signals, of which K clock signals are provided to the odd-numbered stages of shift registers, and K clock signals are provided to the even-numbered stages of shift registers. In
As shown in
In a similar manner, the N second shift registers GOA1_E, GOA2_E, . . . GOAN_E are divided into at least one group, and each of the at least one group includes 6 cascaded second shift registers. For example, in
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the N first shift registers are cascaded-coupled to obtain N stages of first shift registers. The N second shift registers are cascaded-coupled to obtain N stages of second shift registers. For example, an input signal terminal of the n-th stage of first shift register in the N stages of first shift registers is coupled to an output signal terminal of the (n−i)-th stage of first shift register in the N stages of first shift registers, and a reset signal terminal RST of the n-th stage of first shift register is coupled to an output signal terminal of the (n+j)-th stage of first shift register in the N stages of first shift registers. An input signal terminal of the n-th stage of second shift register in the N stages of second shift registers is coupled to an output signal terminal of the (n−i)-th stage of second shift register in the N stages of second shift registers, and a reset signal terminal of the n-th stage of second shift register is coupled to an output signal terminal of the (n+j)-th stage of second shift register in the N stages of second shift registers. n, i, and j are all integers greater than 0, K is an even number, 1<n<N, 1≤i≤K/2, and K/2+1≤j≤K−1.
In
As shown in
In a similar manner, the input signal terminals IN of the first to the third stages of second shift registers GOA1_E, GOA2_E, and GOA3_E are all configured to receive a second turn-on signal STV1_E. The input signal terminal IN of the fourth stage of second shift register GOA4_E is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the second stage of second shift register GOA1_E, and the input signal terminal IN of the fifth stage of second shift register GOA5_E is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the second stage of second shift register GOA2_E, etc. As shown in
In some embodiments, reset signal terminals of the (N−j+1)-th to the N-th stages of first shift registers in the N stages of first shift registers and reset signal terminals of the (N−j+1)-th to the N-th stages of second shift registers in the N stages of second shift registers are configured to receive a total reset signal. As shown in
In some embodiments, the first shift register and the second shift register may further include a total reset terminal Total_RST, such as the structure described above with reference to
As shown in
In the gate driving circuit 800, the input signal terminal IN of the n-th stage of first shift register GOAn_O is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n−2)-th stage of first shift register GOA(n−2)_O, and the reset signal terminal RST of the n-th stage of first shift register GOAn_O is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n+3)-th stage of first shift register GOA(n+3)_O. In a similar manner, the input signal terminal IN of the n-th stage of second shift register GOAn_E is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n−2)-th stage of second shift register GOA(n−2)_E, and the reset signal terminal RST of the n-th stage of second shift register GOAn_E is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n+3)-th stage of second shift register GOA(n+3)_E.
In the gate driving circuit 800, the input signal terminals IN of the first and the second stages of first shift registers GOA1_O and GOA2_O are both configured to receive a first turn-on signal STV1_O. The input signal terminals IN of the first and the second stages of second shift registers GOA1_E and GOA2_E are both configured to receive a second turn-on signal STYLE. Reset signal terminals RST of the (N−2)-th to the N-th stages of first shift registers GOAN_O, GOA(N−1)_O and GOA(N−2)_O and reset signal terminals RST of the (N−2)-th to the N-th stages of second shift registers GOAN_E, GOA(N−1)_E and GOA(N−2)_E are all configured to receive the total reset signal STV0. However, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the first shift register and the second shift register may be coupled to different total reset signals, respectively. In some embodiments, the first shift register and the second shift register may further include a total reset terminal Total_RST, such as the structure described above with reference to
As shown in
In the gate driving circuit 900, the input signal terminal IN of the n-th stage of first shift register GOAn_O is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n−4)-th stage of first shift register GOA(n−4)_O, and the reset signal terminal RST of the n-th stage of first shift register GOAn_O is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n+5)-th stage of first shift register GOA(n+5)_O. In a similar manner, the input signal terminal IN of the n-th stage of second shift register GOAn_E is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n−4)-th stage of second shift register GOA(n−4)_E, and the reset signal terminal RST of the n-th stage of second shift register GOAn_E is coupled to the output signal terminal OUT of the (n+5)-th stage of second shift register GOA(n+5)_E.
In the gate driving circuit 900, the input signal terminals IN of the first to the fourth stages of first shift registers GOA1_O, GOA2_O, GOA3_O and GOA4_O are all configured to receive the first turn-on signal STV1_O. The input signal terminals IN of the first to the fourth stages of second shift registers GOA1_E, GOA2_E, GOA3_E and GOA4_E are all configured to receive the second turn-on signal STV1_E. Reset signal terminals RST of the (N−4)-th to the N-th stages of first shift registers GOAN_O, GOA(N−1)_O, GOA(N−2)_O, GOA(N−3)_O and GOA(N−4)_O and reset signal terminals RST of the (N−4)-th to the N-th stages of second shift registers GOAN_E, GOA(N−1)_E, GOA(N−2)_E, GOA(N−3)_E and GOA(N−4)_E are all configured to receive the total reset signal STV0. However, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the first shift register and the second shift register may be coupled to different total reset signals, respectively. In some embodiments, the first shift register and the second shift register may further include a total reset terminal Total_RST, such as the structure described above with reference to
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is further provided a method of driving the above-mentioned gate driving circuit. By turning on and turning off the first shift register and the second shift register independently, switching of a plurality of display modes may be realized.
In operation S1001, the 2N stages of shift registers are turned on in a first mode, so that the N first shift registers of the 2N stages of shift registers generate the N first output signals under control of the K first clock signals; and the N second shift registers of the 2N stages of shift registers generate the N second output signals under control of the K second clock signals.
In operation S1002, the N first shift registers are turned on in a second mode, so that the N first shift registers generate the N first output signals under control of the K first clock signals, and the N first output signals are shifted sequentially, or the N second shift registers are turned on in the second mode, so that the N second shift registers generate the N second output signals under control of the K second clock signals, and the N second output signals are shifted sequentially.
Hereinafter, signal timing of the gate driving circuit will be described with reference to
As shown in
After the resetting, the first turn-on signal STV1_0 is applied to the first two odd-numbered stages GOA1_O and GOA2_O (located in the first and third stages of the 2N stages respectively) of the N odd-numbered stages of shift registers in the gate driving circuit 700. The second turn-on signal ST1_LE is applied to the first two even-numbered stages GOA1_E and GOA2_E (located in the second and fourth stages of the 2N stages respectively) of the even-numbered stages of shift registers in the gate driving circuit 700. The shift registers GOA1_O and GOA2_O are turned on in response to the high level of the first turn-on signal STV1_O, and the shift registers GOA1_E and GOA2_E are turned on in response to the high level of the second turn-on signal STV1_E.
After the turning on, the shift register GOA1_O generates the output signal OUT1_O according to the received clock signal CLK1_O, the shift register GOA1_E generates the output signal OUT1_E according to the received clock signal CLK1_E, the shift register GOA2_O generates the output signal OUT2_O according to the received clock signal CLK2_O, and the shift register GOA2_E generates the output signal OUT2_E according to the received clock signal CLK2_E. As shown in
Next, the output signal OUT1_O is provided as an input signal to the shift register GOA4_O, so that GOA4_O generates the output signal OUT4_O according to the clock signal CLK4_O. In a similar manner, the output signal OUT1_E triggers the shift register GOA4_E to generate the output signal OUT4_E according to the clock signal CLK4_E, and the output signal OUT4_E is shifted relative to the output signal OUT4_O. In this way, 2N stages of output signals OUT1_O to OUTN_E are generated, which are sequentially shifted.
In
As shown in
As shown in
It is possible to keep applying corresponding clock signals to the shift registers that are not turned on. Alternatively, it is further possible to stop applying the corresponding clock signals to the shift registers that are not turned on. For example, during a period when the first shift register is turned on and the second shift register is turned off, it is possible to keep applying the second clock signals CLK1_E to CLK6_E shown in
Although the first shift registers and the second shift registers are described by taking the odd-numbered stages of shift registers and the even-numbered stages of shift registers as examples in the embodiments above, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. The first shift registers and the second shift registers may be alternately provided in other ways. For example, two second shift registers may be provided every two first shift registers. In some embodiments, a plurality of third shift registers cascaded may further be provided. The first, fourth, seventh . . . stages of shift registers may be regarded as the first shift registers, the second, fifth, eighth . . . stages of shift registers may be regarded as the second shift registers, and the third, sixth, ninth . . . stages of shift registers may be regarded as the third shift registers. Three turn-on signals may be used to turn on the first, second, and third shift registers respectively, so as to realize independent controls of the first shift registers, the second shift registers and the third shift registers.
Although the structures of the shift registers in
Those skilled in the art may understand that the embodiments described above are all exemplary, and may be improved by those skilled in the art. The structures described in the various embodiments may be combined without conflicts in structure or principle.
After describing the optional embodiments of the present disclosure in detail, those skilled in the art may clearly understand that various variations and changes may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims, and the present disclosure is not limited to the implementation of the exemplary embodiments cited in the specification.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202011068583.3 | Sep 2020 | CN | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20060007085 | Kim | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20070147573 | Tobita | Jun 2007 | A1 |
20070171179 | Morosawa | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20080055293 | Kuo | Mar 2008 | A1 |
20190237031 | Cho | Aug 2019 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220101769 A1 | Mar 2022 | US |