PLASMA DISPLAY APPARATUS AND METHOD OF DRIVING THEREOF

Abstract

Disclosed are a plasma display apparatus and a driving method thereof. The plasma display apparatus includes a plasma display panel having a plurality of address electrodes, a data driver, and a timing controller. The data driver supplies a plurality of data pulses to the plurality of the address electrodes and the timing controller controls a width of a first data pulse of the plurality of data pulses to be different from a width of a second data pulse of the plurality of data pulse.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated on and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a plasma display apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are schematic perspective views illustrating a plasma display panel according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a gray level of an image displayed on a plasma display panel;

FIG. 4 is a timing diagram illustrating data pulses for explaining a plasma display apparatus driving method during any one subfield of a plurality of subfields in a frame shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a timing diagram illustrating waveforms of data pulses supplied to an address electrode during an address period according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a timing diagram illustrating waveforms of data pulses, which vary based on the temperature change of a plasma display panel and are applied to a plurality of address electrodes;

FIG. 7 is a timing diagram illustrating waveforms of data pulses applied to a plurality of address electrode, in which the waveforms of the data pulses change based on gray weights of subfields;

FIG. 8 is a timing diagram illustrating a modified waveform of a data pulse supplied to an address electrode during an address period according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a data driver of the plasma display apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A plasma display apparatus, comprising: a plasma display panel including a plurality of address electrodes;a data driver for supplying a plurality of data pulses to the plurality of the address electrodes; anda timing controller for controlling a width of a first data pulse of the plurality of data pulses to be different from a width of a second data pulse of the plurality of data pulse.

2. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a voltage changing period of the first data pulse is different from a voltage changing period of the second data pulse.

3. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the voltage changing period is a rising time of the data pulse.

4. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the voltage changing period of the first data pulse is more than the voltage changing period of the second data pulse, and is equal to or less than 10 times the voltage changing period of the second data pulse.

5. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a voltage sustaining period of the first data pulse is substantially identical to a voltage sustaining period of the second data pulse.

6. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the voltage changing period of the first data pulse at the high temperature, when a temperature of the plasma display panel is higher than a room temperature, is longer than the voltage changing period of the first data pulse, when the temperature of the plasma display panel is equal to the room temperature.

7. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width of a first data pulse supplied to a address electrode during one half of the total number of subfields belonging to one frame is larger than that of the first data pulse supplied to the address electrode during the remaining subfields, and a gray weight of one half of the total number of subfields is lower than a gray weight of the remaining subfields.

8. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width of a first data pulse and a width of a second data pulse belonging to the same subfield are different from each other.

9. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a pulse width of a first data pulse and a pulse width of a second data pulse respectively belonging to different subfields are different from each other.

10. The plasma display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a pulse width of a first data pulse and a pulse width of a second data pulse respectively belonging to different frames are different from each other.

11. A method of driving a plasma display apparatus, the plasma display apparatus including a panel capacitor and an energy recovery circuit which charges the panel capacitor using energy charged in an inductor and recovers the energy from the panel capacitor, the method comprising: supplying a clamping voltage of a first data pulse to a first address electrode of the panel capacitor, the clamping voltage allowing a potential of the panel capacitor to maintain a constant level during a period in which current of the inductor is discharged;supplying a clamping voltage of a second data pulse to a second address electrode of the panel capacitor, the clamping voltage allowing a potential of the panel capacitor to maintain a constant level during a period in which current of the inductor is discharged; andwherein application time points of the clamping voltage of the first data pulse and the clamping voltage of the second data pulse are different from each other.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the period in which current of the inductor is discharged is a period taken until the current of the inductor becomes 100 to 20% of a maximum current of the inductor.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the period in which the current of the inductor is discharged is a period taken until a voltage of the panel capacitor becomes 20 to 100% of a maximum voltage of the panel capacitor.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein an application time point of the clamping voltage of the first data pulse supplied to the address electrode of the panel capacitor, when a temperature of the panel capacitor is higher than a room temperature, is earlier than that of the clamping voltage of the first data pulse supplied to the address electrode of the panel capacitor, when the temperature of the panel capacitor is equal to the room temperature.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein a sustaining period of the clamping voltage of the first data pulse is different from a sustaining period of the clamping voltage of the second data pulse.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein a voltage changing period of the first data pulse is different from a voltage changing period of the second data pulse.

17. A driving method of a plasma display apparatus displaying an image by combination of one or more subfields, comprising: supplying a first data pulse to a first address electrode during an address period of the subfield;supplying a second data pulse having a width different from a width of the first data pulse to a second address electrode during the address period of the subfield.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein a voltage changing period of the first data pulse is different from that of the second data pulse.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the voltage changing period of the first data pulse is more than the voltage changing period of the second data pulse, and is equal to or less than 10 times the voltage changing period of the second data pulse.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the voltage changing period of the first data pulse at the high temperature, when a temperature of the plasma display panel is higher than a room temperature, is longer than the voltage changing period of the first data pulse, when the temperature of the plasma display panel is equal to the room temperature.