This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2008-0072430, filed on Jul. 24, 2008, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plasma display panel displays images by applying a discharge voltage to discharge cells, which are filled with a discharge gas and sealed between two substrates in which a plurality of electrodes are formed, to generate gas discharges that produce ultraviolet rays to excite phosphor layers in the discharge cells to emit light. The plasma display panel has been regarded as a replacement for conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) display devices.
An exemplary plasma display panel displays a motion picture in sixty image frames per second. A single image frame is presented in 256 gradation gray levels. A single image frame is temporally divided into eight subfields that include first through eighth subfields. Images of the eight subfields are combined to present an image. A reset discharge, an address discharge, and a sustain discharge sequentially occur during each subfield.
The reset discharge removes wall charges that have previously accumulated in each discharge cell so that charge particles of all discharge cells have the same status. After the reset discharge occurs, the address discharge occurs in order to select discharge cells for displaying an image. The address discharge occurs in each row of the discharge cells sequentially from a first row of discharge cells of the plasma display panel to an nth row of discharge cells of the plasma display panel so that suitable wall charges accumulate inside the discharge cells for displaying an image. The address discharge leads to the accumulation of suitable wall charges inside the selected discharge cells, thereby selecting the discharge cells in which the sustain discharge occurs. Ultraviolet rays are generated in the discharge cells in which the sustain discharge occurs, and the ultraviolet rays excite a phosphor substance of the phosphor layers, and thus an image is displayed.
However, when the plasma display panel has a higher resolution, the number of the discharge cells, the Y electrodes, and the address electrodes increases so that the number of scan signals applied to the Y electrodes increases. For example, when an ultra high resolution plasma display panel having 4096×2160 pixels includes 4096×3 address electrodes and 2160 Y electrodes, since the entire 2160 scan signals need to be sequentially applied to the Y electrodes so as to generate one address discharge in all the discharge cells, the total scan time is increased, thereby reducing the time for applying scan signals corresponding to the rows of the discharge cells. In more detail, when the resolution of the plasma display panel becomes higher, it is difficult to provide a sufficient time to apply scan signals to the Y electrodes.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a plasma display panel with sufficient time for applying scan signals to each of its scan electrodes and a plasma display panel having a high resolution or an ultra high resolution with reduced number of scan lines.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plasma display panel includes: a first substrate and a second substrate facing the first substrate; barrier ribs between the first substrate and the second substrate for partitioning a space between the first substrate and the second substrate into red (R) discharge cells, green (G) discharge cells, and blue (B) discharge cells; a plurality of sustain electrodes extending in a first direction between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a plurality of address electrodes extending in a second direction between the first substrate and the second substrate, the plurality of address electrodes crossing the plurality of sustain electrodes. A G discharge cell of the G discharge cells forms a pixel with an adjacent one of the B discharge cells or an adjacent one of the R discharge cells in the first direction, and the G discharge cell and an adjacent one of the G discharge cells in the second direction are offset from each other in the first direction by ½ of a discharge cell pitch of the plasma display panel.
A ratio of the total number of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells of a display area of the plasma display panel may be approximately 1:2:1.
Each of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells defined by the barrier ribs may have a substantially rectangular shape.
The plurality of sustain electrodes may include X electrodes and Y electrodes that are parallel to each other in each of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells.
The X electrodes and the Y electrodes may be arranged in an order of X1, Y1, Y2, X2, X3, Y3, Y4, X4 through Xn-3, Yn-3, Yn-2, Xn-2, Xn-1, Yn-1 and Yn, Xn in the second direction.
The X electrodes and the Y electrodes may be arranged in an order of X1, Y1, X2, Y2, X3, Y3, X4, Y4 through Xn-3, Yn-3, Xn-2, Yn-2, Xn-1, Yn-1 and Xn, Yn in the second direction.
Two of the Y electrodes corresponding to two adjacent discharge cells, respectively, in the second direction among the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells may be electrically coupled to each other, and the two of the Y electrodes may be configured to be concurrently applied with a scan signal.
Two of the Y electrodes corresponding to two adjacent discharge cells of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells in the second direction may be configured to be concurrently applied with a scan signal.
The plurality of sustain electrodes may include X electrodes, each of the X electrodes corresponding to a row of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells, the row extending in the first direction, and the plurality of sustain electrodes may include Y electrodes, each of the Y electrodes corresponding to two adjacent rows of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells, the two adjacent rows extending in the first direction.
A row of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells extending in the first direction may be disposed in an order of B, G, R and G, and an adjacent row of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells may be disposed in an order of R, G, B and G.
A row of first discharge cells of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells extending in the first direction may have the first discharge cells arranged in an order of B, G, R and G, and an adjacent row of second discharge cells of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells may have the second discharge cells arranged in an order of B, G, R and G.
The plurality of address electrodes may include upper address electrodes and lower address electrodes, and the upper address electrodes and the lower address electrodes may be configured to be addressed by an upper address electrode driving driver and a lower address electrode driving driver, respectively.
The Y electrodes may include upper Y electrodes and lower Y electrodes, and one of the upper Y electrodes and a corresponding one of the lower Y electrodes may be electrically coupled together and applied with a same scan signal.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a plasma display device includes: a first substrate and a second substrate facing the first substrate; scan electrodes and sustain electrodes extending in a first direction between the first substrate and the second substrate; address electrodes extending in a second direction between the first substrate and the second substrate, the address electrodes crossing the sustain electrodes and the scan electrodes; barrier ribs between the first substrate and the second substrate and defining red (R) discharge cells, green (G) discharge cells and blue (B) discharge cells at crossing regions of the scan electrodes, the sustain electrodes and the address electrodes; an address electrode driving driver for driving the address electrodes; a scan electrode driving driver for driving the scan electrodes; and a sustain electrode driver for driving the sustain electrodes. A G discharge cell of the G discharge cells forms a pixel with an adjacent one of the B discharge cells or an adjacent one of the R discharge cells in the first direction, and the G discharge cell and an adjacent one of the G discharge cells in the second direction are offset from each other in the first direction by ½ of a discharge cell pitch of the plasma display device.
Two of the scan electrodes corresponding to two adjacent discharge cells in the second direction, respectively, among the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells may be configured to be concurrently applied with a same scan signal.
Each of the sustain electrodes may correspond to a row of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells, the row extending the in the first direction, and each of the scan electrodes may correspond to two adjacent rows of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells, the two adjacent rows extending in the first direction.
A row of first discharge cells of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells extending in the first direction may have the first discharge cells arranged in an order of B, G, R and G, and an adjacent row of second discharge cells of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells may have the second discharge cells arranged in an order of R, G, B and G.
A row of first discharge cells of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells extending in the first direction may have the first discharge cells arranged in an order of B, G, R and G, and an adjacent row of second discharge cells of the R discharge cells, the G discharge cells and the B discharge cells may have the second discharge cells arranged in an order of B, G, R and G.
The address electrodes may include upper address electrodes and lower address electrodes. The upper address electrodes may be configured to be addressed the address electrode driving driver or a second address electrode driving driver, and the lower address electrodes may be configured to be addressed by the other one of the address electrode driving driver and the second address electrode driving driver.
The above and other features and aspects of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:
An alternating current (AC) 3-electrode surface discharge type plasma display panel according to the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. The AC 3-electrode surface discharge type plasma display panel includes a front panel and a rear panel. The front panel includes a front substrate, a plurality of sustain electrodes, a front dielectric layer, and a protection layer. The rear panel includes a rear substrate, a plurality of address electrodes, a rear dielectric layer, barrier ribs and phosphor layers. The front and rear substrates may be first and second substrates, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The front dielectric layer and the rear dielectric layer may be a first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The first and second substrates are spaced apart from each other and face each other. The sustain electrodes are formed on a side of the first substrate facing the second substrate. Pairs of the sustain electrodes extend across the first substrate. The first dielectric layer is coated on the side of the first substrate so as to bury (or cover) the sustain electrodes. The protection layer is formed on the first dielectric layer. The address electrodes formed on a side of the second substrate facing the first substrate extend across the second substrate and cross the sustain electrodes. The second dielectric layer is coated on the side of the second substrate so as to bury the address electrodes. The barrier ribs are formed between the first and second substrates and define a plurality of discharge cells. The barrier ribs may be in rectangular, double-rectangular or stripe shapes. The phosphor layers are coated on surfaces inside the discharge cells.
A layout of discharge cells and electrodes of a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
A display area includes red (R), green (G) and blue (B) discharge cells. In order to implement a high resolution plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present embodiment, a pixel (e.g., pixel P1 or P2) is formed from two discharge cells, which is different from a pixel formed from three discharge cells.
Furthermore, the G discharge cells, which contribute the most among the R, B and G discharge cells to location information of the pixels, contribute the most among the R, B and G discharge cells to determining the resolution of the plasma display panel. Therefore, the G and B discharge cells are paired together to form a single pixel, or the G and R discharge cells are paired together to from a single pixel. A ratio of the total number of the R, G and B discharge cells of the display area of the plasma display panel is approximately 1:2:1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In more detail, the R, G and B discharge cells are disposed in the order of B, G, R, G, B, G, R, G and so on, in a first direction in which X electrodes extend. The pixel P2 including the R and G discharge cells is disposed adjacent to the pixel P1 including the B and G discharge cells in a second direction that crosses the first direction. The G discharge cells of the pixels P1 and P2 are offset from each other by ½ of a discharge cell pitch in the first direction. In the embodiment shown in
This will be described in more detail with reference to
However, among the address electrodes adjacent in the first direction, odd numbered address electrodes A1, A3, A5, A7 and so on, are used to select the discharge cells of an odd row, whereas even numbered address electrodes A2, A4, A6, A8 and so on, are used to select the discharge cells of an even row. Therefore, the same scan signals may be applied to the Y electrodes Y1 and Y2 that are disposed in the discharge cells of the even and odd rows and are adjacent in the second direction. Therefore, the Y electrodes Y1 and Y2 are electrically connected to each other and receive the same scan signals from the scan electrode driving driver 100. For example, the conventional ultra high resolution plasma display panel having 4096×1080 pixels, as shown in
The X electrodes X1, X2, X3 and X4 for corresponding rows of discharge cells are electrically commonly connected to the common electrode driving driver 300. The same scan signal is applied to the Y electrodes Y1 and Y2, and an address signal is selectively applied to the address electrodes A1 through A7 so that the discharge cells of two adjacent rows can be selected by performing a single scanning operation. Therefore, the number of scan lines to which a scan signal is applied is reduced by half as compared to the number of scan lines of a conventional plasma display panel, and the total time required to perform the scanning operation is reduced by half. Therefore, high resolution and ultra high resolution plasma display panels according the embodiment of the present invention can be provided with sufficient time for scanning the rows of discharge cells when an address discharge occurs in each subfield of an image frame. Furthermore, the number of scan signals applied to the Y electrodes Y1 and Y2 is reduced by half, thereby reducing the size (e.g., reduced by half) of the scan electrode driving driver 100 that includes a scan driving circuit.
Furthermore, the address electrodes are electrically connected to an address electrode driving driver, Y electrodes (e.g., Ycom1) are electrically connected to a scan electrode driving driver, and the X electrodes (e.g., X1 and X2) are electrically connected to a common electrode driving driver. A scan signal is applied to the Y electrodes, and an address signal is selectively applied to the address electrodes, so that the discharge cells of two adjacent rows can be selected by performing a single scanning operation. Therefore, the number of scan lines to which a scan signal is applied is reduced by half as compared to that of the conventional plasma display panel, and the total time required to perform the scanning operation is reduced by half. Therefore, high resolution and ultra high resolution plasma display panels according to the embodiment shown in
Since the same scan signal is applied to the Y electrodes Y1 and Y2 of two adjacent rows of the discharge cells, the number of scan lines to which a scan signal is applied is reduced by half as compared to that of the conventional plasma display panel, and the total time required for performing the scanning operation is reduced by half. As such, high resolution and ultra high resolution plasma display panels according to the embodiment shown in
The effect of the embodiment of
The dual scan method applies all address signals to the upper and lower address electrodes Au1, Au2, through to Au7 and Au8, and AL1, AL2, through to AL7 and AL8 during an address discharge, thereby halving the time required to perform the address discharge. Also, like the previous embodiments, the number of scan lines to which a scan signal is applied is reduced by half as compared to that of the conventional scan lines, and the total time required to perform the scanning operation is reduced by half. High resolution and ultra high resolution plasma display panels according to the embodiment of
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to some exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims, and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10-2008-0072430 | Jul 2008 | KR | national |