Patent Application
20090066378
This invention relates to a display, and more particularly, to a source driver of a display and a method thereof.
Recently, liquid crystal displays (LCD) have been widely applied in electrical products due to the rapid progress of optical technology and semiconductor technology. Moreover, with advantages of high image quality, compact size, light weight, low driving voltage and low power consumption, LCDs have been introduced into portable computers, personal digital assistants and color televisions, and have become the mainstream display apparatus.
However, when the power supply powering the source driver is being turned off, the power supplying to the source driver decreases and the channels may malfunction owing to the power insufficient, which results in abnormal images, such as line defects or band mura, shown on the display.
Therefore, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a source driver and a method for restraining noise thereof in which abnormal images shown on the display during power on/off of a power supply can be restrained.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a source driver with a power down detector for detecting whether the power supply is turning on/off and if yes, asserting a reset signal.
In order to achieve the aforementioned aspects, the present invention provides a method for restraining noise output by a source driver during power on/off of a power supply. The source driver includes a data bus, a plurality of channels, a multiplexer and a plurality of output pads. The channels are connected to the output pads via the multiplexer. Each channel has a latch unit. Data is transmitted on the data bus and stored in the latch units. The source driver is powered by a first supply voltage from the power supply. The method comprises the following steps. First, determine whether the first supply voltage is insufficient, and if yes, perform the following steps. Set the data transmitted on the data bus to be a predetermined value. Then, keep the latch units turned on, thereby the data is sent out from the latch units. Then, keep the multiplexer turned on for outputting a driving voltage based on the data via the output pads.
To achieve the aforementioned aspects, the present invention provides a source driver powered by a power supply. The source driver comprises a data bus, at least two channels, a multiplexer, at least two output pads and a power down detector. Each channel has a latch unit. Data is transmitted on the data bus and stored in the latch units. The output pads are coupled to the channels via the multiplexer. The power down detector is used for detecting whether a first supply voltage from the power supply is insufficient and if yes, asserting a reset signal. If the reset signal is asserted, the data transmitted on the data bus is set to be a predetermined value, the latch units are turned on, thereby the data is sent out from the latch units, and the multiplexer is turned on for outputting a driving voltage via the output pads based on the data.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In order to make the illustration of the present invention more explicit and complete, the following description is stated with reference to
The power down detector 204 determines whether power is turning on or off and generates a reset signal RS if yes. The determination of power on/off is made by detecting whether any one of the first supply voltage and the second supply voltage from the power supply 202 is in sufficient, that is, below certain thresholds.
The reset signal RS is sent to the controller 206. The controller 206 then generates a control signal CN in accordance with the reset signal RS and sends the control signal CN to the charge sharing switch 220 to turn off the charge sharing switch 220. The control signal CN is further sent to the multiplexer to disconnect the channels with the output pads so that the possibly abnormal data would not be transmitted to the output pads when the power supply 202 powering the source driver is being turned on/off. Thus, the display keeps showing the original image during power on/off of the power supply.
Each channel has a shift register (322 or 332), a latch unit (323 or 333), a level shifter (328 or 338) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) (330 or 340). Each latch unit comprises a first latch (324 or 334) and a second latch (326 or 336) connected in series. The data is transmitted on the data bus 318 and stored in the latch units, and moreover, the data is stored first in the first latch and then stored in the second latch.
When the power supply 302 supplies power to the source driver 300 normally, the data in the channels is inputted to the multiplexer 312 and further sent to a display (not shown in the drawing) via the output pads 314 and 316 to show corresponding images on the display. However, when the power supply 302 is being turned on or off, the power sent to the source driver 300 becomes insufficient. The power down detector 304 generates a reset signal RS if the voltage sent from the power supply 302 is insufficient and sends the reset signal RS to the controller 306 to generate a control signal CN based on the reset signal RS. The control signal CN is sent to the charge sharing switch 320 to turn it off. Then, the control signal CN is also sent to the data bus 318 to set the data transmitted on the data bus 318 to be a predetermined value. Moreover, the control signal CN is also sent to the latch units 323 and 333 to keep the latch units 323 and 333 turned on, thereby the data is sent out from the latch units 323 and 333. The control signal CN is further sent to the multiplexer 312 to keep the multiplexers 312 turned on for outputting a driving voltage based on the data via the output pads. Thus, the output pads 314 and 316 output the predetermined voltage to a display (not shown in the drawing). Therefore, the display shows a corresponding black image or a white image during power on/off of the power supply.
It is noted that the charge sharing switch is optional in other embodiments of the present invention. Thus, the step of turning off the charge sharing switch if the power supply 302 is being turned on or off, i.e. the first supply voltage is insufficient, is also optional in other embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the step of keeping the latch unit on is to keep the second latch on in the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
The following describes in detail the structure of the power down detector and the generation of the reset signal RS.
The first voltage divider 402 generates a first divided voltage VA1 based on the first supply voltage VDDA from the power supply, and the second voltage divider 404 generates a second divided voltage VD1 based on the second supply voltage VDDD from the power supply. The first comparator 406 compares the first divided voltage VA1 with the threshold voltage VTH and generates a first comparison signal RSA. The first comparison signal RSA is logic high if the first divided voltage VA1 is smaller than the threshold voltage VTH, inferring that the power supply is insufficient due to being turned on/off. The first comparison signal RSA is logic low if the first divided voltage VA1 is greater than the threshold voltage VTH, inferring that the power supply supplies power to the source driver normally.
Similarly, the second comparator 408 compares the second divided voltage VD1 with the threshold voltage VTH and generates a second comparison signal RSD. The second comparison signal RSD is logic high if the second divided voltage VD1 is smaller than the threshold voltage VTH, inferring that the power supply is being turned on/off. The second comparison signal RSD is logic low if the second divided voltage VD1 is greater than the threshold voltage VTH, inferring that the power supply supplies power to the source driver normally. The first supply voltage VDDA is a high voltage compared to the second supply voltage VDDD, and the first comparator is a high-voltage element and the second comparator is a low-voltage element. The setting of the first divided voltage VA1, the second divided voltage VD1 and the threshold voltage VTH can be determined and changed by users.
The threshold voltage VTH is generated by a circuit that is not easily affected by the decreasing output of the power supply, such as a band-gap voltage generator.
The first comparison signal RSA is sent through the first inverter 410 and the second inverter 412 and to one input node of the OR gate 426. The second comparison signal RSD is sent through the third inverter 414 and the fourth inverter 416 and then to the level shifter 418 to shift the level of the second comparison signal RSD. The level-shifted second comparison signal RSD is further sent through the fifth inverter 420 and to the other input node of the OR gate 426. If the first comparison signal RSA and the second comparison signal RSD are both logic low, the OR gate 426 outputs a logic low signal inferring that the power supply supplies power to the source driver normally so that no reset signal is generated. Contrarily, if the first comparison signal RSA and/or the second comparison signal RSD are/is logic high, the OR gate 426 outputs a logic high signal inferring that the power supply is being turned on/off and the reset signal RS is generated.
According to the aforementioned description, one advantage of the embodiment is that abnormal images shown on the display during power off of a power supply can be restrained.
According to the aforementioned description, yet another advantage of the embodiment is that a power down detector is used in the present invention to detect whether the power supply is being turned on/off and generates a reset signal if yes.
As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are strengths of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structure.
