Patent Grant
10229626
This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0075741, filed on May 29, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a timing controller and a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display devices are increasingly required in various forms, and in recent years, various display devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and organic light emitting display devices (OLEDs) have been utilized. Such a display device includes a display panel in which data lines and gate lines are formed, and sub-pixels defined by a point where the data lines and the gate lines intersect each other; a data driving unit that supplies a data voltage to the data lines; a gate driving unit that supplies a scan signal to the gate lines; and a timing controller that controls the data driving unit and the gate driving unit.
In order to control the data driving unit and the gate driving unit, the timing controller generates an internal data enable signal based on a data enable signal input from the outside, and generates and outputs control signals that control the data driving unit and the gate driving unit, based on the generated internal data enable signal. Further, a data signal provides information of a color to be expressed by pixel. In particular, RGB image data is provided for each RGB color from the timing controller to a data driver, where as the number of bits expressing RGB image data increases, the quality of an image improves. However, the data to be processed increases.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to address the above-noted and other problems with the related art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a timing controller and a display device for implementing a high resolution image.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a timing controller and a display device, which divide and disperse image data controlling sub-pixels into a data packet and a control packet so as to provide the same to a data driving unit.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a timing controller and a display device, which configure image data controlling multiple sub-pixels as a piece of pseudo control data so that a high resolution image can be implemented.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention provides in one aspect a timing controller including a memory unit configured to store image data with respect to p*q sub-pixels defined using p numbers of data lines and q numbers of gate lines; a reception unit configured to receive, from a host, (n+m)-bit image data with respect to each of two or more of the sub-pixels; a controller configured to generate pseudo control data corresponding to m-bit image data of the two or more of the sub-pixels; and an output unit configured to output n-bit image data with respect to each of the sub-pixels to a digital unit of a data driving unit, and output the pseudo control data to an analog unit of the data driving unit.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a display device including a display panel including p*q sub-pixels defined using p numbers of data lines and q numbers of gate lines; a gate driving unit configured to apply a scan signal to the gate lines of the display panel; a data driving unit configured to apply a data voltage to sub-pixels connected to the gate lines to which the scan signal is applied by the gate driving unit; and a timing controller configured to receive a first image data from a host and provide, to the data driving unit, a second image data corresponding to the data voltage, and output, to the data driving unit, pseudo control data corresponding to m-bit image data of two or more sub-pixels and each piece of n-bit image data of the two or more of the sub-pixels, as the second image data.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings. In designating elements of the drawings by reference numerals, the same elements will be designated by the same reference numerals although they are shown in different drawings. Further, in the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.
In addition, terms, such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b) or the like may be used herein when describing components of the present invention. Each of these terminologies is not used to define an essence, order or sequence of a corresponding component but used merely to distinguish the corresponding component from other component(s). In the case that it is described that a certain structural element “is connected to”, “is coupled to”, or “is in contact with” another structural element, it should be interpreted that another structural element may “be connected to”, “be coupled to”, or “be in contact with” the structural elements as well as that the certain structural element is directly connected to or is in direct contact with another structural element.
In the display panel 110, a sub-pixel is formed in each point at which a data line and one or more gate lines intersect. Further, the timing controller 140 starts performing a scan according to an implementation timing in each frame, converts image data input from an interface to meet a data signal form used by the data driving unit 120 so as to output the converted image data (Data′), and controls data driving at a proper time according to the scan. The timing controller 140 also outputs various types of control signals in order to control the data driving unit 120 and the gate driving unit 130.
In addition, the gate driving unit 130 sequentially supplies scan signals of on-voltages or off-voltages to n numbers of gate lines (GL1, . . . , GLn), according to a control of the timing controller 140, and sequentially drives n numbers of gate lines (GL1, . . . , GLn). The gate driving unit 130 may also be positioned on only one side of the display panel 110 as illustrated in
In addition, the gate driving unit 130 may include multiple gate driver integrated circuits. In more detail, the multiple gate driver integrated circuits can be connected to a bonding pad of the display panel 110 through a tape automated bonding (TAB) method or a chip on glass (COG) method, or implemented in a gate in panel (GIP) type and directly formed in the display panel 110. The multiple gate driver integrated circuits may also be integrated and formed in the display panel 110. Each gate driver integrated circuit described above may include a shift register, a level shifter, and so on.
Further, the data driving unit 120 stores, in a memory, image data (Data) input by a host system 10 according to a control of the timing controller 140, and upon the opening of a particular gate line, converts corresponding image data (Data′) into a data voltage (Vdata) in the analog form, and supplies the same to m numbers of data lines (DL1, . . . , DLm), so as to drive the m numbers of data lines (DL1, . . . , DLm).
The data driving unit 120 may include multiple source driver integrated circuits (source driver IC, also referred to as data driver integrated circuit (data driver IC)). The multiple source driver integrated circuits can be connected to a bonding pad of the display panel 110 through the tape automated bonding (TAB) method, the chip on class (COG) method, or directly formed in the display panel 110. The multiple source driver integrated circuits may also be integrated and formed in the display panel 110.
Each source driver integrated circuit described above may include a shift register, a latch, a digital analog converter (DAC), an output verter, and so on, and occasionally, may further include an analog digital converter (ADC) that generates and outputs sensing data by sensing an analog voltage value and converting the same into a digital value for sub-pixel compensation.
In addition, the host system 10 described above transmits, along with digital video data (Data) of an input image, various types of timing signals including a vertical synchronization signal (Vsync), a horizontal synchronization signal (Hsync), an input data enable (DE, hereinafter, referred to as “DE”) signal, a clock signal (CLK), and so on, to the timing controller 140.
The timing controller 140 converts data (Data) input by the host system 10 to meet a data signal form used by the data driving unit 120 so as to output converted image data (Data′). In addition, the timing controller 140 receives, from the host system 10, an input of a timing signal such as a vertical synchronization signal (Vsync), a horizontal synchronization signal (Hsync), an input DE signal, and a clock signal, and generates various types of control signals so as to output the same to the data driving unit 120 and the gate driving unit 130, in order to control the data driving unit 120 and the gate driving unit 130.
For example, the timing controller 140 outputs gate control signals (GCSs) including a gate start pulse (GSP), a gate shift clock (GSC), a gate output enable (GOE) signal, etc., in order to control the gate driving unit 130. The gate start pulse (GSP) controls a movement start timing of gate driver integrated circuits constituting the gate driving 130. Further, the gate shift clock (GSC) that is a clock signal commonly input to the gate driver integrated circuits controls a shift timing of a scan signal (a gate pulse). The gate output enable signal (GOE) designates timing information of the gate driver integrated circuits.
In addition, the timing controller 140 outputs data control signals (DCSs) including a source start pulse (SSP), a source sampling clock (SSC), a source output enable (SOE) signal, etc., in order to control the data driving unit 120. The source start pulse (SSP) controls a data sampling start timing of source driver integrated circuits constituting the data driving unit 120. Further, the source sampling clock (SSC) is a clock signal controlling a sampling timing of data in each of the source driver integrated circuits.
The source output enable signal (SOE) controls an output timing of the data driving unit 120. A polarity control signal (POL) can also be further included in the data control signals (DCSs) in order to control the polarity of a data voltage of the data driving unit 120. If data (Data′) input to the data driving unit 120 is transmitted according to a mini low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) interface standard, the source start pulse (SSP) and the source sampling clock (SSC) may be omitted.
The display device 100, which is schematically illustrated in
In addition, an input DE signal is input to the timing controller 140 where a high section of the input DE signal is synchronized with first line data of an input image and indicates an input timing of the first line data. A first cycle of the input DE signal is a horizontal term (HT). Further, image data can be divided by a particular color. For example, the image data can be defined as a size of 10-bit in order to express each of RGB. In addition, the timing controller can provide such RGB image data through a form of packet data to a data driver.
An embodiment of a packet output by the timing controller may have an embedded point to point interface (EPI) packet. In addition, an embodiment of packet data includes advanced voltage differential signaling (AVDS), advanced current differential signaling (ACDS), reduced swing differential signaling (RSDS), transistor-transistor logic (TTL), enhanced reduced swing differential signaling (eRVDS), and so on.
Packet data output by the timing controller 140 to the data driving unit 120, for example, a data driver IC, can be divided into a control packet and a data packet, and the packet data is transmitted according to a predetermined timing. Further, the control packet controls a number of selection matters of the data driver IC, and the data packet includes color information to be expressed in actual pixels. The control packet and the data packet are also divided according to a particular rule, which may be the overhead of a corresponding interface transmission, and it is thus preferably to reduce the size of the packets.
Next,
In addition, the RGB image data can be divided into a scheme in which all of the RGB is included within a packet, and a scheme in which sub-pixel information of one or two of the RGB is included within a packet. Accordingly, the amount of information indicating each R, G, and B can vary depending on the amount of information indicating one sub-pixel, that is, a case of high resolution and a case of the other, and the size of information that can be included within a packet may be different.
Next,
In reference numeral 320, one packet includes a total of 24 bits including 20 bits of RGB image data and four bits for four UIs. Here, one piece of pixel information can be divided into two packets and an overhead is increased due to the data division. When a protocol is changed for implementing high resolution, only a data packet can be modified to correspond thereto.
Hereinafter, in an embodiment of the present invention, a part of a data packet is included in a control packet, thereby transmitting the same to a data driver IC. Further, the data included in the control packet is referred to as pseudo control data. The control packet can be newly transmitted to one horizontal time (1 H time), and the timing controller can analyze a pattern stored in a frame memory, and select and transmit proper pseudo control data to the data driver IC.
Next,
The timing controller 140 can select which value to configure for the PC data. In addition, a solid pattern scheme can be applied as a first embodiment, and a complex pattern scheme can be applied as a second embodiment. The solid pattern scheme uses the least significant bit (LSB) data of image data, and the complex pattern scheme alternately outputs the LSB data.
Through this configuration, it is possible to improve a bandwidth between the timing controller 140 and the data driving unit 120 and transmit high resolution data without an increase of a transmission overhead. That is, high resolution data implementation is possible without a side effect due to the improvement of a bandwidth.
In addition, bits allocated to pseudo control data by the timing controller 140 can vary according to the number of reserved bits of the control packet. Also, the sizes of bits to be allocated to the pseudo control data can be differently applied according to the size of data that can be processed in a latch of the data driver IC. For example, when RGB data to be output from an actual panel is X bits and the size of data that can be processed in a latch of the data driver IC is Y bits (Y<X), pseudo control data can be (X−Y) bits.
Next,
In the digital unit 510 of the data driver IC, latches 512r, 512g, and 512b and level shifters 515r, 515g, and 515b process eight-bit image data for each R, G, and B. In addition, two-bit pseudo control data included in the control packet, as described in
The digital unit 510 can provide eight-bit information on each RGB, and the analog unit 520 can output 10-bit image data for each RGB, in which two bits are added, as the LSB, to the eight-bit information of the digital unit 510, using pseudo control data in the control packet transmitted by the timing controller 140. As a result, two or more bits are added to the resolution of image data, relative to eight bits processed by the digital unit 510, and high resolution data can be thus output on the display panel.
The configuration in
Hereinafter, a timing controller to be described stores image data with respect to p*q sub-pixels defined using p numbers of data lines and q numbers of gate lines, and transmits the stored image data, i.e., the image data with respect to p numbers of data lines for a gate line, to a data driving unit. Here, each data line controls a sub-pixel, where each sub-pixel indicates a color like R, G, and B. Image data required to be displayed in each sub-pixel is (n+m) bits, but n bits (eight bits) are applied to the digital unit 510 and m bits (two bits) are applied to the analog unit 520 so that a digital-analog conversion unit combines (n+m) bits, as described in
When RGB constitutes one pixel and m bits (e.g., LSB two bits) of image data constituting each sub-pixel are equally set for each RGB, the application can vary depending on where each sub-pixel of RGB has the same LSB two bits and where each sub-pixel of RGB has a different bit. For example, when 10-bit data is allocated to each RGB and m bits of the 10-bit data is LSB two bits, pseudo control data “01” can be set as the same two-bit value when the least significant of RGB image data are the same, like the following equation (1).
Data(R)=xxxxxxxx01
Data(G)=xxxxxxxx01
Data(B)=xxxxxxxx01 Mathematical Equation 1
In this instance, an embodiment is directed to when RGB have the upper n bits having the same value, e.g., white, gray, or black, but is not limited thereto. The present invention can also be applied to when each of the upper n bits of RGB is the same upon expressing a particular color. Also, m bits do not necessarily mean a most significant or a least significant bit but mean the bit value of a predetermined area. For example, the present invention can be applied to m bits of a middle section. However, since information, i.e. LSB, gives the least effect on overall color in consideration of characteristics of a RGB combined gray scale, the quality of an image can be maintained when a same LSB value is provided as pseudo control data.
Next,
Next,
In conclusion, like RGB, the particular m bits of RGB, e.g., RGB sub-pixels displaying gray, can set the lower m bits to be the same. When the upper eight bits are information indicating color, and the lower two bits are information indicating luminance, the lower two bits can be the same. That is, the timing controller or the control unit constituting the timing controller generates m-bit image data as pseudo control data when m-bit image data of two or more sub-pixels are the same.
In this instance, since the data driving unit receives pseudo control data m bits and each of sub-pixels n bits, a data compression ratio increases in proportion to the number of sub-pixels collected relating to the pseudo control data and m bits. Further, the reduced size of data is (the number of sub-pixels—1)*m bits. When a particular area (e.g., the lower m bits) of sub-pixels within a pixel is the same information, repetition is unnecessary, and the same lower m-bit value is thus generated as pseudo control data, included in a control packet, and provided by the timing controller to the data driving unit so that a high quality image can be output without loss of image data, as shown in
Next,
Further, when image data expressed by each of sub-pixels varies like
Further, the timing controller 140 can transmit, to the data driving unit 120, two-bit pseudo control data for each horizontal line (gate line), using an EPI control packet. Further, depending on a change in a pattern value, the value of pseudo control data can be changed based on a weight value, and have a difference according to regular digital and analog values.
Next,
Here, the image data means (n+m)-bit image data for each sub-pixel. For example, if a sub-pixel indicates one of R, G, and B colors, (n+m)-bits are received for image data of the corresponding sub-pixel from the host. As described hereinbefore, when the number of sub-pixels constituting a pixel is three (RGB), all RGB image data can be included in a packet like reference numeral 310 of
The above description describes that when image data received from the host is 10 bits for each sub-pixel, n is eight and m is two where m-bit is LSB m bit. In addition, a control unit 930 (controller) generates pseudo control data corresponding to m bit-image data of two or more sub-pixels. As described in
In addition, an output unit 940 provides n bits for each sub-pixel to the digital unit 510 of the data driving unit, described in
The embodiment of using actual image data for generating, by the control unit 930, pseudo control data has been described in
Further, the timing controller 140 can analyze image data stored in the memory unit 920, and select an MSB (the upper m bits) when a proper part to be used as pseudo control data among RGB image data of a pixel is the MSB. As described in reference numeral 1101 of
In addition, the timing controller 140 can analyze image data of an entire panel or image data of a particular horizontal line and select whether to use the upper bits or the lower bits as pseudo control data. The timing controller 140 can provide a signal bit for notifying the data driving unit of whether to use m bits of the upper bits as pseudo control data or m bits of the lower bits as pseudo control data.
In
This relates to image data of one sub-pixel, and the timing controller 140 provides, using the same scheme described in
Thus, when the present invention is applied, a high resolution image can be implemented without separately improving a bandwidth. Some (m bits) of image data including expanded color data is included in a control packet and transmitted as pseudo control data in order to express a high resolution image. That is, some of the data packet can be included in the control packet of an intra interface and transmitted.
Further, the timing controller can transmit, to the data driving unit, the control packet including pseudo control data and the data packet (including n-bit image data for each sub-pixel), and the data driving unit can combine the pseudo control data and the image data of the data packet and output the image data on the display panel. The timing controller can also analyze a pattern using a frame memory for maintaining the quality of image so as to apply actual image data to pseudo control data (
Next,
Reference numeral 1120 of
Because the size of data transmitted in each of reference numerals 1130 and 1140 is 26 bits, which is 14% smaller than 30 bits that is the size of RUB data in reference numerals 1110 and 1120 hereinbefore, a data compression ratio can be increased. In
Although pieces of information on particular areas (e.g., the lower m bits) of sub-pixels within a pixel are not the same, when pseudo control data is generated using common information or representative information therefrom, the identicality between image data and image data of the host can be increased while the compression ratio in data transmission is increased. In particular, when data is divided using a scheme for including pseudo control data in the control packet, high resolution can be implemented without separately improving a bandwidth. Further, upon processing data by the digital unit of the data driving unit, for a low resolution configuration, a high resolution image can be output by the analog unit through the control packet even without separately changing a circuit in the digital unit.
Next,
In
The sub-pixel, which has selected the lower m bits of G as pseudo control data in reference numeral 1210, selects the lower m bits of B in reference numeral 1220, which comes next to 1210. Further, the sub-pixels, which has selected the lower m bits of B as pseudo control data in reference numeral 1210, selects the lower m bits of R in reference numeral 1220, which comes next to 1210.
In order to prevent imbalance of an image from occurring due to selecting the lower m bits of a sub-pixel among sub-pixels constituting a pixel, m bits to be selected as pseudo control data in each pixel can be interpolated for each gate line, each data line, or each frame, so as to maintain the quality of an average image output. In addition, image data of the entire display panel can be analyzed and the order of sub-pixels used in a previous/later gate line/data line or frame can be considered to determine the lower m bits of which sub-pixels is to be selected as pseudo control data, among sub-pixels of a pixel for each gate line/data line or each frame. The selection can be made based on an image required to be output by each pixel on the entire display panel, and through this, efficiency obtained by both outputting a high resolution image and maintaining a bandwidth can be improved.
According to the embodiments of the present invention as described above, a high resolution data transmission is possible while improving the bandwidth between the timing controller and the data driving unit without increasing a transmission overhead. Further, a high resolution image can be implemented without additional bandwidth improvement. In addition, upon processing data by the digital unit of the data driving unit, a high resolution image can be output by the analog unit through a control packet without an additional circuit change by the digital unit even in case of a low resolution configuration.
The present invention encompasses various modifications to each of the examples and embodiments discussed herein. According to the invention, one or more features described above in one embodiment or example can be equally applied to another embodiment or example described above. The features of one or more embodiments or examples described above can be combined into each of the embodiments or examples described above. Any full or partial combination of one or more embodiment or examples of the invention is also part of the invention.
As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.
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