Patent Grant
10755621
This application claims the benefit and priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 201510359575.7, filed on Jun. 25, 2015, the entire content of which is incorporated by reference herein as part of the present application.
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of display, and more particularly, to a timing controller, a timing control method and a display panel.
At present, a display panel (such as a liquid crystal panel, an organic light emitting diode panel, etc.) mainly uses a timing controller to transmit drive control signals (for example, a gate start signal, a gate clock signal or a data clock signal) to driving circuits of the display panel respectively, to control the driving circuits of the display panel. Among a plurality of driving circuits, there are usually different driving circuits that need to be synchronously driven. For example, in a display panel structure, a plurality of driving circuits is distributed on both sides of a column-directional center line of the display panel, and the driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line need to be synchronously driven. However, due to the difference in signal transmission paths on both sides of the column-directional center line, or for other various reasons, the drive control signal cannot reach two driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line at the same time. This causes the problem of a poor picture quality, and an affected visual effect.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a timing controller, a timing control method, and a display panel.
A first aspect of the present disclosure provide a timing controller including a synchronization module configured to control at least one of a sending time point of a first drive control signal and a sending time point of a second drive control signal, such that the first drive control signal reaches a first driving circuit at the same time point as the second drive control signal reaches a second driving circuit.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are symmetric with respect to a column-directional center line of a display panel including the timing controller.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are both gate driving circuits, and the first drive control signal and the second drive control signal are both gate start signals or both gate clock signals.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are both source driving circuits, and the first drive control signal and the second drive control signal are both data clock signals.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the synchronization module includes a difference determination sub-module and a sending time point control sub-module. The difference determination sub-module is configured to determine a transmission time required for a first test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the first driving circuit, a transmission time required for a second test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the second driving circuit, and a difference T1 therebetween. The sending time point control sub-module is configured to send a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a longer transmission time earlier by the difference T1 than send a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a shorter transmission time.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the timing controller has a first test signal output terminal, a first test signal return terminal, a second test signal output terminal, and a second test signal return terminal. The difference determination sub-module is configured to determine transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween, based on a time point at which the first test signal is sent from the first signal output terminal, a time point at which the first test signal is returned to the first test signal return terminal via the first driving circuit, a time point at which the second test signal is sent from the second test signal output terminal, and a time point at which the second test signal is returned to the second test signal return terminal via the second driving circuit.
A second aspect of the present disclosure provide a timing control method for controlling the timing controller described above, including: controlling at least one of a sending time point of a first drive control signal and a sending time point of a second drive control signal, such that the first drive control signal reaches a first driving circuit at the same time point as the second drive control signal reaches a second driving circuit.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are symmetric with respect to a column-directional center line of a display panel utilizing the timing control method.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are both gate driving circuits, and the first drive control signal and the second drive control signal are both gate start signals or both gate clock signals.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are both source driving circuits, and the first drive control signal and the second drive control signal are both data clock signals.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, controlling at least one of a sending time point of a first drive control signal and a sending time point of a second drive control signal includes: determining a transmission time required for the first test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the first driving circuit, a transmission time required for the second test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the second driving circuit and the difference T1 therebetween; and sending a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a longer transmission time earlier by the difference T1 than sending a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a shorter transmission time.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the timing controller has a first test signal output terminal, a first test signal return terminal, a second test signal output terminal, and a second test signal return terminal. The transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween are determined, based on a time point at which the first test signal is sent from the first signal output terminal, a time point at which the first test signal is returned to the first test signal return terminal via the first driving circuit, a time point at which the second test signal is sent from the second test signal output terminal, and a time point at which the second test signal is returned to the second test signal return terminal via the second driving circuit.
A third aspect of the present disclosure provide a display panel including any one of the above described timing controllers, and a first driving circuit and a second driving circuit that need to be driven synchronously. The first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are both connected to the timing controller.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are symmetric with respect to a column-directional center line of the display panel.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the display panel further includes a first source printed circuit board and a second source printed circuit board connected to an array substrate of the display panel. The timing controller is provided on the first source printed circuit board or the second source printed circuit board.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, a first test signal output terminal and a first test signal return terminal of the timing controller are both connected to the first driving circuit, a second test signal output terminal and a second test signal return terminal of the timing controller are both connected to the second driving circuit.
The features and advantages of the present disclosure can be understood more clearly with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are illustrative and shall not to be construed as limiting the disclosure in any way, wherein:
The present disclosure will now be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments in order to provide a clearer understanding of the above features and advantages of the present disclosure. It is to be noted that the embodiments of the present application and the features in the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.
Many specific details are set forth in the following description to facilitate a thorough understanding of the disclosure, but the disclosure may be practiced otherwise than that described herein, and thus the scope of the disclosure is not limited to the following disclosure of the specific embodiments.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a timing control method for controlling the timing controller. The method including: controlling at least one of a sending time point of a first drive control signal and a sending time point of a second drive control signal, such that a first drive control signal reaches the first driving circuit at the same time point as a second drive control signal reaches the second driving circuit.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are driving circuits that need to be driven synchronously. For example, they may be driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to a column-directional center line of the display panel utilizing the timing control method.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide the timing control method. By controlling at least one of a sending time point of a first drive control signal and a sending time point of a second drive control signal, the method enables two drive control signals to simultaneously reach the two driving circuits (e.g., driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line of the display panel). The synchronous control of such two driving circuits is achieved, to avoid display problems.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit herein may be both gate driving circuits, and the first drive control signal and the second drive control signal may be both gate start signals or both gate clock signals. Alternatively, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit may be both source driving circuits, and the first drive control signal and the second drive control signal may be both data clock signals.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, controlling at least one of a sending time point of a first drive control signal and a sending time point of a second drive control signal may specifically include: determining a transmission time required for the first test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the first driving circuit, a transmission time required for the second test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the second driving circuit, and the difference T1 therebetween; sending a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a longer transmission time earlier by the difference T1 than sending a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a shorter transmission time.
In this way, it is only required to acquire the transmission times required for the test signals to be transmitted to the two driving circuits and the difference therebetween, so as to achieve the synchronization correspondingly. The process is simple to implement.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, there are various methods for determining the transmission times for the signals to reach the driving circuits and the difference T1 therebetween. For example, on the timing controller, a first test signal output terminal, a first test signal return terminal, a second test signal output terminal and a second test signal return terminal are provided. The transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween described above can be obtained as follows: determining the transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween, based on a time point at which the first test signal is sent from the first signal output terminal, a time point at which the first test signal is returned to the first test signal return terminal via the first driving circuit, a time point at which the second test signal is sent from the second test signal output terminal, and a time point at which the second test signal is returned to the second test signal return terminal via the second driving circuit.
By providing four terminals or pins on the timing controller, the above method can calculate the transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween, only using the time points at which the test signals are sent from or returned to the corresponding terminals or pins. The method has the advantages of being easy to implement and simple to calculate.
Of course, in embodiments of the present disclosure, it is also possible to determine the transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween by detecting the time points at which the test signals are sent and the time points at which the test signals reach the corresponding driving circuits. This method does not necessarily use the terminals or pins on the timing controller for detection.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the above described timing control method may be specifically executed by the timing controller. The timing controller includes a synchronization module for controlling at least one of a sending time point of a first drive control signal and a sending time point of a second drive control signal, such that the first drive control signal reaches the first driving circuit at the same time point as the second drive control signal reaches the second driving circuit.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are driving circuits that need to be driven synchronously. For example, they may be driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line of a display panel including the timing controller.
The timing controller provided by the present disclosure has a synchronization module capable of controlling the sending time points of the first drive control signal and the second drive control signal, such that two drive control signals can simultaneously reach the two driving circuits (for example, two driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to a column-directional center line of the display panel). The simultaneous control of these two driving circuits is achieved, so as to avoid the resulting display problems because the drive control signals cannot simultaneously reach the two driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line of the display panel.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the synchronization module may include a difference determination sub-module and a sending time point control sub-module. The difference determination sub-module is used for determining a transmission time required for the first test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the first driving circuit, a transmission time required for the second test signal to be sent from the timing controller to the second driving circuit, and the difference T1 therebetween. The sending time point control sub-module is used for sending a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a longer transmission time earlier by the difference T1 than sending a drive control signal to a driving circuit corresponding to a shorter transmission time.
In this way, it is only required to use the difference determination sub-module to determine the transmission times required for the test signals to be transmitted to the two driving circuits and the difference T1 therebetween. Then, the sending time point control sub-module is used to control the time points at which the drive control signals are sent, to achieve the synchronization correspondingly. The process is simple to implement.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, the timing controller may further have a first test signal output terminal, a first test signal return terminal, a second test signal output terminal, and a second test signal return terminal. At this point, the difference determination sub-module can use the above four terminals or pins to determine the transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween.
The difference determination sub-module is specifically used for determining the transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween, based on a time point at which the first test signal is sent from the first signal output terminal, a time point at which the first test signal is returned to the first test signal return terminal via the first driving circuit, a time point at which the second test signal is sent from the second test signal output terminal, and a time point at which the second test signal is returned to the second test signal return terminal via the second driving circuit.
By providing four terminals or pins on the timing controller, the transmission times and the difference T1 can be calculated only using the time points at which the test signals are sent from or returned to the corresponding terminals or pins. The method has the advantages of being easy to implement and simple to calculate.
Embodiments of the present disclosure further disclose a display panel, including the above described timing controller, and a first driving circuit and a second driving circuit that need to be driven synchronously (for example, the first driving circuit and the second driving circuit that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line of the display panel). The first driving circuit and the second driving circuit are both connected to the timing controller. Since the above described timing controller can make the drive control signals simultaneously reach the two driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line of the display panel, the display panel having the above timing controller has the advantage that the drive control signals can simultaneously control the two driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line of the display panel.
Further, since the above described timing controller can make the drive control signals simultaneously reach the two driving circuits that are symmetric with respect to the column-directional center line of the display panel, the timing controller executing the above described timing control method is not necessarily provided on the column-directional center line of the display panel to which it belongs, but rather can be flexibly arranged. The design difficulty or production costs may be greatly reduced.
In order to realize the determination of the transmission times and the difference T1 therebetween using the four terminals or pins of the timing controller in the above described timing control method, the transmission loops for the first test signal and the second test signal may further be formed on the display panel in
The first test signal output terminal L-GT and the first test signal return terminal LF-GT of the timing controller on the display panel in
The first test signal output terminal L-DT and the first test signal return terminal L-FDT of the timing controller on the panel shown in
The specific process of the timing control method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the display panel shown in
Referring to
The first test signal is sent from the first test signal output terminal L-GT of the timing controller, sequentially passes through each unit of the gate driving circuit on one side of the column-directional center line of the display panel, and then returns to the first test signal return terminal LF-GT of the timing controller, along the signal transmission loop. The second test signal is sent from the second test signal output terminal R-GT of the timing controller, sequentially passes through each unit of the gate driving circuit on the other side of the column-directional center line of the display panel along the signal transmission loop, and then returns to the second test signal return terminal RF-GT of the timing controller.
The transmission time t1 of the first test signal is obtained from the time difference between the time point at which the first test signal is sent from the L-GT pin and the time point at which it is returned to the LF-GT pin. The transmission time t2 of the second test signal is obtained from the time difference between the time point at which the second test signal is sent from the R-GT pin and the time point at which it is returned to the RF-GT pin. The difference between the transmission time t1 of the first test signal and the transmission time t2 of the second test signal is twice the difference T1, i.e. T1=|t1−t2|/2.
As shown in
As shown in
The above conclusions can also be described in the following table.
Referring to
The first test signal is sent from the first test signal output terminal L-DT of the timing controller, sequentially passes through each unit of the source driving circuit on one side of the column-directional center line of the display panel, and then returns to the first test signal return terminal L-FDT of the timing controller, along the signal transmission loop. The second test signal is sent from the second test signal output terminal R-DT of the timing controller, sequentially passes through each unit of the source driving circuits on the other side of the column-directional center line of the display panel, and then returns to the second test signal return terminal R-FDT of the timing controller, along the signal transmission loop.
The transmission time t3 of the first test signal is obtained from the time difference between the time point at which the first test signal is sent from the L-DT pin and the time point at which it is returned to the L-FDT pin. The transmission time t4 of the second test signal is obtained from the time difference between the time point at which the second test signal is sent from the R-DT pin and the time point at which it is returned to the R-FDT pin. The difference between the transmission time t3 of the first test signal and the transmission time t4 of the second test signal is twice the difference T1, i.e. T1=|t3−t4|/2.
If t3<t4, it is indicated that the transmission time of the first test signal is shorter than the transmission time of the second test signal. The sending time point of the second drive control signal is set earlier by T1 than the sending time point of the first drive control signal.
If t3>t4, it is indicated that the transmission time of the first test signal is longer than the transmission time of the second test signal. The sending time point of the first drive control signal is set earlier by T1 than the sending time point of the second drive control signal.
The above conclusions can also be described in the following table.
The timing control process of the above timing control method is described with reference to the display panel in
While the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in combination with the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and such modifications and variations fall within the scope defined by the attached claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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| PCT/CN2016/079352 | 4/15/2016 | WO | 00 |
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| WO2016/206451 | 12/29/2016 | WO | A |
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| 20180025685 A1 | Jan 2018 | US |
