JPH06149176A - Driving method for plasma display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] An object of the present invention is to provide a method of driving a DC type plasma display panel having a third electrode on the entire surface of the panel with high brightness without shortening a discharge sustaining period. [Composition] Writing to the display discharge cells corresponding to the cathodes K1, K2, K3 ... Is performed by discharging a cathode scanning pulse Vk and an anode writing pulse Fw, and is discharged until an erase pulse Ve is applied to the cathode. In the drive for maintaining the display discharge by the sustain pulse Va, the trigger pulse Vt is applied to the cathode prior to the writing, and the auxiliary discharge between the third electrode and the third electrode primes the display discharge cell on the cathode. Since this priming can be performed independently of the other cathodes, the priming period for each subfield in the subfield division driving becomes unnecessary.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving method for a plasma display panel by a pulse memory method, and more particularly to a driving method for improving display brightness.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a plasma display panel has attracted attention as a display device for television receivers and office automation, and research and development has been advanced toward practical use. Is.

As the plasma display panel, a direct current type plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as a DC type plasma display panel) and an alternating current type plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as an AC type plasma display panel) are mainly studied at present. There is. The AC type plasma display panel has an advantage that the panel itself has a memory function and the emission brightness can be increased. On the other hand, the DC type plasma display panel basically has no memory function in the panel itself and has a problem of low emission brightness. As a means for solving the problems of this DC type plasma display panel, a pulse memory type driving method in which a memory function is provided by a driving method has been proposed and attracted attention (for example, Technical Report of the Television Society, Vol. 9, N.
o.13, p.13).

A driving method of the pulse memory system will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a DC type plasma display panel provided with an auxiliary anode, and FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing a conventional driving method for driving this DC type plasma display panel by a pulse memory method. In FIG. 6, the DC type plasma display panel has cathodes K1, K2, K3 ...
· Two types of display matrix electrode groups, which are a cathode group 5 consisting of and an anode group 6 consisting of anodes A1, A2, A3 ...
Auxiliary anode group 6 including auxiliary anodes SA1, SA2, SA3, ... For ensuring stable and reliable writing discharge.
a and the cathodes K1, K2, ... And the anode A1,
A display discharge cell 9 is formed at each intersection with A2, .... A discharge gas is sealed between the anode group 6 and the auxiliary anode group 6a and the cathode group 5, and a discharge is generated in the display discharge cell 9 at the intersection of the cathode and the anode to which the voltage pulse is applied. The light emitted by the discharge is used for display.

Next, a method of driving the DC type plasma display panel having the above structure by a pulse memory system will be described. The anode group 6 (A1, A2,
A3 ...) is applied with a pulse train of the sustaining pulse Va. Also, the cathodes K1, K2, K3,
A shift pulse composed of a scanning pulse Vk having a negative potential and an erasing pulse Ve is applied to ... In the order of K1, K2, K3 ,. When writing a display in the display discharge cell 9 at the intersection of the anode A1 and the cathode K1, as shown in FIG. 7, the write pulse Vw is applied to the anode A1 while the scanning pulse Vk is applied to the cathode K1. As a result, the display discharge cell 9 at the intersection of the cathode K1 and the anode A1
Causes pulse discharge. Since the discharge start voltage is lowered in the display discharge cells 9 that have been pulse-discharged by writing, the discharge light emission is repeated every time the discharge sustaining pulse Va is applied until the erase pulse Ve is applied to the cathode. Since the voltage of the erase pulse Ve is set so that the potential difference between the cathode and the anode is set to be equal to or lower than the discharge start voltage, the discharge is stopped after the erase pulse Ve is applied. Since the discharge start voltage of the display discharge cell 9 is maintained at a high level when the write pulse Vw is not applied or after the erase pulse Ve is applied and the discharge is temporarily stopped, the sustain voltage Va is maintained.
No discharge light emission occurs due to.

Incidentally, the auxiliary anode 9a is formed adjacent to each display discharge cell 9, and before the write pulse Vw is applied, the auxiliary discharge cell 9a between the cathode K1 and the auxiliary anode SA1 discharges the auxiliary discharge. By doing so, seed discharge (hereinafter referred to as priming) is performed, and when the write pulse Vw is applied, stable and reliable writing is performed.

In the DC type plasma display panel provided with such an auxiliary anode, the area of the display discharge cells contributing to the actual display is reduced by the amount of the auxiliary anode, and the aperture ratio is lowered, so that the emission brightness and efficiency are reduced. descend. Also,
Since the structure itself is complicated, the cathode group, the anode group, and the auxiliary anode group are required to have high processing accuracy, and the yield of the panel is reduced. Further, since a dedicated drive circuit is required to drive the auxiliary anode, it is disadvantageous in terms of cost. Therefore, D without auxiliary anode
C-type plasma displays are preferred.

For the above demands, D without auxiliary anode
A C-type plasma display panel has been proposed. FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway plan view showing the configuration of an example of a DC type plasma display panel having no auxiliary anode, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view thereof. 3 and 4, the display discharge cell 9 which is a discharge space is formed between the front plate 1 and the rear plate 2. The anode group 6 (A1, A2, A3 ...) Is formed on the inner surface of the front plate 1. A third electrode 8 is formed on the entire surface of the back plate 2, and a dielectric layer 7 is formed on the third electrode 8. The cathode group 6 and the partition wall 4 are formed on the dielectric layer 7. The cathode group 5 (K1, K2, K3 ...) Is formed in a direction orthogonal to the anode group 6. Partition wall 4 is surface plate 1
And the back plate 2 are supported and installed so as to form a discharge space of the display discharge cell 9. The partition walls 4 are provided with slits 3 for promptly and stably filling exhaust gas and discharge gas and for improving the flow of charged particles and ions between the display discharge cells. In the case of a color plasma display panel, a phosphor is installed on the surface plate 1 side. The surface plate 1 and the back plate 2 are combined and sealed, exhausted and baked, and then a discharge gas is enclosed to complete a plasma display panel.

In the above structure, D having no auxiliary anode
A conventional method of driving a C-type plasma display panel will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation in the driving method that is put into practical use as the DC refresh method. All cathodes K1, K
Prior to the scanning for writing a series of writing, discharge maintaining and erasing corresponding to Nos. 2, K3, ..., A trigger pulse Vt is applied between the third electrode 8 and the anodes K1, K2, K3 ,.
Is applied to perform an auxiliary discharge, and the auxiliary discharge accumulates charges on the surface of the dielectric layer 7, thereby lowering the discharge start voltage of the display discharge, suppressing the uncertainty of the writing operation, and suppressing the discharge start. Reduce the delay time.

In general, in the pulse memory system, as shown in FIG. 8, one field is divided into a plurality of subfields for scanning (in FIG. 8, it is divided into eight subfields), and the subfields are divided. The luminance modulation is performed by the light emission sustaining time from writing to the display discharge cell to erasing. The brightness of the entire one field is determined by the presence / absence of display of the subfield and its brightness. Therefore, the maximum brightness of one field is the maximum brightness when all the subfields are on and the discharge time is the longest.

In such sub-field scanning,
If auxiliary discharge is performed by the third electrode while the cathode is scanning, malfunction may occur. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, in principle, the writing of the last scanning line of the (n-1) th subfield (in the case of the MSB subfield, the LSB subfield of the previous field in the case of the MSB subfield) is completed as the writing timing After that, it becomes possible, and the scanning is divided and the trigger period is provided for each subfield.

[0012]

In the conventional driving method of the DC plasma display panel having no such auxiliary anode, a trigger period is provided for each subfield to perform auxiliary discharge. Therefore, the discharge time is substantially shortened and the brightness is lowered. As a means for solving this problem, a separate third electrode may be provided for each cathode, and auxiliary discharge may be performed with the third electrode corresponding to the next field before switching the field. The provision of the not only complicates the structure, but also increases the number of drive circuits for the third electrode by the number of cathodes, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost.

The present invention solves the above problems and provides a method of driving a DC type plasma display panel which efficiently drives a DC type plasma display panel having a third electrode formed on the entire surface of the panel with high brightness. The purpose is to do.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises an anode group composed of a plurality of anodes formed on a first flat plate and a partition formed on a second flat plate. A cathode group consisting of a plurality of cathodes held opposite to each other in the direction orthogonal to the anode group, a display discharge cell located at each intersection of the anode and the cathode, and a cathode group facing the cathode group via a dielectric layer. In a method of driving a plasma display panel having three electrodes, priming of the writing is performed by auxiliary discharge between the cathode and the third electrode prior to writing discharge to a display discharge cell corresponding to an arbitrary cathode. A method of driving a plasma display panel.

[0015]

According to the present invention, in the above driving method, the auxiliary discharge between the cathode and the third electrode serves as priming prior to writing to the display discharge cell corresponding to the cathode, and the priming is independent of the operation of other cathodes. is doing.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method of driving a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a timing chart showing the operation of the driving method of the plasma display panel according to the present invention. The driving method of the plasma display panel according to the present invention is the third method.
This is a means in which the discharge time (the number of light emission pulses) does not decrease even if the electrodes are not independent for each cathode. As shown in FIG. 1, a discharge sustaining pulse Va and a write pulse Vw to a display discharge cell according to display information are applied to the anode, and
The scanning pulse Vk and the erasing pulse Ve are applied to the cathode, and the operation of sequentially scanning from K1 to K2 and K3 is the same as that of the conventional pulse memory system.

The difference of the present invention from the conventional example is the operation of applying a negative potential trigger pulse Vt for each cathode prior to the application timing of the scanning pulse Vk and interposing in the row of the sustaining pulses Va. The third electrode is in a state of being held at 0 volt potential, or in a state of applying a bias voltage Vta in order to lower the applied voltage of the trigger pulse.
When the trigger pulse Vt is applied to the cathode, the third
Discharge is generated between the electrode and the cathode, negative charges are accumulated on the surface of the dielectric layer 7 on the cathode, and charged particles are generated in the space of each discharge cell corresponding to the cathode. . Due to this priming effect, when the next scan pulse Vk and write pulse Vw are applied,
Discharge start delay time can be reduced, and variation can be suppressed.

The relationship between the applied voltages of Vt and Vk is (V
f = discharging start voltage) If Vf <Vt + Vta Vf> Vk + Vta is not satisfied, discharge occurs in the same manner as when the scan pulse Vk is applied, even when the write voltage Vw is not applied to the anode, and the trigger pulse is applied. However, if the amount of the charged particles generated by the discharge is sufficient for the sustain discharge by the subsequent discharge sustain pulse, erroneous discharge may occur. Therefore, when the constant bias voltage Vta is applied to the third electrode as shown in FIG. 1, the applied voltages of the trigger pulse Vt and the scan pulse Vk need to be at different levels. This requires two kinds of cathode pulse voltages, which complicates the circuit. A means for solving this is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the bias voltage Vta of the third electrode may be synchronized with the trigger pulse Vt so that the bias voltage has a positive polarity only while the trigger pulse Vt is being applied.

In the means shown in FIG. 1 or 2, since the priming by the auxiliary discharge is performed for each cathode independently of the other cathodes, for example, the last nth subframe.
If the timing is set so that the first cathode K1 of the next subfield is primed during scanning of the cathode (not shown), it is not necessary to perform priming for each subfield. Therefore, the discharge sustaining time in the subfield can be lengthened by the unnecessary priming period, and the brightness of the subfield can be increased.

As described above, according to the driving method of the plasma display panel of the embodiment of the present invention, the auxiliary discharge is provided between the cathode and the third electrode and before the display discharge cell corresponding to the cathode is written. By performing the auxiliary discharge, the priming period for each subfield is not required, and the brightness of the subfield and the brightness of the entire field can be improved.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above-described embodiments, the present invention provides an anode group composed of a plurality of anodes formed on a first flat plate and a partition wall formed on a second flat plate. A cathode group consisting of a plurality of cathodes held in opposition to each other in a direction orthogonal to the group; display discharge cells located at each intersection of the anode and the cathode; and a third group facing the cathode group via a dielectric layer. In a method of driving a plasma display panel including an electrode, prior to writing discharge to a display discharge cell corresponding to an arbitrary cathode, priming of the writing is performed by an auxiliary discharge between the cathode and a third electrode. With the plasma display panel driving method described above, when the sub-field is divided and driven, the priming period for each sub-field is unnecessary, and high-luminance and high-efficiency plasma display is possible. You can drive the display panel.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a timing chart showing an operation in a driving method of a plasma display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing an operation in a driving method of a plasma display panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a structure of a plasma display panel having no auxiliary anode.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing an operation in a conventional plasma display panel driving method.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a conventional plasma display panel provided with an auxiliary anode.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing an operation in a driving method of a conventional plasma display panel having an auxiliary anode.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an operation of scanning a field of a plasma display panel by dividing it into a plurality of subfields.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an operation in a conventional driving method in which a plasma display panel having no auxiliary anode is divided into subfields and driven.

[Explanation of symbols]

Va sustaining pulse applied to the anode group Vw discharge writing pulse applied to the anode of the discharge cell to be displayed Vk scanning pulse applied to the cathode Vt trigger pulse for auxiliary discharge applied to the cathode Vta potential of the third electrode

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An anode group composed of a plurality of anodes formed on a first flat plate, and a plurality of cathodes formed on a second flat plate and opposed to each other by a partition wall in a direction orthogonal to the anode group. A method of driving a plasma display panel, comprising: a cathode group, a display discharge cell located at each intersection of the anode and the cathode, and a third electrode facing the cathode group with a dielectric layer in between. Prior to the writing discharge to the display discharge cell corresponding to the cathode, the priming of the writing is performed by the auxiliary discharge between the cathode and the third electrode. 2. The driving method of the plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary discharge by the third electrode and the cathode is performed in a period between adjacent pulses of the sustaining pulse train of the anode. 3. The plasma display panel according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary discharge by the third electrode and the cathode is performed by applying a negative trigger pulse to the cathode with respect to the voltage level of the third electrode. Driving method.