Device and method for driving a liquid crystal panel

Claim 1

A device for driving a color liquid crystal display panel, said display panel having at least a plurality of color pixels arranged in a matrix of rows and columns according to a predetermined color order and a plurality of source lines each of which is connected to one column of said color pixels having the same color, said plurality of source lines being divided at least into first and second groups, and each of said first and second groups being further divided into first and second sub groups, said device comprising: means for transmitting a signal to each of said plurality of source lines, said signal transmitting means including first source drive means (33, 35) and second source drive means (34, 36) provided corresponding to said first and second groups of said source lines, respectively, and each of said first and second source drive means including a first driver (33, 34) provided corresponding to said first sub group and a second driver (35, 36) provided corresponding to said second sub group, said first driver and second driver being activated alternately to latch a color signal supplied thereto; first signal supply means (37) and second signal supply means (38) provided corresponding to said first and second source drive means, respectively, for supplying color signals to the corresponding source drive means, each of said first and second signal supply means including first converting means (39b, 39r, 39g, 40b, 40r, 40g, 41, 42) for receiving a plurality of types of analog color signals supplied in parallel and converting the same to a digital data train in a color order corresponding to the color order defined by the source lines of the corresponding group, storing means (43, 44, 49, 50) for storing successively the output of said converting means according to an address, said storing means including a first area for storing data to be transmitted to said first sub group and a second area for storing data to be transmitted to said second sub group; means (49, 51) for successively reading the stored data from said storing means, said reading means including alternate reading means for reading the data alternately from said first area and said second area; and analog converting means (46b, 46r, 46g, 47b, 47r, 47g, ℓ1b, ℓ1r, ℓ1g) for converting a read data train from said reading means to analog signals and transmitting the same to the corresponding source drive means, said analog converting means including second converting means (46b, 46r, 46g, 47b, 47r, 47g, 1b, 1r, 1g) for converting said read data train to parallel analog signals for respective colors and outputting the same.

Claim 2

A device for driving a color liquid crystal display panel, said display panel having at least a plurality of color pixels arranged in a matrix of rows and columns according to a predetermined color order and a plurality of source lines each of which is connected to one column of said color pixels having the same color, said plurality of source lines being divided at least into first and second groups, and each of said first and second groups being further divided into first and second sub groups, said device comprising: means for transmitting a signal to each of said plurality of source lines, said signal transmitting means including first source drive means (33, 35) and second source drive means (34, 36) provided corresponding to said first and second groups of said source lines, respectively, and each of said first and second source drive means including a first driver (33, 34) provided corresponding to said first sub group and a second driver (35, 36) provided corresponding to said second sub group, said first driver and second driver being activated alternately to latch a color signal supplied thereto; first signal supply means (37) and second signal supply means (38) provided corresponding to said first and second source drive means, respectively, for supplying color signals to the corresponding source drive means, each of said first and second signal supply means including first converting means (39b, 39r, 39g, 40b, 40r, 40g, 41, 42) for receiving a plurality of types of analog color signals supplied in parallel and converting the same to a digital data train in a color order corresponding to the color order defined by the source lines of the corresponding group, storing means (43, 44, 49, 50) for storing successively the output of said converting means according to an address, said storing means including a first area for storing data to be transmitted to said first sub group and a second area for storing data to be transmitted to said second sub group; means (49, 51) for successively reading the stored data from said storing means, said reading means including alternate reading means for reading the data alternately from said first area and said second area; and analog converting means (46b, 46r, 46g, 47b, 47r, 47g, ℓ1b, ℓ1r, ℓ1g) for converting a read data train from said reading means to analog signals and transmitting the same to the corresponding source drive means, said analog converting means including second converting means (46b, 46r, 46g, 47b, 47r, 47g, 1b, 1r, 1g) for converting said read data train to parallel analog signals for respective colors and outputting the same.

Claim 7

A device for driving a color liquid crystal display panel, said liquid crystal panel having a plurality of color liquid crystal pixels arranged according to a predetermined color order, a plurality of source lines for transmitting signal potentials to said plurality of liquid crystal pixels, and a plurality of gate lines provided in a direction intersecting with said plurality of source lines for transmitting a signal activating one row of said plurality of liquid crystal pixels, one source line having connected thereto the liquid crystal pixels of the same color, and said plurality of source lines being assigned numbers which successively increase so that said plurality of source lines are divided into a group of odd-numbered source lines, a group of even-numbered source lines, a group of source lines of a first half, and a group of source lines of a second half, said device comprising: first and second source drive means (143, 144, 145, 146) provided corresponding to said group of odd-numbered source lines and said group of even-numbered source lines, respectively, each of said first and second source drive means including a first source driver (143, 145) for transmitting a signal to the source lines of the first half and a second source driver (144, 146) for transmitting a signal to the source lines of the second half, which are activated alternately, and each of said first and second source drive means including means (149, 150, 151) for latching signals supplied thereto in an order following a color arrangement order of the corresponding source line groups and transmitting the latched signals to the source lines of the corresponding groups with prescribed timing; means (101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113) for receiving an analog video signal corresponding to one row of said plurality of pixels and providing a digital signal data train to be displayed in the pixels connected to the first row and the second row forming a pair with said first row from said received video signal of the one row, said video signal including three kinds of color signals to be transmitted in parallel; means (114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 123, 141) for receiving the output of said signal data train providing means and storing the received video signal data by dividing the same into groups of signal data to be transmitted to said first row, said second row, said group of odd-numbered source lines, said group of even-numbered source lines, said group of source lines of the first half, and said group of source lines of the second half; means 124, 141) for reading serially the data to be transmitted to the pixels of said first row out of the data stored in said storing means, in a prescribed order, then reading serially the data to be transmitted to the pixels of said second row in said predetermined order; and means (129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140) for latching the data train provided from said reading means with prescribed timing, converting the same to said parallel analog color signals of the three colors and transmitting said color signals to said first and second source drive means, said transmitting means including first latch converting means for latching the data to be transmitted to said odd-numbered source lines out of the read data train and converting the same, and second latch converting means for latching the data to be transmitted to said even-numbered source lines and converting the same.

Claim 8

A device for driving a color liquid crystal display panel, said liquid crystal panel having a plurality of color liquid crystal pixels arranged according to a predetermined color order, a plurality of source lines for transmitting signal potentials to said plurality of liquid crystal pixels, and a plurality of gate lines provided in a direction intersecting with said plurality of source lines for transmitting a signal activating one row of said plurality of liquid crystal pixels, one source line having connected thereto the liquid crystal pixels of the same color, and said plurality of source lines being assigned numbers which successively increase so that said plurality of source lines are divided into a group of odd-numbered source lines, a group of even-numbered source lines, a group of source lines of a first half, and a group of source lines of a second half, said device comprising: first and second source drive means (143, 144, 145, 146) provided corresponding to said group of odd-numbered source lines and said group of even-numbered source lines, respectively, each of said first and second source drive means including a first source driver (143, 145) for transmitting a signal to the source lines of the first half and a second source driver (144, 146) for transmitting a signal to the source lines of the second half, which are activated alternately, and each of said first and second source drive means including means (149, 150, 151) for latching signals supplied thereto in an order following a color arrangement order of the corresponding source line groups and transmitting the latched signals to the source lines of the corresponding groups with prescribed timing; means (101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113) for receiving an analog video signal corresponding to one row of said plurality of pixels and providing a digital signal data train to be displayed in the pixels connected to the first row and the second row forming a pair with said first row from said received video signal of the one row, said video signal including three kinds of color signals to be transmitted in parallel; means (114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 123, 141) for receiving the output of said signal data train providing means and storing the received video signal data by dividing the same into groups of signal data to be transmitted to said first row, said second row, said group of odd-numbered source lines, said group of even-numbered source lines, said group of source lines of the first half, and said group of source lines of the second half; means 124, 141) for reading serially the data to be transmitted to the pixels of said first row out of the data stored in said storing means, in a prescribed order, then reading serially the data to be transmitted to the pixels of said second row in said predetermined order; and means (129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140) for latching the data train provided from said reading means with prescribed timing, converting the same to said parallel analog color signals of the three colors and transmitting said color signals to said first and second source drive means, said transmitting means including first latch converting means for latching the data to be transmitted to said odd-numbered source lines out of the read data train and converting the same, and second latch converting means for latching the data to be transmitted to said even-numbered source lines and converting the same.

Claim 21

A method for driving a color liquid crystal display panel, said display panel having a plurality of color liquid crystal pixels arranged according to a predetermined color order in a matrix of rows and columns, a plurality of source lines each of which is connected to the color liquid crystal pixels of one column, and a plurality of gate lines, each of which is connected to the color liquid crystal pixels of one row, first and second source drivers for driving a first half and a second half of odd-numbered source lines, respectively, and third and fourth source drivers for driving a first half and a second half of even-numbered source lines, respectively, being provided in the periphery of said display panel, said method comprising the steps of: forming a first digital data train for said odd-numbered source lines and a second digital data train for said even-numbered source lines upon receipt of first analog color signals of three colors in parallel, said first digital data train including digital color signals of the three colors arranged in a color order of said odd-numbered source lines, and said second digital data train including digital color signals of the three colors arranged in a color order of said even-numbered source lines; writing said first and second digital data trains in first and second memory elements, respectively, according to an address order, said first and second memory elements each having an address area of a first half and that of a second half; alternately reading said area of the first half and said area of the second half from each of said first and second memory elements and providing a third digital data train and a fourth digital data train; converting said third and fourth digital data trains to second and third analog color signals of the three colors in parallel, transmitting said second analog color signal to said first and second source drivers and transmitting said third analog color signal to said third and fourth source drivers; and alternately activating said first and second source drivers, and alternately activating said third and fourth source drivers, thereby holding said second analog signal in said first and second source driver and holding said third analog color signal in said third and fourth source drivers.

Claim 22

A method for driving a color liquid crystal display panel, said display panel having a plurality of color liquid crystal pixels arranged according to a predetermined color order in a matrix of rows and columns, a plurality of source lines each of which is connected to the color liquid crystal pixels of one column, and a plurality of gate lines, each of which is connected to the color liquid crystal pixels of one row, first and second source drivers for driving a first half and a second half of odd-numbered source lines, respectively, and third and fourth source drivers for driving a first half and a second half of even-numbered source lines, respectively, being provided in the periphery of said display panel, said method comprising the steps of: forming a first digital data train for said odd-numbered source lines and a second digital data train for said even-numbered source lines upon receipt of first analog color signals of three colors in parallel, said first digital data train including digital color signals of the three colors arranged in a color order of said odd-numbered source lines, and said second digital data train including digital color signals of the three colors arranged in a color order of said even-numbered source lines; writing said first and second digital data trains in first and second memory elements, respectively, according to an address order, said first and second memory elements each having an address area of a first half and that of a second half; alternately reading said area of the first half and said area of the second half from each of said first and second memory elements and providing a third digital data train and a fourth digital data train; converting said third and fourth digital data trains to second and third analog color signals of the three colors in parallel, transmitting said second analog color signal to said first and second source drivers and transmitting said third analog color signal to said third and fourth source drivers; and alternately activating said first and second source drivers, and alternately activating said third and fourth source drivers, thereby holding said second analog signal in said first and second source driver and holding said third analog color signal in said third and fourth source drivers.

Claim 23

A method for driving a liquid crystal display panel to activate two adjacent gate lines in one horizontal scanning period, said liquid crystal display panel having a plurality of color liquid crystal pixels arranged according to a delta arrangement, a plurality of gate lines each of which is connected to the pixels of one row, and a plurality of source lines for transmitting signals to said plurality of pixels, said display panel including in its periphery a first source driver for providing the source lines of a first half out of odd-numbered source lines, a second source driver for driving the source lines of a second half out of said odd-numbered source lines, a third source driver for driving the source lines of a first half out of even-numbered source lines, and a fourth source driver for driving the source lines of a second half of said even-numbered source lines, the pixels of the same color being connected to one source line, said method comprising the steps of: providing a first digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to the pixels on a first gate line, and a second digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to the pixels on a second gate line forming a pair with said first gate line, out of the first analog color signal of the three colors supplied in parallel, said first digital data train and said second digital data train having phases different from each other by 1.5 pixel, and said first and second digital data trains including digital color signals of the three colors arranged in the same order of the color order of the pixels on one gate line; correcting the difference of the phases of said first and second digital data trains so that the difference corresponds to one pixel; providing a third digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to said odd-numbered source lines, and a fourth digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to said even-numbered source lines out of said first and second digital data trains having the corrected phases, said third and fourth digital data trains having data trains in which the data for the first gate line and the data for the second gate line are arranged alternately, said third digital data train including a digital color signal train arranged in an order following the color order of said odd-numbered source lines, and said fourth digital data train including a digital color signal train arranged in an order following the color order of said even-numbered source lines; adjusting the phase of said third digital data train and that of said fourth digital train to coincide with each other; writing said third digital data train into the first memory element and said fourth digital data train into the second memory element, said first and second memory elements having first, second, third and fourth memory areas according to an address order, said writing step including the steps of writing the supplied digital data alternately into said first and third memory areas of said first and second memory elements in a first half period of said one horizontal scanning period, and writing the supplied data alternately into said second and fourth memory areas in the second half period of said one horizontal scanning period; reading the data from said first memory element to provide a fifth digital data train and at the same time reading the data from said second memory element to provide a sixth digital data train, said reading step including the steps of reading the data alternately from said first and second memory areas of said first and second memory elements in the first half period of said one horizontal scanning period and reading the data alternately from said third and fourth memory areas thereof in the second half period of said one horizontal scanning period, said fifth digital data train including a digital color signal train of the three colors arranged in an order following the color order of said odd-numbered source lines, and said sixth digital data train including a digital color signal train of the three colors arranged in an order following the color order of said even-numbered source lines; forming the second analog color signal of the three colors in parallel from said fifth digital data train and supplying the same to said first and second source drivers, forming the third analog color signal of the three colors in parallel from said sixth digital data train and transmitting the same to said third and fourth source drivers, said second analog color signal forming step including the step of activating of successively and periodically three latch means arranged in parallel to receive said fifth digital data train simultaneously, said third analog color signal forming step including the step of activating successively and periodically other three latch means arranged in parallel to receive said sixth digital data train simultaneously; and alternately activating said first and second source drivers to maintain said second analog color signal by said first and second source drivers, and alternately activating said third and fourth source drivers to maintain said third analog color signal by said third and fourth source drivers.

Claim 24

A method for driving a liquid crystal display panel to activate two adjacent gate lines in one horizontal scanning period, said liquid crystal display panel having a plurality of color liquid crystal pixels arranged according to a delta arrangement, a plurality of gate lines each of which is connected to the pixels of one row, and a plurality of source lines for transmitting signals to said plurality of pixels, said display panel including in its periphery a first source driver for providing the source lines of a first half out of odd-numbered source lines, a second source driver for driving the source lines of a second half out of said odd-numbered source lines, a third source driver for driving the source lines of a first half out of even-numbered source lines, and a fourth source driver for driving the source lines of a second half of said even-numbered source lines, the pixels of the same color being connected to one source line, said method comprising the steps of: providing a first digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to the pixels on a first gate line, and a second digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to the pixels on a second gate line forming a pair with said first gate line, out of the first analog color signal of the three colors supplied in parallel, said first digital data train and said second digital data train having phases different from each other by 1.5 pixel, and said first and second digital data trains including digital color signals of the three colors arranged in the same order of the color order of the pixels on one gate line; correcting the difference of the phases of said first and second digital data trains so that the difference corresponds to one pixel; providing a third digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to said odd-numbered source lines, and a fourth digital data train of color signals to be transmitted to said even-numbered source lines out of said first and second digital data trains having the corrected phases, said third and fourth digital data trains having data trains in which the data for the first gate line and the data for the second gate line are arranged alternately, said third digital data train including a digital color signal train arranged in an order following the color order of said odd-numbered source lines, and said fourth digital data train including a digital color signal train arranged in an order following the color order of said even-numbered source lines; adjusting the phase of said third digital data train and that of said fourth digital train to coincide with each other; writing said third digital data train into the first memory element and said fourth digital data train into the second memory element, said first and second memory elements having first, second, third and fourth memory areas according to an address order, said writing step including the steps of writing the supplied digital data alternately into said first and third memory areas of said first and second memory elements in a first half period of said one horizontal scanning period, and writing the supplied data alternately into said second and fourth memory areas in the second half period of said one horizontal scanning period; reading the data from said first memory element to provide a fifth digital data train and at the same time reading the data from said second memory element to provide a sixth digital data train, said reading step including the steps of reading the data alternately from said first and second memory areas of said first and second memory elements in the first half period of said one horizontal scanning period and reading the data alternately from said third and fourth memory areas thereof in the second half period of said one horizontal scanning period, said fifth digital data train including a digital color signal train of the three colors arranged in an order following the color order of said odd-numbered source lines, and said sixth digital data train including a digital color signal train of the three colors arranged in an order following the color order of said even-numbered source lines; forming the second analog color signal of the three colors in parallel from said fifth digital data train and supplying the same to said first and second source drivers, forming the third analog color signal of the three colors in parallel from said sixth digital data train and transmitting the same to said third and fourth source drivers, said second analog color signal forming step including the step of activating of successively and periodically three latch means arranged in parallel to receive said fifth digital data train simultaneously, said third analog color signal forming step including the step of activating successively and periodically other three latch means arranged in parallel to receive said sixth digital data train simultaneously; and alternately activating said first and second source drivers to maintain said second analog color signal by said first and second source drivers, and alternately activating said third and fourth source drivers to maintain said third analog color signal by said third and fourth source drivers.

Claim 26

A method of driving a display device having a matrix of colour pixels arranged to be driven by respective drive lines, the drive lines being divided into first and second drive line groups, the method comprising converting parallel signals representing respective colour components of an image to be displayed into serial data, storing the data in a memory, reading the data successively from the memory and applying the successively read data alternately to the first and second drive line groups.

Claim 27

A method of driving a display device having a matrix of colour pixels arranged to be driven by respective drive lines, the drive lines being divided into first and second drive line groups, the method comprising converting parallel signals representing respective colour components of an image to be displayed into serial data, storing the data in a memory, reading the data successively from the memory and applying the successively read data alternately to the first and second drive line groups.