Calibrating circuit and calibrating method for display panel
09754534 · 2017-09-05
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
G09G2310/0262
PHYSICS
G09G2320/029
PHYSICS
G09G3/3233
PHYSICS
International classification
H01L27/14
ELECTRICITY
H03F3/00
ELECTRICITY
A61B8/00
HUMAN NECESSITIES
H03M1/16
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
A circuit and a calibrating method are provided. A pixel sensor senses a terminal voltage of a driving transistor during a sensing period. A calibration sensor senses a first predetermined voltage and a second predetermined voltage during a calibration period. An amplifying circuit amplifies the terminal voltage according to a gain, and amplifies the first predetermined voltage and the second predetermined voltage according to the gain. An analog to digital converter converts the amplified terminal voltage into a digital code, and converts the amplified first predetermined voltage into a first digital code and converts the amplified second predetermined voltage into a second digital code. A gain adjusting circuit adjusts the gain according to the first digital code and the second digital code. Accordingly, the gain of the amplifying circuit is calibrated.
Claims
1. A calibrating circuit for a display panel, wherein the display panel comprises a source driver, a gate driver, and a pixel circuit comprising a driving transistor, the calibrating circuit in the source driver comprising: a pixel sensor having an input terminal coupled to the pixel circuit through a data line of the display panel, for sensing a terminal voltage of the driving transistor during a sensing period, wherein the terminal voltage of the driving transistor is a threshold voltage; at least one calibration sensor having input terminals coupled to a first predetermined voltage and a second predetermined voltage; an amplifying circuit having an input terminal coupled to the pixel sensor and the at least one calibration sensor, for amplifying the terminal voltage of the driving transistor according to a gain of the amplifying circuit during the sensing period to obtain an amplified terminal voltage, and amplifying the first predetermined voltage and the second predetermined voltage according to the gain of the amplifying circuit during a calibration period to obtain an amplified first predetermined voltage and an amplified second predetermined voltage respectively; an analog to digital converter having an input terminal coupled to an output terminal of the amplifying circuit, for converting the amplified terminal voltage into a digital code during the sensing period, and converting the amplified first predetermined voltage into a first digital code and converting the amplified second predetermined voltage into a second digital code during the calibration period; and a gain adjusting circuit coupled to an output terminal of the analog to digital converter and the amplifying circuit, for adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit according to the first digital code and the second digital code.
2. The calibrating circuit of claim 1, wherein the gain adjusting circuit comprises: a first register for storing the first digital code; a second register for storing the second digital code; a comparing circuit having input terminals coupled to the first register and the second register, for calculating a first difference between the first digital code and the second digital code; and a controlling circuit adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit according to the first difference.
3. The calibrating circuit of claim 2, wherein if the first difference is less than a predetermined threshold, the controlling circuit increases the gain of the amplifying circuit, if the first difference is greater than the predetermined threshold, the controlling circuit decreases the gain of the amplifying circuit.
4. The calibrating circuit of claim 3, wherein after the controlling circuit adjusts the gain of the amplifying circuit, the amplifying circuit amplifies the first predetermined voltage and the second predetermined voltage according to the adjusted gain, and the analog to digital converter re-generates the first digital code and the second digital code to obtain a re-generated first digital code and a re-generated second digital code respectively, the comparing circuit calculates a second difference between the re-generated first digital code and the re-generated second digital code, if the first difference is less than the predetermined threshold and the second difference is greater than the predetermined threshold, or the first difference is greater than the predetermined threshold and the second difference is less than the predetermined threshold, the controlling circuit stops adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit, and if the first difference and the second difference are both less than the predetermined threshold or both greater than the predetermined threshold, the controlling circuit continues adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit.
5. The calibrating circuit of claim 1, wherein the first predetermined voltage is essentially at 25% of an input converting range of the amplifying circuit, and the second predetermined voltage is essentially at 75% of the input converting range.
6. The calibrating circuit of claim 1, wherein the amplifying circuit comprises: a switch, coupled to the pixel sensor and the at least one calibration sensor; and an amplifier, coupled to the switch, wherein the switch couples the pixel sensor to the amplifier during the sensing period, and couples the at least one calibration sensor to the amplifier during the calibration period, wherein the amplifier comprises: a differential amplifier having a first input terminal and a second input terminal coupled to a second output terminal of the at least one calibration sensor; a first capacitor having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to the first output terminal of the at least one calibration sensor and the first input terminal of the differential amplifier; a second capacitor having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to the second output terminal of the at least one calibration sensor and the second input terminal of the differential amplifier; a plurality of third capacitance adjusting circuits, wherein each of the third capacitance adjusting circuits comprises a third capacitor and a first switch, a first terminal of each of the third capacitor is coupled to the first input terminal of the differential amplifier, a second terminal of each of the third capacitor is coupled to a first terminal of one of the first switch, a second terminal of each of the first switches is coupled to a first output terminal of the differential amplifier; a second switch having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to the first input terminal of the differential amplifier and a first output terminal of the differential amplifier; a third switch having a first terminal coupled to second terminals of the first switches and a second terminal coupled to a common mode voltage; a fourth switch having a first terminal coupled to the second terminals of the first switches and a second terminal coupled to the first output terminal of the differential amplifier; a fourth capacitor having a first terminal coupled to the second input terminal of the differential amplifier; a fifth switch having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to the second input terminal of the differential amplifier and a second output terminal of the differential amplifier; a sixth switch having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to a second terminal of the fourth capacitor and the common mode voltage; and a seventh switch having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to the second terminal of the fourth capacitor and the second output terminal of the differential amplifier, wherein the gain adjusting circuit controls a conducting status of each of the first switches to adjust the gain of the amplifying circuit.
7. A calibrating method for a display panel comprising a source driver, a gate driver, and a pixel circuit comprising a driving transistor, wherein a terminal voltage of the driving transistor is sensed by a pixel sensor, wherein the terminal voltage of the driving transistor is a threshold voltage, the terminal voltage of the driving transistor is amplified according to a gain of the amplifying circuit by an amplifying circuit to obtain an amplified terminal voltage, and the amplified terminal voltage is converted into a digital code by an analog to digital converter during a sensing period, and wherein the calibrating method is performed by a calibrating circuit in the source driver, the calibrating method comprising: sensing a first predetermined voltage and a second predetermined voltage, and amplifying, by the amplifying circuit, the first predetermined voltage and the second predetermined voltage according to the gain of the amplifying circuit during a calibration period to obtain an amplified first predetermined voltage and an amplified second predetermined voltage respectively; converting, by the analog to digital converter, the amplified first predetermined voltage into a first digital code, and converting the amplified second predetermined voltage into a second digital code during the calibration period; and adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit according to the first digital code and the second digital code.
8. The calibrating method of claim 7, wherein the step of adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit according to the first digital code and the second digital code comprises: calculating a first difference between the first digital code and the second digital code; if the first difference is less than a predetermined threshold, increasing the gain of the amplifying circuit; and if the first difference is greater than the predetermined threshold, decreasing the gain of the amplifying circuit.
9. The calibrating method of claim 8, further comprising: after adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit, amplifying, by the amplifying circuit, the first predetermined voltage and the second predetermined voltage according to the adjusted gain, and re-generating, by the analog to digital converter, the first digital code and the second digital code to obtain a re-generated first digital code and a re-generated second digital code respectively; calculating a second difference between the re-generated first digital code and the re-generated second digital code; if the first difference is less than the predetermined threshold and the second difference is greater than the predetermined threshold, or the first difference is greater than the predetermined threshold and the second difference is less than the predetermined threshold, stopping adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit; and if the first difference and the second difference are both less than the predetermined threshold or both greater than the predetermined threshold, continuing adjusting the gain of the amplifying circuit.
10. The calibrating method of claim 9, wherein the first predetermined voltage is essentially at 25% of an input converting range of the amplifying circuit, and the second predetermined voltage is essentially at 75% of the input converting range.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(10) Specific embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the specification and the claims, “couple” is referred as a direct or indirect connection. For example, when “a first device is coupled to a second device” is described, then it should be referred as the first device being directly connected to the second device, or the first device being indirectly connected to the second device through other devices or connection means. Moreover, the units/structure/steps having the same label represents, if possible, the identical or similar part.
(11)
(12) During a scanning period, the gate driver 210 turns off the switch 236 and turns on the switch 237 through a mode line 211. During the scanning period, the gate driver 210 turns on the switch 232 through the scan line 212, so that the source driver 220 transmits a data voltage to the gate of the driving transistor 233 through the data line 221. The data voltage is stored in the storing capacitor 235. A gate voltage of the driving transistor 233 determines a current I2. The current I2 flowing through the OLED 234 determines brightness of the OLED 234.
(13) During a sensing period, the gate driver 210 turns on the switch 236 and turns off the switch 237 through the mode line 211. During the sensing period, the gate driver 210 turns on the switch 232 through the scan line 212, so that a calibrating circuit (will be described below) in the source driver 220 senses a terminal voltage (i.e. threshold voltage in the embodiment of
(14) It should be noted that, the terminal voltage sensed by the source driver 220 in the embodiment of
(15)
(16) An input terminal of the pixel sensor 310 is coupled to the pixel circuit 231 through the data line 221, and input terminals of the amplifying circuit 330 are coupled to the pixel sensor 310 and the calibration sensor 320. During the sensing period (referring to
(17) Input terminals of the calibration sensor 320 are coupled to a first predetermined voltage V1, a common mode voltage VCM and a second predetermined voltage V2. During the calibration period (as shown in
(18) Because the first predetermined voltage V1 and the second predetermined voltage V2 are known, and the gain of the amplifier 332 is required to be fixed at a certain value, the first digital code and the second digital code should be two particular values. Therefore, the gain adjusting circuit 350 can adjust the gain of the amplifier 332 according to the first digital code and the second digital code. In the embodiment, the comparing circuit 353 calculates a difference (referred to a first difference) between the first digital code and the second digital code, and the controlling circuit 354 adjusts the gain of the amplifier 332 according to the first difference.
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(20) In the embodiment, the first predetermined voltage V1 is at 75% of the input converting range, the second predetermined voltage V2 is at 25% of the input converting range, and the predetermined threshold is “512”. However, in other embodiments, the first predetermined voltage V1 and the second predetermined voltage V2 may have other values, and thus the predetermined threshold is correspondingly changed. For example, if the first predetermined voltage V1 is at 80% of the input converting range and the second predetermined voltage V2 is at 20%, then the predetermined threshold is about 614 or 615. It is worth mentioning that the first predetermined voltage V1 should not be set too large, and the second predetermined voltage V2 should not be set too small because it may not be linear at two ends of the actual curve 420. In an embodiment, the first predetermined voltage V1 is at 60%-90% of the input converting range, and the second predetermined voltage is at 10%-40% of the input converting range. In addition, if the resolution of the digital code outputted by the analog to digital converter 340 has more or less bits, the predetermined threshold is also correspondingly changed. Moreover, in the embodiment, the gain calibrating circuit 350 adjusts the gain of the amplifier 332 according to the difference between the first digital code and the second digital code, but the gain calibrating circuit 350 may adjust the gain of the amplifier 332 according to the ratio of the first digital code to second digital code in other embodiments.
(21) Referring to
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(23) A first terminal and a second terminal of the capacitor 503 are respectively coupled a first reference voltage VR1 and the second terminal of the switch 502. The first reference voltage VR1 may be any fixed voltage (e.g. system voltage, ground voltage, or another fixed voltage) with any level. A first terminal and a second terminal of the capacitor 506 are respectively coupled to a second reference voltage VR2 and the second terminal of the switch 505. The second reference voltage VR2 may be any fixed voltage (e.g. system voltage, ground voltage, or another fixed voltage) with any level. The first reference voltage VR1 may be identical to or different from the second reference voltage VR2.
(24) An input terminal of the gain amplifier 510 is coupled to the second terminal of the switch 502, and an output terminal of the gain amplifier 510 is taken as a first output terminal VOP of the calibration sensor 320. An input terminal of the gain amplifier 520 is coupled to the second terminal of the switch 505, and an output terminal of the gain amplifier 520 is taken as a second output terminal VON of the calibration sensor 320. The gain amplifier 510 and the gain amplifier 520 may be any type of amplifying circuit. For example, in the embodiment, the gain amplifier 510 and the gain amplifier 520 are unit gain amplifiers.
(25) When the display panel 230 is in a first period (first phase) T1 of the sensing period, the switch 502 and the switch 505 are turned on, and the switch 504 is turned off. Therefore, in the first period T1, the gain amplifier 510 outputs VOP(T1)=V1+Voffset1, and the gain amplifier 520 output VON(T1)=VCM+Voffset2, in which Voffset1 denotes a voltage offset of the gain amplifier 510, and Voffset2 denotes a voltage offset of the gain amplifier 520. The amplifier 332 calculates VOP(T1)−VON(T1)=(V1+Voffset1)−(VCM+Voffset2) during the first period T1. During a second period (second phase) T2 of the sensing period, the switch 502 and the switch 505 are turned off, and the switch 504 is turned on. During the second period T2, the gain amplifier 510 outputs VOP(T2)=Vreset+Voffset1, and the gain amplifier 520 output VON(T2)=Vreset+Voffset2, in which Vreset denotes an input terminal voltage of the gain amplifier 510 and the gain amplifier 520 when the switch 504 is turned on. The amplifier 332 calculates VOP(T2)−VON(T2)=Voffset1−Voffset2 during the second period T2. The amplifier 332 calculates [VOP(T1)−VON(T1)]−[VOP(T2)−VON(T2)]=V1−VCM. Therefore, the voltage offsets of the gain amplifier 510 and the gain amplifier 520 are eliminated.
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(27) A first terminal and a second terminal of the first capacitor C1 are respectively coupled to the first input terminal VIP_GA of the amplifier 332 and the first input terminal of the differential amplifier 620. Each third capacitance adjusting circuit 610 includes a third capacitor C3 and a first switch SW1. A first terminal of each third capacitor C3 is coupled to the first input terminal of the differential amplifier 620, and a second terminal of each third capacitor C3 is coupled to a first terminal of the first switch SW1. A second terminal of each first switch SW1 is coupled to a first output terminal (e.g. non-inverting output terminal) of the differential amplifier 620. A first terminal and a second terminal of the second switch SW2 are respectively coupled to the first input terminal and the first output terminal of the differential amplifier 620. A first terminal and a second terminal of the third switch SW3 are respectively coupled to a second terminal of each first switch SW1 and the common mode voltage VCM. A first terminal and a second terminal of the fourth switch SW4 are respectively coupled to the second terminal of each first switch SW1 and the first output terminal of the differential amplifier 620.
(28) A first terminal and a second terminal of the second capacitor C2 are respectively coupled to the second input terminal VIN_GA of the amplifier 332 and a second input terminal (e.g. non-inverting input terminal) of the differential amplifier 620. A first terminal and a second terminal of the fifth switch SW5 are respectively coupled to the second input terminal and a second output terminal (e.g. inverting output terminal) of the differential amplifier 620. A first terminal of the fourth capacitor C4 is coupled to the second input terminal of the differential amplifier 620. A first terminal and a second terminal of the sixth switch SW6 are respectively coupled to a second terminal of the fourth capacitor C4 and the common mode voltage VCM. A first terminal and a second terminal of the seventh switch SW7 are respectively coupled to the second terminal of the fourth capacitor C4 and the second output terminal of the differential amplifier 620.
(29) During the first period T1 of the sensing period, the second switch SW2, the third switch SW3, the fifth switch SW5 and the sixth switch SW6 are turned on, and the fourth switch SW4 and the seventh switch SW7 are turned off. During the second period T2 of the sensing period, the second switch SW2, the third switch SW3, the fifth switch SW5 and the sixth switch SW6 are turned off, and the fourth switch SW4 and the seventh switch SW7 are turned on. An output voltage of the differential amplifier 620 is written as the following equation (1), in which Voffset denotes a voltage offset of the differential amplifier 620, and A denotes the gain of the differential amplifier 620.
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(31) It should be noted that the capacitance C3 in the equation (1) is provided by the third capacitors C3. If more first switches SW1 are turn on, more third capacitors C3 are connected in parallel, and thus the capacitance C3 in the equation (1) is greater. In contrast, if at least one of the first switches SW1 is turned off, the capacitance C3 in the equation (1) is decreased. Referring to
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(33) Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.