Liquid crystal display device and method for driving same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9966024-B2
Application number	US-201314421171-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2013
Priority date	Sep 4, 2012
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

The occurrence of flicker is effectively suppressed particularly in a liquid crystal display device that performs low-frequency driving.
Provided are a gradation-to-voltage value conversion table for converting a gradation to a voltage value, a correction value map for storing a correction value, and a voltage value-to-gradation conversion table for converting a voltage value to a gradation. A gradation of an input image signal is converted to a first voltage value, using the gradation-to-voltage value conversion table. The correction value specified in accordance with a location of a pixel to be processed is added to or subtracted from the first voltage value so that a second voltage value is obtained. The second voltage value is converted to an output gradation, using the voltage value-to-gradation conversion table. A driving video signal is applied to a source bus line, based on the output gradation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A liquid crystal display device for displaying an image by applying an alternating-current voltage to a liquid crystal based on an input image signal, the liquid crystal display device comprising:
a display unit including a plurality of video signal lines for transmitting a plurality of video signals, a plurality of scanning signal lines intersecting with the plurality of video signal lines, and a plurality of pixel formation portions including a plurality of switching elements arranged in a matrix form in correspondence with intersections between the plurality of video signal lines and the plurality of scanning signal lines, a plurality of pixel electrodes connected to the plurality of switching elements, and a common electrode disposed to face the plurality of pixel electrodes via the liquid crystal and applied with a predetermined voltage, the plurality of pixel formation portions configured to form pixels;
a gradation correction part including a correction value storage part for storing two kinds of correction values for correcting a first gradation which is a gradation of the input image signal, the correction values including a value used when the liquid crystal is applied with a voltage with positive polarity and a value used when the liquid crystal is applied with a voltage with negative polarity, the gradation correction part configured to obtain a second gradation by correcting the first gradation for each pixel based on the correction value; and
a liquid crystal drive unit configured to drive the liquid crystal by applying the plurality of video signals to the corresponding video signal lines based on the second gradation; wherein
the gradation correction part further includes:
a gradation-to-voltage value conversion part including a first lookup table for converting a gradation to a voltage value, the gradation-to-voltage value conversion part configured to convert the first gradation to a first voltage value based on the first lookup table;
an addition and subtraction part configured to obtain a second voltage value by adding the correction value to the first voltage value or subtracting the correction value from the first voltage value; and
a voltage value-to-gradation conversion part including a second lookup table for converting a voltage value to a gradation, the voltage value-to-gradation conversion part configured to convert the second voltage value to the second gradation based on the second lookup table.

2. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein
the correction value storage part stores therein the correction values for all the pixels, and
the addition and subtraction part obtains the second voltage value by adding the correction value stored in the correction value storage part to the first voltage value or subtracting the correction value stored in the correction value storage part from the first voltage value, for all the pixels.

3. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein
the correction value storage part stores therein the correction values for some of the pixels,
with regard to the pixel for which the correction value is stored in the correction value storage part, the addition and subtraction part obtains the second voltage value by adding the correction value stored in the correction value storage part to the first voltage value or subtracting the correction value stored in the correction value storage part from the first voltage value, and
with regard to the pixel for which the correction value is not stored in the correction value storage part, the addition and subtraction part obtains the second voltage value by adding a value which is obtained by linear interpolation performed using the correction value for the pixel for which the correction value is stored in the correction value storage part, to the first voltage value or subtracting a value which is obtained by linear interpolation performed using the correction value for the pixel for which the correction value is stored in the correction value storage part, from the first voltage value.

4. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein the number of bits of data of the voltage value stored in the first lookup table is larger than the number of bits of data of the gradation stored in the first lookup table.

5. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein
the voltage value and the gradation are brought into correspondence with each other for predetermined number of voltage values from among the voltage values to be taken, in the second lookup table, and
with regard to the voltage value for which the data is not stored in the second lookup table, the voltage value-to-gradation conversion part converts the second voltage value to the second gradation by performing linear interpolation using the data of the voltage value for which the data is stored in the second lookup table.

6. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein
the gradation correction part makes the correction such that the second gradation becomes smaller than the first gradation at the time when the liquid crystal is applied with the voltage with negative polarity in a case where the gradation correction part makes the correction such that the second gradation becomes larger than the first gradation at the time when the liquid crystal is applied with the voltage with positive polarity, and
the gradation correction part makes the correction such that the second gradation becomes larger than the first gradation at the time when the liquid crystal is applied with the voltage with negative polarity in a case where the gradation correction part makes the correction such that the second gradation becomes smaller than the first gradation at the time when the liquid crystal is applied with the voltage with positive polarity.

7. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein the gradation correction part obtains the second gradation by directly adding the correction value to the first gradation or subtracting the correction value from the first gradation.

8. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein
a writing period having a length corresponding to one frame period in which a write operation based on the input image signal is performed and a pausing period having a length corresponding to a multiple-frame period in which the write operation based on the input image signal is paused are repeated alternately, and
the operation of the liquid crystal drive unit is stopped in the pausing period.

9. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 , wherein the switching element is a thin-film transistor made of an oxide semiconductor.

10. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 9 , wherein the oxide semiconductor is indium gallium zinc oxide.

11. A method for driving a liquid crystal display device for displaying an image by applying an alternating-current voltage to a liquid crystal based on an input image signal, the liquid crystal display device including a display unit including a plurality of video signal lines for transmitting a plurality of video signals, a plurality of scanning signal lines intersecting with the plurality of video signal lines, and a plurality of pixel formation portions including a plurality of switching elements arranged in a matrix form in correspondence with intersections between the plurality of video signal lines and the plurality of scanning signal lines, a plurality of pixel electrodes connected to the plurality of switching elements, and a common electrode disposed to face the plurality of pixel electrodes via the liquid crystal

Assignees

• Sharp Kk

Inventors

• Inada Ken
• Nakano Taketoshi
• Yamato Asahi
• Fujioka Akizumi

Classifications

• G09G3/3614 Primary

  Control of polarity reversal in general · CPC title

• G09G2320/0247

  Flicker reduction other than flicker reduction circuits used for single beam cathode-ray tubes · CPC title

• G09G2320/0271

  Adjustment of the gradation levels within the range of the gradation scale, e.g. by redistribution or clipping · CPC title

• G09G2340/0435

  Change or adaptation of the frame rate of the video stream · CPC title

• G02F1/1368

  in which the switching element is a three-electrode device {(G02F1/136277 takes precedence)} · CPC title