Source driver and related control method
AssigneeNovatek Microelectronics Corp.
InventorsJhih-Siou Cheng, Yen-Kai Chen, Jui-Chan Chang, Chih-Hsien Chou
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A source driver includes a plurality of output terminals and a plurality of driving channels. Each of the plurality of driving channels is coupled to an output terminal among the plurality of output terminals and includes an output buffer, an output enable switch and a charge sharing circuit. The output enable switch is coupled between the output buffer and the corresponding output terminal. The charge sharing circuit is coupled to the corresponding output terminal. Wherein, the charge sharing circuits of at least two of the plurality of driving channels are commonly coupled to a charge sharing bus.
Claims17
A source driver, comprising:
- a plurality of output terminals;
- and
- a plurality of driving channels, each coupled to an output terminal among the plurality of output terminals and comprising:
- an output buffer;
- an output enable switch, coupled between the output buffer and the corresponding output terminal;
- a charge sharing circuit, coupled to the corresponding output terminal;
- and
- a charge sharing switch, coupled to the charge sharing circuit, configured to enable or disable the charge sharing circuit;
- wherein the charge sharing circuits of at least two of the plurality of driving channels are commonly coupled to a charge sharing bus;
- and
- wherein each of the plurality of driving channels further comprises:
- a data calibration circuit, coupled to the charge sharing circuit, configured to generate a first voltage greater than a data voltage with a first voltage shift according to the data voltage and output the first voltage to the charge sharing circuit, or generate a second voltage smaller than the data voltage with a second voltage shift according to the data voltage and output the second voltage to the charge sharing circuit,
- wherein the data voltage is a voltage to be output to the corresponding output terminal.
A method of controlling a source driver, the source driver having a plurality of driving channels, each having a charge sharing circuit and the charge sharing circuit comprising a first control switch and a second control switch, the method comprising:
- controlling each of the plurality of driving channels to be coupled to an output terminal among a plurality of output terminals, to output data voltages to the corresponding output terminal in a driving phase of a display line period;
- and
- determining whether to couple each of the plurality of driving channels to a charge sharing bus in a charging phase of the display line period;
- wherein the step of determining whether to couple each of the plurality of driving channels to the charge sharing bus comprises:
- turning on the first control switch to couple the driving channel to the charge sharing bus while keeping the second control switch off when a next data voltage to be output to the corresponding output terminal is greater than a current data voltage on the corresponding output terminal;
- and
- turning on the second control switch to couple the driving channel to the charge sharing bus while keeping the first control switch off when the next data voltage to be output to the corresponding output terminal is smaller than the current data voltage on the corresponding output terminal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.