Display driver having a low power mode

A display driver circuit capable of driving electrodes of a display panel to display information as pixels on the display panel, the display driver circuit comprising:

• N scanning drivers for driving a scanning set of display electrodes of the display panels with a set of scanning signals;
• P information drivers for driving an information set of display electrodes of the display panel with a set of information signals;
• and
• a control section coupled to said N scanning drivers and P information drivers, wherein said control section has a first and a second mode, and
• wherein in the first mode said control section controls the N scanning drivers to generate N different scanning signals, and
• wherein in the second mode said control section controls the N scanning drivers to generate a common scanning signal by S of said N scanning drivers and N-S different scanning signals, which are also different than the common scanning signal, by N-S drivers of the N scanning drivers, wherein N, P and S are positive integers,
• wherein the scanning and information signals are generated having a frame rate of F per second in the first and second modes, and wherein the scanning and pixel signals comprise time slots of duration 1/(2.multidot.F.multidot.N) seconds in the first mode and 1/(2.multidot.F.multidot.(N-S+1)) seconds in the second mode.

A selective call radio, comprising:

• a receiver for receiving a radio signal including information;
• a processing section, coupled to said receiver, which decodes the information and generates a set of information signals therefrom;
• a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel for displaying the information;
• and
• an LCD driver circuit, coupled to said processing section and said LCD panel, capable of driving electrodes of said LCD panel to display the information as pixels, comprising
• N scanning drivers for driving a scanning set of display electrodes of the LCD panel with a set of scanning signals;
• P information drivers for driving an information set of display electrodes of the LCD panel with a set of information signals;
• and
• a control section coupled to said N scanning drivers and P information drivers, wherein said control section has a first and a second mode, and
• wherein in the first mode said control section controls the N scanning drivers to generate N different scanning signals, and
• wherein in the second mode said control section controls the N scanning drivers to generate a common scanning signal by S of said N scanning drivers and N-S different scanning signals by N-S drivers of the N scanning drivers, wherein N, P and S are positive integers, and
• wherein the N different scanning signals have M1 voltage levels the first mode, and the common scanning signal and the N-S different scanning signals each have M2 voltage levels in the second mode, and wherein M1 and M2 are positive integers.

A selective call radio, comprising:

• a receiver for receiving a radio signal including information;
• a processing section, coupled to said receiver, which decodes the information and generates a set of information signals therefrom;
• a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel for displaying the information;
• and
• an LCD driver circuit, coupled to said processing section and said LCD panel, capable of driving electrodes of said LCD panel to display the information as pixels, comprising
• N scanning drivers for driving a scanning set of display electrodes of the LCD panel with a set of scanning signals;
• P information drivers for driving an information set of display electrodes of the LCD panel with a set of information signals;
• and
• a control section coupled to said N scanning drivers and P information drivers, wherein said control section has a first and a second mode, and
• wherein in the first mode said control section controls the N scanning drivers to generate N different scanning signals, and
• wherein in the second mode said control section controls the N scanning drivers to generate a common scanning signal by S of said N scanning drivers and N-S different scanning signals by N-S drivers of the N scanning drivers, wherein N, P and S are positive integers;
• and
• wherein the scanning and information signals are generated having a frame rate if F per second in the first and second modes, and wherein the scanning and pixel signals comprise time slots of duration 1/(2.multidot.F.multidot.N) seconds in the first mode and 1/(2.multidot.F.multidot.(N-S+1)) seconds in the second mode.