Organic electro-luminescence device and method and apparatus for driving the same

1. An organic electro-luminescence device comprising:

a plurality of column lines supplied with data;

a plurality of row lines crossing the column lines for selecting a scan line;

at least one electro-luminescence cell each formed at a pixel area between the column lines and the row lines; and

a cell drive voltage source for applying a drive voltage to the electro-luminescence cell, and

wherein a cathode terminal of the electro-luminescence cell is selectively connected between a cathode voltage source and a ground voltage source to have a reverse bias voltage selectively applied to the cathode terminal, and wherein a common voltage supplied from the cathode voltage source is set to be higher than a total voltage obtained by adding a threshold voltage of the electro-luminescence cell after subtracting a threshold voltage of a switching device from a cell drive voltage of the cell drive voltage source.

2. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a switch selectively connecting the cathode terminal of the electro-luminescence cell to the cathode voltage source or the ground voltage source.

3. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 2 , wherein the switch is switched between the cathode voltage source and the ground voltage source within a designated period per frame.

4. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 2 , wherein the switch is switched within each ½ frame period.

5. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 2 , wherein the switch is switched at an asymmetric period point within each frame period.

6. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a first switching device formed at each intersection area of the column lines and the row lines;

wherein the switching device is a second switching device formed between the electro-luminescence cell and the cell driver voltage source for driving the corresponding electro-luminescence cell; and

a capacitor connected between the first and second switching devices and the cell drive voltage source.

7. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 6 , wherein the first and second switching devices are thin film transistors.

8. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 7 , wherein the first and second switching devices are MOS TFT's.

9. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 8 , wherein the first and second switching devices are either n-type MOS TFT's or p-type MOS TFT's.

10. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a first switching device formed at each intersection area of the column lines and the row lines and connected between the cell drive voltage source and the corresponding electro-luminescence cell;

wherein the switching device is a second switching device forming a current mirror with the first switching device and connected to the cell driver voltage source;

a third switching device connected to the second switching device, the corresponding column line and the corresponding row line for responding to a data signal in the corresponding row line;

a fourth switching device connected to the second and third switching devices and the row line; and

a capacitor connected between the first and second switching devices and the cell drive voltage source.

11. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 10 , wherein the first to fourth switching devices are thin film transistors.

12. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 11 , wherein the first to fourth switching devices are MOS TFT's.

13. The organic electro-luminescence device according to claim 12 , wherein the first to fourth switching devices are either n-type MOS TFT's or p-type MOS TFT's.

14. An apparatus for driving an organic electro-luminescence device, the apparatus comprising:

an electro-luminescence display panel having m×n number of electro-luminescence pixel units at intersections of m number of row lines and n number of column lines;

a data driver driving the column lines;

a scan driver driving the row lines;

a timing controller applying a scan control signal for driving the row lines to the scan driver and applying a column control signal together with a video data signal to the data driver; and

a power supplier applying a drive voltage to the display panel, the data driver, the scan driver and the timing controller, and applying a cathode voltage to a cathode terminal of an electro-luminescence cell within at least one electro-luminescence pixel unit.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the power supplier supplies the cathode voltage to the cathode terminals of all the electro-luminescence cells in the display panel, simultaneously.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising:

a cathode voltage driver receiving the cathode voltage from the power supplier and selectively applying the cathode voltage to one or more of the cathode terminals of the electro-luminescence cells in the display panel.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the cathode voltage driver applies the cathode voltage to one or more of the cathode terminals in accordance with a control signal supplied by the timing controller.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the cathode voltage driver applies the cathode voltage to all the electro-luminescence cells in one row of the display panel, simultaneously.

19. The apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising:

a system controller controlling the timing controller and transmitting a video data from an external source; and

a video supplier connected to the system controller and the power supplier for inputting the video data and applying each control signal to the system controller.

20. A method for driving an organic electro-luminescence device having an electro-luminescence cell, a cell drive voltage source for driving the electro-luminescence cell in response to data formed at each pixel area between a plurality of column lines supplied with data and a plurality of row lines for selecting a scan line, and a switch selectively connecting a cathode terminal of the electro-luminescence cell to a cathode voltage source and a ground voltage source, the method comprising:

connecting the switch to the cathode voltage source;

applying the data to the column lines;

applying a scan voltage synchronized with the data to the row lines; and

switching the switch to the ground voltage source;

wherein the step of applying the scan voltage to the row lines includes charging a capacitor with the supplied data through a switching device, and wherein the step of switching the switch to the ground voltage source includes applying a voltage charged in the capacitor to the switching device connected between the cell drive voltage source and the electro-luminescence cell, adjusting a current path width of a source and a drain terminal of the switching device by the applied data voltage, and causing the electro-luminescence cell to emit light by a voltage diference between the cell drive voltage source and the ground voltage source corresponding to the applied data voltage.

21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the switch is switched within each ½ frame period.

22. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the switch is switched at an asymmetric period point of each frame period.