Patent ID: 7106289

Claim:
A display device for providing multiple-tone representations, said display device comprising: a voltage generator which generates a plurality of drive voltages corresponding to a plurality of tones; a data driver which receives display data, selects a drive voltage of level corresponding to the received display data from among the generated plurality of drive voltages, and outputs the selected drive voltage according to a clock; a scanning driver which outputs a selecting voltage according to the clock; and a display panel having a plurality of pixels which are arranged in a matrix, wherein said display panel is coupled to said data driver and said scanning driver, and providing the drive voltage output from said data driver to a pixel selected from among the plurality of pixels according to the selecting voltage output from said scanning driver, wherein, when said display data is N bit data, the number of tones is 2 N , wherein N is more than three, wherein said voltage generator generates said plurality of drive voltages such that the intensity or brightness of each intermediate tone between the first tone of maximum drive voltage and the third tone which is (2 (n−3) ) higher than the second tone of minimum drive voltage is above a straight line linking the intensity or brightness of said first tone and the intensity or brightness of said third tone on a graph on which intensities or brightnesses are plotted as a function of the plurality of tones, the graph abscissa representing tones and the graph ordinate representing intensity or brightness on a logarithmic scale, and wherein a difference between two drive voltages corresponding to two adjacent intermediate tones is less than difference between two drive voltages corresponding to two adjacent high tones and difference between two drive voltages of two adjacent low tones.