Patent ID: 6496166
Filing Date: 2002-12-17
Classification: G09G

Abstract:
A display apparatus for displaying an image on a display panel by turning on pixels of said display panel, said display apparatus comprising:said display panel provided with: address electrodes driven by address pulses based on a video input signal; and sustain electrodes crossing said address electrodes and sandwiching electrical discharging units of pixels with said address electrodes and driven by sustain pulses; a sustain-electrode drive circuit common to generating said sustain pulses and scan pulses, comprising, a first switch element which supplies high level voltage of said sustain pulses to said sustain electrodes and high level voltage of said scan pulses to said sustain electrodes, and a second switch element which supplies low level voltage of said sustain pulses to said sustain electrodes and low level voltage of said scan pulses to said sustain electrodes, said first switch element and said second switch element are approximately equal in current capacity characteristics and switching velocity characteristics; an address drive circuit for generating and outputting said address pulses; and a control-signal generation circuit for generating a control signal for controlling either generating said sustain pulses or generating said scan pulses in said sustain-electrode drive circuit; wherein, in order to display an image on said display panel, an address of a pixel on said display panel is specified by an electric field created between said sustain electrodes and said address electrodes by said scan pulses and said address pulses; a pixel on said display panel at an address specified by an electric field of said sustain electrodes created by said sustain pulses is turned on; and said sustain-electrode drive circuit is used for both specifying said address and turning on said pixel.