Patent ID: 8111212

Claim:
A method for driving a plasma display panel in accordance with pixel data for each pixel based on a video signal, the plasma display panel having first and second substrates which are oppositely arranged sandwiching a discharge space in which discharge gas is filled, a plurality of row electrode pairs formed on the first substrate and each providing a scanning line, and a plurality of column electrode formed on the second substrate, in order to form display cells each including a phosphor layer at intersections of the row electrode pairs and the column electrodes, the method comprising the steps of: executing a reset stage for initializing the display cells in a beginning sub-field of a plurality of sub-fields into which a one-field display period of the video signal is divided; executing, in order, an address stage for setting the display cells in an ON mode or OFF mode by causing an address discharge selectively in the display cells in accordance with the pixel data in all of the plurality of sub-fields, and a sustain stage for causing a sustain discharge in each display cell set in the ON mode; and executing an erase stage for setting the OFF mode for all display cells which are in the ON mode following the sustain stage of an end sub-field of the plurality of sub-fields, wherein, in the erase stage, a scanning pulse is sequentially applied to one row electrode of each of the row electrode pairs for each scanning line or for each scanning line group which is formed by a plurality of scanning lines, while an erase pulse is applied to the column electrodes simultaneously with the application of the scanning pulse, to cause an erase discharge between the one row electrode and each of the column electrodes to which the erase pulse is applied.