Patent ID: 7339553

Claim:
A plasma display apparatus comprising: a plasma display panel in which a plurality of discharge cells are formed between a pair of substrates, and a pair of electrodes extend across each of the plurality of discharge cells; and a driving circuit that drives the plasma display panel in such a manner that one field is divided into a plurality of sub-fields, each of the plurality of sub-fields including (i) a write period in which writing is performed in discharge cells selected from the plurality of discharge cells, (ii) a discharge sustain period in which pulses are applied to the pair of electrodes extending across each of the plurality of discharge cells, to perform a discharge in the selected discharge cells in which the writing has been performed in the write period, and (iii) an erase period in which the discharge that has been performed in the selected discharge cells in the discharge sustain period is discontinued, wherein in the discharge sustain period, at least one of a plurality of pulses applied in a later part of the discharge sustain period has a larger pulse width than a pulse applied in an earlier part of the discharge sustain period, and in the erase period, a narrow pulse is applied to the pair of electrodes extending across each of the plurality of discharge cells, the narrow pulse having a smaller pulse width than the pulses applied in the discharge sustain period, wherein a difference in pulse width between (i) the at least one pulse in the later part of the discharge sustain period and (ii) other pulses applied in the discharge sustain period, except for an initial pulse applied in the discharge sustain period, is in a range of 0.5 μs to 20 μs.