Patent ID: 7242372

Claim:
A plasma display apparatus comprising a display panel having first electrodes and second electrodes arranged adjacent, by turns, in a direction intersecting third electrodes, an X drive circuit that drives the first electrodes, and a Y drive circuit that drives the second electrodes, wherein: a first voltage and a second voltage, which is lower than the first voltage, are applied alternately to the first electrodes and the second electrodes to cause a sustain discharge to occur between the first electrodes and the second electrodes; the X drive circuit or the Y drive circuit comprising: a first sustain drive transistor, a first terminal of which is connected to one of the first electrodes and the second electrodes, and a second terminal of which is connected to a supply source of the first voltage, the first sustain drive transistor supplying the first voltage to the one of the first electrodes and the second electrodes in response to a control signal supplied to a third terminal thereof, and a second sustain drive transistor, a first terminal of which is connected to the one of the first electrodes and the second electrodes, and the first terminal of the first sustain drive transistor, a second terminal of which is connected to a supply source of the second voltage, and the second sustain drive transistor supplying the second voltage to the one of the first electrodes and the second electrodes in response to a control signal supplied to a third terminal thereof; a third voltage, which is higher than the first voltage, is applied to the one of the first electrodes and the second electrodes; the X drive circuit or the Y drive circuit, to which the third voltage is applied, comprises a first switch provided between the second sustain drive transistor and the supply source of the second voltage; and the third voltage is supplied to the second sustain drive transistor when the first switch is in an open state, wherein: the X drive circuit or the Y drive circuit, to which the third voltage is applied, comprises a second switch provided between the supply source of a fourth voltage and the second sustain drive transistor, a third switch provided between the first sustain drive transistor and the supply source of the first voltage, and a capacitor provided between the other terminal of the first sustain drive transistor and the other terminal of the second sustain drive transistor, and the third voltage is generated by a procedure, in which the first and the third switches are closed, the first and the third switches are then opened and the second switch is closed from the state in which the second switch is opened and the voltage difference between the first and the second voltages is maintained across the capacitor, and the fourth voltage is applied to one of the terminals of the capacitor and the fourth voltage is added to the voltage difference between the first and the second voltages at the other terminal of the capacitor, and is supplied to the first sustain drive transistor.