Patent ID: 7999766

Claim:
A plasma display panel driving method for use with a plasma display panel comprising a first substrate and a second substrate disposed in opposition to each other; a plurality of surface discharge electrode pairs each comprised of a scanning electrode and a discharge sustain electrode disposed on a surface of the first substrate opposing the second substrate and extended in parallel with each other across a discharge gap; a plurality of address electrodes disposed on the surface of the second substrate opposing the first substrate in a form perpendicular to each of the surface discharge electrode pairs; and a plurality of display cells each formed at each of intersection areas of the plurality of surface discharge electrode pairs with the plurality of address electrodes, the method comprising: dividing one frame period of a display image displayed in gradations by the plurality of display cells into a plurality of sub-fields weighted based on gradation levels, and setting to each of the sub-fields an addressing discharge period for causing the display cell selected by sequentially applying a scanning pulse to each scanning electrode, and simultaneously applying a display data pulse synchronized with the scanning pulse to each of the address electrodes to generate an addressing discharge, and a discharge sustain period for alternately applying a discharge sustain pulse to said each discharge sustain electrode and said each scanning electrode to cause said each display cell to emit light, wherein said addressing discharge period includes a period in which a potential of a second scanning base pulse that is applied to said scanning electrode after the application of said scanning pulse has finished is set lower than a potential of a first scanning base pulse that is applied to said scanning electrode before the application of said scanning pulse.