Patent ID: 7145522

Claim:
A plasma display device comprising a plasma display panel including at least a plurality of discharge cells each having at least an electrode pair for generating a sustain discharge for a light emission display, wherein a sustain pulse voltage, which is applied between said electrode pair in a respective one of said plurality of discharge cells to generate the sustain discharge, comprises at least a first-waveform voltage and a second-waveform voltage, and said first-waveform voltage is composed of one of (1) a combination of a first portion having a major portion of a first voltage and a second portion having a major portion of a second voltage higher than said first voltage and (2) a second portion having a major portion of said second voltage, said second-waveform voltage is composed of a third portion having a major portion of a third voltage and a fourth portion having a major portion of a fourth voltage higher than said third voltage, said first-waveform voltage and said second-waveform voltage satisfy the following conditions (i) and (ii): (i) at least one of the following inequalities is satisfied: said third voltage>said first voltage, or a time duration of said third portion, T 3 (T 3 >0), >a time duration of said first portion, T 1 (T 1 >0), when said first-waveform voltage is composed of said combination, and (ii) at least one of the following inequalities is satisfied: said fourth voltage>said second voltage, or a time duration of said fourth portion, T 4 (T 4 >0), >a time duration of said second portion, T 2 (T 2 >0), and wherein said first and third voltages are established by applying a power supply voltage and ground potential to electrodes composing the electrode pair.