Patent ID: 7746297

Claim:
A method of driving a gas discharge display apparatus having a plurality of light emitting tubes, a plurality of address electrodes extending in a longitudinal direction of the light emitting tube, and a plurality of pairs of display electrodes extending in an orthogonal direction to the address electrode, the pairs of the display electrodes opposing to the address electrodes via the light emitting tube, the method comprising: selecting a cell by a first discharge between one of a pair of display electrodes and a selected one of the address electrodes in an address period, the cell being a part of the light emitting tube and being defined as a cross portion of the selected pair of display electrodes and the selected address electrode; and emitting a light from a fluorescent material in the cell in a sustaining period, the light emitting being caused by a second discharge generated between the pair of display electrodes in a first portion of the sustaining period and at least one of a third discharge generated between either one of the pair of display electrodes and the address electrode in a second portion of the sustaining period that is after the first portion of the sustaining period; wherein the third discharge in the second portion of the sustaining period is performed while preventing the second discharge by applying voltage having a same polarity to each of the pair of display electrodes concurrently.