Patent ID: 7990340

Claim:
A plasma display apparatus, comprising: a sustain driver including a first switch for applying a sustain signal to a plasma display panel and a first voltage to the panel, and a second switch for applying a second voltage to the panel; a controller that generates a first control signal to control the first switch to apply the sustain signal and a second control signal to control the second switch to apply the second voltage and outputs the first and second control signals to the sustain driver; and a circuit protection unit that prevents the first switch from applying the sustain signal when a voltage level of the sustain signal is less than a third voltage and prevents the second switch from applying the second voltage when the voltage level of the sustain signal is greater than the third voltage, wherein the circuit protection unit includes a comparator that compares the voltage level of the sustain signal and the third voltage, a first inverter that inverts the comparator output signal, a first NAND gate that receives the first inverter output signal and the first control signal as inputs, a second inverter that inverts the first NAND gate output signal and outputs the inverted signal to the first switch, a second NAND gate that receives the second comparator output signal and the second control signal as inputs, and a third inverter that inverts the second NAND gate output signal and outputs the inverted signal to the second switch.