Patent ID: 8194005

Claim:
A method of driving a plasma display apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of first and second electrodes arranged on a first substrate and a third electrode arranged on a second substrate facing the first substrate so as to intersect the first and second electrodes, wherein one frame comprises a plurality of subfields and the plurality of subfields comprises: a first subfield group comprised of a plurality of subfields having a reset period during which wall charges of the first, second, and third electrodes are adjusted, an address period during which a scan pulse is applied to the second electrode and an address pulse is applied to the third electrode to select cells to be lit, and a sustain period during which a sustain pulse for light emission is applied to the first and second electrodes to produce a display; and a second subfield group comprised of a plurality of subfields having a reset period and an address period but not a sustain period, wherein, in the reset period of each subfield of the first subfield group and each subfield of the second subfield group, a first waveform having a voltage value gradually lowered with time is applied to the second electrodes and a first direct voltage is applied to the first electrodes during at least a partial period of a period in which the first waveform is applied, and, the second subfield group has at least each one of (i) a subfield in which the first direct voltage is applied to the first electrode when the scan pulse and the address pulse of the address period are applied to the second and third electrodes and (ii) a subfield in which a voltage lower than the first direct voltage is applied to the first electrode when the scan pulse and the address pulse of the address period are applied to the second and third electrodes.