Patent ID: 7006058

Claim:
A method of driving a plasma display panel for each of a plurality of sub fields, wherein the plurality of sub fields are arranged from a head sub field to a tail sub field, each of a plurality of fields which define a picture signal is divided into the plurality of sub fields, and the plasma display panel includes a plurality of discharge cells formed at a plurality of crossing portions of a plurality of row electrodes corresponding to a plurality of display lines respectively and a plurality of column electrodes arranged to crisscross the plurality of row electrodes, the method comprising the steps of: A) providing a sub field group which includes at least single sub field, starting from the head sub field, such that each sub field of the sub field group includes a selected writing address stage for selectively discharging a discharge cell in question so as to set the discharge cell into a lighting mode in accordance with the picture signal; and B) providing at least one sub field subsequent to the sub field group such that the at least one sub field includes a light emission maintaining stage for repeatedly maintaining discharge of the discharge cell in only the lighting mode for a number of times in accordance with weighting of the plurality of sub fields, wherein one of the at least one sub field includes a selected light extinction address stage for selectively discharging only a discharge cell which undergoes the light emission maintaining stage in an immediately preceding sub field, in accordance with the picture signal so as to set the discharge cell in a light extinguishing mode, and wherein the head sub field comprises only the selected writing address stage and a light extinction stage for discharging a discharge cell in the lighting mode so as to shift the discharge cell to the light extinguishing mode.