Patent ID: 7027012

Claim:
A method of driving a surface-discharge plasma display panel having a display screen comprising a matrix of lines and rows of discharge cells defined by corresponding intersections of plural pairs of sustain electrodes and plural address electrodes, respectively, a border in the line direction dividing the display screen into first and second partial screens, dividing the address electrodes into respective first and second partial address electrodes aligned in the row direction and separated at adjacent, respective ends thereof and dividing the plural pairs of sustain electrodes into first and second groups respectively in the first second partial screens, each pair comprising first and second sustain electrodes and each subfield comprising at least an address period and a subsequent sustian period, the method comprising: reversing an order of the first and second sustain electrodes of the plural pairs thereof in the first partial screen relatively to an order of the plural pairs thereof in the second partial screen; performing a full screen reset, at least for each field, by producing discharges in all discharge cells of all lines; during the address period, performing line-sequential addressing of the corresponding respective lines of the first and second partial screens, concurrently, by applying a scanning pulse sequentially to the second sustain electrodes for the plural lines of the first and second partial screens and, concurrently with the selection of a line of each of the first and second partial screens, applying address pulses to specific first and second partial address electrodes associated with respective discharge cells of the first and second partial screens in accordance with display data, to produce a discharge between the second sustain electrode of the selected line and the specific first and second partial address electrodes associated with the respective discharge cells of the first and second partial screens; and during the sustain period, concurrently for the first and second partial screens, applying sustain pulses to the first sustain electrodes and second sustain electrodes thereby to produce surface discharges in each of the discharge cells in which wall charges were accumulated during the address period.