Patent ID: 8471785

Claim:
A driving device that drives a plasma display panel including a plurality of discharge cells at intersections of a plurality of scan electrodes and a plurality of sustain electrodes with a plurality of data electrodes by a sub-field method in which one field period includes a plurality of sub-fields, comprising: a scan electrode driving circuit that drives said plurality of scan electrodes; a sustain electrode driving circuit that drives said plurality of sustain electrodes; and a data electrode driving circuit that drives said plurality of data electrodes, wherein said scan electrode driving circuit applies a first ramp waveform rising from a first potential to a second potential to said plurality of scan electrodes in a first period within a setup period of at least one sub-field of said plurality of sub-fields, said sustain electrode driving circuit applies a driving waveform dropping from a third potential to a fourth potential to said plurality of sustain electrodes before said first period and holds said plurality of sustain electrodes at said fourth potential in said first period, and said data electrode driving circuit applies a second ramp waveform rising from a fifth potential to a sixth potential according to change of a potential of said first ramp waveform to said plurality of data electrodes in a second period that starts at a starting time point of said first period and is shorter than said first period, and holds said plurality of data electrodes at said sixth potential after said second period in said first period, said first ramp waveform is set based on said fourth potential such that discharges are generated between said plurality of scan electrodes and said plurality of sustain electrodes during change of said first ramp waveform from said first potential to said second potential, said fifth potential is set based on said fourth potential such that discharges are not generated between said plurality of sustain electrodes and said plurality of data electrodes, and said sixth potential is set based on said first ramp waveform such that discharges are generated between said plurality of scan electrodes and said plurality of data electrodes after said second period in said first period.