Patent ID: 8217859

Claim:
A method of driving a plasma display device having a first electrode and a second electrode adjacent to one another in a discharge cell, the method comprising: applying a first waveform at least once to the first electrode, the first waveform including a gradual increase from a first voltage to a second voltage followed by a gradual decrease from a third voltage to a fourth voltage; applying a second waveform at least once to the first electrode after the first waveform is applied to the first electrode, the second waveform including a gradual increase from a fifth voltage to a sixth voltage followed by a gradual decrease from a seventh voltage to an eighth voltage; and applying a reset waveform to the first and second electrodes during a reset period of a subfield for performing the display operation, the reset period being immediately after the application of the first and second waveforms, and the reset waveform initializing the discharge cell before an address period thereof, wherein: the fifth voltage is greater than the first voltage, the sixth voltage is greater than the second voltage, during the gradual increases in the voltage of the first electrode, the second electrode is maintained at a reference voltage, during the gradual decreases in the voltage of the first electrode, the second electrode is maintained at a voltage greater than the reference voltage, the first and second waveforms are applied to the first electrode after turning on the plasma display device and before a display operation is performed, applying the reset waveform includes applying the second waveform to the first electrode, during gradual increases in the voltage of the first electrode in the reset waveform, the second electrode is maintained at the reference voltage, and during gradual decreases in the voltage of the first electrode in the reset waveform, the second electrode is maintained at a voltage greater than the reference voltage.