Patent ID: 7109662

Claim:
A method of driving a plasma display panel including a plurality of X electrodes and a plurality of Y electrodes arranged in alternating, spaced relationship on a base plate, and a plurality of address electrodes spaced from and crossing the X and Y electrodes, comprising: generating initializing discharges with at least one ramp waveform voltage applied between the X electrodes and Y electrodes during an initializing period; generating addressing discharges between the Y electrodes and the address electrodes during an addressing period; and generating sustaining discharges between the X electrodes and Y electrodes during a sustaining period, said initializing period, said addressing period and said sustaining period cyclically recurring, wherein the voltage of a driving waveform for each electrode satisfies the following relational expression: 2 V tAY −V tXY ≦2 V AY −V XY −2 V aoff , wherein V tAY denotes a discharge starting threshold voltage between the address electrodes and the Y electrodes, and V tXY denotes a discharge starting threshold voltage between the X electrodes and the Y electrodes, when the V electrodes serve as cathodes, wherein V AY denotes a voltage applied between the address electrodes and the Y electrodes, and V XY denotes a voltage applied between the X electrodes and the Y electrodes, at the trailing edge of the ramp waveform at the end of the initializing period, and wherein V aoff denotes an offset voltage of the voltage applied between the address electrodes and the Y electrodes at the end of the sustaining period.