Patent ID: 7136032

Claim:
A plasma display apparatus, comprising: a display panel that has first electrodes and second electrodes arranged adjacent to each other and third electrodes that intersect the first electrodes and the second electrodes, display pixels being formed at the intersections; an X drive circuit that drives the first electrodes; a Y drive circuit that drives the second electrodes, wherein the Y drive circuit comprises: plural line drive switches respectively arranged in correspondence with said second electrodes, each line drive being composed of a pair of a high-side switch that supplies a high-potential side pulse to each of the second electrode and a low-side switch that supplies a low-potential side pulse to each of the second electrode, a first power source switch that switches the voltages to be supplied to the terminal of the high-side switch between that which corresponds to the scan pulse and that which corresponds to the sustain pulse, and a second power source switch that switches the voltages to be supplied to the terminal of the low-side switch between that which corresponds to the scan pulse and that which corresponds to the sustain pulse, the supply of the scan pulse and the sustain pulse to the second electrodes being controlled by switching the plural line drive switches; and a display area detection circuit which detects a non-display area, in which no display pixel to be lit on the first electrode and the second electrode exists, and a display area, in which at least one display pixel to be lit on the first electrode and the second electrode exists in the display area of the display panel, the Y drive circuit, further, controlling the plural line drive switches so that the sustain pulse is not supplied to the second electrode in the non-display area.