KR20050024789A - Method for driving plasma display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for driving a plasma display panel is provided to reduce the time required for the initial process to be performed during the 1 TV field with securing the operational margin of the panel. CONSTITUTION: A method for driving a plasma display panel includes the steps of: a step of dividing at least portion among a plurality of scan electrodes into a plurality of blocks(B1-B5); a step of simultaneously initializing by applying a predetermined initialization waveform for the plurality of blocks; a first address step of selectively inputting the data into the discharge cells of the whole blocks; and a step of applying a plurality of discharge sustain pulse during the first sustain period(520) for each block to construct the plurality of the blocks, performing the second address to input the data into the discharge cells in each block and applying the plurality of the discharge sustain pulses again during the second sustain period(540).

Description

Driving method of plasma display panel {METHOD FOR DRIVING PLASMA DISPLAY}

The present invention relates to a method of driving a plasma display panel, and more particularly, it is possible to secure the operating margin of the panel, while not only reducing the time required for the initialization process performed during one TV field, but also in the address process. The present invention provides a method of driving a new AC plasma display panel which can reduce the time required and enable various gray scales.

Plasma Display Panel (PDP) is a flat panel display device for replacing a cathode ray tube in the field of large display devices. Recently, a three-electrode surface discharge AC PDP has been commercialized and widely used. 1 schematically illustrates the structure of a typical three-electrode surface discharge AC PDP. As shown, AC PDP is made by the combination of the top plate 10 and the bottom plate 20. Looking at the configuration of the upper plate 10, a plurality of sustain electrodes 7X, 7Y are placed in parallel on the flat glass (in some cases divided into scan electrode 7Y and sustain electrode X), transparent In order to compensate for the problem of high specific resistance of the sustain electrode formed of a material such as a conductive film, bus electrodes 8X and 8Y are formed, and a top dielectric layer 5 is formed thereon, and a protective layer such as an MgO film thereon. (4) is formed.

In addition, the lower plate 20 includes an address electrode 12 formed to face and intersect the sustain electrodes 7X and 7Y, and a lower plate dielectric layer 18 to form a reflective layer over the address electrode 12. The partition wall 14 is disposed in parallel with the address electrode 12 to distinguish each cell, and the fluorescent films 11, 12 and 13 that emit visible light on the side and bottom surfaces of the partition wall 14 are formed.

After combining the upper plate 1 and the lower plate 2 and evacuating the vacuum plate therebetween, a binary or ternary element containing xenon (Xe) gas is formed in the discharge space formed between the upper plate 10 and the lower plate 20. Inert gas is filled. Each discharge cell is formed at a portion where the sustain electrodes 7X and 7Y of the upper plate 10 and the address electrode 12 of the lower plate 20 cross each other, and emit red, green, and blue light for displaying a color image. Three kinds of discharge cells in which the films 11, 12 and 13 are formed form one pixel.

Various driving methods have been developed for driving conventional AC plasma. One of them is an address display period separated method (ADS) disclosed in Korean Patent No. 88852 or US Patent No. 5,541,618. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating an ADS driving method. In the ADS driving method, as shown in FIG. For example, it is common to have eight sub-fields, and each subfield is again initialized (or reset period), address period (or scan period or write period), and discharge sustain period ( Or maintenance period). For example, in the case of expressing 256 gray levels with 8 subfields, each subfield is ^equal to 2 ⁰ , 2 ¹ , 2 ² , 2 ³ , 2 ⁴ , 2 ⁵ , 2 ⁶ , 2 ⁷ With the length of the discharge sustain period, 256 (= 2 ⁸ ) gray scales can be expressed by the combination of these subfields. The initialization period does not substantially contribute to gradation representation or light emission, and in the ADS driving method, since a very long initialization period must be provided for each subfield, the discharge sustain period is reduced accordingly, which is a problem in terms of luminance and luminous efficiency. In addition, since the address period and the sustain period are separated for all the discharge cells, the discharge sustain period is further reduced. In particular, when applied to a high definition (HD) class display element, the luminance decrease becomes more severe.

In order to overcome this problem, a method of increasing the frequency of the discharge sustaining pulse and more densely inserting the discharge sustaining pulse within a limited sustaining period has been proposed. In this case, however, the discharge of the preceding pulse is caused by the closely adjacent heat of the discharge sustaining pulse in time. Since the space charge caused by this influences the discharge characteristics of the next discharge, the discharge becomes unstable and the discharge holding voltage is increased due to the decrease in the pulse width. Thus, even with such an improvement, the luminance increase eventually reaches a certain limit. There is a limit that cannot be.

Another prior art method proposed to avoid such a problem is the address display display (AWD) method disclosed in Korean Patent No. 349923. 3 schematically shows an address display overlapping driving method. As shown in the drawing, the subfields are separately arranged for each line to use the entire 1TV field for sustain discharge. In this manner, the drive sequence is designed such that the adjacent line performs one of the initialization, address, or sustain discharge operations while the adjacent line performs the sustain discharge operation.

At first glance, it may be considered that the length of the sustain discharge section is very long when the method is applied. However, in practice, the address or initialization pulse is applied to the other line while the sustain pulse for performing the sustain discharge is applied to one line. In the case of applying, the pulse is overlapped and driving becomes very unstable. Therefore, the initialization pulse or the address pulse of the other line should be applied during the pause period between the sustain pulse and the pulse during the sustain period of one line, and finally the timing of insertion of each pulse is determined. There are many limitations to this. Therefore, there is a limit to the actual number of scan lines that can be displayed, which is too much for driving HD level.

In addition, when the initialization waveform is inserted in the pause period between the sustain pulse and the pulse, it is impossible to perform a sufficient initialization process throughout the panel, which deepens the characteristic deviation between each discharge cell and the cells constituting the panel. This results in a lack of sufficient operating margin. In particular, when driving a panel using a ramp-type initialization waveform which is widely used to secure an operating margin of the panel, the ramp-type waveform generates a weak discharge by gradually increasing the voltage for a sufficient time to generate a gap between discharge cells. As a method of canceling the deviation, rather complicated pulses are used rather than simple pulses, and a combination of a plurality of elements is required to generate these waveforms. It is very difficult to insert such an initialization waveform between the sustain pulse and the pulse in the address display overlap driving method (AWD). In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to apply such initialization waveforms selectively at different timings for each line, so that the number of waveform generation circuits is required for each line number, thereby avoiding the problem of excessive panel manufacturing cost. It becomes impossible.

In addition, in the above-described prior art method, the weighting, i.e., duration of each subfield consists of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128. In the prior art, 256 sub-levels are implemented by combining the subfields in this manner. However, in this method, flicker or dynamic pseudo contours are generated because the sub-fields are greatly different from each other in duration. The problem of false contours is exacerbated.

In addition, when the weighting of the subfields is performed as described above, an error diffusion or dithering method is used to express low gradations of 1 or less, but there is a problem in that image quality is poor. In order to solve this problem, if the lowest weight is set to 0.5, for example, the number of subfields must be increased, so the time allocated to the discharge sustain period, which is the light emitting period, must be reduced, and the duration of the top subfield is further reduced. As it must be longer, the variation between the durations of the subfields becomes more severe, making the flicker and dynamic pseudo contouring problems more serious.

The present invention is to overcome such a problem, it is possible to ensure sufficient operating margin of the panel by performing a sufficient initialization process to overcome the deviation between the discharge cells, while reducing the time required for the initialization process performed during one TV field In addition to reducing the time required for the addressing process, it is possible to reduce flicker and dynamic pseudo contouring problems, and to drive a new AC plasma display panel that can enhance low gray scale expressive power and implement various gray scales. It is to provide.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of driving a plasma display panel, the method comprising: a plurality of address electrodes, a plurality of pairs of scan electrodes and sustain electrodes, each of the address electrodes and the scan electrodes; A method of driving an alternating-current plasma display panel having a plurality of discharge cells formed at a point where a pair of sustain electrodes cross each other, wherein (1) at least a portion of the plurality of scan electrodes is divided into a plurality of blocks B1, ..., Bn. Dividing, (2) applying a predetermined initialization waveform to all of the plurality of blocks at the same time and initializing them simultaneously; (3) sequentially selecting all the scan electrodes constituting the entire plurality of blocks to discharge the entire block; A first address step of selectively inputting data into a cell, and (4) each of the blocks constituting the plurality of blocks A plurality of discharge sustain pulses are applied to the blocks during the first sustain period, and the scan electrodes in each block are sequentially selected after the first sustain period ends to input data to the discharge cells in each block. Executing a second address and re-applying a plurality of discharge sustain pulses during a second sustain period, wherein the first sustain period and the second sustain period are set differently for each block; The sum of the first sustain period and the second sustain period is set to be constant such that the second sustain period ends simultaneously for all the blocks, and the time point of the second address coincides with the respective blocks. It is characterized by not to.

Preferably, the driving method of the plasma display according to the present invention divides the time of one TV frame for displaying one screen into a plurality of consecutive time periods P1, ..., Pm having the same length, By performing the steps (1) to (4) for each of the liver, the initialization may be always performed simultaneously for the entire block.

Preferably, the driving method of the plasma display according to the present invention is such that, for each of the blocks, the lengths of the first sustain periods are set differently for each time period constituting the first TV field so as to implement gradation. Can be.

Preferably, the second address may be to perform a write address process for generating a write discharge by selecting a discharge cell to be turned on during the second sustain period in order to input the data.

Preferably, the second address performs an erase address process of generating an erase discharge by selecting a discharge cell to be turned off during the second sustain period from among discharge cells that were turned on during the first sustain period to input the data. It may be.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a plasma display device includes: a plurality of address electrodes, a plurality of pairs of scan electrodes and sustain electrodes, and are formed at points where the respective address electrodes and the scan electrode and sustain electrode pairs cross each other; An AC type plasma display device having a plurality of discharge cells, the method comprising: (1) dividing at least a portion of the plurality of scan electrodes into a plurality of blocks, and simultaneously applying a predetermined initialization waveform to all of the plurality of blocks to initialize the same; Way; (2) first address means for sequentially selecting all scan electrodes constituting the entire plurality of blocks and selectively inputting data to discharge cells in the entire block; And (3) applying a plurality of discharge sustain pulses to each of the blocks constituting the plurality of blocks during the first sustain period, and sequentially scanning the scan electrodes in each block after the first sustain period ends. Means for executing a second address for selecting and inputting data into discharge cells in each block, and reapplying a plurality of discharge sustain pulses during a second sustain period, wherein the first block is applied to the respective blocks; The sustain period and the second sustain period are set differently for each block, and the sum of the first sustain period and the second sustain period is set to be constant so that the second sustain period ends simultaneously for all the blocks. The time point of the two addresses is characterized in that they do not coincide with respect to the respective blocks.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4 shows a preferred embodiment of the driving method of the present invention. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, scan electrodes (or scan lines) constituting the screen are divided into a plurality of blocks B1,..., Bn. Further, on the time axis, one TV field representing one screen is divided into a plurality of time sections P1, ..., Pn. In FIG. 4A, one TV field is divided into five time intervals P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5, and each time interval has the same interval, and the scan electrodes also include five blocks B1, The case where it divides into B2, B3, B4, B5) is illustrated.

5 is a view illustrating in detail the driving process of one time period in the embodiment of FIG. During each time period, first, the initialization process 100 is performed on the entire screen, and then each scan line of the entire screen is sequentially selected to select a cell to be turned on in a subsequent sustain period. This leads to. The above process is the same as the initialization and address process performed in the subfield in the above-described prior art ADS driving process. However, unlike the ADS method, which is a method in which one address process and one sustain period are provided in one subfield and are driven to coincide with the timing and duration at which they are performed for all discharge cells, one time period of the present embodiment During the first sustain period 120, the second address 130 and the second sustain period 140 for each block, the duration of the first sustain period for each block, the time when the second address period proceeds, The durations of the second sustain periods are driven differently from each other. In addition, in the present embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4A, one TV field is divided into five time intervals having the same length, and for the same block, the duration of the first holding period is determined for each time interval. The duration of the second address process and the duration of the second sustain period are configured to be different from each other. However, for all blocks, in any time period, the sum of the first sustain period and the second sustain period is configured to be always the same. As a result, the end time of the second sustain period coincides in all the discharge cells constituting the screen, so that the initialization process can be simultaneously performed for all the screens.

As such, when the initialization process can be performed simultaneously on the entire screen, even when a somewhat complicated initialization waveform is to be used, it is possible to apply such a waveform to all the scan electrodes, thereby realizing it with a simple circuit configuration. Panel manufacturing costs can be reduced.

For each block, subfield weighting according to each time period, that is, the arrangement of the relative lengths of the sustain periods is illustrated in FIG. 4B. As shown in the figure, for example, when each block is configured to have a temporal length corresponding to 51 for each time period from 1 block B1 to 5 blocks B5, the total time length is 255 for 5 time periods. For the first block period (P1), the first holding period and the second holding period are divided by a time ratio of 1:50 for one block B1, and during the second time period (P2), : 49, 4: 3 for the third time period (P3), 8:43 for the fourth time period (P4), and 16:35 for the fifth time period (P5). .

In addition, for the second block B2, the first time section is 2:49, the second time section is 4:47, the third time section is 8:43, the fourth time section is 16:35, and the fifth time section is It may be configured to be 1:50. In the embodiment of Fig. 4, for each block, the length of the first holding period during each time period is one of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16, and is arranged for each block within the same time period. The lengths of the first holding periods are also set to 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 so as to be different from each other.

4 and 5, the second address 130 for selecting the discharge cells to be turned on during the second sustain period between the first sustain period 120 and the second sustain period 140 having different lengths. Will be performed. The second address 130 is independently performed only for the corresponding block among the respective blocks. Since the length of the first holding period is different for each block, the second address process may be performed at different points in time if the blocks are different. In addition, the length of the second sustain period 140 is also arranged to vary with each block. However, the end time point of the second sustain period 140 always coincides with all blocks, and accordingly, the initialization time can be simultaneously performed for all screens in the next time interval, so that all cells can be initialized using a predetermined initialization waveform. By similarly adjusting the wall charge state, it is possible to easily secure the operating margin of the panel.

6 shows an example of waveforms input to the scan electrode and the sustain electrode during the first sustain period, the second address period, and the second sustain period. As shown in FIG. 6B, a sustain pulse is applied to the first block B1 such that polarities alternate between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode during the first sustain period. The first sustain period ends first, and then during the second address period 130-1 of the first block B1 subsequent thereto, the second sustain period in the first block B1 by the write address scheme causing write discharge. Select a discharge cell to be turned on. At this time, the first sustain period is not yet completed for the second block B2, and only the second block B2 is applied to the waveform applied to the address electrode while the address of the first block B1 is being performed. In order to prevent disturbance by the second block B2, the second block B2 may arrange the rest period 135-1 to which the sustain pulse is not applied while the address of the first block 125 is performed. . While the second address process is performed on the second block B2 (130-2), the pause period 135-2 to which the sustain pulse is not applied to the first block B1 may be provided.

In addition, for each block, the erase pulse 126 is disposed before the second address process is performed to facilitate writing discharge to each discharge cell during the address process and to reduce the deviation between the discharge cells of the panel. Operation margin can be secured.

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a driving method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this case, after the initialization 500 and the first address period 510 for all blocks, the first sustain period 520 for each block is shown. The second address period 530 and the second sustain period 540 are the same as those of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, but the erase address process using erase discharge is performed during the second address period 530. The difference between the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and the selection of cells to be turned off during the second sustain period 540 is performed. When the erase address is performed during the second address period 530 as described above, the erase address process is not sensitive to the difference in characteristics between the discharge cells or the difference in the wall charge state, and thus, a wider operating margin can be secured than in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 5. Can be. In addition, since the erase address is performed only in the discharge cells in which the sustain discharge has occurred previously, the erase address is performed more quickly than the write address due to the effect of priming particles still remaining after the previous sustain discharge is completed. Since it is possible to perform a high speed address, it is possible to ensure a sufficient retention period.

FIG. 8 exemplarily shows waveforms applied to the scan electrode and the sustain electrode during the first sustain period, the second address period, and the second sustain period in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 7. 8A shows an example of a waveform used for an erase address. During the second address period 230-1, a negative scan pulse is applied to the scan electrode Y of the first block B1, and the sustain electrode X is maintained at the base potential. In this manner, erase discharge is generated between the address electrode and the scan electrode. In FIG. 8B, another waveform for an erase address is illustrated. The last pulse of the first sustain period 325 does not fall to the base potential but goes down to the intermediate potential to be held thereafter, so that during the second address period 330-1, the scan electrode Y is not at the base potential. It is configured to be maintained at an intermediate potential. This is to prevent the wall charge accumulated on the address electrode from being partially erased when the last sustain pulse falls, so that the erase address by the subsequent scan pulse can be performed smoothly. In this case, the scan pulse does not need to have a negative magnitude, and since a pulse falling from the intermediate potential to the base potential is applied, the advantage of making the driving circuit simpler can be obtained. In addition, since the potential relationship between the scan electrode Y and the sustain electrode X should be maintained at this time, it is preferable to maintain the voltage of the sustain electrode at an intermediate potential as shown in FIG.

9 is a diagram exemplarily examining specifications that can be achieved when the method of the present invention (in particular, the embodiment of FIG. 7) is applied to a plasma display actually produced. FIG. 9 (a) shows how many time periods can be set within one TV field when the single scan method which is generally used in the case of having a vertical resolution of 480 scan lines is applied. The more time periods, the more grayscales that can be implemented. Therefore, more time periods are preferable. The widths of the initialization (reset), the write address (W / A), the erase address (E / A), and the sustain pulse are values set with a certain margin enough to drive the panel stably. At this time, as shown in FIG. 9A, seven time periods can be sufficiently secured.

In addition, in FIG. 9B, when the dual scan method, which is generally used to achieve a 768 vertical resolution screen used in the case of a high-definition (HD) TV, is applied, it may be secured within one TV field. The number of time periods that can be shown is shown by way of example. In this case, it can be confirmed that eight time periods can be secured.

FIG. 10 shows the relative lengths of the first holding period and the second holding period in each case illustrated in FIG. 9, that is, when seven time periods are secured in one TV field and eight time periods are secured. It shows by example how to arrange. In FIG. 10A, 14 subfields are secured by dividing the data into seven time periods. In the case of setting seven time periods, as shown in FIG. 10A, the scan lines are divided into seven blocks, and the lengths of the first sustain periods are 1, 2, 3, 5, It can be configured to change in the order of 8, 12, 16. In addition, when divided into eight time periods, as shown in (b) of FIG. 10, the scan lines are divided into eight blocks, and the length of the first sustain period is 1, 2, 3 for each block. , 4, 6, 8, 12, 14 can be configured to vary in the order. If more time intervals are secured, many subfields can be secured, which is more advantageous for gray scale expression.

In addition, in the case of applying the driving method of the present invention, it is possible to divide a plurality of uniform time periods within one TV field, and to use the first holding period and the second holding period as separate subfields within the time period. Unlike in the prior art, where the deviation between the subfield with the minimum duration and the subfield with the maximum duration is extremely large, the difference in duration between each subfield is limited to allow for reduction of flicker and dynamic pseudo contours. do.

In the driving method of the present invention, the subfield for low gradation can be appropriately set within one time period without increasing the duration of the subfield having the maximum duration (for example, the first sustain period). 0.5, the second holding period is 35.5, and the like.

In the above-described embodiments, the division of the block does not necessarily have to be divided so that adjacent scan lines form one block, and is driven by setting scan lines distributed around the panel as belonging to the same block. It is also possible. In this case, adjacent scan lines will belong to different blocks, but even this will be only one variation of the present invention. In addition, all the time periods do not have to be the same in size as shown in the above-described embodiment. In some cases, the initialization is always performed at the same time in all the discharge cells, but the length of the time period is modified so as to be different from each other. Could be

In addition, it is not necessary to drive all of the time periods with the first sustain period, the second address period and the second sustain period as in the above embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the present invention, the scan lines are divided into a plurality of blocks to set and drive the first sustain period, the second address period, and the second sustain period. Even when driving, as long as the driving method of the present invention is applied to a part of the time period, it is also a modification of the present invention.

In addition, it is not necessary to divide and drive the blocks by the same number in each time period. The blocks are divided into a predetermined number as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7 only within one time period, and the blocks are divided into different numbers in other time periods. Alternatively, the panel may be integrally driven without dividing the block in the time period, and the entire time period may be modified to serve as one subfield. However, this also applies to simple modifications within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. It will not be too long.

As described above, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

According to the present invention, it is possible to secure sufficient operating margin of the panel by performing a sufficient initialization process so as to overcome the variation between discharge cells, while not only reducing the time required for the initialization process performed during one TV field, but also the address process. It is possible to provide a method of driving an AC plasma display panel that can reduce the time required for the system, can reduce flicker and dynamic pseudo contouring problems, and can enhance low gray scale expressive power and implement various gray scales. It can contribute to the rapid popularization of high quality plasma displays.

1 schematically illustrates the structure of a typical three-electrode surface discharge AC PDP.

2 is a view schematically showing a prior art ADS driving method.

3 schematically illustrates a conventional address display superimposition driving method.

4 shows a preferred embodiment of the driving method of the present invention.

5 is a view illustrating in detail the driving process of one time period in the embodiment of FIG.

6 shows an example of waveforms input to the scan electrode and the sustain electrode during the first sustain period, the second address period, and the second sustain period.

7 is a view for explaining a driving method of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 exemplarily shows waveforms applied to the scan electrode and the sustain electrode during the first sustain period, the second address period, and the second sustain period in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 7.

9 is a diagram exemplarily examining specifications that can be achieved when the method of the present invention (in particular, the embodiment of FIG. 7) is applied to a plasma display actually produced.

FIG. 10 shows the relative lengths of the first holding period and the second holding period in each case illustrated in FIG. 9, that is, when seven time periods are secured in one TV field and eight time periods are secured. It shows by example how to arrange.

Claims (6)

An AC plasma display panel having a plurality of address electrodes, a plurality of pairs of scan electrodes and sustain electrodes, and a plurality of discharge cells formed at points where the respective address electrodes and the scan electrode and sustain electrode pairs cross each other. In the driving method, (1) dividing at least a portion of the plurality of scan electrodes into a plurality of blocks (B1, ..., Bn), (2) applying a predetermined initialization waveform to all of the plurality of blocks and simultaneously initializing them (3) a first address step of sequentially selecting all scan electrodes constituting the entire plurality of blocks and selectively inputting data to discharge cells in the entire block; and (4) each configuring the plurality of blocks A plurality of discharge sustain pulses are applied to the blocks of the first sustain period, and the scan electrodes in each block are sequentially selected after the first sustain period ends to input data to the discharge cells in the respective blocks. Executing a second address, and applying again a plurality of discharge sustain pulses during a second sustain period, In this case, the first sustain period and the second sustain period are set differently for each of the blocks, and the sum of the first sustain period and the second sustain period is set to be constant so that the first and second sustain periods are set to be constant. And the two sustain periods are simultaneously terminated, and the timing of the second address does not coincide with respect to the respective blocks. The method of claim 1, The time of one TV frame for displaying one screen is divided into a plurality of consecutive time periods P1, ..., Pm having the same length, and the steps (1) to (4) for each of the time periods. Do each of the Characterized in that the initialization can always be performed simultaneously on the entire block Driving method of plasma display. The method of claim 2, And for each of the blocks, the lengths of the first sustain periods are set differently for each time period constituting the first TV field so as to implement gradation. The method of claim 1, The second address is characterized by performing a write address process for generating a write discharge by selecting a discharge cell to be turned on during the second sustain period to input the data. Driving method of plasma display. The method of claim 1, The second address may perform an erase address process of generating an erase discharge by selecting a discharge cell to be turned off during the second sustain period among discharge cells that were turned on during the first sustain period to input the data. A drive method of a plasma display. An AC plasma display device having a plurality of address electrodes, a plurality of pairs of scan electrodes and sustain electrodes, and a plurality of discharge cells formed at intersections of the respective address electrodes and the pair of scan electrodes and sustain electrodes. In (1) means for dividing at least a portion of the plurality of scan electrodes into a plurality of blocks and simultaneously initializing by applying a predetermined initialization waveform to all of the plurality of blocks; (2) first address means for sequentially selecting all scan electrodes constituting the entire plurality of blocks and selectively inputting data to discharge cells in the entire block; And (3) For each of the blocks constituting the plurality of blocks, a plurality of discharge sustain pulses are applied during a first sustain period, and the scan electrodes in each block are sequentially selected after the first sustain period ends. Means for executing a second address for inputting data into the discharge cells in each block, and reapplying a plurality of discharge sustain pulses during a second sustain period, In this case, the first sustain period and the second sustain period are set differently for each of the blocks, and the sum of the first sustain period and the second sustain period is set to be constant so that the first and second sustain periods are set to be constant. And two sustain periods at the same time, and the timing of the second address does not coincide with respect to the respective blocks.