Drive apparatus for a plasma display panel and a drive method thereof

1. A driving apparatus for a plasma display panel having a sustaining electrode driver, a data electrode driver and a scanning electrode driver comprising:

an intensity detection means for detecting an average intensity of a display image to be displayed on said plasma display panel;

a first priming pulse generation circuit, provided in the scanning electrode driver, for generating a first priming pulse having a first crest value which is applied between said sustaining electrode and scanning electrode in a priming period for driving said plasma display panel;

a second priming pulse generator circuit, provided in said scanning electrode driver, for generating a second priming pulse having a second crest value which is applied between said sustaining electrode and scanning electrode in said priming period for driving said plasma display panel; and

a drive control means for selectively controlling said first priming pulse generation circuit so as to output said first priming pulse and second priming pulse generation circuit so as to output said second priming pulse in accordance with a detection result obtained from said intensity detection means,

wherein said drive control means controls said first priming pulse generation circuit to output said first priming pulse, in a case in which said intensity detection means detects that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is higher than a prescribed intensity; and

said drive control means controls said second priming pulse generation circuit to output said second priming pulse, a crest value of which is smaller than that of said first priming pulse, in a case in which said intensity detection means detects that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is lower than said prescribed intensity, thereby maintaining a constant amount of wall charges on data electrodes generated by priming discharge regardless of changes in magnitude of a display load.

2. A driving apparatus for a plasma display panel having a sustaining electrode driver, a data electrode driver and a scanning electrode driver comprising:

an intensity detection means for detecting an average intensity of a display image to be displayed on said plasma display panel;

a priming pulse generation circuit, provided in the scanning electrode driver, for generating a first priming pulse having a first pulse width and a second priming pulse having a second pulse width which are applied between said sustaining electrode and scanning electrode, respectively, in a priming period for driving said plasma display panel; and

a drive control means for controlling said priming pulse generation circuit so as to selectively output said first priming pulse or said second priming pulse in accordance with a detection result obtained from said intensity detection means,

wherein said drive control means controls said priming pulse generation circuit so as to output said first priming pulse, in a case in which said intensity detection means detects that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is higher than a prescribed intensity, and

said drive control means controls said priming pulse generation circuit so as to output said second priming pulse, a pulse width of which is smaller than that of said first priming pulse, in a case in which said intensity detection means detects that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is lower than said prescribed intensity, thereby maintaining a constant amount of wall charges on data electrodes generated by priming discharge regardless of changes in magnitude of a display load.

3. A driving method for a plasma display panel having a sustaining electrode driver, a data electrode driver and a scanning electrode driver comprising the steps of:

detecting an average intensity of a display image to be displayed on said plasma display panel;

generating a first priming pulse in a first priming pulse generation circuit located in the scanning electrode driver having a first crest value in case of detecting that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is higher than a prescribed intensity in said detecting step;

generating a second priming pulse in a second priming pulse generation circuit located in the said scanning electrode driver having a second crest value, a crest value of which is smaller than that of said first priming pulse, in case of detecting that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is lower than said prescribed intensity in said detecting step; and

applying said first priming pulse or second priming pulse between said sustaining electrode and scanning electrode in a priming period,

thereby maintaining a constant amount of wall charges on data electrodes generated by priming discharge regardless of changes in magnitude of display load.

4. A driving method for a plasma display panel having a sustaining electrode driver, a data electrode driver and a scanning electrode driver comprising the steps of:

detecting an average intensity of a display image to be displayed on said plasma display panel;

generating a first priming pulse in a priming pulse generation circuit located in the scanning electrode driver having a first pulse width in case of detecting that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is higher than a prescribed intensity in said detecting step;

generating a second priming pulse in said priming pulse generation circuit located in said scanning electrode driver, a pulse width of which is narrower than that of said first priming pulse, in case of detecting that said average intensity of said display image to be displayed is lower than said prescribed intensity in said detecting step; and

applying said first priming pulse or second priming pulse between said sustaining electrode and scanning electrode in a priming period,

thereby maintaining a constant amount of wall charges on data electrodes generated by priming discharge regardless of changes in magnitude of display load.