Method of driving plasma display panel

1. A method of driving a plasma display panel which has a plurality of row electrode pairs each comprised of a first row electrode and a second row electrode which form a pair, a plurality of column electrodes arranged across said row electrode pairs, and display cells formed at respective intersections of said row electrode pairs and said column electrode, wherein a display period for one field of a video signal is comprised of a plurality of sub-fields, a reset period is provided prior to an addressing period of a starting sub-field in the display period for one field to make a display at multiple levels, and a scan pulse is in turn applied to the first row electrodes of the row electrode pairs in said addressing period, said method comprising:

a light emission load state detection stage for detecting a light emission load state of the plasma display panel in accordance with the video signal in the preceding field; and

a first stage in the reset period for applying the first row electrodes with a pulse of a first polarity which has an applied voltage value increased over time to reach a predetermined target potential which is higher than a peak potential of said scan pulse,

wherein said first stage includes a stage for controlling the target potential of the first polarity pulse in accordance with the light emission load state, wherein said stage of controlling the target potential of the first polarity pulse includes a stage for extending the time length for which the pulse of the first polarity is applied when the light emission load state presents a large number of light emission loads as compared with a predetermined value, and shortening the time length for which the pulse of the first polarity is applied when the light emission load state presents a small number of light emission loads as compared with the predetermined value.

2. A method of driving a plasma display panel according to claim 1 , further comprising, prior to said first stage, a second stage in the reset period for applying the first row electrodes with a pulse of a second polarity opposite to the first polarity, which has an applied voltage value increased over time.

3. A method of driving a plasma display panel according to claim 1 , further including a stage for applying said first row electrodes with a scanning pulse including a selected potential of the first polarity superposed on a non-selected potential of the first polarity, and applying the column electrodes with pixel data pulses in accordance with the video signal.

4. A method of driving a plasma display panel according to claim 3 , wherein said pulse of the first polarity reaches the predetermined target potential between the selected potential and the non-selected potential of said first row electrodes in the addressing period.

5. A method of driving a plasma display panel according to claim 1 , wherein said light emission load state detection stage senses the light emission load state from luminance levels and a luminance distribution of a luminance histogram obtained from the video signal.

6. A method of driving a plasma display panel according to claim 1 , wherein said light emission load state detection stage senses the light emission load state from an average luminance level of the video signal.