Method for Driving Plasma Display Panel and Plasma Display Apparatus

A plasma display apparatus comprising:

• a plasma display panel which is equipped with plurality of discharge cells having a display electrode pair structured of a scan electrodes and a sustain electrode, and
• a drive circuit which drives the panel, wherein
• the drive circuit structures one field period of a plurality of subfields having a write period for generating write discharges selectively in the discharge cells and a sustain period for generating the number of times of sustain discharges according to brightness levels in the discharge cells which have generated the write discharges, and is equipped with a first switching element which applies the voltage for generating the sustain discharge to the display electrode pair, and a second switching element which applies the voltage for easing the voltage difference between the electrodes of the display electrode pair to the display electrode pair, and
• in generating the last sustain discharge in the sustain period, turns on the first switching element, then after time intervals according to the lighting rate of the discharge cells in the subfield, turns on the second switching element.