Method and apparatus for driving a gas-discharge display panel

A method of driving a gas discharge display panel having electrodes which define an array of discharge points operating to display information addressed into said panel at selected ones of said discharge points by shifting said selected discharge points along said array during a shift operation and display-holding said selected discharge points during a display operation comprising the steps of:

• (a) applying sequentially gated shift voltage pulses to sequentially arranged electrodes of said gas discharge display panel to effect the lateral shifting of said selected discharge points along said array during said shift operation;
• (b) stopping said shift operation period when said selected discharge points reach a desired electrode location on said array;
• and
• (c) applying display voltage pulses at a uniform predetermined rate alternatively to the electrode at said desired electrode location and to at least one electrode immediately adjacent said desired electrode location to thereby cause said information to be displayed by oscillating said selected discharge points between said at least one immediately adjacent electrode of said array, whereby to maintain an equal operation margin for both the shift operation period and the display operation period.

A gas discharge display apparatus comprising:

• a first base plate including a set of parallel common electrodes disposed thereon, each of said parallel common electrodes being arranged along a respective predetermined shift line;
• a second base plate including a set of parallel shift electrodes disposed thereon, said set of parallel common electrodes being oriented to respectively traverse in intersecting fashion the set of parallel shift electrodes to define a discharge region at each of the traversing intersections;
• a set of write electrodes disposed on one of said first and second base plates to define a write discharge region at one end of each respective predetermined shift line;
• means for addressing selected ones of said set of write electrodes with a write voltage producing discharges at corresponding selected write discharge regions;
• means for sequentially applying shifting voltage pulses to a first and subsequent electrodes of said set of parallel shift electrodes immediately adjacent said selected write discharge regions thereby effecting a lateral shifting of said selected discharges by causing adjacently corresponding intersecting regions of said first and subsequent shift electrodes to respectively discharge;
• means for halting lateral shifting of said selected discharges when said discharges are at a desired display location;
• and
• means for applying display voltage pulses at a predetermined uniform rate to at least two adjacent shift electrodes in alternate fashion at said desired display location to thereby effect limited shifting of said selected discharges in oscillating fashion between said at least two adjacent shift electrodes.