Method of driving plasma display device

A method of driving a plasma display device displaying an image, said plasma display device including a plurality of row electrodes formed in pairs and extending in parallel with each other in the horizontal direction, a plurality of column electrodes extending in the vertical direction and facing said paired row electrodes with a discharge space intervening therebetween to form unit light emitting regions at respective intersections with said paired row electrodes, and a dielectric layer for covering up said paired row electrodes with respect to said discharge space, said discharge space being filled with a gas mixture including Xenon at a predetermined pressure, said method comprising the steps of:

• applying a scan pulse to every pair of row electrodes and simultaneously applying a pixel data pulse to every column electrode to select light emitting pixels and non-light emitting pixels during an addressing period;
• and
• applying a series of sustain pulses alternately to one of the row electrode pair and the other thereof to sustain discharges for said light emitting pixels and said non-light emitting pixels during a discharge sustaining period, wherein every one of said sustain pulses has a waveform exhibiting a change in magnitude of a voltage value which gradually increases at a leading edge thereof.