y 2 x 3 y 3 x 4 y 4 x 5 y 5 x 6 y 6 x 7 y 7 and x 8 y 8 in other words the global writing discharge occurred in the dark areas g 1 g 2 g 3 g 4 g 5 g 6 g 7 and g 8 but not in the display areas d 1 u02dc d 8 hereby the driving method of the present invention on one hand the global writing discharges produce a lot of space charges wall charges and priming particles owing to the priming particles produced in the dark areas can be diffused to the display areas the firing voltage of the gas is reduced and the following gas discharges such as addressing discharges and sustaining discharge are improved on the other hand if a black matrix is incorporated into the dark areas g 1 g 2 g 3 g 4 g 5 g 6 g 7 and g 8 the brightness displayed during the reset period will be further reduced hence the contrast ratio is increased in order to eliminate the residual wall charges described hereof after the first timing point t 1 for example the second timing point t 2 a send a third driving voltage pulse 303 to the odd sustaining electrodes x odd and the even scanning electrodes y even b send a forth driving voltage pulse 304 to the even sustaining electrodes x even and the odd scanning electrodes y odd hence a first erase voltage waveform is applied on the odd sustaining electrodes x odd and the even scanning electrodes y even and a second.