Patent ID: 6961047

Claim:
A method for driving an electrophoretic display, the display comprising: a plurality of data lines; a plurality of scanning lines, each of which intersects said data lines; a common electrode; a plurality of pixel electrodes, with one of said plurality of pixel electrodes being provided at one of each of said intersections of said data lines and said scanning lines, each of said pixel electrodes being provided in opposing spaced relation to said common electrode; a plurality of dispersal systems including a fluid in which pigment particles are suspended, with each of said dispersal systems being provided between said common electrode and one of said pixel electrodes; and a plurality of switching elements, with one of each of said switching elements being provided at a corresponding one of each of said intersections of said data lines and said scanning lines, with an on/off control terminal being connected to one of said scanning lines passing through one of said intersections; and with one of said data lines passing through one of said intersections, being connected to one of said pixel electrodes provided at each of one said intersections; and the method comprising: controlling an image displayed by employing said scanning lines and said data lines, each of said voltages being applied within a set period of a single scanning field, in which all of said scanning lines are once scanned; and within said period of a single scanning field, applying a common voltage to a said pixel electrode; selecting a scanning line sequentially; applying a voltage to a selected scanning line, to turn on all switching elements connected to said selected scanning lines; applying a plurality of pixel voltages to a plurality of said data lines for a set time, to generate electrostatic fields to cause said pigment particles to migrate to positions corresponding to desired gradations of an image displayed; and after applying said pixel voltages to said data lines, applying a plurality of brake voltages to said data lines for a set time, to create electrostatic fields in each of said dispersal systems, each of said brake voltages determined based on fluid resistance of said pigment particles and a respective one of said desired gradations; applying a voltage to said sequentially selected scanning lines, to turn off all of said switching elements connected to said sequentially selected scanning line.