Patent ID: 8749590

Claim:
A method of driving a display device, comprising acts of: providing a passive matrix electrophoretic display having a plurality of pixels formed in an array of rows and columns, each pixel comprising a plurality of particles and brightest, darkest, and a plurality of intermediate grey level output states, in an initial mode addressing the pixels simultaneously in a plurality of columns and sequentially in rows for an initial duration sufficient to display an initial image with a first contrast ratio between the brightest and darkest output states, the display retaining the initial image greyscale; and in a further mode addressing the pixels sequentially in rows to display a further image with a second contrast ratio between the brightest and darkest output states greater than the first contrast ratio, wherein the initial and further modes comprise a first drive phase in which particles are driven row-by-row from a collector electrode to a temporary storage electrode; and a second drive phase in which particles for the whole display are moved in parallel from the temporary storage electrode to the viewing area.