Patent ID: 8599129

Claim:
A method for operating an electrophoretic display apparatus including a first substrate; a second substrate; an electrophoretic device being held between the first substrate and the second substrate and containing electrophoretic particles; a first electrode formed on a surface of the first substrate, the surface facing the electrophoretic device; an insulation layer formed between the first electrode and the electrophoretic device; and a common electrode formed on a surface of the second substrate, the surface facing the electrophoretic device, the method comprising: (a) driving the electrophoretic device by inputting a first potential to the first electrode, (b) changing the potential of the common electrode, from the first potential to a second potential, and (c) recovering a potential of the common electrode by changing the potential of the common electrode, from the second potential to the first potential, at a constant rate such that the potential of the common electrode slopes along a constant gradient between the second potential and the first potential and such that a voltage applied to the electrophoretic device is made equal to or smaller than a threshold voltage of the electrophoretic device, wherein (b) and (c) are alternately performed a plurality of times during (a).