Methods for delivering low-ghosting partial updates in color electrophoretic displays

A method for updating a color electrophoretic display having a controller, the display having a plurality of display pixels and being capable of displaying at least black, white, red, and yellow, the method comprising:

• comparing color data for the plurality of display pixels for a first image to color data for the plurality of display pixels in a second image;
• determining an m×n array of display pixels for which all of the display pixels have the same color data for both the first image and the second image;
• determining an i×j array of display pixels for which some of the display pixels have different color data between the first image and the second image, wherein a combination of the m×n array of display pixels and the i×j array of display pixels accounts for all of the display pixels in the plurality of display pixels;
• sending instructions to the controller to provide no update to a pixel area slightly smaller than the m×n array of display pixels when transitioning from the first image to the second image;
• and
• sending instructions to the controller to provide waveforms corresponding to the color data of the second image to all of the remaining display pixels that did not receive no update instructions, wherein some of the pixels receiving waveforms corresponding to the color data for the second image are within the m×n array of display pixels.