Electrophoretic display with single character erasure

In an electrophoretic display having the capacity for displaying character data, the improvement therewith of,

• means for selectively erasing at least one display character with an electrostatic charge without erasing other displayed characters said erasing means including a first addressable X-Y matrix for selectively establishing a discrete said electrostatic charge at at least one intersection of said matrix for erasing said at least one displayed character on said display.

In an electrophoretic display having the capacity for displaying character data, the improvement therewith of means for selectively erasing at least one displayed character with an electrostatic charge without erasing other displayed characters, said erasing means including a first addressable X-Y matrix for selectively establishing a discrete said electrostatic charge at at least one intersection of said matrix, said first addressable X-Y matrix having a first plurality of conductor members in the X-direction and a second plurality of conductor members in the Y-direction insulated from said first plurality, said erasing means further including a second addressable X-Y matrix for selectively establishing discrete electrostatic charges at intersections of said second matrix for writing pixel data on said display.

A method for selectively erasing at least one character from an electrophoretic display comprises the steps of:

• (a) imposing a set of voltage levels upon the ordinate and abscissa lines of a first addressable X-Y matrix of conductor members contained within said display such that at at least one selected intersection in said matrix an electrostatic field is created which erases a character displayed on said display proximate to said at least one intersection.

A method for selectively erasing at least one character from an electrophoretic display comprising the steps of:

• imposing a set of voltage levels upon the ordinate and abscissa lines of a first addressable X-Y matrix of conductor members contained within said display such that at at least one selected intersection in said matrix an electrostatic field is created which erases a character displayed on said display proximate to said at least one intersection and wherein said display includes a second X-Y matrix having a plurality of intersecting conductor members for writing pixel data at the intersections thereof, said intersections of said second matrix and said intersections of said first matrix having a functional relationship such that when said step of erasing is initiated at an intersection of said first matrix, a predetermined set of pixels of at least one in number are erased at said second matrix if previously in the written state.