Threshold addressing of electrophoretic displays

An electrophoretic display element exhibiting a voltage below which the element will not change condition, the display element comprising:

• an encapsulating wall;
• a plurality of particles disposed within the encapsulating wall, at least one of the plurality of particles responsive to an applied electric field;
• and
• a carrier medium disposed within the encapsulating wall, the carrier medium having a substantial resistance to particle movement under a second voltage and substantially lacking resistance to particle movement upon applying both the second voltage and a first voltage.

An electrophoretic display element exhibiting a voltage threshold below which the element will not change condition, the display element comprising:

• an encapsulating wall;
• a plurality of particles disposed within the encapsulating wall, at least one of the plurality of particles responsive to an applied electric field;
• and
• a carrier medium disposed within the encapsulating wall, wherein the carrier medium has a substantial resistance to particle movement at a voltage below a threshold voltage and substantially lacks resistance to particle movement at or above the threshold voltage such that at a voltage at or above the threshold voltage the particles exhibit movement at a velocity representing substantially a step-change in particle velocity relative to particle velocity at a voltage below the threshold voltage.

A method of threshold addressing an electrophoretic display, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing an electrophoretic display comprising a plurality of display elements, each of the display elements comprising:
• an encapsulating wall;
• a plurality of particles disposed within the encapsulating wall, at least one of the plurality of particles responsive to an applied electric field;
• and
• a carrier medium disposed within the encapsulating wall;
• and
• (b) providing a voltage of at least a threshold voltage across at least one of said display elements, thereby to cause at least one particle to move within the element, wherein the threshold voltage represents a value of voltage below which the carrier medium has a substantial resistance to particle movement such that the particles are substantially immobile and at or above which the carrier medium substantially lacks resistance to particle movement such that the particles move at a velocity representing substantially a step-change in particle velocity relative to particle velocity when the voltage is below the threshold voltage.

An electrophoretic display element exhibiting a voltage threshold below which the element will not change condition, the display element comprising:

• an encapsulating wall;
• a plurality of particles disposed within the encapsulating wall, at least one of the plurality of particles responsive to an applied electric field;
• and
• a carrier medium disposed within the encapsulating wall, wherein the carrier medium has a substantial resistance to particle movement at a voltage below a threshold voltage and substantially lacks resistance to particle movement at or above the threshold voltage such that at or above the threshold voltage the particles exhibit movement at a velocity representing substantially a step-change in particle velocity relative to particle velocity at a voltage below the threshold voltage and wherein the particles move at a velocity that is non-linearly related to an applied voltage.