E Ink Corporation

Eastman-kodak Company

Thomas Henry Whitesides

Richard J Paolini, Jr

Charles Howie Honeyman

Guy Danner

Michael D McCreary

Shamus Ford Patry

Gregg Michael Duthaler

Richard M Webber

Michael D Walls

Karl Raymond Amundson

Hwei-Ling Yau

Russell J Wilcox

Amy E Jasek

Joseph M Jacobson

Michael L Steiner

Lan Cao

Robert Waverly Zehner

Andrew Y Oleson

Jonathan D Albert

John E Ritter

Rajesh Chebiyam

David Darrell Miller

Craig A Herb

Alain Bouchard

Anthony Edward Pullen

Elmer C Flood

Seungman Sohn

Brian H Johnston

Qingye Zhou

Dennis E Smith

Andrew L Loxley

George G Harris

Barrett Comiskey

John Leonard Muehlbauer

Libing Zhang

Steven J O'Neil

Jason D Feick

Jonathan L Zalesky

Timothy J O'Malley, Jr

John H Hone

Harit Doshi

Richard T Klingbiel

David F O'Brien

Peter J Valianatos

Kimberly L Houde

Jill E Fornalik

Michael M McCreary

Bonnie L Howell

Tibyron Quinn

Paul Stephen Drzaic

Mridula Nair

Yongcai Wang

Ian D Morrison

Ara N Knaian

Lloyd A Lobo

David M Teegarden

Tamara K Jones

James A Friday

James Stephen Honan

Paul L Zengerle

Tiecheng A Qiao

Jianna Wang

John W Boettcher

Alberto Goenaga

Kevin M O'Connor

Anne E Bohan

Alexi Arango

Ronda E Factor

David E Decker

Walter Harold Isaac

John B Rieger

Kenneth G Harbison

Sidney J Bertucci

Joanna F Au

Vito A DePalma

William K Goebel

Jeffrey F Taylor

Vincent J Flow

Stephen P Dudek

Wilbur S Gaugh

Charles Howard Honeyman

Benjamin Zion

Larry D Edwards

Matthew A King

Elizabeth Moran Gates

Caprice L Gray

Jeremy J Manning

Steven P Dudek

John Bruce Walters

Suzanne Balko

Richard Paolini

A dielectrophoretic display is shifted from a low frequency closed state to a high frequency open state via at least one, and preferably several, intermediate frequency states; the use of such multiple frequency steps reduces flicker during the transition. A second type of dielectrophoretic display has a light-transmissive electrode through which the dielectrophoretic medium can be viewed and a conductor connected to the light-transmissive electrode at several points to reduce voltage variations within the light-transmissive electrode.

Methods for driving electrophoretic displays using dielectrophoretic forces

An electro-optic assembly comprises an adhesive layer and a layer of electro-optic material. The adhesive layer comprises a polymeric adhesive material and an ionic material having either its cation or its anion fixed to the polymeric adhesive material. The ionic material reduces the volume resistivity of the polymeric adhesive material and is not removed upon heating to 50&#xb0; C. In a similar electro-optic assembly comprising an adhesive layer and a layer of electro-optic material, the adhesive layer comprises a polymeric adhesive material which has been subjected to dialysis or diafiltration to remove organic species having a molecular weight less than about 3,500, so that the adhesive material has a content of N-methylpyrrolidone not exceeding 500 ppm based upon the total weight of the adhesive layer and layer of electro-optic material.

Electro-optic assemblies, and adhesives and binders for use therein

Various types of edge seals for protecting electro-optic displays against environmental contaminants are described. In one type of seal, the electro-optic layer is sandwiched between a backplane and a protective sheet and a sealing material extends between the backplane and the protective sheet. In other seals, the protective sheet is secured to the backplane or to a second protective sheet adjacent the backplane. The electro-optic layer can also be sealed between two layers of adhesive or between one layer of adhesive and the backplane. Other seals make use of flexible tapes extending around the periphery of the display.

Electro-optic display with edge seal

The invention provides materials and methods (including driving methods) for reducing the effects of remnant voltages in electro-optic displays.

Electro-optic displays with reduced remnant voltage

A color filter array is provided in an electro-optic display by ink jet printing a plurality of colored areas (R,G,B) on one surface of a layer of electro-optic material (), an adhesive layer or a protective layer. Alternatively, the ink jet printing may be effected on the same layers in various sub-assemblies used to produce electro-optic displays.

Color electro-optic displays, and processes for the production thereof

An assembly useful for producing an encapsulated electrophoretic display is prepared from an electrophoretic medium comprising a plurality of discrete droplets () in a polymeric binder (), each droplet comprising a plurality of charged particles dispersed in a fluid, and a front sub-assembly comprising a light-transmissive electrically-conductive layer () and a color filter array (). The electrophoretic medium is laminated to the front-assembly () at a temperature at which the polymeric binder () will flow and secure the electrophoretic medium to the front sub-assembly to form the final assembly, with the light-transmissive electrically-conductive layer () disposed between the color filter array () and the electrophoretic medium ().

Electro-optic displays, and processes for the production thereof

A first apparatus for displaying a color image comprises an electro-optic display () having a plurality of pixels, each of which can be independently set to a light-transmissive optical state or a substantially opaque optical state, and lighting means () arranged to flash separate pulses of light of at least two differing colors on to one surface of the electro-optic display (). A second apparatus for generating pulses of light of differing colors comprising a light source and a filter assembly comprising first () and second () electro-optic layers each having a light-transmissive state and a colored state, the two colored states being different, and electrodes to switch these layers between these states.

In electrophoretic media, it is advantageous to use pigment particles having a polymer chemically bonded to, or cross-linked around, the pigment particles, the polymer comprising repeating units derived from a fluorinated acrylate or fluorinated methacrylate monomer. The polymer desirably has a branched chain structure with side chains extending from a main chain. Desirably, the fluorinated acrylate or fluorinated methacrylate monomer comprises from 1 to 5 mole percent of the polymer.

Electrophoretic particles and processes for the production thereof

An electro-optic display comprises, in order, a backplane comprising a plurality of pixel electrodes; a layer of a solid electro-optic medium; a main adhesive layer; and at least one of a light-transmissive protective layer and a light-transmissive electrically-conductive layer. The electro-optic layer may be in direct contact with the backplane or separated therefrom by a thin auxiliary layer of adhesive. The main adhesive layer may be colored to provide a color filter array. An inverted front plane laminate useful in forming such a display comprises the same layers except that the backplane is replaced by a release sheet. The display combines good low temperature performance and good resolution at higher temperatures.

Components and methods for use in electro-optic displays

Prior art processes for producing protein-based capsules (for example, capsules for use in electrophoretic media) tend to be wasteful because they produce many capsules outside the desired size range, which is typically about 20 to 50 &#x3bc;m. Capsule size distribution and yields can be improved by either (a) emulsifying a water-immiscible phase in a preformed coacervate of the protein; or (b) using a limited coalescence process with colloidal alumina as the surface-active particulate material.

Preparation of capsules

Growing community of inventors

Somerville, MA, United States of America

Thomas Henry Whitesides