Generating vivid colors on red-green-blue-white electronic-paper display

Abstract

Color characteristics of an RGBW (red, green, blue, white) electrophoretic display (EPD) prototype developed by Samsung Electronics are analyzed. EPD shows strong crosstalk between subpixels because of both the fringe field between subpixels and the scattering phenomena at the display surface. An RGB-to-RGBW color-decomposition algorithm optimized to EPD characteristics is developed that compensates for color deterioration due to the fringe field and scattering phenomena. For the four-color-decomposition algorithm, white is added to the primary colors to enhance the reflectance of the vivid colors while minimizing chroma loss. The psychophysical experimental result shows that images rendered with the algorithms developed in this study are preferred more than 90% of the time over those rendered with algorithms from previous studies. This research proves that, in spite of the limited physical property of EPD, the color quality can be improved dramatically through the use of well-designed color-rendering algorithms.