Ghostbuster: A Software Approach for Reducing Ghosting Effect on Electrophoretic Displays

Electrophoretic displays (EPDs), also known as e-paper, offer a paper-like visual experience by reflecting ambient light, making them distinct from traditional LCD or LED displays. They are favored for their eye comfort, energy efficiency, and material flexibility, which make them appealing for a wide range of embedded devices, including eReaders, smartphones, tablets, and wearables. However, EPDs face a significant challenge: the necessity for a fast refresh rate (to maintain an acceptable display performance) introduces a pronounced ghosting effect. This effect results in noticeable color discrepancies between the displayed and source images, harming the user experience and hindering EPDs’ broader application in devices requiring dynamic content display. This article proposes a software-based solution to address the ghosting issue in EPDs. Our approach involves developing analytical models to predict the occurrence of ghosting effects and adjusting the source images to counteract the anticipated color deviations, which can reduce the perceivable ghosts on the display. Experimental evaluation conducted on real-world EPDs validates the effectiveness of our proposed approach in reducing the ghosting effect.