E Ink Holdings is expanding its color ePaper offerings to address applications within signage, retail, education and consumer electronics.

E Ink introduced a new technology, Print Color, for eReader and eNote applications. This new ePaper platform utilizes a new printed Color Filter Array (CFA) technology in conjunction with E Ink’s second generation, faster and brighter, Carta 1100 ink. The new printing process alleviates the need for a glass-based CFA, making the displays thinner and lighter than previous generations, while simultaneously having higher optical quality. This allows eReader companies to combine the power of traditional black and white displays with color. In addition, E Ink’s faster ink enables quicker updates for animations and video. With this new color technology, E Ink’s eNote product lines are now able to introduce writing tablets with color highlighters, pens and markers.

E Ink’s Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP) is geared toward signage applications that benefit from the low power requirements of E Ink’s technology, along with color. The first generation of this technology achieves a full color gamut using only colored pigments. The richness of the colors is achieved by having all the colored pigments in every picture element (pixel). The ACeP platform maintains the ultra-low-power and paper-like readability of black and white E Ink ePaper. E Ink has now made this technology available in a new developer’s kit, available through their online store.

E Ink is now offering smaller displays using the ACeP technology with a limited, but super saturated, color palette. These displays are geared toward Smart Retail applications; specifically for end-cap, store aisle and window promotions. The high resolution, reflective display allows images, QR and barcodes, and text, with future sizes planned from small to mid-size, enabling detailed promotional information.

All of E Ink’s color offerings maintain the benefits inherent in ePaper displays: low power, sunlight readability and a wide viewing angle. More importantly, for reading intensive applications, as E Ink displays are reflective, and not emissive, long form reading and writing are benefited because ePaper does not emit blue light, which can damage the retina and disturb sleep patterns.

E Ink is sampling these color offerings to its customers now, with several public deployments already in the market.