| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20080297731 | APPARENT SPECKLE REDUCTION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEMS LASER PROJECTION SYSTEM - A laser projection system is disclosed having reduced apparent speckle. The system includes a laser emitting a first beam on an optical element. The optical element emits a second beam incident on a scanner that scans the beam onto a projection screen. The optical element may be an exit pupil expander, delay plate, or have a locally electrically modulated index of refraction. In other embodiments, the laser has a tunable wavelength distribution that is changed for each frame displayed by the projection system to reduce apparent speckle. In still other embodiments, the angular content of a beam incident on a scanner is modulated to produce a time varying speckle pattern. | 12-04-2008 |
| 20090028199 | LASER PROJECTION TEMPERATURE COMPENSATION - The temperature of a laser diode changes in response to video content across a line of a displayed image, and the radiance changes as a function of temperature. An adaptive model estimates the temperature of the laser diode based on prior drive current values. For each displayed pixel, diode drive current is determined from the estimated diode temperature and a desired radiance value. A feedback circuit periodically measures the actual temperature and updates the adaptive model. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090051828 | ELECTRONIC ALIGNMENT OF PRIMARY COLOR PIXELS IN A SCANNED DISPLAY - An image generation apparatus provides correction for color offsets. Color offsets may be caused by misalignments in laser diodes or optics assemblies in a laser projector. The offsets may be measured during or after manufacture of the laser projector. An image buffer is responsive to the offset data to translate each color plane separately. The image buffer may include separately addressable portions for each color. Further, variable delay elements on the output of the image buffer may provide color offset correction. Interpolation provides further offset correction. | 02-26-2009 |
| 20090066916 | SCANNING LASER PROJECTOR WITH REDUCED LASER POWER INCIDENT ON THE RETINA - A scanning laser projector projects multiple laser beams. The multiple laser beams have angular offsets relative to each other to separate the spots created by the laser beams on a projection surface. The angular offsets are set based on the desired spacing between the spots. Parameters within a video processing path are set to allow different pixel data to be simultaneously processed for each of the projected laser beams. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090160833 | Laser Projection White Balance Tracking - The radiance of a laser diode is a function of laser diode drive current. The radiance is also a function of other factors, such as age and temperature. A laser projection device includes laser diodes to generate light in response to a commanded radiance, and also includes photodetectors to provide a measured radiance. The commanded radiance and measured radiance are compared, and drive currents for the laser diodes are adjusted to provide luminance and color balance tracking. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20100053591 | Scanned Proximity Detection Method and Apparatus for a Scanned Image Projection System - A encoded image projection system ( | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100073748 | Scanning Mirror Control - A scanning beam projection system includes a scanning mirror having a fast-scan axis and a slow-scan axis. Movement on the slow-scan axis is controlled by a slow-scan scanning mirror control system. The control system receives position information describing angular displacement of the mirror. An outer loop of the control system operates in the frequency domain and determines harmonic drive coefficients for a scanning mirror drive signal. An inner loop of the control system operates in the time domain and compensates for a scanning mirror resonant vibration mode at a frequency within the frequency band occupied by the harmonic drive coefficients. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100156863 | Closed Loop Laser Control - The radiance of a laser is a function of drive current. The radiance is also a function of other factors, such as age and temperature. A laser projection device adjusts laser drive parameters using a gradient descent operation. The device parameters may be adjusted iteratively and periodically. The period may be shorter or longer than a scan line in a video image. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20110001888 | Phased Locked Resonant Scanning Display Projection - A scanning projector includes a mirror that scans in two dimensions. The scanning mirror oscillates at a resonant frequency on a fast-scan axis, and is phase locked to an incoming frame rate on a slow-scan axis. An interpolation component interpolates pixel intensity data from adjacent pixels based on the position of the mirror when a pixel clock arrives. Incoming video data is stored in a buffer. Less than a complete frame of video data may be stored in the buffer. | 01-06-2011 |
| 20110018986 | Integrated Photonics Module and Devices Using Integrated Photonics Modules - An integrated photonics module includes at least one light source and a MEMS scanner coupled to and held in alignment by an optical frame configured for mounting to a host system. According to some embodiments, the integrated photonics module may include a plurality of light sources and a beam combiner coupled to the optical frame. According to some embodiments, the integrated photonics module includes a selective fold mirror configured to direct at least a portion of emitted light toward the MEMS scanner in a normal direction and pass scanned light through to a field of view. The selective fold mirror may use beam polarization to select beam passing and reflection. The integrated photonics module may include a beam rotator such as a quarter-wave plate to convert the polarization of the emitted light to a different polarization adapted for passage through the fold mirror. The integrated photonics module may include one or more light detectors. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110025930 | Integrated Photonics Module and Devices Using Integrated Photonics Modules - An integrated photonics module includes at least one light source and a MEMS scanner coupled to and held in alignment by an optical frame configured for mounting to a host system. According to some embodiments, the integrated photonics module may include a plurality of light sources and a beam combiner coupled to the optical frame. According to some embodiments, the integrated photonics module includes a selective fold mirror configured to direct at least a portion of emitted light toward the MEMS scanner in a normal direction and pass scanned light through to a field of view. The selective fold mirror may use beam polarization to select beam passing and reflection. The integrated photonics module may include a beam rotator such as a quarter-wave plate to convert the polarization of the emitted light to a different polarization adapted for passage through the fold mirror. The integrated photonics module may include one or more light detectors. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110025983 | Integrated Photonics Module and Devices Using Integrated Photonics Modules - An integrated photonics module includes at least one light source and a MEMS scanner coupled to and held in alignment by an optical frame configured for mounting to a host system. According to some embodiments, the integrated photonics module may include a plurality of light sources and a beam combiner coupled to the optical frame. According to some embodiments, the integrated photonics module includes a selective fold mirror configured to direct at least a portion of emitted light toward the MEMS scanner in a normal direction and pass scanned light through to a field of view. The selective fold mirror may use beam polarization to select beam passing and reflection. The integrated photonics module may include a beam rotator such as a quarter-wave plate to convert the polarization of the emitted light to a different polarization adapted for passage through the fold mirror. The integrated photonics module may include one or more light detectors. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110069084 | IMAGE GENERATION WITH INTERPOLATION OF PIXELS ON A GRID TO PIXELS ON A SCAN TRAJECTORY - An image generation apparatus provides interpolation and distortion correction. The interpolation and distortion correction may be provided in one or two dimensions. Nonlinear image scan trajectories, such as sinusoidal and bi-sinusoidal trajectories are accommodated. Horizontal and vertical scan positions are determined using a linear pixel clock, and displayed pixel intensities are determined using interpolation techniques. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110102763 | Three Dimensional Imaging Device, System and Method - A 3D imaging system projects a light spot on an object and images the light spot with a 2D image sensor. The position of the light spot within the field of view of the 2D image sensor is used to determine the distance to the object. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110164191 | Interactive Projection Method, Apparatus and System - An apparatus determines a cursor position in an illumination field of a projector. An obstruction is detected in the illumination field. The cursor position is determined as the point on the obstruction furthest from where the obstruction crosses a border of the illumination field. | 07-07-2011 |