Pixel shifting device
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsUtku Baran, Wyatt Owen Davis, Fei Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Examples are disclosed that relate to pixel-shifting devices for increasing display resolution. An example pixel-shifting device comprises an outer frame, an inner frame coupled to the outer frame via a flexure, a path-shifting optical element mounted to the inner frame, and one or more piezoelectric actuators configured to drive motion of the inner frame.
Claims18
A pixel-shifting device, comprising:
- an outer frame;
- an inner frame coupled to the outer frame via a flexure positioned along a side of the inner frame;
- a path-shifting optical element mounted to the inner frame;
- and
- one or more piezoelectric actuators each coupled to the outer frame and also coupled to the inner frame by a corresponding transmission comprising a curved shape, each piezoelectric actuator being and configured to drive motion of the inner frame by transmitting movement to the inner frame via the corresponding transmission to shift a plurality of pixels of a display image by a fraction of a pixel.
A display device, comprising:
- an image producing element comprising a plurality of pixels, the image producing element being configured to produce a display image;
- and
- a pixel-shifting device comprising
- an outer frame,
- an inner frame coupled to the outer frame via a flexure positioned along a side of the inner frame,
- a refractive optic mounted to the inner frame, and
- a plurality of piezoelectric actuators each coupled to the outer frame and also coupled to the inner frame by a corresponding transmission comprising a curved shape;
- and
- a controller configured to control the plurality of piezoelectric actuators to control an angle of the refractive optic relative to the outer frame by transmitting movement to the inner frame via the corresponding transmission to shift the display image by a fraction of a pixel.
Enacted on a display device comprising a pixel-shifting device including a refractive optic and a piezoelectric actuation system, a method of displaying an image comprising a plurality of image subframes that are displayed in a time-sequential manner, the method comprising
- displaying a first image subframe with a first voltage applied to a piezoelectric element coupled to an outer frame of the pixel-shifting device;
- and
- displaying a second image subframe with a second voltage applied to the piezoelectric element of the pixel-shifting device, the second voltage being different than the first voltage, to rotate the refractive optic relative to the outer frame by transmitting movement of the outer frame caused by the piezoelectric element to an inner frame via a curved transmission and thereby shift pixel positions in the second image subframe from corresponding pixel positions in the first image subframe by a fraction of a pixel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.