Laser local dimming for projectors and other lighting devices including cinema, entertainment systems, and displays
AssigneeDolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
InventorMartin J. Richards
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Light from an array of laser light sources are spread to cover the modulating face of a DMD or other modulator. The spread may be performed, for example, by a varying curvature array of lenslets, each laser light directed at one of the lenslets. Light from neighboring and/or nearby light sources overlap at a modulator. The lasers are energized at different energy/brightness levels causing the light illuminating the modulator to itself be modulated (locally dimmed). The modulator then further modulates the locally dimmed lights to produce a desired image. A projector according to the invention may utilize, for example, a single modulator sequentially illuminated or separate primary color modulators simultaneously illuminated.
Claims8
A display, comprising:
- a display modulator configured to
- receive light representing a locally-dimmed approximation of an image that is different from an image to be displayed and accounts for a calculation of an amount of light spreading that occurs in an image chain, and
- modulate the light to reproduce the image;
- and
- a mid-point redirector configured to
- direct the light emitted onto the display modulator in an overlapping pattern of illuminated areas, and
- selectively re-direct the light axially aligned toward a first area of the display modulator, the re-direction changing an alignment of the light from the first area of the display modulator to a second area of the display modulator different from the first area;
- wherein the image chain is an optical path including the display modulator and the mid-point predictor,
- wherein the display modulator is energized according to the image data, a light field simulation of the overlapping pattern of illuminated areas on the display modulator, and the light that is selectively re-directed.
A display, comprising:
- a spreader configured to spread light into spread illumination patterns of the light;
- a display modulator configured to
- receive the light, the light representing a locally-dimmed approximation of an image through the spread illumination patterns of the light, the locally-dimmed approximation of the image is different from an image to be displayed and accounts for a calculation of an amount of light spreading that occurs in an image chain, and
- modulate the light to reproduce the image,
- wherein the image chain is an optical path including the display modulator and the spreader.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.