Back to results
US 2004/0017518 A1Published application
High-resolution image projection
AssigneeSymbol Technologies, Inc.
InventorsMiklos Stern, Dmitriy Yavid, Chinh Tan, Frederick F. Wood
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lightweight, compact image projection module, especially for mounting in a housing having a light-transmissive window, is operative for causing selected pixels in a raster pattern to be illuminated to produce an image of high resolution of VGA quality in monochrome, color or gray scale. Pixel size is controlled as a function of distance of the image from the module to control image resolution and allow the image to remain sharp and clear over an extended range of distances from the module.
Claims20
An image projection module for projecting a two-dimensional image, comprising:
- a) a support,
- b) a laser on the support, for emitting a laser beam;
- c) a scanner on the support, for sweeping a pattern of scan lines in space at a variable distance from the module, each scan line having a number of pixels;
- d) a controller operatively connected to the laser and the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image;
- and
- e) optics on the support, for controlling pixel size as a function of the variable distance of the image from the module to control resolution of the image over an extended range of distances from the module.
3 more elements
A lightweight, compact, image projection module for projecting a two-dimensional image, comprising:
- a) a support;
- b) a solid-state laser on the support, for emitting a laser beam;
- c) optics on the support, for focusing the laser beam to a beam spot at a distance from the module;
- d) a scanner including a pair of oscillatable scan mirrors on the support, for sweeping the beam spot in a pattern of scan lines in space at said distance from the module, each scan line having a number of pixels;
- e) a controller operatively connected to the laser and the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image;
- and
- f) the support, laser, optics, scanner and the controller occupying a volume not exceeding five cubic centimeters.
4 more elements
An image projection module for projecting a high resolution, two-dimensional image, comprising:
- a) a support;
- b) a laser on the support, for emitting a laser beam;
- c) optics on the support, for focusing the laser beam to a beam spot at a distance from the module;
- d) a scanner including a first oscillatable scan mirror on the support, for sweeping the beam spot along a first direction to generate a scan line having at least 160 pixels, and a second oscillatable scan mirror on the support, for sweeping the scan line along a second direction transverse to the first direction to generate at least 160 scan lines along the second direction;
- and
- e) a controller operatively connected to the laser and the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image with a resolution of at least 160×160 pixels.
3 more elements
An image projection module for projecting a two-dimensional image, comprising:
- a) a support;
- b) a laser on the support, for emitting a laser beam;
- c) optics on the support, for focusing the laser beam to a beam spot at a distance from the module;
- d) a scanner including a pair of oscillatable scan mirrors on the support, for sweeping the beam spot at respective scan rates in a pattern of scan lines in space at said distance from the module, each scan line having a number of pixels, at least one of the scan rates being at an inaudible frequency above a threshold of human hearing to minimize noise;
- and
- e) a controller operatively connected to the laser and the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image.
3 more elements
An image projection module for projecting a two-dimensional, gray scale image, comprising:
- a) a support;
- b) a laser on the support, for emitting a laser beam;
- c) optics on the support, for focusing the laser beam to a beam spot at a distance from the module;
- d) a scanner on the support, for sweeping the beam spot in a pattern of scan lines in space at said distance from the module, each scan line having a number of pixels;
- and
- e) a controller operatively connected to the laser and the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image, the controller including a modulator for modulating light intensity of at least some of the selected pixels to produce the image with the gray scale.
3 more elements
An image projection module for projecting a two-dimensional, color image, comprising:
- a) a support;
- b) a laser assembly for emitting a plurality of laser beams of different colors;
- c) optics on the support, for focusing the laser beams to be superimposed at a beam spot at a distance from the module;
- d) a scanner on the support, for sweeping the beam spot in a pattern of scan lines in space at said distance from the module, each scan line having a number of pixels;
- and
- e) a controller operatively connected to the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beams to produce the image, the controller including a selector for selecting at least some of the laser beams to illuminate the selected pixels to produce the image with color.
3 more elements
A power-minimizing image projection module for projecting a two-dimensional image, comprising:
- a) a support;
- b) a laser on the support, for emitting a laser beam;
- c) optics on the support, for focusing the laser beam to a beam spot at a distance from the module;
- d) a scanner including a pair of oscillatable scan mirrors on the support, for sweeping the beam spot at respective scan rates in a pattern of scan lines in space at said distance from the module, each scan line having a number of pixels, at least one of the mirrors being driven by an inertial drive to minimize power consumption to less than one watt;
- and
- e) a controller operatively connected to the laser and the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image.
3 more elements
An image projection arrangement for projecting a two-dimensional image, comprising:
- A) a housing having a light-transmissive port;
- and
- B) a module mounted in the housing, the module including
- a) a support;
- b) a laser on the support, for emitting a laser beam through the port;
- c) a scanner on the support, for sweeping a pattern of scan lines in space at a variable distance from the port, each scan line having a number of pixels;
- d) a controller operatively connected to the laser and the scanner, for causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image;
- and
- e) optics on the support, for controlling pixel size as a function of the variable distance of the image from the port to control resolution of the image over an extended range of distances from the port.
6 more elements
A method of projecting a two-dimensional image at a variable distance, comprising the steps of:
- a) emitting a laser beam;
- b) sweeping a pattern of scan lines in space, each scan line having a number of pixels;
- c) causing selected pixels to be illuminated, and rendered visible, by the laser beam to produce the image;
- and
- d) controlling pixel size as a function of the variable distance of the image to control resolution of the image over an extended range of distances.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.