Projector

An image correction device used in a projector,

• the projector including
• a lighting device for emitting light including a first colored light beam, a second colored light beam, and a third colored light beam,
• a first image forming unit including a first color separation optical system for separating the light emitted from the lighting device into the first through third colored light beams, first through third light modulation elements for respectively modulating the first through third colored light beams separated into by the first color separation optical system, and a first color combining optical system for combining the first through third colored light beams respectively modulated by the first through third light modulation elements to output a first image light beam,
• a second image forming unit including a second color separation optical system for separating the light emitted from the lighting device into the first through third colored light beams, fourth through sixth light modulation elements for respectively modulating the first through third colored light beams separated into by the second color separation optical system, and a second color combining optical system for combining the first through third colored light beams respectively modulated by the fourth through sixth light modulation elements to output a second image light beam,
• a polarization combining optical system for combining the first image light beam emitted from the first image forming unit and the second image light beam emitted from the second image forming unit,
• a projection optical system for projecting the image light beam combined by the polarization combining optical system, and
• an image correction device for outputting drive values corresponding to input image data and for driving respectively the first through sixth light modulation elements,
• wherein the image correction device sets one of the combined transmittance and the combined reflectance for every predetermined position in the two light modulation elements, based on one of combined transmittance and combined reflectance obtained by combining one of transmittances and reflectances corresponding to gray-scale values of the two light modulation elements for every combination of the gray-scale values which can be output by the two light modulation elements for modulating the same colored light beam out of the first through sixth light modulation elements and shot image data obtained by shooting the image corresponding to the image light beams projected from the projection optical system, and
• obtains the drive values for driving the two light modulation elements based on one of the combined transmittance and the combined reflectance thus set for each of the predetermined positions.

An image correction method for use with a projector, the projector including

• a lighting device for emitting light including a first colored light beam, a second colored light beam, and a third colored light beam,
• a first image forming unit including a first color separation optical system for separating the light emitted from the lighting device into the first through third colored light beams, first through third light modulation elements for respectively modulating the first through third colored light beams separated into by the first color separation optical system, and a first color combining optical system for combining the first through third colored light beams respectively modulated by the first through third light modulation elements to output a first image light beam,
• a second image forming unit including a second color separation optical system for separating the light emitted from the lighting device into the first through third colored light beams, fourth through sixth light modulation elements for respectively modulating the first through third colored light beams separated into by the second color separation optical system, and a second color combining optical system for combining the first through third colored light beams respectively modulated by the fourth through sixth light modulation elements to output a second image light beam,
• a polarization combining optical system for combining the first image light beam emitted from the first image forming unit and the second image light beam emitted from the second image forming unit,
• a projection optical system for projecting the image light beam combined by the polarization combining optical system, and
• an image correction device for outputting drive values corresponding to input image data and for driving respectively the first through sixth light modulation elements;
• the method comprising:
• setting one of combined transmittance and combined reflectance obtained by combining one of transmittances and reflectances corresponding to gray-scale values of two of the first through sixth light modulation elements for modulating the same colored light beam for every combination of the gray-scale values which can be output by the two light modulation elements;
• obtaining shot image data by shooting an image corresponding to the image light beam projected from the projection optical system;
• setting one of the combined transmittance and the combined reflectance for each of the predetermined positions in the two light modulation elements based on one of the combined transmittance and the combined reflectance and the shot image data;
• and
• obtaining the drive values for driving the two light modulation elements based on one of the combined transmittance and the combined reflectance thus set for each of the predetermined positions.