US 2026/0227656 A1Published application

Laser-based display having controllabe light guide

AssigneeDistance Technologies Oy

InventorsPetri Savolainen, Urho Konttori, Mikko Strandborg, Mikko Juhola

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Abstract

A display device includes a laser light source(s), an active panel including a liquid crystal (LC) layer, and light guide(s). The light guide(s) include a light outlet including a plurality of exit portions, to send the light rays towards the active panel. The light guide(s) are controllable to sequentially guide light rays emitted by the laser light source(s) towards different exit portions of the light outlet. A pixel (or a group of pixels) of an image is displayed, by: (i) determining a corresponding exit portion of the light outlet, (ii) controlling the laser light source(s) to emit the light rays; (iii) controlling the light guide(s) to guide the light rays towards the corresponding exit portion from which the light rays exit towards a corresponding LC cell (or a corresponding group of LC cells) of the LC layer; and (iv) controlling the corresponding LC cell to modulate an intensity of the light rays passing therethrough.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A display device comprising:

at least one laser light source;
an active panel comprising:
a liquid crystal layer comprising a plurality of LC cells;
a linear polarizer arranged on an optical path of the LC layer;
and
a drive circuit employed to individually control the plurality of LC cells of the LC layer;
at least one light guide comprising a light inlet and a light outlet, the light outlet comprising a plurality of exit portions, wherein the light inlet is arranged to receive light rays emitted by the at least one laser light source, wherein the at least one light guide is controllable to sequentially guide the light rays towards different exit portions of the light outlet, and the light outlet is arranged to send the light rays towards an inlet surface of the active panel;
and
a processor configured to:
receive an image to be displayed via the display device;
and
display the image via the display device for producing a synthetic light field, wherein when displaying the image, the processor is configured to display a given pixel or a given group of neighbouring pixels of the image by:
(i) determining a given exit portion of the light outlet corresponding to the given pixel or the given group of neighbouring pixels, based on a location of the given pixel or the given group of neighbouring pixels in the image;
(ii) controlling the at least one laser light source to emit light rays for the given pixel or the given group of neighbouring pixels in the image;
(iii) controlling the at least one light guide to guide the light rays towards the given exit portion from which the light rays exit towards a corresponding LC cell or a corresponding group of neighbouring LC cells of the LC layer in the active panel;
and
(iv) controlling the corresponding LC cell or the corresponding group of neighbouring LC cells using the drive circuit to modulate an intensity of the light rays passing therethrough, based on a polarization orientation of the linear polarizer.

14 more elements

A method comprising:

receiving an image to be displayed via a display device, the display device comprising at least one laser light source, an active panel and at least one light guide, wherein the active panel comprises a liquid crystal layer comprising a plurality of LC cells, a linear polarizer arranged on an optical path of the LC layer, and a drive circuit employed to individually control the plurality of LC cells of the LC layer, and wherein the at least one light guide comprises a light inlet and a light outlet, the light outlet comprising a plurality of exit portions, the light inlet being arranged to receive light rays emitted by the at least one laser light source, wherein the at least one light guide is controllable to sequentially guide the light rays towards different exit portions of the light outlet, the light outlet being arranged to send the light rays towards an inlet surface of the active panel;
and
displaying the image via the display device for producing a synthetic light field, wherein the step of displaying the image comprises displaying a given pixel or a given group of neighbouring pixels of the image by:
(i) determining a given exit portion of the light outlet corresponding to the given pixel or the given group of neighbouring pixels, based on a location of the given pixel or the given group of neighbouring pixels in the image;
(ii) controlling the at least one laser light source to emit light rays for the given pixel or the given group of neighbouring pixels in the image;
(iii) controlling the at least one light guide to guide the light rays towards the given exit portion from which the light rays exit towards a corresponding LC cell or a corresponding group of neighbouring LC cells of the LC layer in the active panel;
and
(iv) controlling the corresponding LC cell or the corresponding group of neighbouring LC cells using the drive circuit to modulate an intensity of the light rays passing therethrough, based on a polarization orientation of the linear polarizer.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.