Bit-splitting for pulse width modulated spatial light modulator

A display system for improved display of images from frames of pixel data, using a spatial light modulator (SLM), comprising:

• a data formatter operable to format each said frame of pixel data into bit-planes, each said frame of pixel data comprising one data word per component color per pixel per frame each said bit-plane having one bit of data for each of said pixels, each said bit-plane representing a bit weight of an intensity value to be displayed by the pixels, and each said bit-plane having a display time corresponding to its bit-weight;
• a display memory capable of storing said bit-planes and delivering said bit-planes to said SLM, such that said bit-planes of one or more of the more significant bit-weights are delivered to said SLM multiple times during the period of the frame corresponding to that bit-plane, wherein said multiple times;
• and
• a spatial light modulator upon which are displayed said bit-planes, with the display times of said one or more of the more significant of said bit-planes occurring as said data is delivered from said display memory, such that said one or more of the more significant of said bit-planes are segmented and distributed throughout said period of said frame, each segmented portion of said one or more of the more significant of said bit-planes displayed for no more than one-sixteenth of the display period for said data word.