Conformal grating device for producing enhanced gray levels
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorMarek W. Kowarz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electromechanical conformal grating device including: at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements; a pair of end supports for supporting each elongated ribbon element at both ends over a substrate; a plurality of intermediate supports placed under each elongated ribbon element; and at least two inputs for selectively applying a force to the at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements; wherein the force causes selected elongated ribbon elements to deform between first and second operating states, wherein during the second operating state the elongated ribbon elements mechanically conform to the intermediate supports.
Claims46
An electromechanical conformal grating device comprising:
- a) at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements;
- b) a pair of end supports for supporting each elongated ribbon element at both ends over a substrate;
- c) a plurality of intermediate supports placed under each elongated ribbon element;
- and
- d) at least two inputs for selectively applying a force to the at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements;
- wherein the force causes selected elongated ribbon elements to deform between first and second operating states, wherein during the second operating state the elongated ribbon elements mechanically conform to the intermediate supports.
An array of electromechanical conformal grating devices for producing gray levels in an image by light modulation, each electromechanical conformal grating device comprising:
- a) at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements;
- b) a pair of end supports for supporting each elongated ribbon element at both ends over a substrate;
- c) a plurality of intermediate supports placed under each elongated ribbon element and defining a diffraction grating period;
- and
- d) at least two inputs, each input receiving a different modulated waveform that causes selected ribbon elements to conform around the intermediate supports;
- wherein the different modulated waveforms are derived from an image data stream.
A method for producing gray levels in an image by light modulation with an array of electromechanical conformal grating devices;
- each electromechanical conformal grating device including at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements and at least two inputs, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing an image data stream;
- b) producing at least two modulated waveforms for each electromechanical conformal grating device from the image data stream;
- and
- c) applying the at least two modulated waveforms to the at least two inputs, wherein application of the at least two modulated waveform to the at least two inputs produces gray levels for an image.
A light modulation system for producing image gray levels, comprising:
- a) a data source for providing a data stream;
- b) a serial-to-parallel converter for receiving the data stream and transmitting parallel data to parallel data channels;
- c) at least one pulse-width generator for each parallel data channel;
- d) at least two input drivers for each parallel data channel;
- the at least two input drivers working in conjunction with the at least one pulse-width generator to produce at least two pulse-width-modulated waveforms;
- e) a clock for controlling the timing of the at least one pulse-width generators;
- and
- f) an array of electromechanical conformal grating devices for modulating an incident light beam;
- each electromechanical conformal grating device including at least two sets of elongated ribbon elements and at least two inputs receiving the at least two pulse-width-modulated waveforms from the at least two input drivers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.