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US 7,008,064 B2Granted
Two panel optical engine for projection applications
AssigneeeLCOS Microdisplay Technology, Inc.
InventorDavid Charles McDonald
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Optical engines using a reduced number of components offer advantages over more complex optical systems. Three panel optical engines have offered the advantage of relatively high throughput but at the cost of complexity and increased components on the bill of materials. Conventional two-panel engines have required the use of complex retarder structures to achieve the dual polarizations state for the three primary colors. The present invention achieves this goal while using simpler optical retarders.
Claims19
An optical engine comprising:
- a color wheel to alternatively derive at least two separate composite lights;
- a dichroic device to sequentially separate said at least two composite lights into a first color path and a second color path;
- an optical retarder to modify a polarization state for one of said first and second color paths;
- and
- a color combiner for receiving a first and a second beams of light projected from said first and second light path respectively to reconstitute a combined beam of light comprising two different colors with mutually orthogonal polarization states.
2 more elements
A method for configuring an optical engine comprising:
- driving at least two separate composite lights by employing a color wheel for driving a yellow light and a magenta light;
- sequentially separating said at least two composite lights into a first color path and a second color path with;
- employing an optical retarder to modify a polarization state for one of said first and second color paths;
- and
- receiving a first and a second beams of light projected from said first and second light path respectively to reconstitute a combined beam of light comprising two different colors with mutually orthogonal polarization states.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.