Ambient light absorbing screen

Abstract

A method of creating a projection screen includes forming on a substrate a set of reflective areas directed to a first set of angles and forming on the substrate a set of absorptive areas directed to other than the first set of angles.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagrammatic side view of an embodiment of a front projection screen with a textured surface to which material has been selectively added to make it reflective.

FIG. 1B is a diagrammatic side view of an embodiment of a rear projection screen with a transparent substrate having a textured surface to which material has been selectively added to make it reflective.

FIG. 1C illustrates another embodiment of a rear projection screen or LCD display.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view is an embodiment of a textured substrate.

FIG. 3 is a photographic image of an embodiment of a substrate on which a low angle deposition has been performed.

FIG. 4 schematically depicts an embodiment of a deposition system for low angle deposition of a material onto a substrate.

FIGS. 5 and 6 schematically depict another embodiment of a deposition system for low angle deposition of a material onto a substrate.

FIG. 7 diagrammatically depicts a method of jetting absorptive or reflective elements onto exposed surfaces of a featured substrate.

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of a screen substrate, in which a first layer of light absorbing material is selectively deposited on portions of the surface features of the screen substrate which will be faced toward a source of ambient light, and a second layer of reflective material is selectively deposited on portions of the surface features facing the projector.

Claims

1. A projection screen for receiving projector light from a projector facing direction, the screen comprising: a substrate having a plurality of features configured to have a set of reflective areas oriented to the projector facing direction and a set of absorptive areas oriented to non-projector facing directions, said plurality of features including a set of features which are non-continuous over a surface of the substrate.

2. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features include convex hemispheres or convex conic sections.

3. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features include concave hemispheres or concave conic sections.

4. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features include a combination of convex and concave conic sections.

5. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features have non-symmetric geometries.

6. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features have irregularly shaped geometries.

7. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the substrate has been embossed or micro-machined to form the plurality of features.

8. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the substrate includes a substrate base coated with particles to form the plurality of features.

9. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features includes an array of generally rounded dimples or protrusions.

10. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the substrate has a front surface texture formed from woven cloth, or cloth-like material.

11. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the substrate is fabricated of a light-absorbing material, and the set of reflective areas are obtained by depositing light-reflective material at a glancing angle onto the substrate.

12. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the substrate is fabricated of a light-reflective material, and the set of absorptive areas are formed by depositing light-absorbing material at a glancing angle onto the substrate.

13. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features have an average feature width in a range from about 75 microns to 150 microns.

14. The projection screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of features includes periodic, random, or pseudo random patterns.

15. A method of creating a screen, comprising: forming on a substrate having a plurality of features a set of reflective areas directed to a first set of angles and a set of absorptive areas directed to other than the first set of angles, said plurality of features being non-continuous over a surface of the substrate.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the first set of angles is encompasses a range of angles from about 5 degrees to about 45 degrees from the normal of the surface of the substrate.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: jetting a light-reflecting material at a glancing angle onto a light absorbing substrate having a plurality of surface features with faces exposed to the first set of angles to create the set of reflective areas.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: jetting a light-absorbing material at a glancing angle onto a light reflecting substrate having a plurality of surface features with faces not exposed to the first set of angles to create the set of absorptive areas.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: transforming certain faces of a plurality of features on a light-absorbing substrate with the certain faces directed to the first set of angles to be light-reflecting using either mechanical surface alteration, chemical processes, or a combination of both to create the set of reflective areas.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising: transforming certain faces of a plurality of features on a light-reflecting substrate with the certain faces directed to other than the first set of angles to be light-absorbing using either mechanical surface alteration, chemical process, or a combination of both to create the set of absorptive areas.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising: coating portions of the substrate with a coating layer by deposition or jetting a coating material at a low range of angles of incidence.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said coating portions of the substrate comprises: varying angles of deposition across a screen surface to obtain a desired pattern of reflectivity.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said coating material is a reflective material.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein said coating material is an absorptive material.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein a layer of light absorbing material is selectively deposited on portions of the surface features which will be faced toward a source of ambient light, and a reflective layer is selectively deposited on portions of the surface features facing a source of image light.

26. A screen for receiving image light from an image source, the screen comprising: a substrate having a plurality of features configured to have a set of absorptive areas oriented to ambient light facing directions, said plurality of features including a set of features which are non-continuous over a surface of the substrate.

27. The screen of claim 26, wherein said substrate is fabricated of a transparent material, and said light from said image source is incident on a rear surface of the substrate, and said absorptive areas are formed on a front surface of the substrate.