Patent Application
20050141069
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic displays, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for conserving power in a laser projection display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Small, portable electronic devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, portable DVD players, laptop computers, and the like are becoming increasingly popular. These devices, however, suffer from an abbreviated operating period. That is, these portable devices typically receive power from a battery, which must be periodically replaced or recharged, as needed. In many of these portable electronic devices, the period of time between charges is too short, limiting their usefulness.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing, the effects of one or more of the problems set forth above.
In one aspect of the instant invention, a method is provided for controlling a laser. The method comprises scanning light from a laser onto a viewing surface to produce an image thereon; and reducing power used by the laser while scanning at least a portion of the viewing surface.
In another aspect of the instant invention, a method is provided for controlling a laser projection device. The method comprises scanning light from a plurality of lasers onto a viewing surface to produce an image thereon, wherein each laser produces light of a different color. Power used by at least on of the plurality of lasers is reduced while scanning at least a portion of the viewing surface.
The invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
The following co-pending applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety: Method and Apparatus for Aligning a Plurality of Lasers in an Electronic Display Device, by Mik Stem et. al.; Method and Apparatus for Controllably Reducing Power Delivered by a Laser Projection Display, by Mik Stem et. al.; Method and Apparatus for Displaying Information in Automotive Applications Using a Laser Projection Display, by Narayan Nambudiri et. al.; Method and Apparatus for Providing an Interface Between a Liquid Crystal Display Controller and a Laser Projection Display, by Narayan Nambudiri et. al.; A Color Laser Projection Display by Paul Dvorkis et. al.; Method and Apparatus for Capturing Images Using A Color Laser Projection Display, by Chinh Tan et. al.; A Laser Projection Display, by Ron Goldman et. al.; Method and Apparatus for Controllably Compensating for Distortions in a Laser Projection Display, by Carl Wittenberg et. al.; and Method and Apparatus for Controllably Modulating a Laser in a Laser Projection Display, by Dmitriy Yavid et. al.
Turning now to the drawings, and specifically referring to
The lasers 102, 104, 106 are arranged in a common plane 114 with the beams of light 108, 110, 112 being angularly directed relative to one another to fall on a substantially common location 116 on a first scanning device, such as a first scanning mirror 118, from where they are reflected as beams of light 120, 122, 124. In the illustrated embodiment, the first scanning mirror 118 oscillates on an axis 120 at a relatively high rate (e.g., about 20-30 KHz). Rotation or oscillation of the first scanning mirror 118 causes the beams of light 108, 110, 112 to be moved. That is, as-the angular position of the first scanning mirror 118 alters, so to does the angle of reflection of the beams of light 120, 122, 124 from the first scanning mirror 118. Thus, as the mirror oscillates the reflected beams of light 120, 122, 124 are scanned to produce movement of the beams of light 120, 122, 124 along one component of the two-dimensional display.
The second component of the two-dimensional display is produced by a second scanning device, such as a mirror 126. In the illustrated embodiment, the second mirror 126 is coupled to a motor 128 at a pivot point 130 so as to produce rotational or oscillating movement about an axis that is substantially orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the first mirror 118. The beams of light 120, 122, 124 are reflected off of the second mirror 126 as beams of light 132, 134, 136 and directed to a viewing surface 138. The viewing surface 138 may take on any of a variety of forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the instant invention. For example, the viewing surface 138 may be a fixed screen that may be front or back lit by the lasers 102, 104, 106 and may be contained in a housing (not shown) that is common with the LPD 100, or alternatively, the viewing surface 138 may take the form of any convenient, generally flat surface, such as a wall or screen, spaced from the LPD 100.
The second mirror 126 oscillates or rotates at a relatively slow rate, as compared to the rate of the first mirror 118 (e.g., about 60 Hz). Thus, it will be appreciated that, as shown in
While the instant invention is described herein in the context of an embodiment that employs separate first and second scanning mirrors 118, 126, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a similar path 140 may be produced by using a single mirror. The single mirror would be capable of being moved about two axis of rotation to provide the fast and slow oscillating movements along two orthogonal axes.
As is apparent from
Turning now to
Thus, through the operation of the controller 142, the beams of light 120, 122 are substantially collinear, but are slightly displaced in time. That is, the beams of light 120, 122 will now both be projected onto substantially the same point on the display surface, but at slightly different times. However, owing to the persistence of the human eye, the variation in timing is not detectable. That is, in the case of the three laser system described in
Returning to
The photodetector 144 is coupled to the controller 142 via a line 148. Signals indicative of the magnitude of the reflected laser light detected by the photodetector 144 may be communicated to the controller 142 over the line 148. In some instances, such as when the photodetector 144 is composed of a grid or an array of photosensitive elements, it may be useful to also convey information regarding the location of the reflected laser light. As discussed in more detail in conjunction with
When the LPD 100 is used as a computer display battery power can be conserved by the following methods:
When the display is used as any type of display, battery power can be conserved by a variety of methods. First, a light detector in the LPD can be used to sense the ambient lighting conditions, and can reduce the laser brightness when the ambient lighting conditions are low.
Additionally, the reflectivity of the projection screen and distance to the screen (or other projection surface) can be sensed, and the laser brightness can be adjusted to save energy. The color or tint of the projection surface can also be sensed, so that the color mix of the 3 lasers can be automatically adjusted to correct color balance. This light detector can be added, or an existing photo diode in the LPD can be used by momentarily turning off the lasers to measure only the ambient lighting conditions.
Power may also be conserved by designing the laser characteristics so that the optimum laser efficiency is obtained at a temperature higher than ambient (room temperature). This will save energy by minimizing or eliminating the need for a thermoelectric cooler. The temperature can be controlled by use of a heating element.
The laser modulation for setting the brightness of any displayed pixel can be achieved by pulse width modulation. This will save power by turning each laser current completely off and on so that the laser consumes no power when the pixel is dark. If pulse width modulation is not used, then the laser current will be modulated to a low level when the pixel is dark. In this case, the laser current can still be turned completely off when it is known that there will be a long dark row of pixels in the display, and turned back on before the next bright pixel.
Reducing the scan angle of the horizontal and or vertical scan mirrors will result in a brighter display. Alternatively, the laser power can be reduced and the brightness maintained by reducing the scan angle of the horizontal and or vertical scan mirrors. Power is saved by the reduced laser current (or reduced PWM duty cycle) and the decreased mirror angles needing less current.
The LPD can detect the presence or absence of an external power source, and therefore, the LPD will reduce laser brightness when running on battery power alone. The LPD can also use slightly less battery power if some external power source, like the USB port of a computer is detected.
Frame Rate
The frame rate or refresh rate of the raster scanning can be synchronized to the frame rate of the video information source, or not. For example, standard VGA video is output at 60 frames per second. Alternatively, the frame rate can be optimized for highest resolution. For example, a 50 Hz frame rate will display more horizontal scan lines than a 60 Hz frame rate. Preferably, the frame rate is set low for highest resolution, but not so low that it appears to be flashing.
Convergence
The horizontal scanning on LPD is bi-directional. This means that the left going and right going scans must be synchronized or lined up. An example of mis-converged left going and right going scans is depicted in
This can be achieved by utilizing a method of position sensing on the horizontal scan mirror, that provides a position reference for the left going and right going scans. Alternatively, the horizontal mirror position reference can be accomplished by utilizing a calibration pin or mark 500, as shown in
Typically, in the LPD, the bottom 1 or 2 scan lines are used for laser power measurement. This means that the laser is left on (not modulated) during these scan lines, so that the laser monitor photodiode can be read to control the laser power.
The pin can also be used to sense vertical scan mirror position, providing a reference for the end-of-frame. In this mode, the pin can also be used to sense vertical misalignment of the different color laser beams also by turning on the lasers one at a time.
The calibration pin 500 can be placed inside the scan module, or it can be placed outside the scan module on some external surface of the product. The calibration pin 500 may or may not have focusing optics associated with it, and may include a bounce mirror (with or without optical power) to provide a longer optical arm for increased accuracy.
The photodiode can also be used for capturing an image in laser camera mode. The image capture can be used for detecting a finger or stylus, and therefore create a touch screen in rear projection or front projection mode.
The calibration pin can be placed inside of an angled surface. This surface would be used to block the laser light that would otherwise be projected at the bottom of the screen without affecting the quality of the projected image, since this light is not part of the image. This would also block the laser light that is used to calibrate the laser power, since this light is also not part of the image.
In the case where the laser does not have a built in photodiode, for example when a YAG laser is used, this calibration pin reflection can be used to measure the power of that laser.
Alternatively, the photo diode can be moved and placed in the same position where the calibration pin was.
DVD Player, or Personal Video Player
With conventional screens such as an LCD, the viewing screen can be no larger than the device itself. With the LPD, the viewing screen can be larger, by utilizing a roll up or collapsible screen, or projecting onto a wall or other surface.
Hard drive based Personal Video Players can be smaller than a DVD. These players have even smaller built-in screens than DVD players. The LPD provides a means of displaying a large screen on these small devices.
The LPD can be used as a high-density 2D barcode reader. Information, including text and pictures can be encoded onto a printed barcode, using existing “PDF417” or another existing or future developed type of code. The LPD can then scan and read this information, and then project the information in human readable form.
Screens
A device that uses an LPD can have interchangeable screens, which may, for example, be of varying size, as shown in
On toys, such as a portable gaming device, the plastic screen cover for the LCD can become scratched or otherwise damaged. An LPD with replaceable screen would allow a user to quickly and inexpensively replace the damaged screen.
Security
The LPD can have an additional infrared laser included. The infrared laser would be invisible to the human eye, but visible to a camera. This method could be used to obliterate the projected image, to prevent photographing. This would add security to sensitive information, or prevent movie piracy. An exemplary view of an LPD image as seen by an individual is shown in
Alternatively, the LPD can have a variable scan rate. This would create a beating with the scan rate of video camera, and therefore partially destroy the images captured by the camera.
Ceiling Projector
The LPD can be used to project information and images on the ceiling.
A bedroom ceiling is ideal for this application, since it is typically the darkest room in the house, and the large image produced is best viewed in low ambient lighting conditions. The ceiling is also ideal for viewing while lying in bed.
Some potential projected content includes: Television, recorded movies, Clock, Weather, computer and the Internet. Interaction with projected information can include; voice command, keyboard and mouse, and a laser pointer.
Laser Pointer/Mouse
A specially designed laser pointer can be used to interact with the LPD image. This pointer can include a photodiode, which receives the projected laser light that is reflected from the wall or screen. If the pointer was wired or wirelessly connected to the LPD device, the timing of the light received by the photodiode in the pointer would indicate the position on the raster, since the raster is time based.
The LPD may create a mouse pointer position by projecting, for example, 4 dots or lines in a diamond pattern in the center of the screen, as shown in
Alternatively, the pointer could have a motion sensor or tilt sensor that could control the mouse pointer.
A wired or wireless mouse/trackball could be used with the LPD.
Common Electronics
For multi-screen LPD applications, two or more laser projector modules could share some electronics. For example, a common front-end data receiver and image memory could split up the image information and send it to multiple projection modules. This would reduce cost of the device. For increased brightness or display size, two or more LPD's can create a “tiled” display. The tiled displays could have separate mirror assemblies, or two sets of lasers could share the same pair of mirrors.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, or as is apparent from the discussion, terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical, electronic quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system's memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various system layers, routines, or modules illustrated in the various embodiments herein may be executable control units. The control units may include a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a processor card (including one or more microprocessors or controllers), or other control or computing devices. The storage devices referred to in this discussion may include one or more machine-readable storage media for storing data and instructions. The storage media may include different forms of memory including semiconductor memory devices such as dynamic or static random access memories (DRAMs or SRAMs), erasable and programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable and programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs) and flash memories; magnetic disks such as fixed, floppy, removable disks; other magnetic media including tape; and optical media such as compact disks (CDs) or digital video disks (DVDs). Instructions that make up the various software layers, routines, or modules in the various systems may be stored in respective storage devices. The instructions when executed by the control units cause the corresponding system to perform programmed acts.
The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. Consequently, processing circuitry required to implement and use the described system may be implemented in application specific integrated circuits, software driven processing circuitry, firmware, programmable logic devices, hardware, discrete components or arrangements of the above components as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60533928 | Dec 2003 | US |
