Claims
- 1. Light-image projection apparatus comprising:
a source of light image for projection to a viewing surface; a lens system interposed between the source and viewing surface for substantially collimating a projected light image from the source; an image filter interposed between the lens system and the viewing surface for receiving the substantially collimated light image projected from the source; and a light-scattering medium interposed between the source and the viewing surface for randomly scattering the light image projected from the source.
- 2. The light image projection apparatus according to claim 1 in which:
the lens system and the image filter each include a substrate of light-transmissive material including in at least one of the substrates inhomogeneous light-scattering elements distributed therein to scatter a light image transmitted therethrough.
- 3. The light image projection system according to claim 2 in which the inhomogeneous light scattering elements include bubbles distributed within the material having a dimensional range of less than about 10 μm.
- 4. The light image projection system according to claim 2 in which the inhomogeneous light scattering elements include particles distributed within the material having a dimensional range of less than about 10 μm.
- 5. The light image projection system according to claim 2 in which the inhomogeneous light scattering elements are disposed within the materials of each of the substrates.
- 6. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 1 in which the image filter includes a substrate of light-transmissive material, and includes a single layer of spherical beads disposed in contiguous array on a surface of the substrate, and the material of the beads includes light-scattering elements therein to scatter light transmitted therethrough.
- 7. The light image projection apparatus according to claim 6 in which the light-scattering elements in the beads includes bubbles distributed therein having dimensions in the range of less than about 10 μm.
- 8. The light image projection apparatus according to claim 6 in which the light-scattering elements in the beads includes particles distributed therein having dimensions in the range of less than about 10 μm.
- 9. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 1 in which the image filter includes a single layer of spherical beads disposed in contiguous array on a surface of a substrate for transmitting light through the beads and substrate, and including:
a substantially conformal layer over the layer of beads of a light-transmissive material having light scattering elements distributed therein for scattering light transmitted therethrough.
- 10. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 9 in which the material of the conformal layer includes bubbles distributed therein having dimensions in the range of less than about 10 μm.
- 11. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 9 in which the material of the conformal layer includes particles distributed therein having dimensions in the range of less than about 10 μm.
- 12. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 1 including a layer of light-scattering material interposed between the lens system and the image filter.
- 13. The light-image projection according to claim 12 in which the material of the layer includes bubbles distributed therein having dimensions in the range of less than about 10 μm.
- 14. The light-image projection according to claim 12 in which the material of the layer includes particles distributed therein having dimensions in the range of less than about 10 μm.
- 15. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 1 in which the light-scattering medium includes a coating of material having light-scattering elements distributed therein and disposed on a surface of at least one of the lens system and image filter for scattering light transmitted therethrough.
- 16. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 15 in which the light-scattering elements within material of the coating include bubbles having dimensions in the range of less than about 10 μm.
- 17. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 15 in which the light-scattering elements within material of the coating include particles having dimensions in the range less than about 10 μm.
- 18. The light-image projection apparatus according to claim 15 in which the coating is disposed on a light-incident surface of at least one of the lens system and image filter.
- 19. The light-image projection system according to claim 15 in which the coating is disposed on a light-exit surface of at least one of the lens system and image filter.
- 20. A method for reducing intensity-contrasting segments on a viewing screen of light-image projection apparatus having a lens system and an image filter interposed between a light-image source and the viewing screen, the method comprising the steps for:
projecting a light image through the lens system and image filter toward the viewing screen; and interposing a layer of light-scattering material between the source and the viewing screen for scattering light to inhibit coherent light waves from forming interference patterns including intensity-contrasting segments on the viewing screen.
RELATED CASES
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/291,079, entitled “Lens Optimization and Color Correction for Image Projection Systems”, filed on Nov. 8, 2002 by C. R. Wolfe, which application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/211,785, entitled “Lens Optimizing for Image Projection Systems”, filed on Aug. 1, 2002 by C. R. Wolfe, which subject matter is incorporated herein in the entirety by this reference to form a part hereof.
Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10291079 |
Nov 2002 |
US |
Child |
10360470 |
Feb 2003 |
US |
Parent |
10211785 |
Aug 2002 |
US |
Child |
10291079 |
Nov 2002 |
US |