Patent Application
20110317134
The present invention generally relates to the manufacture and assembly of pico projectors, and more particular to a modular structure for a pico projector.
Generally, a product is designed to fulfill a specific requirement based on some available components of known specifications. Once the requirement is changed (taking projector as example, if a brighter light source or a longer projection range is needed), the project usually has to be redesigned in its entirety, causing significant waste of design cost and time.
For most components of a projector, there are increasingly more commercially available alternatives. To take advantage of this trend, and to achieve economic use of materials, cost saving, convenience, and versatility, modularizing a projector's structure seems to be a promising direction. A modular structure should be able to fulfill customer requirement in time and in most reliable manner, without sacrificing development cost and time.
Therefore, a major objective of the present invention is to turns the various functional components such as the lens, light source, reflection mirror, projection panel, etc. into optimally coupled modules so that they could be easily assembled in least amount of time with superior image quality.
In addition, the modular structure should only require modifications to few incompatible parts without altering the original functional design. As such, the latest customer and market demand could be conveniently addressed and fulfilled.
With the modular structure, some modules could be flexibly and conveniently replaced by alternative modules so as to fulfill the various requirements from different customers without redesigning.
To achieve the foregoing objectives, the present invention breaks down the structure of a projector into six modules: a light path module, a projection lens module, a source lens module, a reflection mirror module, a reflection panel module, and a light source module. The light path module contains two pieces vertically joined to form a U-shaped body. A reserved space along a left side of the U-shaped light path module is configured with the source lens module and the light source module. Another reserved space along a right side of the U-shaped light path module is configured with the projection lens module.
The modular structure contains a light path module, a projection lens module, a source lens module, a reflection mirror module, a reflection panel module, and a light source module. The projection lens module in the right-side reserved space is an optical lens assembly for projecting image to a screen.
The modular structure contains a light path module, a projection lens module, a source lens module, a reflection mirror module, a reflection panel module, and a light source module. The source lens module in the left-side reserved space is an optical lens assembly for modulating the light from the light source module.
The modular structure contains a light path module, a projection lens module, a source lens module, a reflection mirror module, a reflection panel module, and a light source module. The reflection mirror module is installed at a slant inside of a left corner of the U-shaped light path module so as to reflect the incident light modulated by the source lens module towards the reflection panel module.
The modular structure contains a light path module, a projection lens module, a source lens module, a reflection mirror module, a reflection panel module, and a light source module. The reflection panel module is installed from the outside of a right corner of the U-shaped light path module that is normal to the projection lens module. By reflecting the light from the reflection mirror module, an image of the reflection panel module is projected to a screen through the projection lens module.
The modular structure contains a light path module, a projection lens module, a source lens module, a reflection mirror module, a reflection panel module, and a light source module. The light source module is configured at a start of the source light path, in front of the source lens module. The light source module projects light into the source lens module.
The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
As shown in
The projection lens module 12 is an optical lens assembly for projecting image to a screen (not shown). The source lens module 13, on the other hand, is an optical lens assembly for modulating the light from the light source module 16. The projection and source lens modules 12 and 13 are therefore installed in the reserved space along the projection and source light paths, respectively.
The reflection mirror module 14 is installed at the slant inside 101 of a left corner of the U-shaped light path module 11 so as to reflect the incident light modulated by the source lens module 13 from the light source module 16 towards the reflection panel module 15. With such a design, the size of the projector is reduced for 50%. On the other hand, the reflection panel module 15 is installed from the outside of a right corner of the U-shaped light path module 11 that is normal to the projection lens module 12. As such, by reflecting the light from the reflection mirror module 14, an image of the reflection panel module 15 is projected to a screen (not shown) through the projection lens module 12.
The light source module 16 is configured at a start of the source light path, in front of the source lens module 13. The light source module 16, as such, projects light into the source lens module 13. The light source module 16 could utilize one or more light emitting diodes or laser generation elements.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
