Optical projectors are used to project images onto surfaces for viewing by groups of people. Optical projectors include optical projector subsystems that include lenses, filters, polarizers, light sources, image forming devices and the like. Fixed front and rear electronic projectors are known for use in education, home theatres and business meeting use. Known light sources include black body lamps, gas discharge lamps, and solid state sources such as lasers, light emitting diodes (LED's) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED's). Head mounted displays (HMD's) are known for individual use. For mobile applications, there is a desire to miniaturize optical projectors both in terms of volume and thickness and make them extremely power efficient while maintaining low power consumption, low cost and high image quality. However, the large dimensions and high power consumption of existing optical projection subsystems limit efforts to create a truly portable projector. A method and optical projection subsystem are needed that provide both miniaturization and efficiency to project good quality images in a cost effective manner.
Disclosed is a projection subsystem. The projection subsystem comprises an illumination subsystem that provides an incoherent, homogenized light beam. The illumination subsystem includes a collection lens, a collimator and at least one solid state light emitter. The solid state light emitter receives an electrical power level and is couplable to a heat sink.
The projection subsystem includes an image-forming device. The image forming device receives image data and the polarized beam. The image-forming device provides an image to the refractive body.
The projection subsystem comprises a projection lens assembly. The projection lens assembly receives the image from the refractive body and provides an image projection beam having a luminous flux level.
According to one aspect, the projection subsystem has a portability efficacy that comprises a volume of less than 14 cubic centimeters and a thickness of less than 14 millimeters.
For mobile applications it is desirable to project images of diagonal size 12 cm or more, under ambient lighting conditions, which would generally require at least 3 lumens flux and at least 30:1 contrast ratio for good viewability. Additional desired features to provide good image quality can include a large number of resolvable pixels, wide color gamut, and image uniformity.
For mobile applications “portability efficacy” will be defined as a combined measure of the small size, high power efficiency and luminous output of the projection subsystem.
Desired features for projection subsystems include a high level of optical flux in the projected image, large screen size, high contrast, large pixel content, and a wide color gamut.
As illustrated in
Ambient lighting levels in projection environments do not scale down when a projector design is miniaturized or scaled down. A sufficient projection light power level is desired in order to provide a projection image that is bright enough for a group of viewers in the presence of ambient light. If the size of a light emitting source were to be miniaturized, for example, and the same electrical power level were to be applied to the smaller light emitting source, increased temperature rises would be encountered in the smaller light emitting source that could cause overheating. There is a need to optimize the optical efficiency of the projector optics in order to scale down electrical power level to avoid overheating the small light emitting source without reducing the luminous flux of the projected image output. While high power solid state lasers that can efficiently produce highly collimated, coherent light might improve power efficiency, the use of coherent light may produce speckle, decreasing projected image quality. Also, the use of laser light raises concerns about eye safety, particularly under electrical or mechanical fault conditions.
As illustrated in the embodiments described below, optical components are assembled in improved combinations to reach desired high levels of luminous flux with low levels of electrical power in a miniature projection subsystem. The use of coherent light sources is avoided. The portability efficacy of the projection subsystem is enhanced. In particular, many optical losses that typically occur when light passes through air between conventional projector optics components are avoided.
Projection subsystems disclosed herein are capable of operation in a region 110 in graph 100 which has high portability efficacy. The region 110 is limited to a volume of no more than 14 cubic centimeters and an efficiency of no less than 3.8 lumens for 1 watt.
Another measure of portability efficacy comprises a thickness of an projection subsystem along its thinnest axis. An projection subsystem is best suited for use in a pocket portable device when the projection subsystem has a thickness of less than 14 millimeters along a thickness axis. Another aspect of portability efficacy is luminous flux. An projection subsystem is best suited for use in a pocket portable device when the luminous flux is at least 3 lumens.
Projection subsystem 200 comprises a light engine 202. The light engine 202 provides a light beam 204. The light engine includes a collection lens 206, a collimator 208 and a solid state light emitter 210. According to one aspect, the collection lens 206 comprises a hyperhemispheric ball lens. According to one aspect, the hyperhemispheric ball lens is arranged as taught in US Patent Publication US 2007/0152231, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The solid state light emitter 210 receives electrical power 212 with an electrical power level. The solid state emitter 210 thermally couples to a heat sink 214. The solid state light emitter provides an emitter light beam with an emitter luminous flux level. According to one aspect, the light beam 204 comprises incoherent light. According to another aspect the light beam 204 comprises illumination that is a partially focussed image of the solid state light emitter 210. According to yet another aspect the solid state light emitter 210 comprises one or more light emitting diodes (LED's). According to another aspect, the collection lens 206 comprises a hemispheric ball lens. According to another aspect, the collimator 208 comprises a focusing unit comprising a first fresnel lens having a first non-faceted side for receiving a first non-collimated beam and a first faceted side for emitting the collimated beam; and a second fresnel lens having a second non faceted side for substantially directly receiving the collimated beam and second faceted side for emitting an output beam. According to another aspect the solid state light emitter 210 can be arranged as shown in U.S. Provisional Application 60/820,883. According to another aspect the light engine 202 can be arranged as shown in U.S. Provisional Applications 60/820,887, 60/820,888, 60/821,032, 60/838,988.
The projection subsystem 200 comprises a refractive body 220. The refractive body 220 receives the light beam 204. The refractive body 220 provides a polarized beam 222. The refractive body 220 includes an internal polarizing filter 224. One polarized component of the light beam 204 is reflected by the internal polarizing filter 224 to form the polarized beam 222. According to one aspect, the refractive body is formed or utilized according to one or more aspects of US Patent Publication US 2007/0023941 A1 Duncan et al., US Patent Publication US 2007/0024981 A1 Duncan et al., US Patent Publication US 2007/0085973 A1 Duncan et al., and US Patent Publication US 2007/0030456 Duncan et al., all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The refractive body 220 comprises a first external lens surface 226 and a second external lens surface 228. According to one aspect, the external lens surfaces 226, 228 have curved lens surfaces and have non-zero lens power. According to another aspect, the external lens surface 226 comprises a convex lens surface that is useful in maintaining a small volume for the projection subsystem 200. According to another aspect, the external lens surfaces 226, 228 are flat. According to one aspect, the refractive body 220 comprises plastic resin material bodies 230, 232 on opposite sides of the internal polarizing filter 224. According to another aspect, the internal polarizing filter 224 comprises a multilayer optical film. According to another aspect, the refractive body 220 comprises a multifunction optical component that functions as a polarizing beam splitter as well as a lens. By combining the polarizing beam splitter and lens functions in a multifunction refractive body, losses that would otherwise occur at air interfaces between separate beam splitters and lenses are avoided.
The projection subsystem 200 comprises an image-forming device 236. The image-forming device 236 receives image data on electrical input bus 238. The image-forming device 236 receives the polarized beam 222. The image-forming device 236 selectively reflects the polarized beam 222 according to the image data. The image-forming device 236 provides an image 240 with a polarization that is rotated relative to the polarization of the polarized beam 222. The image-forming device 236 provides the image 240 to the refractive body 220. The image 240 passes through the internal polarizing filter 224. According to one aspect, the image-forming device 236 comprises a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) device.
The projection subsystem 200 comprises a projection lens assembly 250. The projection lens assembly 250 comprises multiple lenses indicated schematically at 252, 254, 256, 258, 260. The projection lens assembly 250 receives the image 240 from the refractive body 220. The projection lens assembly 250 provides an image projection beam 262 having a projected luminous flux that is suitable for viewing. According to one aspect the projected luminous flux is no less than 3 lumens. According to another aspect, a ratio of the projected luminous flux to the electrical power level is at least 3.8 lumens for 1 watt. According to another aspect, the ratio of the projected luminous flux to electrical power level is at least 7 lumens per watt. According to another aspect, the ratio of projected luminous flux to electrical power level is at least 10 lumens per watt. According to another aspect, the collection efficiency ratio is at least 38.5%. The collection efficiency ratio is defined as a ratio of the polarized luminous flux impinging on an active surface of the image forming device 236 to the luminous flux emitted from the unpolarized solid state light emitter 210.
According to another aspect, the projection subsystem 200 has an electrical power level of no more than 3.6 watts. According to another aspect, the projection subsystem 200 has a volume of less than 14 cubic centimeters. According to another aspect, the projection subsystem 200 has a thickness of less than 14 millimeters.
According to another aspect, the projection subsystem 200 has an F number that is less than 2.4. According to another aspect, the projection subsystem has an ANSI contrast ratio of at least 30:1. According to another aspect, the projection subsystem has an ANSI contrast ratio of at least 50:1. According to another aspect, the projection subsystem has an on/off contrast ratio of at least 100:1.
According to another aspect, a polarization filter can be positioned at locations 330 or 332 in
The enclosure 802 is coupled to a lens assembly guide tube 804. A projection lens assembly 250 is slidably mounted in the guide tube 804. The projection lens assembly 250 includes an actuation lever 810 that can be mechanically actuated to move the position of the projection lens assembly 250 relative to the image forming device 236. The movement of the projection lens assembly 250 comprises a focus adjustment. According to one aspect, the projection lens assembly 250 fits closely in the guide tube 804 to provide a seal that prevents entry of contamination into the enclosure 802. According to another aspect, one or more O-rings (not illustrated) are provided between the projection lens assembly and the guide tube 804 to provide a seal. According to yet another aspect, a bellows (not illustrated) is provided between an end of the projection lens assembly 250 and the guide tube 804 to provide a seal.
A projection subsystem is constructed similar to
Measurements of dimensions and performance are summarized in the following table, in which IEC is an abbreviation for the International Electrotechnical Commission.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/006,079, filed on Jan. 13, 2011, now allowed, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/831,307, filed on Jul. 31, 2007, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,901,083, which is based on and claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/820,894, filed Jul. 31, 2006 the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety; Ser. No. 60/820,887, filed Jul. 31, 2006 the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety; Ser. No. 60/820,888, filed Jul. 31, 2006 the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety; Ser. No. 60/820,883, filed Jul. 31, 2006 the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety; Ser. No. 60/821,032, filed Aug. 1, 2006 the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety; and Ser. No. 60/838,988, filed Aug. 21, 2006 the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety; and Ser. No. 11/772,609, filed Jul. 2, 2007 the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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Child | 13287872 | US | |
Parent | 11831307 | Jul 2007 | US |
Child | 13006079 | US |