Pixel size enhancements

• US 20030128324A1
• Filed: 11/01/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Akonia Holographics, LLC (Apple Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Akonia Holographics, LLC (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Pharris, Kenton J., Woods, Daniel D.
• Application Number:
  US10/286,663
• Publication Number:
  US 20030128324A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 349/143
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134336 Matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134345 Subdivided pixels, e.g. for grey scale or redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/0065 Recording, reproducing or erasing by using optical interference patterns, e.g. holograms
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/128 Modulators G11B7/1245 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 13/04 using optical elements ; using other beam accessed elements, e.g. electron or ion beam
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 13/042 using information stored in the form of interference pattern

Abstract

An optical encoder or decoder including an array of addressable elements with varying sized pixels. The optical encoder or decoder includes an array of addressable elements configured with a first set of pixels of a first size, where the first set of pixels each include at least one addressable element of the array of addressable elements. The array of addressable elements further includes a second set of pixels of a second size, where the second set of pixels each include at least one addressable element of the array of addressable elements and the second size of pixels is greater than the first size of pixels.

Claims

1. An optical encoding device, comprising:

an array of addressable elements, wherein the addressable elements are addressed in groups of at least one addressable element to form a plurality of pixels, including;

a first set of the pixels of a first size, and

a second set of the pixels of a second size, wherein the second size is larger than the first size.

2. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein the addressable elements of the array are uniform in size.

3. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein the addressable elements of the array include two or more different sizes.

4. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein the pixels of a first size include only one addressable element of the array.

5. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein the pixels of a first size include a plurality of addressable elements.

6. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein the pixels of a second size include only one addressable element of the array.

7. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein the pixels of a second size include a plurality of addressable elements.

8. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the pixels of a first size are located near the center of the array.

9. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein there is a distance between adjacent pixels, and the distance is greater between pixels of the second size than between pixels of the first size.

10. The optical encoding device of claim 1, wherein the array of addressable elements are included in a region of a spatial light modulator.

11. A method of using the optical encoding device of claim 1, including:

addressing the array of addressable elements with an encoding unit, wherein the encoding unit addresses the addressable elements in groups of at least one addressable element per group corresponding to the pixels of the first size and the pixels of the second size.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein addressing the array of addressable elements includes encoding a spatial light modulator with a data page.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein a portion of the pixels of a first size are located near regions of the array that receive relatively high intensity light with respect to other regions of the array.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein a portion of the pixels of a second size are located near regions of the array that receive relatively low intensity light with respect to other regions of the array.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the pixels are arranged more densely near regions of the array that receive relatively high intensity light with respect to other regions of the array.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein an arrangement of the first and second set of pixels increases uniformity of signal-to-noise ratios across the array.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein an arrangement of the first and second set of pixels reduces inter-pixel interference.

18. An optical encoding device, comprising:

an array of addressable elements, wherein the addressable elements of the array include two or more different sizes.

19. The optical encoding device of claim 18, wherein smaller addressable elements are located near the center of the array.

20. The optical encoding device of claim 18, wherein larger addressable elements are located near the edges of the array.

21. The optical encoding device of claim 18, wherein each addressable element corresponds to a single pixel.

22. The optical encoding device of claim 18, wherein there is a distance between adjacent addressable elements, and the distance is greater between larger addressable elements than between smaller addressable elements.

23. The optical encoding device of claim 18, wherein the array of addressable elements are included in a region of a spatial light modulator.

24. An optical decoding device, comprising:

an array of addressable elements, wherein the addressable elements are decoded in groups of at least one addressable element to form a plurality of pixels, including;

a first set of the pixels of a first size,

a second set of the pixels of a second size, and

the second size is larger than the first size.

25. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein the addressable elements of the array are uniform in size.

26. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein the addressable elements of the array include two or more different sizes.

27. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein the pixels of a first size include only one addressable element of the array.

28. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein the pixels of a first size include a plurality of addressable elements.

29. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein the pixels of a second size include only one addressable element of the array.

30. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein the pixels of a second size include a plurality of addressable elements.

31. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein at least a portion of the pixels of a first size are located near the center of the array.

32. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein there is a distance between adjacent pixels, and the distance is greater between pixels of the second size than between pixels of the first size.

33. The optical decoding device of claim 24, wherein the array of addressable elements includes a detector array.

34. A method of using the optical decoding device of claim 24, including:

addressing the array of addressable elements with a decoding unit, wherein the decoding unit decodes the addressable elements in groups of at least one addressable element per group corresponding to the pixels of the first size and the pixels of the second size.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein each detector element receives varying amounts of light intensity, and decoding includes grouping the information from each detector element into varying sized pixels.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein addressing the array of addressable elements includes decoding a detector array associated with a data page.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein at least a portion of the pixels of a first size are located near regions of the array that receive relatively high intensity light with respect to other regions of the array.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein at least a portion of the pixels of a second size are located near regions of the array that receive relatively low intensity light with respect to other regions of the array.

39. An optical decoding device, comprising:

an array of addressable elements, wherein the addressable elements of the array include two or more different sizes.

40. The optical decoding device of claim 39, wherein smaller addressable elements are located near the center of the array.

41. The optical decoding device of claim 39, wherein larger addressable elements are located near the edges of the array.

42. The optical decoding device of claim 39, wherein each addressable element corresponds to a single pixel.

43. The optical decoding device of claim 39, wherein there is a distance between adjacent addressable elements, and the distance is greater between larger addressable elements than between smaller addressable elements.

44. A holographic storage system, comprising:

a spatial light modulator, including,

an array of individual addressable elements forming a plurality of pixels, wherein, the addressable elements are addressed in groups of at least one addressable element corresponding to the plurality of pixels such that,

a first portion of the pixels are of a first size,

a second portion of the pixels are of a second size, and

the second size is larger than the first size; and

a detector array, including an array of addressable elements.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the spatial light modulator is encoded with data associated with a data page.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein at least one unit of data of the data page is associated with at least one pixel.

47. The system of claim 44, wherein the addressable elements of the array are uniform in size.

48. The system of claim 44, wherein the addressable elements of the array include two or more different sizes.

49. The system of claim 44, wherein the pixels of a first size include only one addressable element of the array.

50. The system of claim 44, wherein the pixels of a first size include a plurality of addressable elements.

51. The system of claim 44, wherein the pixels of a second size include only one addressable element of the array.

52. The system of claim 44, wherein the pixels of a second size include a plurality of addressable elements.

53. The system of claim 44, wherein at least a portion of the pixels of a first size are located near the center of the array.

54. A system of claim 44, wherein the addressable elements of the detector array are addressed in groups of at least one addressable element to form a plurality of pixels, including:

a third set of the pixels of a third size,

a fourth set of the pixels of a fourth size, and

the fourth size is larger than the third size.

55. A method of using the system of claim 44, comprising:

addressing the array of addressable elements of the detector array with a decoding unit, wherein the decoding unit addresses the addressable elements in groups of at least one addressable element per group corresponding to the pixels of the third size and the pixels of the fourth size.

56. The system of claim 44, wherein the array of addressable elements of the detector array are decoded corresponding to the third and fourth set of pixels.

57. A method for addressing an array of individually addressable elements of an optical system, comprising:

addressing varying numbers of individual elements to form pixels having two or more different sizes.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the different size pixels include at least a first size and a second size pixel, and the first size and the second size pixels include different numbers of individually addressable elements.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the first size and the second size pixels include equal numbers of individually addressable elements.

60. The method of claim 57, wherein the addressing the individual elements at varying rates defines the different sized pixels.

61. The method of claim 57, wherein the addressing the individual elements includes encoding a data page to the array, wherein each pixel is associated with a unit of data.

62. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

positioning the array in an optical path; and

decreasing the number of elements per pixel in high intensity regions of the optical path.

63. A method for storing information in a holographic storage device comprising:

providing an object beam and a reference beam;

positioning a spatial light modulator in the object beam;

addressing the spatial light modulator to encode the object beam with a data page associated with information to be stored, wherein the data page includes different sized pixels;

modulating the object beam with the spatial light modulator to create an image of the data page; and

recording an interference pattern of the object beam and the reference beam in a recording material.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein the spatial light modulator is comprised of individual addressable elements, and

the different sized pixels include varying numbers of the individual addressable elements.

65. The method of claim 63, wherein the address rate is varied to configure different numbers of addressable elements of the spatial light modulator as different sized pixels.

66. The method of claim 63, wherein the spatial light modulator is comprised of addressable elements of different sizes corresponding to different sized pixels.

67. The method of claim 63, further comprising:

retrieving the stored information by illuminating the recording material with the reference beam;

receiving the image of the data page at a detector array; and

decoding the image of the data page.

68. The method of claim 67, wherein the decoding rate is varied to address different numbers of elements of the detector array associated with the different sized pixels of the spatial light modulator.

69. The system of claim 67, wherein each detector element receives varying amounts of light intensity, and decoding the data page includes grouping information from each detector element into varying sized pixels.

70. The method of claim 67, wherein the decoding process of the detector array corresponds with the encoding process of the spatial light modulator.