Apparatuses and methods for utilizing non-ideal light sources

• US 20050030305A1
• Filed: 09/02/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microvision, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Microvision, Inc.
• Inventors: Tegreene, Clarence T., Wiklof, Christopher A., Andron, Voytek, Altendorf, Eric, Brown, Margaret, Kykta, Martin, Skurnik, David, Holton, Mark A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,262,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/207
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/0841 the reflecting element being moved or deformed by electrostatic means
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/0858 the reflecting means being moved or deformed by piezoelectric means
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/101 with both horizontal and vertical deflecting means, e.g. raster or XY scanners colour television using laser beams scanning a display screen H04N9/3129
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0242 Compensation of deficiencies in the appearance of colours
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0276 for the purpose of adaptation to the characteristics of a display device, i.e. gamma correction
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0285 using tables for spatial correction of display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/043 Preventing or counteracting the effects of ageing
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0673 for control of gamma adjustment, e.g. selecting another gamma curve
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/002 to project the image of a two-dimensional display, such as an array of light emitting or modulating elements or a CRT
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/006 Electronic inspection or testing of displays and display drivers, e.g. of LED or LCD displays testing individual LED's G01R31/2635; testing lamps G01R31/44; testing of optical features of LCD displays G02F1/1309
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/02 by tracing or scanning a light beam on a screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/32 semiconductive, e.g. using light-emitting diodes [LED]

Abstract

A method includes obtaining a measurement of a property of a light source, scanning light from the light source onto a surface, such that the light interacts with the surface, detecting light from the surface to create a picture element, and correcting the picture element with the measurement of the property. An apparatus includes a scanned beam display, the scanned beam display is configured to receive a signal and to scan the signal for viewing by a user. The signal is to contain picture element information. The picture element information includes information for a plurality of colors, wherein information for at least one color is corrected to substantially remove a perturbation to the picture element information, such that an image containing the picture element information will be substantially unchanged by the perturbation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining a measurement of a property of a light source;

scanning light from the light source onto a surface, wherein the light interacts with the surface;

detecting light from the surface to create a picture element; and

correcting the picture element with the measurement of the property.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the property is an intensity of the light source, the measurement occurs before the scanning and the correcting uses the measurement to normalize an intensity of the picture element.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the picture element is a pixel, a group of pixels or a frame of pixels.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the property is a wavelength spectrum, a power spectral density or a dominant wavelength.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the scanning provides a set of system primaries associated with the picture element and the measurement is used by the correcting to modify a color of the picture element.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the system primaries are red, blue, and green (RGB).

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the correcting utilizes a lookup table.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source conforms substantially to the Blue-Ray standard.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source is an Indium gallium Nitride/gallium nitride (InGaN/GaN) light emitting diode or an InGaN/GaN edge emitting light emitting diode.

11. A method comprising:

receiving an input signal, the input signal contains picture element information; and

correcting the input signal to provide an output signal, wherein the correcting is based on a predetermined characteristic of a light source, wherein the light source is part of a scanned beam device that creates an image from the picture element information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the input signal contains intensity and hue information for a picture element and the correcting transforms the hue information while maintaining substantially constant intensity, such that the effect of the predetermined characteristic on the output signal is substantially eliminated from the image.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the correcting utilizes a lookup table.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the lookup table associates input signal system primary information with transformed output signal system primary information, such that the effect of the predetermined characteristic is substantially removed from the image.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the input signal system primary information is red, blue, green (RGB) or cyan black, yellow, magenta (CMYK).

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the light source conforms to the Blue-ray Disc standard.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the light source is an Indium gallium Nitride/gallium nitride (InGaN/GaN) light emitting diode or an InGaN/GaN edge emitting light emitting diode.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the predetermined characteristic is a shift in wavelength spectra of the light source with drive level.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the predetermined characteristic is a shift in intensity or a shift in a wavelength spectrum.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the scanned beam device is used in an image device and the image device is a head mounted display, a display, a digital video camera, a film camera or a camera.

22. A method comprising:

obtaining a measurement of a property of a light source, the light source emits light that is used in a scanned beam device; and

controlling an output of the light source as a function of the measurement, wherein the controlling removes the effect of a variation of the property on a picture element created with the scanned beam device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the scanned beam device scans a beam of light, emitted from the light source, onto a surface to capture an image of the surface.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the scanned beam device is a scanned beam display.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the picture element is a group of pixels, a frame of pixels or a group of frames of pixels.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the light source conforms to the Blue-ray Disc standard.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the property includes luminance.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the property includes spectral power distribution.

30. A method comprising:

sampling an output of a light source;

analyzing the output to identify a noise component;

scanning a surface with light emitted from the light source to create picture elements; and

removing the noise component from the picture elements.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the analyzing tracks the output of the light source to identify the noise component.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the system primaries are red, blue, and green (RGB).

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the removing utilizes a lookup table to remove noise components from the picture elements.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the light source conforms to the Blue-ray Disc standard.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein analyzing includes correlation of picture elements to a surface location.

37. A method comprising:

driving a light source in a scanning beam device wherein picture element information is processed in a first region;

providing a reference signal to the light source in a second region;

measuring a parameter of the light source while the reference signal is provided to the light source; and

adjusting the light source in the first region as a function of the parameter.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the reference signal is a current.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the parameter is a voltage.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the scanning beam device is scanning beam display.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the second region is not part of the image presented to a user.

42. The method of claim 37, wherein the scanning beam device scans a surface to capture an image.

43. An apparatus comprising:

a signal containing picture element information, the signal is produced by a scanned beam device having a light source, the picture element information includes information for a plurality of colors, wherein information for at least one color is corrected to remove a perturbation to the picture element information such that an image containing the picture element information is substantially unchanged by the perturbation.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, further comprising:

a scanned beam display, the scanned beam display is configured to receive the signal and to scan the signal for viewing by a user.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, further including:

a camera, wherein the scanned beam display provides a view of an image received by the camera to the user.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the scanned beam display provides the view by scanning the image onto a retina of the user'"'"'s eye.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the scanned beam display provides the view by scanning the image onto a surface.

48. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the camera is a digital camera, a film camera or a digital video camera.

49. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the perturbation is a change in the light source intensity or a change in the light source wavelength spectrum.

50. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

51. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the light source conforms substantially to the Blue-ray Disc standard.

52. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the light source is an Indium gallium Nitride/gallium nitride (InGaN/GaN) light emitting diode or an InGaN/GaN edge emitting light emitting diode.

53. An apparatus comprising:

a scanned beam display, the scanned beam display configured to receive a signal and to scan the signal for viewing by a user, wherein the signal is to contain picture element information, the picture element information includes information for a plurality of colors, wherein information for at least one color is corrected to substantially remove a perturbation to the picture element information, such that an image containing the picture element information will be substantially unchanged by the perturbation.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, further comprising:

a scanned beam display, the scanned beam display is configured to receive the signal and to scan the signal for viewing by a user.

55. The apparatus of claim 54, further including:

a camera, wherein the scanned beam display provides a view of an image received by the camera to the user.

56. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein the scanned beam display provides the view by scanning the image onto a retina of the user'"'"'s eye.

57. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein the scanned beam display provides the view by scanning the image onto a surface.

58. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein the camera is a digital camera, a film camera or a digital video camera.

59. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the perturbation is a change in the light source intensity or a change in the light source wavelength spectrum.

60. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

61. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the light source conforms substantially to the Blue-ray Disc standard.

62. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the light source is an Indium gallium Nitride/gallium nitride (InGaN/GaN) light emitting diode or an InGaN/GaN edge emitting light emitting diode.

63. An apparatus comprising:

a light source substantially conforming to the Blue-ray Disk Standard; and

a correction device, the correction device in communication with the light source and in communication with picture element information, wherein the correction device controls the light source as a function of the picture element information.

64. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the correction device utilizes a lookup table to correct the picture element information that is to be communicated to the light source.

65. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

66. A method comprising:

applying a correction to an image signal, wherein the correction is a function of a modulation level of a light source used to display an image.

67. The method of claim 66, wherein the correction is a gamma correction.

68. The method of claim 66, wherein a separate correction is applied to each light source used to display the image.

69. A method comprising:

applying a different gamma correction to each light source within a display, wherein the display is used to display an image.

70. An apparatus comprising:

a display having light sources, the light sources are configured to display individual colors of an image signal, wherein separate gamma corrections are associated with each light source such that a white balance of the display is maintained across a range of light source drive levels.

71. A computer readable medium containing executable computer program instructions, which when executed by a data processing system, cause the data processing system to perform a method comprising:

applying a correction to an image signal, wherein the correction is a function of a modulation level of a light source used to display an image.

72. The computer readable medium of claim 71, wherein the correction is a gamma correction.

73. The computer readable medium of claim 71, wherein a separate correction is applied to each light source used to display the image

74. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a signal, the signal containing picture element information;

means for correcting an attribute of the picture element information; and

means for scanning a beam of light, wherein the beam of light is adjusted as a function of the correcting and the scanning creates an image.

75. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the beam of light is created with a light source and the light source is a light emitting diode, an edge emitting light emitting diode, a laser diode, a diode pumped solid state laser or a laser.

76. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the beam of light is created with a light source that conforms substantially to the Blue-ray Disk standard.

77. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the beam of light is created with a light source and the light source is an Indium gallium Nitride/gallium nitride (InGaN/GaN) light emitting diode or an InGaN/GaN edge emitting light emitting diode.

78. The apparatus of claim 74, further comprising:

means for storing the image.