System and method for projecting sub-frames onto a surface

• US 20070052934A1
• Filed: 09/06/2005
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Damera-Venkata, Niranjan, Widdowson, Simon, An Chang, Nelson
• Granted Patent: US 7,387,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 353/94
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/14 Details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3147 Multi-projection systems displays in general H04N9/12; video walls G06F3/1446, G09G2300/026

Abstract

A display system includes a housing including a plurality of bays. The system includes a plurality of removable projector modules configured to project images onto a surface. Each projector module is configured to be inserted into and removed from one of the bays. The system includes a controller coupled to the bays for sensing when projector modules are inserted into or removed from the bays.

Claims

1. A display system comprising:

a housing including a plurality of bays;

a plurality of removable projector modules configured to project images onto a surface, each projector module configured to be inserted into and removed from one of the bays; and

a controller coupled to the bays for sensing when projector modules are inserted into or removed from the bays.

2. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller is implemented as a removable module that is configured to be inserted into and removed from one of the bays.

3. The display system of claim 1, wherein the projector modules are hot-swappable.

4. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to receive image data for a first image and generate at least one sub-frame for each of the projector modules based on the image data.

5. The display system of claim 4, wherein the projector modules are configured to project the generated sub-frames onto a target surface.

6. The display system of claim 5, wherein the projected sub-frames at least partially overlap on the target surface.

8. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to automatically determine a geometric mapping between a projector module inserted into one of the bays and a reference projector upon sensing the insertion of the projector module into one of the bays.

9. The display system of claim 8, wherein the geometric mapping is determined based on images captured by a camera module inserted into one of the bays.

10. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to sense failure of projector modules inserted into the projector bays.

11. The display system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the projector modules includes a single color mode for projecting a single color at a time and a multiple color mode for projecting multiple colors at a time.

12. The display system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to cause at least one of the projector modules to switch modes in response to sensing a failure of a projector module.

13. The display system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the projector modules includes a color wheel that includes a plurality of different color filters, and wherein the color wheel is configured to rotate in the multiple color mode, and is configured to be held in one position in the single color mode.

14. The display system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of projector modules includes at least three projector modules that are each dedicated to projecting a single unique color.

7. The display system of 1, and further comprising:

at least one removable camera module configured to be inserted into and removed from one of the bays.

15. A method of displaying an image with a display system, the method comprising:

receiving image data for the image;

generating a first sub-frame and a second sub-frame corresponding to the image data;

projecting the first sub-frame with a first projector onto a target surface;

projecting the second sub-frame with a second projector onto the target surface, wherein the first and the second sub-frames at least partially overlap on the target surface;

automatically detecting a change in available resources of the display system; and

automatically modifying operation of the first projector in response to detection of removal or failure of the second projector, thereby continuing normal operation of the display system.

16. The method of claim 15, and further comprising:

transmitting projector specification data from the first and second projectors.

17. The method of claim 16, and further comprising:

automatically optimizing the display system based on the transmitted specification data and on detected available resources.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein detecting a change in available resources includes detecting at least one of an addition, removal, or failure, of a projector in the display system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first and second projectors are implemented as modules that are configured to be inserted into and removed from a housing having a plurality of bays.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the display system includes a controller module for generating the first and second sub-frames, and wherein the controller module is configured to be inserted into and removed from one of the bays.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the display system includes a removable camera module configured to be inserted into and removed from one of the bays.

22. The method of claim 18, and further comprising:

automatically determining a geometric mapping between a projector and a reference projector upon detecting the addition of a projector to the display system.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the first and the second projectors includes a single color mode for projecting a single color at a time and a multiple color mode for projecting multiple colors at a time.

24. The method of claim 23, and further comprising:

switching modes of at least one of the first and the second projectors in response to detecting a failure of a projector in the display system.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the first and the second projectors are each configured to project a single unique color.

26. A display system for displaying an image, the system comprising:

a buffer adapted to receive image data for the image;

a controller configured to define a plurality of sub-frames corresponding to the image data;

a plurality of projection devices adapted to project the plurality of sub-frames onto a target surface in an overlapping manner; and

wherein the controller is configured to automatically sense a change in available resources of the display system, and automatically modify operation of a first one of the projection devices in response to detection of removal or failure of a second one of the projection devices, thereby compensating for the removal or failure of the second projection device.

27. A control system for generating low-resolution sub-frames for simultaneous projection by a system of projectors onto a viewing surface at spatially offset positions to generate the appearance of a high-resolution image, the control system comprising:

means for receiving a first high-resolution image;

means for generating a plurality of low-resolution sub-frames based on the first high-resolution image;

means for automatically detecting a failure of a projector in the system of projectors; and

means for causing at least one of the projectors to switch between a single color mode for projecting a single color at a time and a multiple color mode for projecting multiple colors at a time when a failure of a projector is detected.

28. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of generating low-resolution sub-frames for simultaneous projection by a projector system onto a viewing surface at spatially offset positions to generate the appearance of a high-resolution image, comprising:

receiving image data for the image;

generating a plurality of sub-frames corresponding to the image data;

sensing a change in status of the projector system, including whether a projector has been added to or removed from the projector system; and

automatically causing a change in operation of a first projector in the projector system upon sensing removal of a second projector from the projector system, thereby compensating for the removal of the second projector.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein sensing a change in status of the projector system includes sensing whether a projector in the projector system has failed, and wherein the method further comprises:

automatically causing a change in operation of the first projector upon sensing a failure of the second projector, thereby compensating for the failure of the second projector.