DEVICES AND METHODS FOR ENHANCING BRIGHTNESS OF DISPLAYS USING ANGLE CONVERSION LAYERS
First Claim
1. An illumination apparatus comprising:
- a light guide that guides light propagating therein at an angle greater than a critical angle for the light guide and ejects light from the light guide to provide illumination;
diffractive microstructure disposed to receive ambient light at a first angle smaller than said critical angle and to diffract said ambient light to produce diffracted light at a second larger angle; and
light-turning features configured to turn the diffracted light and direct the turned light out of the light guide.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to enhancing the brightness of displays that employ illumination systems. In some embodiments, the illumination systems include light guides, diffractive microstructure, and light-turning features. The diffractive microstructure may be configured to receive ambient light at a first angle and produce diffracted light at a second angle greater than the first angle and greater than the critical angle for of light guide. The light is thereby guided within the light guide. The light-turning features may be configured to turn the light guided within the light guide out of a light guide and onto, for example, a spatial light modulator at near normal incidence.
85 Citations
52 Claims
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1. An illumination apparatus comprising:
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a light guide that guides light propagating therein at an angle greater than a critical angle for the light guide and ejects light from the light guide to provide illumination; diffractive microstructure disposed to receive ambient light at a first angle smaller than said critical angle and to diffract said ambient light to produce diffracted light at a second larger angle; and light-turning features configured to turn the diffracted light and direct the turned light out of the light guide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of manufacturing an illumination apparatus comprising:
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providing a light guide that guides light propagating therein at an angle greater than a critical angle for the light guide and ejects light therefrom to provide illumination; disposing diffractive microstructure to receive ambient light at a first angle smaller than said critical angle and to diffract said ambient light to produce diffracted light at a second larger angle; and providing light-turning features configured to turn the diffracted light and direct the turned light out of the light guide. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. An illumination apparatus comprising:
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means for guiding light propagating therein at an angle greater than a critical angle for the light guiding means and ejecting light from the light guiding means to provide illumination; means for diffracting ambient light received at a first angle smaller than said critical angle to produce diffracted light at a second larger angle; and means for turning the diffracted light and directing the turned light out of said light guiding means. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. An illumination apparatus comprising:
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a light guide that guides light propagating therein at an angle greater than a critical angle for the light guide and ejects light from the light guide to provide illumination; and an angle converting structure disposed to receive ambient light at a first angle greater than said critical angle and to diffract said ambient light to produce diffracted light at a second smaller angle, wherein said angle converting structure comprises at least one of a diffractive and holographic layer. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52)
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Specification