Color laser image generation

• US 7,993,005 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2006
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Peterson, Mark David
• Primary Examiner(s): Ko; Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Reilly-Diakun; Jori S
• Application Number:
  US11/558,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20080112028A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: 250/234, 348/750, 348/754, 353 30- 31, 353/85, 353 98- 99, 353121-122, 353/94, 353/196.1, 353/197.1, 353/199.2, 353/204.1, 353/204.4, 359/196.1, 359/197.1, 359/199.2, 359/204.1, 359/204.4, 372/9, 372/24
• US Class Current: 353/30
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/105 with one or more pivoting mirrors or galvano-mirrors G02B26/101 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3129 scanning a light beam on the display screen scanning a light beam on a screen in displays other than projection devices G09G3/02; scanning systems in general G02B26/10; projectors using laser light sources in general H04N9/3161
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3164 using multiple light sources

Abstract

An image display device including a plurality of laser light sources arranged to produce angularly offset beams of light, and scanning optics configured to raster scan the angularly offset beams of light simultaneously across separate parallel lines of pixels of a display surface to form an image, wherein each beam of light scans substantially the entire display surface.

Claims

1. An image display device, comprising:

a plurality of laser light sources arranged to produce angularly offset beams of light; and

scanning optics configured to raster scan the angularly offset beams of light simultaneously across separate parallel lines of pixels of a display surface to form an image,

wherein each beam of light scans substantially the entire display surface;

wherein the plurality of laser light sources are on at the same time;

wherein the image comprises a plurality of separate lines of pixels; and

wherein the separate parallel lines of pixels of the display surface each comprise different lines of pixels of the image.

2. The display device of claim 1, wherein the separate parallel lines of pixels are rows of pixels.

3. The display device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of laser light sources comprises red, green and blue laser light sources.

4. The display device of claim 1, wherein the separate parallel lines of pixels are separated by N lines of pixels.

5. The display device of claim 1, further comprising a display surface.

6. The display device of claim 1, further comprising a photodetector disposed outside of a field of view of the image display device.

7. The display device of claim 1, wherein the scanning optics comprise a scanning mirror.

8. An image display device, comprising:

a first laser light source configured to produce a first beam of light;

a second laser light source configured to produce a second beam of light at an angle to the first beam of light; and

a scanning mirror configured to simultaneously raster scan the first beam of light and the second beam of light at different angles across substantially an entire display surface to form an image;

wherein the first beam of light illuminates a first line of pixels of the image; and

wherein the second beam of light illuminates a second line of pixels of the image.

9. The image display device of claim 8, wherein the angle corresponds to a separation in the laser beams of N lines of pixels of the image, wherein N is an integer.

10. The image display device of claim 9, further comprising a third laser light source configured to produce a third beam of light at angles to each of the first and second beams of light such that the third beam of light is separated from the second beam of light by N lines of pixels of the image and from the first beam of light by 2N pixels of the image, and wherein the scanning mirror is configured to scan a number of lines of pixels in the image plus at least 4N additional lines of pixels.

11. The image display device of claim 8, further comprising a third laser light source, wherein each laser light source is configured to produce light of a different color.

12. The image display device of claim 8, further comprising a display surface.

13. A method of displaying an image with an image display device, the method comprising:

producing a plurality of beams of light via a plurality of lasers, wherein each beam of light is angularly offset from the other beams of light; and

simultaneously scanning the plurality of beams of light along separate parallel lines of pixels of a display surface to form the image, wherein each beam of light is scanned across substantially an entire area of the display surface;

wherein the plurality of laser light sources are on at the same time; and

wherein the separate parallel lines of pixels of the display surface each comprise different lines of pixels of the image.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein simultaneously scanning the plurality of beams of light along separate parallel lines of pixels comprises scanning the plurality of beams of light along separate parallel rows of pixels.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein simultaneously scanning the plurality of beams of light along separate parallel lines of pixels comprises scanning the plurality of beams of light along parallel columns of pixels.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein simultaneously scanning the plurality of beams of light comprises simultaneously scanning at least three beams of light along three separate parallel lines of pixels.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the lines of pixels have a separation of N lines of pixels, wherein N is an integer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the image display device includes a scanning mirror, and wherein scanning the plurality of beams of light comprises scanning the scanning mirror at least a number of lines of pixels in the image plus at least 4N additional lines of pixels per image.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising detecting a position of at least one of the beams of light with a photodetector and determining an alignment of the laser that produces the beam of light via a signal from the photodetector.