Patents Examined by Jori S Reilly-Diakun
  • Patent number: 9086618
    Abstract: A projector includes: a laser light source that emits laser light; a condensing optical system that collimates the laser light; a holographic recording medium that, when laser light for reproduction is incident thereupon, emits a reproduced holographic optical image on the basis of a holographic image; a light modulation element that modulates the reproduced holographic optical image and emits the result to a projection optical system as an optical image for projection; a projection optical system that projects the optical image for projection; and a focal depth adjustment unit that adjusts a focus depth of the ray bundle projected by the projection optical system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Akinobu Suga
  • Patent number: 9086619
    Abstract: An optical device featuring high efficiency and luminance is provided. The optical device includes carrier generation layer that causes fluorescence to occur with incident light, plasmon excitation layer that excites first surface plasmons with said fluorescence, carrier generation layer being laminated on carrier generation layer, and exit layer that extracts the first surface plasmons or light that occurs on an opposite surface of carrier generation layer contact surface of plasmon excitation layer to the outside. Carrier generation layer contains metal particles that excite second surface plasmons with said incident light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masanao Natsumeda, Shin Tominaga, Masao Imai
  • Patent number: 9081269
    Abstract: A lighting device equipped with means for receiving and delivering multimedia content is described. Such a device can be mounted on any type of pre-existing standard lamp-holder so as to transform it into a sophisticated system for providing adjustable lighting and for delivering multimedia content that can be updated as desired by the user, thus being able to be integrated in a simple and cost-effective way into the room furniture without requiring the addition of other elements or the replacement of any pre-existing lighting system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignees: AIDILAB S.R.L., SECO S.R.L., SOFTEC S.P.A.
    Inventor: Daniele Conti
  • Patent number: 9075300
    Abstract: A projector is provided with an image forming device, a light path switching element, a polarization control element, and a polarization plate. The image forming device emits first image light and second image light. The light path switching element shifts a light path of the first image light and a light path of the second image light from each other. The polarization control element controls a polarization direction of the first image light to have a first polarization direction in a first display period, controls polarization directions of the first image light and the second image light to have a second polarization direction different from the first polarization direction in a transition period, and controls the polarization direction of the second image light to have the first polarization direction in a second display period. The polarization plate is disposed on the light exit side of the polarization control element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kazuyoshi Kegasawa
  • Patent number: 9075295
    Abstract: A projector device, a method of correcting trapezoidal distortion, and a distortion correction program stored in a recording medium are provided, each of which projects an image onto a projection surface, detects inclination of the projector device with respect to a horizontal surface to output an inclination angle value of the projector device, corrects trapezoidal distortion in an image to be projected based on the inclination angle value, determines whether an operation device of the projector device is being operated by a user to generate a determination result, and prohibits the projector device from performing trapezoidal distortion correction when the determination result indicates that the operation device is being operated by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shigekazu Tsuji, Naoto Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9075299
    Abstract: A light source device uses a wavelength down conversion material for absorbing an excitation light and generating a converted light, and a color filter for filtering the converted light to generate a different color light as output. The wavelength conversion material is a yellow or green phosphor which absorbs blue or UV light and generates a yellow or green converted light, which has a sufficiently wide spectrum to cover some of the red color region. The color filter only allows the red component of the converted light to be output. This system is more energy efficient than using a red phosphor. This light source may be implemented as a moving phosphor wheel having multiple segments, one of which being the yellow or green phosphor with the corresponding color filter, the other segments being used to generate other colored lights such as green and blue lights.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: APPOTRONICS CORPORATION LIMITED
    Inventors: Fei Hu, Yi Li
  • Patent number: 9063404
    Abstract: A light source apparatus comprises: a plurality of light sources that emit light having a wide spread angle at a fast axis and a narrow spread angle at a slow axis, a first refractive optical element that converts light emitted from the plurality of light sources at the fast axis to parallel light, and a second refractive optical element that converts the light emitted from the plurality of light sources at the slow axis to parallel light. The plurality of light sources are arranged along the fast axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Michihiro Okuda
  • Patent number: 9063403
    Abstract: A projector includes a light source that emits excitation light, a fluorescent body that converts the excitation light into fluorescence, a liquid crystal optical modulation device that modulates light output from the fluorescent body, an optical sensor that detects at least one of the excitation light passing through the fluorescent body and the fluorescence converted by the fluorescent body, and a control device that controls at least one of the light source and the liquid crystal optical modulation device based on a detection result of the optical sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masahide Tsuda, Osamu Saito, Kenichi Shioiri, Shigehiro Yanase
  • Patent number: 9063400
    Abstract: A light source device includes a reflector that reflects light received from an arc tube toward an illumination receiving area, and a housing that houses the reflector to form a space through which cooling air for cooling the arc tube flows. The housing has three delivery ports disposed side by side as ports from each of which the cooling air is delivered into the space. A first delivery port included in the three delivery ports is located such that the center of the first delivery port is disposed substantially at a position aligned with the optical axis of the arc tube. Second and third delivery ports included in the three delivery ports are disposed in the vicinity of one and the other sides of the first delivery port, respectively, with respect to the optical axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Katsunori Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9057940
    Abstract: A projection apparatus has a light source module including a light-emitting element, an optical path switching element, a wavelength conversion element, a first reflection element, and a first beam splitter element. The optical path switching element switches a first color beam between a first optical path and a second optical path. When the first color beam is switched to the first optical path, the first color beam is propagated to the wavelength conversion element to excite a first and second wavelength conversion layers on the wavelength conversion element to produce a second color beam and a third color beam. When the first color beam is switched to the second optical path, the first color beam is propagated to the first reflection element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Coretronic Corporation
    Inventors: Ko-Shun Chen, Tzu-Yi Yang, Chia-Hao Wang
  • Patent number: 9052580
    Abstract: An image projection apparatus includes: an image forming unit that forms an image using light from a light source; a projecting optical unit that forms a projected image of the image formed by the image forming unit; and an outer housing that houses the image forming unit and the projecting optical unit. The image forming unit and the projecting optical unit are provided in an order from a setting surface of the outer housing. A width of the outer housing in a direction perpendicular to a projection surface is larger at a position where the projecting optical unit is provided than at a position where the image forming unit is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Tetsuya Fujioka, Yasutada Tsukioka, Naoyuki Ishikawa, Hideo Kanai, Masamichi Yamada
  • Patent number: 9046697
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising a laser and/or LED light source(s), multimode optical fiber(s), light coupler(s), an optional spatial light modulator(s), and an optional projection lens(es). The light source has a 1/e half-width emission bandwidth. The light coupler couples the light source to the multimode optical fiber(s) such that objective speckle contrast is reduced. The multimode optical fiber(s) may pass light from the coupler to an optional spatial light modulator. The spatial light modulator may modulate the light to form an image. The projection lens may transfer light onto an image plane or to illuminate objects. The objective speckle contrast at the end of the multimode fiber in combination with the projection lens diameter (if employed) and wavelength diversity may result in viewed images at the viewer's eye, or other detector, exhibiting speckle contrast that may be 1% or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: JGM ASSOCIATES, INC.
    Inventors: Jeffrey G Manni, Joseph W Goodman
  • Patent number: 9046751
    Abstract: An optical excitation device for exciting a laser light source includes a wavelength converter and a moving element. The laser light source emits a first light beam. The wavelength converter includes a wheel, a motor connected to the wheel, and a wavelength converting layer disposed on a light receiving surface of the wheel for converting the first light beam with the first wavelength into a second light beam with a second wavelength. The moving element is connected to the wavelength converter for moving the wavelength converter relative to the laser light source. There is a first reaction area between the laser light source and the wavelength converter when only the motor is operated, there is a second reaction area between the laser light source and the wavelength converter when both the motor and the moving element are operated, and the second reaction area is greater than the first reaction area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Hui-Hsiung Wang, Yu-Hsuan Sha
  • Patent number: 9046752
    Abstract: A projector includes a light modulation part modulating light generated by a light source part, a video signal processing part processing a video signal to be input, and a projection optical system projecting the light modulated by the light modulation part onto an external projection target to obtain a projected video image. The video signal processing part includes a blue light effect alleviating part alleviating effects of blue light on retinas. In a case where only a ratio of a blue signal included in the video signal is high, the blue light effect alleviating part performs control to reduce the brightness of the projected video image as a whole by reducing signal values of the blue signal, a green signal, and a red signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Katsumi Asakawa
  • Patent number: 9046750
    Abstract: A light source apparatus includes excitation light sources, a phosphor unit, a dichroic mirror that reflects excitation light supplied from the excitation light sources toward the phosphor unit and that transmits fluorescent light emitted from the phosphor unit, and a collimator lens that is provided between the dichroic mirror and the phosphor unit and whose focal distance varies according to the wavelength. The phosphor unit is arranged at a position determined by the focal distance of the collimator lens for the fluorescent wavelength. The collimator lens includes low-dispersion lenses and a high-dispersion lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: NEC Display Solutions, Ltd.
    Inventor: Masateru Matsubara
  • Patent number: 9046753
    Abstract: A projector includes a plurality of light source boxes (1R, 1G, 1B) each accommodating at least one solid-state light source, emission colors of accommodated solid-state light sources being different from each other, a plurality of photodetectors (205c, 206c, 207c) that are provided within respective light source boxes and that detect light from the solid-state light sources, a plurality of drive units (202 to 204) that supply current to solid-state light sources (205b, 206b, 207b) provided within respective light source boxes, and a controller (201) that holds a reference value for the solid-state light source provided within each light source box for each emission color, that causes each drive to supply current to the solid-state light source provided within each light source box, and that adjusts the amount of current output from each drive unit such that the output value of each photodetector is at a reference value which corresponds to the emission color of the solid-state light source which is a corresp
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: NEC DISPLAY SOLUTIONS, LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroaki Takamatsu
  • Patent number: 9039197
    Abstract: A projecting apparatus is disposed within a space defined with first, second and third imaginary planes perpendicular to one another and includes a light source, a prism, a reflecting mirror, and a reflective light valve. The light source emits a light beam propagating along a first optical path parallel with the first and second imaginary planes. The prism is disposed in the first optical path, and refracts the light beam to propagate along a second optical path. The reflecting mirror is disposed in the second optical path, and reflects the light beam to propagate along a third optical path. The reflective light valve is disposed in the third optical path, and has an active plane parallel with the second imaginary plane. Therefore, the light source can be placed horizontally with respect to the reflective light valve to reduce the space occupied by the light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Huai-Ming Tu, Sheng-Wei Lin
  • Patent number: 9039196
    Abstract: An image displaying apparatus including a light source, an image displaying element configured to control exiting of incident light to display an image, an illumination optical system configured to illuminate the image displaying element with light exiting from the light source, and a projection optical system configured to project an image displayed on a display surface of the image displaying element, to provide an enlarged display. The projection optical system includes a lens optical system, a first mirror configured to reflect light transmitted through the lens optical system, and a second mirror configured to reflect light reflected from the first mirror toward the surface to be projected onto, and one of the mirrors is arranged at a position conjugate to the image displaying element, and wherein an optical surface of the one mirror is arranged to face vertically downward.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Makoto Hirakawa, Hibiki Tatsuno, Takanobu Osaka, Yasuyuki Shibayama, Kiichiro Nishina
  • Patent number: 9039186
    Abstract: A projector includes: a light source device; a light modulation device adapted to modulate a light beam emitted from the light source device; a light transmissive substrate adapted to transmit the light beam modulated by the light modulation device; and a projection optical device adapted to project the light beam transmitted through the light transmissive substrate, wherein the light modulation device includes a first light modulation unit having a plurality of pixels arranged, the pixels having colors different from each other, and the light transmissive substrate is disposed so as to be tilted with respect to an imaginary plane perpendicular to a light axis of the light beam modulated by the first light modulation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroaki Yanai, Eiji Morikuni
  • Patent number: 9039190
    Abstract: A projector including a light source unit, a lens integrator system, a light modulator having an image formation region where light from the lens integrator system is modulated in accordance with image information, and a projection system that projects light from the light modulator, wherein the projection system is so disposed that the optical axis of the light incident on the projection system is shifted from the optical axis of the projection system in a predetermined direction when the projection system is viewed in the direction in which the light travels toward the projection system, and the lens integrator system is so configured that illuminance of the light on a first side corresponding to the predetermined direction in the image formation region is higher than illuminance of the light on a second side that is opposite the first side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Katsumi Tanaka