Patents Examined by Joris S Reilly-Diakun
  • Patent number: 8632191
    Abstract: A projector includes: an electro-optic device which modulates light emitted from a light source; a projection lens which projects the light modulated by the electro-optic device; and a lens shift mechanism which shifts the projection lens in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the projection lens, wherein the lens shift mechanism includes a shift unit which supports the projection lens and shifts the projection lens in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis, a guide unit which guides the shift of the shift unit, and a drive unit which moves the shift unit, and the drive unit includes a rotation section as a rotated part which has a first bevel gear rotating around a center axis extending in the same direction as that of the optical axis, and a transmission section which has a second bevel gear engaging with the first bevel gear and transmits the rotation of the rotation section to the shift unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 8628198
    Abstract: Lighting systems, apparatus, and methods are disclosed, which employ optical transmission of two-dimensional control signals to manipulate lighting elements. The lighting apparatus can include a projector with an IR LED array to wirelessly transmit pixel information onto a target space. The pixel information controls lighting elements within the target space. The two-dimensional control signals can includes subareas corresponding to lighting elements in a control array. The lighting elements can be lights producing light of desired wavelengths including infrared and/or visible wavelengths. LEDs can be used as light sources in exemplary embodiments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: LSI Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Bassam D. Jalbout, Brian Wong
  • Patent number: 8628196
    Abstract: A display device and its display method are provided. The display method includes: first, inputting image message, then generating laser beams for forming an image according to the input image message to display an image. The image message includes angular message of each image pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Ocean of Peace Scientific Beijing Ltd.
    Inventors: Xuefeng Song, Jiangliang Li
  • Patent number: 8622552
    Abstract: A media player includes a display and a main body. The display includes a cover and a display panel located on the cover. The host includes a housing, a control module received in the housing, with a projecting unit also received in the housing. The housing is rotatably connected to the cover and operable to be covered by the cover. The control module is for generating video signals to display in the display panel. The projecting unit is for converting the video signals into optical signals and projecting the optical signals out of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignees: Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chin-Sung Yang, He-Li Wang
  • Patent number: 8616710
    Abstract: A light source system includes a luminescent wheel, a driving unit for rotating the luminescent wheel, a light source for shining excitation light on to a luminescent material layer of the luminescent wheel, a light shining control unit for controlling an illumination timing of the light source, a light shining time integrating unit for integrating individual excitation light shining times to a plurality of predetermined divided areas of the luminescent wheel, an integrated light shining time storage unit for storing the individual light shining times to the predetermined divided areas, and a light shining range control unit for equalizing times over which excitation light is shone on to the plurality of predetermined divided areas of the luminescent wheel based on the individual excitation light shining times to the predetermined divided areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuyasu Fukano
  • Patent number: 8616711
    Abstract: A projection type image display apparatus in which shortening of the projection distance (widening of the angle of view) and miniaturization of the projection optic system are realized is provided. It comprises, in a traveling direction of the light, an image display element, a lens group including a plurality of lenses, a first lens, a second lens, and a mirror to reflect light emitted from the second lens to be projected obliquely on a screen in this order. The refractive power of the first lens is positive and the refractive power of the second lens is negative. The first and the second lenses are moved in an interlocked relationship with each other along an optical axis of the lens group and a movement amount of the first lens is made larger than a movement amount of the second lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masahiko Yatsu
  • Patent number: 8616709
    Abstract: In a projection display apparatus in which a laser beam source and an optical engine are connected together through an optical fiber, safety is improved against temperature rise in the optical fiber and its periphery. A projection display apparatus includes a temperature sensor 4 provided on the end portion, of the side of an optical engine 6, of an optical fiber group 1 for connecting a laser beam source 5 and the optical engine 6 to each other, in which, by detecting temperature and informing to a controlling unit 71 for controlling the laser beam source 5, when temperature rise exceeding a set value having been set previously is detected, the controlling unit 71 is made to control so as to decrease or stop output from the laser beam source 5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Shinji Yagyu
  • Patent number: 8596795
    Abstract: A projector includes: an illumination device including plural solid-state light sources, plural collimator lenses that are provided to correspond to the plural solid-state light sources and substantially parallelize lights generated in the plural solid-state light sources, respectively, a focusing system that focuses the lights from the collimator lenses on a predetermined focusing position, and a diverging light generation part that is located near the focusing position and generates diverging light in an incident region where the light from the focusing system enters; a light modulation device that modulates the light from the illumination device in response to image information in a light modulation region; and a projection system that projects the light from the light modulation device, wherein an area of the incident region in the diverging light generation part is equal to or less than 1/102th of an area of the light modulation region in the light modulation device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Koichi Akiyama
  • Patent number: 8596797
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a light source device comprises a container with a duct unit disposed above an arc tube and extends along the center axis of light reflected by a reflection surface such that cooling air can flow in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of light reflected by the reflection surface. The duct unit includes a first opening disposed at a position shifted toward the traveling direction side from an opening end of the first reflection mirror, a wall portion which forms the edge of the first opening on the side opposite to the traveling direction side as a final end of the duct unit, and an inclined portion disposed in the vicinity of the edge of the first opening on the traveling direction side to bend the flowing direction of the cooling air toward an upper surface opposite to the surface having the first opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Onodera, Takahiro Takizawa
  • Patent number: 8585215
    Abstract: A projector includes: a light source, a light amount control device, an electro-optic unit, and a projection device, the light amount control device includes a light-shielding member configured to shield part of the luminous flux emitted from the light source, a holding member configured to hold the light-shielding member, the holding member is formed of a material having a coefficient of thermal conductivity lower than the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the light-shielding member, and a position changing unit configured to move or rotate in order to change the position of the light-shielding member, the light-shielding member is attached to the position changing unit via the holding member, and the light-shielding member comes into contact with the holding member via a projection provided on at least one of the light-shielding member and the holding member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hirohisa Nakano
  • Patent number: 8585213
    Abstract: A projection display device that includes a set of light source units (e.g., lasers or LEDs) and a control mechanism that monitors performance of each of the units, as well as external factors, e.g., time, ambient temperature, etc. is provided. The control mechanism may dynamically adjust each light source unit, for example, to maximize longevity. In operation, an optical modulator is configured to selectively transmit light produced by a subset of the light source units according to video data included in a video signal provided to the projection-type display device. A projection lens system is configured to project light transmitted by the optical modulator along a projection path. A sensor detects real time readings related to the performance of the set of light source units. In accordance with the readings, a control circuitry dynamically controls the laser set to dynamically vary the luminance of the set of light source units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: Transpacific Image, LLC
    Inventor: William J. Plut
  • Patent number: 8579442
    Abstract: Systems, devices and methods that enable advertisement on mobile computing applications are provided. More specifically, described herein are devices and methods that are capable of delivering relatively more friendly advertising information to a user while causing less interference on graphics-based user interfaces of such devices. Integral projector modules which may be embedded in mobile computing devices are also provided. These modules may be capable of externally projecting advertising content upon most any surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Transpacific Image, LLC
    Inventor: William J. Plut
  • Patent number: 8573785
    Abstract: Optical systems operable to emit an output beam having fast-switched wavelengths are provided. In one embodiment, an optical system includes a laser and a wavelength conversion device. The laser emits a pump beam that switches between at least two fundamental spectral peaks at different wavelengths at a wavelength cycling period that is shorter than a response time of the human eye. The wavelength conversion device includes a non-linear optical medium configured to phase match the frequency doubling of the at least two switched fundamental spectral peaks such that an output beam that switches between at least two frequency-converted spectral peaks at different converted-wavelengths is emitted from an output facet of the wavelength conversion device when the pump beam of the optical source is incident on an input facet of the wavelength conversion device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Corning Incorporated
    Inventors: Dmitri Vladislavovich Kuksenkov, Shenping Li, Dragan Pikula, Rostislav Vatchev Roussev
  • Patent number: 8573779
    Abstract: A lighting device is provided which efficiently achieves a high brightness and a high image quality by using a solid light source which has long service life and does not need mercury. The lighting device includes a first light source section, a second light source section, a second rod integrator for combining lights emitted from the first and second light source sections, and a first rod integrator for guiding the light from the first light source section, to the second rod integrator. On an incident surface of the second rod integrator, a first region on which the light emitted from the first light source section is incident and a second region on which the light emitted from the second light source section is incident do not overlap each other, and the surface area of the first region and the surface area of the second region are different from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Shigekazu Yamagishi, Hiroshi Kitano, Yoshimasa Fushimi, Takaaki Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8567955
    Abstract: A concealing structure to at least partially conceal a sensor, light emitter or other component by at least partially preventing reflection of external light by an underlying structure. In some examples, this function is performed by a two-component masking assembly, the masking assembly including a linear polarizer to cause linear polarization of light which passes from the exterior of the device to an underlying component, and a wave plate to shift the axis of any reflected polarized light. In many cases, a high density optical fluid will further be included within the masking assembly to minimize reflections from the other components of the assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: David Thomas Amm, James J. Dudley, Peter Henry Mahowald
  • Patent number: 8567958
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for managing projection areas on a surface. A search module is configured to search for one or more markers defining one or more projection areas on a surface. An area module is configured to select a usable projection area from the one or more projection areas on the surface. A boundary module is configured to determine a boundary for the usable projection area. A constraint module is configured to constrain a projection from a projector onto the surface within the boundary of the usable projection area in response to the boundary module determining the boundary of the usable projection area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gary D. Cudak, Christopher J. Hardee, Randall C. Humes, Heather C. Miller
  • Patent number: 8567960
    Abstract: Emissive quantum photonic imagers comprised of a spatial array of digitally addressable multicolor pixels. Each pixel is a vertical stack of multiple semiconductor laser diodes, each of which can generate laser light of a different color. Within each multicolor pixel, the light generated from the stack of diodes is emitted perpendicular to the plane of the imager device via a plurality of vertical waveguides that are coupled to the optical confinement regions of each of the multiple laser diodes comprising the imager device. Each of the laser diodes comprising a single pixel is individually addressable, enabling each pixel to simultaneously emit any combination of the colors associated with the laser diodes at any required on/off duty cycle for each color. Each individual multicolor pixel can simultaneously emit the required colors and brightness values by controlling the on/off duty cycles of their respective laser diodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Ostendo Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hussein S. El-Ghoroury, Robert G. W. Brown, Dale A. McNeill, Huibert DenBoer, Andrew J. Lanzone
  • Patent number: 8567962
    Abstract: A projector includes: an electro-optic device which modulates light emitted from a light source; a projection lens which projects the light modulated by the electro-optic device; and a lens shift mechanism which shifts the projection lens in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the projection lens, wherein the lens shift mechanism includes a shift unit which supports the projection lens and shifts the projection lens in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis, a guide unit which guides the shift of the shift unit, and a drive unit which moves the shift unit, and the drive unit includes a rotation section as a rotated part which has a first bevel gear rotating around a center axis extending in the same direction as that of the optical axis, and a transmission section which has a second bevel gear engaging with the first bevel gear and transmits the rotation of the rotation section to the shift unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 8562139
    Abstract: An image display apparatus includes: a light source emitting light; a spatial light modulator having a display region, and modulating the light emitted from the light source in accordance with an image signal; a projection device projecting the light modulated by the spatial light modulator onto a projection surface including an illumination region; and a deflecting section deflecting the light that is emitted from the light source and is then incident on the spatial light modulator. In this structure, the light emitted from the light source illuminates a part of the display region of the spatial light modulator, the light is deflected by the deflecting section, and the illumination region illuminated by the light moves on the projection surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hideya Seki
  • Patent number: 8562141
    Abstract: A projection apparatus includes a fluorescence plate including a fluorescence layer configured to emit fluorescence light beams upon irradiation of the excitation lights, a first lens array, provided on a light source side of the fluorescence plate and including a plurality of lenses arranged in an array to correspond with the light-emitting elements, and configured to collect the fluorescence light beams and emit the fluorescence light beams to be parallel with one another, and a projection unit configured to form an optical image using the fluorescence light beams obtained via the first lens array and project the optical image on a projection object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Ogino