Abstract: A dust boot with enhanced protection from contaminants and improved lubrication characteristic includes a dust boot body having a housing opening on one end and on an opposing end a stud opening in an upper boot wall. The boot also includes a wiping lip located on an inner face of the upper boot wall in the stud opening, a grease channel on an outer surface of the upper boot wall bounded circumferentially by a rim seal, an offset opening hole through the upper boot wall into the grease channel which is offset from the wiping lip, and a flexible flap portion of said rim seal which is spaced away from said offset opening hole. The dust boot may also include an insert made from a plastic such as nylon housed in the upper boot wall such that the offset opening hole extends through the insert. The insert may also form a portion of the grease channel. The offset opening is preferably spaced opposite the flexible flap to promote the flow of grease around the outer surface of the stud.

Abstract: A method for assembling a ball and socket assembly (10) includes loading a housing (14) with a resilient preload washer (28), an inner bearing (30), a ball stud (12) and an outer bearing (36). A loading tool (50) forcefully compresses the assembled components, as a unit, to an overload compression condition (54), and then reduces the compression until an ideal compression condition (56) is achieved. The outer bearing (36) is staked in position while the loading tool (50) holds the assembled components in the ideal compression condition (56). Following the staking operation, the loading tool (50) can be removed, and a final crimping operation permanently sets the outer bearing (36) in position and holds the articulating components in the ideal, pre-load clearance established. The subject method is particularly well-suited for high production set-ups in which precise pre-load clearances must be achieved at high through put rates.

Abstract: A display system includes a light source 110 and a spatial light modulator 122 located to receive light from the light source. The spatial light modulator (e.g., a DMD) includes a number of independently controllable elements that are activated for a period of time to display light of a desired brightness. A light sensor 136 is located to determine a characteristic of light from the light source 110. A control circuit 126 is coupled to the spatial light modulator 122 and controls the period of time that the independently controllable elements are activated. This period of time is based at least in part by an input received from the light sensor 136.

Abstract: A method for assembling a ball and socket assembly (10) includes loading a housing (14) with a resilient preload washer (28), an inner bearing (30), a ball stud (12) and an outer bearing (36). A loading tool (50) forcefully compresses the assembled components, as a unit, to an overload compression condition (54), and then reduces the compression until an ideal compression condition (56) is achieved. The outer bearing (36) is staked in position while the loading tool (50) holds the assembled components in the ideal compression condition (56). Following the staking operation, the loading tool (50) can be removed, and a final crimping operation permanently sets the outer bearing (36) in position and holds the articulating components in the ideal, pre-load clearance established. The subject method is particularly well-suited for high production set-ups in which precise pre-load clearances must be achieved at high through put rates.

Abstract: A dust boot with enhanced protection from contaminants and improved lubrication characteristic includes a dust boot body having a housing opening on one end and on an opposing end a stud opening in an upper boot wall. The boot also includes a wiping lip located on an inner face of the upper boot wall in the stud opening, a grease channel on an outer surface of the upper boot wall bounded circumferentially by a rim seal, an offset opening hole through the upper boot wall into the grease channel which is offset from the wiping lip, and a flexible flap portion of said rim seal which is spaced away from said offset opening hole. The dust boot may also include an insert made from a plastic such as nylon housed in the upper boot wall such that the offset opening hole extends through the insert. The insert may also form a portion of the grease channel. The offset opening is preferably spaced opposite the flexible flap to promote the flow of grease around the outer surface of the stud.

Abstract: A method for increasing intensity resolution (bit-depth) using LED illumination. A preferred embodiment comprises determining a display time for a bit to be displayed on a display system, with the display time being based upon a weighting of the bit. If the display time is less than a minimum display time of the display system, then a light modulator and light source modulation are to be used to display the bit. If the display time is equal to or greater than the minimum display time, then a light modulator is to be used to display the bit. The use of a light source that can switch at a faster rate than the light modulator can change states and/or a light source that can produce light at multiple intensities can permit the display of less light and thereby increase the bit-depth of the display system.

Abstract: A digital circuit, system, and method for keystone correction of a projected image utilize a digital compensation engine to resize a digital image prior to projection. Preferred embodiments of the present invention utilize a compensation engine with a separable architecture in which the two-dimensional image-resizing task is partitioned to use two engines. Horizontal image resizing is performed first, followed by vertical image resizing. Two large polyphase, anti-aliasing, finite impulse response (“FIR”) filters are used to resize the data. A 639-tap filter is used for horizontal resizing, and a 383-tap filter for vertical resizing. Pixels in the corrected image can be positioned with arbitrary accuracy to avoid forming stair-stepped lines in the corrected image. The coefficients for the FIR filters can be stored with 10-bit precision to provide a resized image without loss of visible quality. The compensation engine can be readily configured with an ASIC device or in software.

Abstract: A display system includes a light source 110 and a spatial light modulator 122 located to receive light from the light source. The spatial light modulator (e.g., a DMD) includes a number of independently controllable elements that are activated for a period of time to display light of a desired brightness. A light sensor 136 is located to determine a characteristic of light from the light source 110. A control circuit 126 is coupled to the spatial light modulator 122 and controls the period of time that the independently controllable elements are activated. This period of time is based at least in part by an input received from the light sensor 136.

Abstract: A display system 100 includes a light source 110 and a color wheel 114. An optical section 112 is arranged to receive light from the light source 110 and to direct the light toward a color wheel 114. A digital micromirror device 122 is arranged to receive the light from the color wheel 114 and to direct image data toward a display. The image data includes an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns. The array of pixels is arranged as curved color bands during a first time period and rectangular color bands during a second time period. The second time period being concurrent with but of a shorter duration than the first time period.

Abstract: A display system 100 includes a light source 110 and a color wheel 114. An optical section 112 is arranged to receive light from the light source 110 and to direct the light toward a color wheel 114. A digital micromirror device 122 is arranged to receive the light from the color wheel 114 and to direct image data toward a display. The image data includes an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns. The array of pixels is arranged as curved color bands during a first time period and rectangular color bands during a second time period. The second time period being concurrent with but of a shorter duration than the first time period.

Abstract: An improved display system includes LED light sources for providing red, green, and blue light. A controller for the display system includes a sequencer that controls the timing and sequence of image data to a spatial light modulator (e.g., a DMD) and activation of the light sources. The sequencer can control the timing and sequence of the light sources according to a display mode that can include such things as white point information, color-look information, timing of PWM sequences, and/or color cycle rate information. The display mode can be set during manufacturing or can be programmable. In some embodiments, the controller can include memory for storing multiple display modes and a user can select among the display modes to change the look of a displayed image. In some embodiments, a programming device can be provided allowing a user to customize the display modes.

Abstract: A spatial light modulator clocking method, called fast-clear, which employs embedded clear hardware in the SLM to enable the fast-clear bit to generate least-significant short-bit periods and without any bit ordering restrictions. In this method, fast data clears 34 are inserted between block data loads 32, 36 within a frame refresh period. This method virtually eliminates the artifacts associated with the earlier reset-release timing method without the bit-ordering restriction of the jog-clear method.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for use with a discrete bit display system such as a DLP® display system for increasing brightness by using secondary light bits (such as spoke bits that are otherwise wasted). The light available from the secondary bits is distributed over the entire input/output dynamic range by determining the maximum possible output and then defining the dynamic output range from zero to that maximum range in response to the full range of the input signals.