Light Shield, Mask, Hood, Or Diaphragm Patents (Class 353/97)
  • Patent number: 11886107
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of projection, and in particular, relate to a projection method and a projection device. The projection method includes: acquiring a projection image and an environmental image when a screen picture is projected to a projection region, wherein the environmental image includes an image when a predetermined projection screen picture is projected to the projection region or an image when no screen picture is projected to the projection region; regulating an aperture based on the projection image and the environmental image, wherein the aperture is configured to control a light flux projected to the projection region. Therefore, by adjusting the light flux, impacts caused by the stray light may be mitigated, and a relationship between projection contrast and luminance may be better coordinated, such that the projection contrast and luminance are effectively balanced and hence projection quality is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: IVIEW DISPLAYS (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LTD.
    Inventors: Yong Li, Zhiqiang Gao, Steve Yeung, Tak Yeung
  • Patent number: 11838691
    Abstract: An illumination system is disclosed, and such system may include a first light modulator (14) that modulates the phase of beamlets of light and generates phase modulated Gaussian beamlets of light (ABC), a light distributor (18) that transforms, the Gaussian beamlets of light to a homogenized rectangular pattern of light, and a second light modulator (56) that utilizes the phase modulated light to form an image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Snap Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua T. Wiersma, Michael Dubinovsky
  • Patent number: 11762264
    Abstract: There is provided a projection system including a plurality of projectors that perform edge blending, each of the plurality of projectors including: an image display element; a light blocking plate that reduces an amount of light in an edge overlapping portion of a light bundle; and an aperture diaphragm that changes an amount of light traveling-toward an object to be projected, wherein when a circle formed by an outermost perimeter of a light passing region obtained when the aperture diaphragm is completely opened is defined as a reference circle, the aperture diaphragm partially covers the inside of the reference circle such that an outline of the reference circle is divided into three or more sections in a state where the aperture diaphragm is narrowed to make an area of the light passing region inside the reference circle half the reference circle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA PLANETARIUM CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masatoshi Hirose
  • Patent number: 11692680
    Abstract: A projection lamp and a lamp holder include a housing defining a projection port, a lampshade covered on the projection port of the housing, and a projection lamp assembly. Light is emitted from the projection port. The projection lamp assembly includes at least two light sources and a first corrugated sheet. Patterns are provided on the first corrugated sheet. The at least two light sources are configured to emit the light. The light passes through the first corrugated sheet and the lampshade to emit out. Projection brightness of the at least two light sources is great and the first corrugated sheet is replaceable. A projected image is replaced by replacing a pattern-changing gear in tan inserting groove. Light strips are arranged on an outer wall of the projection lamp to create a visual atmosphere effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: SHENZHEN XIANZHUO TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD
    Inventors: Bofeng Yang, Xianqi Lu
  • Patent number: 11675433
    Abstract: A picture generation unit emits a light field. A mirror reflects the light field toward a windshield of a motor vehicle such that the light field is reflected off of the windshield and is visible to the driver as a virtual image. An infrared emitter transmits infrared energy through the mirror such that the infrared energy is substantially co-axial with the light field, and such that the infrared energy is reflected off of the windshield toward the human driver. An infrared camera captures infrared images based on the transmitted infrared energy reflected off of the human driver and received by the infrared camera. Eye tracking is performed based on the captured infrared images. The infrared energy is transmitted at a higher power level at a beginning of the eye tracking than after the beginning of the eye tracking.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America, Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America
    Inventor: Liang Yuan
  • Patent number: 11415288
    Abstract: Provided is a lamp for a vehicle capable of forming a plurality of different beam patterns. The vehicle lamp includes a light source system, a lens system, and a shield system. The lens system includes a plurality of incident lenses onto which light emitted from the light source system is incident and a plurality of exit lenses to output the light incident thereto from the plurality of incident lenses to form a predetermined beam pattern. The shield system includes a plurality of main shields to block some of light beams from being directed to the plurality of exit lenses, wherein each of the plurality of shields includes a blocking surface to block a light beam from being directed to the plurality of exit lenses and at least one transmission hole formed in the blocking surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: SL Corporation
    Inventors: Dong Hyun Go, Hyo Jin Han, Joo Jin Chang
  • Patent number: 11215833
    Abstract: Provided are an imaging element configured to display an image, a projection optical system configured to project an image from the imaging element, and a two-stage structural diaphragm including a first diaphragm forming a first aperture portion in the projection optical system, and a second diaphragm forming a second aperture portion in the projection optical system, in which inclinations of a principal ray, relative to an image plane of an imaging element, of imaging light emitted from a peripheral portion of the image plane differ between in a first direction and in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction among in-plane directions of the image plane, in which the first diaphragm and the second diaphragm in the two-stage structural diaphragm are provided at different positions corresponding to differences between the inclinations of the principal ray in the first direction and in the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masayuki Takagi, Toshiaki Miyao, Takashi Takeda, Tokito Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 11061310
    Abstract: A projector, including a light modulation module including at least one light modulator illuminated by light of at least two primary colours, light of each primary colour having at least two wavelengths or wavelength ranges, where the optical power emitted at a wavelength or wavelength range associated with a lower contrast of a projected image is lower than the optical power emitted at a wavelength associated with a higher contrast of the projected image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: BARCO NV
    Inventor: Wouter D'Oosterlinck
  • Patent number: 11060685
    Abstract: The invention relates to a projection device (1) for a motor vehicle headlight, wherein the projection device (1) is configured to project light from at least one light source (2) associated with the projection device (1) in a region in front of a motor vehicle in the form of at least one light distribution, wherein a light-impermeable coating consists of partial layers arranged in an at least planar manner one on top of the other, specifically a reflective metal first partial layer (6) and a second partial layer (6?) consisting substantially of black light-absorbing paint, wherein the first partial layer (6?) is arranged between the input lens system (3) and the second partial layer (6?).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: ZKW GROUP GMBH
    Inventors: Peter Schadenhofer, Alexander Hacker, Josef Gürtl
  • Patent number: 11022872
    Abstract: A projection system includes a light source, a projection lens, and a light-adjusting diaphragm element. The light source emits a first light having a first dominant wavelength range and a second dominant wavelength range. The projection lens is disposed on the path of the first light. The light-adjusting diaphragm element, disposed between the light source and the projection lens, has an opening and a light shielding area outside the opening, a filter is disposed in the opening, wherein a part of the first light is blocked by the light shielding area, a wavelength band corresponding to the first dominant wavelength range of other part of the first light passes through the opening, and a wavelength band corresponding to the second dominant wavelength range of the other part of the first light is blocked by the filter to become a second light having a narrow wavelength range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignees: BENQ CORPORATION, BenQ Intelligent Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Chen-Cheng Huang
  • Patent number: 11016279
    Abstract: An observation device includes: an illumination optical system that irradiates illumination light onto a sample, an objective optical system that has a phase modulation region and a light blocking region and that acquires an image of the illumination light transmitted through the sample, and an autofocus mechanism. The objective optical system selectively outputs the illumination light from a first output region disposed at a position where the illumination light is to be projected onto the phase modulation region and a second output region disposed at a position where a portion of the illumination light is to be projected onto the light blocking region. The autofocus mechanism causes the objective optical system to acquire an image of the illumination light while causing the illumination light to be output from the second output region, and detects the focus position of the objective optical system based on the contrast of the acquired image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tadashi Hirata, Masaki Higurashi
  • Patent number: 10995927
    Abstract: The invention relates to a projection device (1) for a motor vehicle headlight, wherein the projection device (1) is designed to project light of at least one light source (2) associated with the projection device (1) into a zone in front of the motor vehicle in at least one light distribution pattern, namely a low-beam light distribution pattern, a total number of the low-beam microlenses comprising at least two groups of low-beam microlenses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: ZKW Group GmbH
    Inventors: Bernhard Mandl, Andreas Moser, Friedrich Bauer, Peter Schadenhofer
  • Patent number: 10965102
    Abstract: Provided are a structured light projector that generates and projects structured light, and an electronic apparatus including the structured light projector. The structured light projector includes an illuminator configured to emit light, a pattern mask configured to form structured light by partially transmitting and partially blocking incident light from the illuminator based on a pattern of the pattern mask, and a lens configured to project the structured light. The illuminator includes a plurality of illumination areas respectively facing a plurality of areas of the pattern mask, wherein intensities of lights respectively emitted by the plurality of illumination areas are different from one other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Byunghoon Na, Jangwoo You, Namseop Kwon, Minkyung Lee, Seunghoon Han
  • Patent number: 10948809
    Abstract: An image projection apparatus includes an optical element configured to change a light amount of light emitted from the light source, an information acquirer configured to acquire information on a gradation of the image signal, a corrector configured to correct the image signal in accordance with a change in the light amount, and a controller configured to correct the image signal based on at least one of first correction data used to correct the image signal in accordance with the change in the light amount caused by controlling the optical element, and second correction data used to correct the image signal in accordance with the change in the light amount caused by controlling the supply power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tatsuya Kimoto, Ikuo Takanashi
  • Patent number: 10928612
    Abstract: A projection lens includes a first lens, a second lens, an aperture stop, a third lens, a fourth lens, a fifth lens, a sixth, and a concave mirror sequentially arranged from a minified side to a magnified side. An outer diameter of the second lens is less than an outer diameter of the first lens. An outer diameter of the fifth lens is greater than that of the fourth lens. An outer diameter of the sixth lens is less than that of the fifth lens. The first lens, the second lens, the aperture stop, and the third lens are fixed relative to the concave mirror and the fourth lens is capable of moving along an optical axis relative to the concave mirror when the projection lens is in focusing. The projection lens includes 9 to 30 lenses with refractive power. A projector using said projection lens is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Young Optics Inc.
    Inventors: Kai-Yun Chen, Hsin-Te Chen, Kuo-Chuan Wang
  • Patent number: 10915012
    Abstract: A projection type display apparatus includes a polarization conversion element configured to convert a polarization of a light beam emitted from a light source, and a dimmer configured to control a light quantity by rotating a first light shielding plate and a second light shielding plate configured to shield the light beam that has a polarization converted by the polarization conversion element. The first light shielding plate is disposed closer to the light source than the second light shielding plate in an optical axis direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Noriyuki Natsume
  • Patent number: 10754239
    Abstract: A projection optical system (1) that projects from a first image plane on a reducing side to a second image plane on an enlargement side, including a first refractive optical system (11) that includes eight lenses (L1) to (L8) and forms a first intermediate image (31) on the enlargement side using light that is incident from the reducing side, a second refractive optical system (12) that includes six lenses (L9) to (L14) and forms the first intermediate image (31) on the reducing side into a second intermediate image (32) on the enlargement side, and a first reflective optical system (20) that includes a first reflective surface (21a) with positive refractive power that is positioned closer to the enlargement side than the second intermediate image (32).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: NITTOH INC.
    Inventor: Takahiko Matsuo
  • Patent number: 10732494
    Abstract: A projection fixture includes a lighting module that emits a light, and a projection module that projects an image. The projection fixture further includes a controller that controls operations of the lighting module and the projector module, where the light emitted by the lighting module is used for projecting the image and for illumination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Signify Holding B.V.
    Inventors: Nam Chin Cho, Parth Joshi, David George Watt
  • Patent number: 10712647
    Abstract: An illumination apparatus includes a first condenser lens configured to collect illumination light including light from the wavelength conversion element, a first lens array including a plurality of lens cells and configured to divide the illumination light from the first condenser lens into a plurality of light fluxes, a second lens array including a plurality of corresponding lens cells configured to receive the light flux from each of the plurality of lens cells in the first lens array. The first condenser lens has a spherical aberration that collects the illumination light at a position on a light source side of the first lens array, and/or a surface apex of a first lens cell disposed on an optical axis side in the first lens array is more eccentric from a contour center of the first lens cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takehito Kawasumi
  • Patent number: 10613423
    Abstract: A system of projection fixtures includes a first projection fixture recessed in a ceiling, where the first projection fixture includes a first projector device. The system further includes a second projection fixture recessed in the ceiling, where the second projection fixture includes a second projector device. The first projector device is positioned to project a first image on a first surface below the ceiling, and the second and projector device is positioned to project a second image on a second surface below the ceiling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited
    Inventors: Nam Chin Cho, Parth Joshi, David George Watt
  • Patent number: 10582855
    Abstract: A spectrometer includes an illuminating section; a receiving section configured to detect radiation reflected from an object including an optically inhomogeneous scattering medium; a hardware section configured to obtain a solution of an inverse problem to reconstruct an absorption spectrum of the optically inhomogeneous scattering medium, wherein the illuminating section includes at least one light-emitting diode source, a radiation spectral curve of which is divided, by at least two spectral filters having different spectral transmission curves, into at least two spectral regions, to form an equivalent radiation spectrum from at least two spectral sources, and wherein the hardware section applies the solution of the inverse problem based on information about a spectral content of the radiation of the illuminating section, a signal obtained in a form of a response from the optically inhomogeneous scattering medium, and a spectral sensitivity curve of the receiving section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Alexey Grigor'evich Anikanov, Sergey Vasil'evich Afanasyev, Vladislav Vladimirovich Druzhin, Alexander Victorovich Morozov
  • Patent number: 10571762
    Abstract: A display provides increased contrast and resolution via first LCD panel energized to generate an image and a second LCD panel configured to increase contrast of the image. The second panel is an LCD panel without color filters and is configured to increase contrast by decreasing black levels of dark portions of images using polarization rotation and filtration. The second LCD panel may have higher resolution than the first LCD panel. A half wave plate and/or film is placed in between the first and the second panel. The panels may be directly illuminated or edge lit, and may be globally or locally dimmed lights that may also include individual control of color intensities for each image or frame displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventor: John Gilbert
  • Patent number: 10564535
    Abstract: A display of various types of information on a subdisplay provided to a main body of a projector can be maintained even after supply of power source is stopped. According to a representative embodiment, included are: a power source connection unit connecting a power supply line for supplying, from outside, power used in a projection type image display apparatus; a nonvolatile display device provided separately from an image projection unit and displaying at least character information; and a processing unit displaying information on one or more predetermined items on the nonvolatile display device, and a state of displaying information on the nonvolatile display device is maintained even in a state where the power supply line is not connected to the power source connection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
    Inventors: Koji Hirayama, Takuya Shimizu
  • Patent number: 10520798
    Abstract: Disclosed are a housing and a projection device comprising the housing. The housing comprises a case body, the case body comprising a first substrate, a second substrate and an annular connection plate, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are arranged oppositely, the annular connection plate is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, the second substrate comprises a lens placement region in which a lens of the projection device is to be arranged, and a region, corresponding to the lens, of the annular connection plate is an opening region. The housing further comprises a knob lens cap arranged at the lens placement region, wherein the knob lens cap comprises a knob portion movably connected to the case body and extending out of the case body; and the knob portion drives the knob lens cap to rotate and move so as to shelter or expose the lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: APPOTRONICS CORPORATION LIMITED
    Inventors: Dongsheng Li, Yi Li
  • Patent number: 10509195
    Abstract: A camera module is provided. The camera module includes a lens barrel including at least one lens and a lens hole, and a variable aperture including an aperture hole area which is arranged on the lens hole formed in the lens barrel, a size of the aperture hole area being is adjustable, and an electronic device including the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kyung Bae Lee
  • Patent number: 10386569
    Abstract: Provided is an optical member having a high brightness, a low haze, and a small color change, an optical element, a liquid crystal display device, and a near-to-eye optical member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Yujiro Yanai, Yukito Saitoh, Akira Yamamoto, Nobuhiko Ichihara, Daisuke Kashiwagi, Michio Nagai
  • Patent number: 10339567
    Abstract: The disclosure is related to an advertisement service using mobile vehicles. Particularly, the disclosure relates to providing advertisement content selected based on statistical information on an advertisement target at an advertisement display location. Furthermore, the selected advertisement content may be provided to a corresponding mobile vehicle before the corresponding mobile vehicle arrives at the advertisement display location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: KT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Woo-Hyuk Choi, Seung-Kwon Lee, Deok-Moon Chang
  • Patent number: 10324296
    Abstract: A display device displays video for a virtual image. The display device includes a video generation unit generates image light representing the video, a concave mirror has a reflective surface on which the image light is reflected, and a support mechanism adjusts a position of the concave mirror. The concave mirror has, in each position on the reflective surface, a first radius of curvature in the first direction and a second radius of curvature in a second direction. The first radius of curvature and the second radius of curvature individually change and have different rates of change. The reflective surface has a shape following a partial region on an outer surface of an ellipsoid. The ellipsoid has a radius along the first direction that is greater than a radius along the second direction and a radius along a third direction orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Mitani, Katsuo Saigou, Kenya Uomori
  • Patent number: 10312656
    Abstract: A wavelength tuning system determines a temperature calibrated to a DOE of a structured light (SL) projector. The wavelength tuning system includes a camera and controller. The camera captures images of a SL pattern projected by the SL projector. The controller generates tuning instruction. The tuning instructions cause a wavelength regulator of the SL projector to set a light source of the SL projector to different temperatures. The tuning instruction also cause the camera to capture images of the structured light pattern at each of the different temperatures. Using at least some of the captured images, the controller determines the temperature calibrated to the DOE. In one embodiment, the temperature calibrated to the DOE corresponds to a wavelength of light emitted by the light source that result in an estimated minimum power of a zeroth order diffracted beam of the SL pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Andrew Matthew Bardagjy, Joseph Duggan, Cina Hazegh, Fei Liu, Mark Timothy Sullivan, Simon Morris Shand Weiss
  • Patent number: 10304085
    Abstract: The disclosure is related to an advertisement service using mobile vehicles. Particularly, the disclosure relates to providing advertisement content selected based on statistical information on an advertisement target at an advertisement display location. Furthermore, the selected advertisement content may be provided to a corresponding mobile vehicle before the corresponding mobile vehicle arrives at the advertisement display location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: KT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Woo-Hyuk Choi, Seung-Kwon Lee, Deok-Moon Chang
  • Patent number: 10222275
    Abstract: A light emitting device includes a light source which emits source light having a first wavelength, a fluorescent substance which excites fluorescent light having a second wavelength by the source light and emits the source light and the fluorescent light as illumination light, a fly-eye lens, and a light shielding unit. In the illumination light, a first wavelength component in a first region which is a portion of a region in a cross-sectional view with respect to the traveling direction of the light is smaller than that in a second region which is a region other than the first region. The light shielding unit includes a diaphragm unit which shields the illumination light L and a filter which shields the light having the second wavelength of the illumination light in the second region and transmits the light having the first wavelength of the illumination light in the second region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: JVC KENWOOD Corporation
    Inventors: Takatsugu Aizaki, Shinji Kikuma
  • Patent number: 10216073
    Abstract: A projection apparatus including an illumination system, a light valve, an optical actuation element and a projection lens is provided. The illumination system provides an illumination beam. An image display surface of the light valve includes a first region and a second region. First pixels of the first region convert the illumination beam into first sub-image beams. Second pixels of the second region convert the illumination beam into second sub-image beams. A transmission path of one of the first sub-image beams in the optical actuation element is a first transmission path. A transmission path of one of the second sub-image beams in the optical actuation element is a second transmission path. A length of the first transmission path is smaller than a length of the second transmission path. In this way, the projection apparatus has good image quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Coretronic Corporation
    Inventors: Tsung-Hsin Liao, Chun-Hsin Lu, Chun-Li Chen
  • Patent number: 10203592
    Abstract: The image projection apparatus includes a wavelength conversion element, an illumination optical system including a reflective-transmissive surface reflecting a first light and transmitting a second light, guiding the reflected first light to the wavelength conversion element, and allowing the illumination light to exit therefrom while making part of the illumination light incident on the reflective-transmissive surface. The illumination optical system or a projection optical system includes a light limiter changing a sectional area of the illumination light used for producing an image light projected to the projection surface. The reflective-transmissive surface is provided such that an incident area of the illumination light on the reflective-transmissive surface decreases with a decrease in the sectional area of the illumination light, and that the incident area of the illumination light increases with an increase in the sectional area of the illumination light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masahiro Nakada
  • Patent number: 10197895
    Abstract: A projection display device includes: a light source that emits a first and a second laser lights; a scanning drive mirror that reflects the first and the second laser lights, and uses the first and the second laser lights in scanning; a light diffusion unit that includes a predetermined region that allows the first laser light to be transmitted therethrough, and diffuses the first laser light; a light detection unit that detects the second laser light that passed the predetermined region; and a control unit that executes a process to detect the second laser light, and determines a state of the predetermined region on the basis of a detection value of the light detection unit. In a case where the control unit determines that a defect occurs in the predetermined region as the state, the control unit executes a process to stop displaying the projection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K.
    Inventors: Naoto Sakurai, Akihiro Oguri
  • Patent number: 10179534
    Abstract: A vehicle lighting apparatus that emits light diagonally toward a road surface from a vehicle includes: a light source; an image generation part that modulates light emitted from the light source and that generates an image; a light-focusing optical system that focuses light having the image generated by the image generation part; and a reflection part that reflects light focused by the light-focusing optical system toward the road surface, wherein the reflection part has a reflection surface having a curvature that is gradually increased from a projection direction rearward side toward a projection direction frontward side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: STANLEY ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shinya Hoshino
  • Patent number: 10146111
    Abstract: A light adjuster includes: a first light shield and a second light shield disposed across a central axis of an emitted light beam; a drive section; a movement mechanism configured to move the first light shield and the second light shield using a driving force; a board; and a cover member combined with the board, in which the movement mechanism includes: a pinion gear; and a first gear and a second gear configured to be rotated in conjunction with a rotation of the pinion gear, the first light shield is attached to the first gear, the second light shield is attached to the second gear, and the cover member supports the first gear and the second gear so that the first gear and the second gear are rotatable, and is combined with the board to cover the pinion gear, the first gear and the second gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akira Nemura, Shinichi Wakabayashi, Keita Tsukioka, Satoshi Chikuni
  • Patent number: 10136113
    Abstract: The projection image display apparatus of the disclosure includes a light source, a projection optical system that projects light entering an incident port, an optical modulator element, and wavelength selection filter. The optical modulator element includes multiple mirrors on its base. These mirrors are driven to switch, based on an image signal, between the ON state for reflecting a light entering from a light source toward the incident port of the projection optical system and the OFF state for reflecting a light entering from the light source in a direction other than the incident port of the projection optical system. In light entering from the light source to irradiate the optical modulator element, the wavelength selection filter reflects a light wavelength component that will be planar reflection light after being reflected on the base and entering the incident port of the projection lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yohei Katsumata, Shouichi Yoshii
  • Patent number: 9978315
    Abstract: An image display apparatus includes: a first light modulation device that includes a plurality of display pixels and modulates light based on input first image information; an illumination unit that includes a plurality of light adjustment elements and emits adjusted light to the first light modulation device; an illumination distribution storage unit that stores an illumination range in which the light emitted from the light adjustment elements illuminates the display pixels of the first light modulation device; and a light adjustment information decision unit that decides light adjustment information to control the light adjustment elements of the illumination unit based on a feature amount of the first image information corresponding to the display pixels of the illumination range stored in the illumination distribution storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi Yoshizawa
  • Patent number: 9971233
    Abstract: A projector according to an aspect of the invention includes a discharge lamp having a light emitting tube and configured to emit light, a light modulation device configured to modulate the light emitted from the discharge lamp in accordance with an image signal, a projection optical system configured to project the light modulated by the light modulation device, a first detection section configured to detect ultraviolet light out of the light emitted from the discharge lamp, and a control section configured to determine a deterioration state of the light emitting tube based on a light intensity of the ultraviolet light detected by the first detection section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Satoshi Kito
  • Patent number: 9864261
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a movable mirror system to selectively reflect an incident image projection beam traveling along a first path toward a second path different than a first path. The image projection beam displays a corrected image at a first location but would otherwise display an uncorrected image at a second location when the movable mirror system reflects the image projection beam toward the second path. The electronic device also includes an optical correction system having at least one corrective optic element to correct the image projection beam to display a corrected image at the second location when the movable mirror system reflects the image projection beam toward the second path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics LTD
    Inventor: Tzvi Philipp
  • Patent number: 9823553
    Abstract: An optical device includes a movable unit that supports a glass plate, axis portions that swingably support the movable unit around a swing axis, a support unit that supports the axis portions and, a permanent magnet that is provided in the movable unit, and a coil that is disposed to face the permanent magnet, and a coil support unit that is supported by the support unit and supports the coil. A conductive wire is wound around the coil and a drawn wire is drawn from the side of the inner circumference of the coil. The coil support unit includes a through hole overlapping the inner circumference of the coil and the drawn wire is inserted through the through hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasushi Mizoguchi, Shinichi Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 9807357
    Abstract: An electro-optic module includes an electro-optic panel to which an emission side light transmitting plate is fixed, a first frame which holds side surfaces of the electro-optic panel, and a second frame which is fixed to at least one of the electro-optic panel, the emission side light transmitting plate and the first frame on the image light emission side of the first frame. The second frame is provided with a frame-like emission side partitioning member that covers the emission side light transmitting plate from the opposite side of the electro-optic panel and holds an optical element such as an emission side polarizing plate or an emission side phase difference plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Tomoaki Miyashita
  • Patent number: 9797577
    Abstract: A wavelength converting device, a method for manufacturing the device and a lighting unit using the device can emit various color lights. The converting device can include a substrate, a filter disposed on the substrate and the wavelength converting layer including a plurality of wavelength converting chips disposed on the filter, and can be manufactured by almost cutting process. The lighting unit using the device includes a laser device, a movable mirror and a controller, which enables the laser device to generate a pulsed laser beam and enables the movable mirror to scan the pulsed laser beam into a respective one of the wavelength converting chips. Thus, the disclosed subject matter can provide the wavelength converting device, which can form various colored light distribution patterns including a white light to use for a headlight and the like, and can provide methods for efficiently manufacturing such the devices with high accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: STANLEY ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Mitsunori Harada
  • Patent number: 9791711
    Abstract: To prevent effectively the flickering of an image due to the switching of a polarization direction while reducing speckle noise. A polarization switching unit is provided in an optical path of laser light to a projection surface A and periodically switches a polarization direction of the laser light emitted therefrom between p and S polarization. A laser control unit controls laser light sources in synchronization with the switching by the polarization switching unit and determines a driving current corresponding to a grayscale to be displayed on the basis of driving current characteristics for P polarization when the polarization direction of the laser light is the P polarization. In addition, the laser control unit determines the driving current corresponding to the grayscale to be displayed on the basis of the driving current characteristics for P polarization when the polarization direction of the laser light is the S polarization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ken Nishioka, Kenji Nagashima, Atsuya Hirano, Atsuhiko Chikaoka
  • Patent number: 9703184
    Abstract: A dimmer includes a pair of pivoting sections provided across an optical axis of a light beam and having pivot axes and a pair of light blocking sections held by the pair of pivoting sections and configured to pivot following pivoting of the pivoting sections to block the light beam. In a maximum light blocking state, positions in the optical axis direction of opposed ends on the optical axis side of the pair of light blocking sections are different from each other. In the maximum light blocking state, the opposed ends on the optical axis side of the pair of light blocking sections are arranged to overlap each other in a direction along the optical axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenshi Sakai, Toshihiko Nagumo, Toshihiko Sakai, Nobuyuki Otsuki, Takuro Onota
  • Patent number: 9638990
    Abstract: A projector device of the present disclosure includes a luminous tube made of quartz glass, a concave reflecting mirror in which the luminous tube is disposed, and an optical unit for projecting an image by utilizing light emitted from the concave reflecting mirror. The luminous tube has a luminous part, in which at least mercury is enclosed inside and a pair of electrodes is disposed so as to face each other, and a pair of sealing parts extending from the luminous part in opposite directions to each other. The luminous tube is disposed so as to direct the pair of electrodes in a vertical direction. A region of the image projected from the optical unit is a horizontally long rectangle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masayoshi Yoshida, Shunsuke Ono, Naoki Uekura
  • Patent number: 9613576
    Abstract: An image display device includes a first light modulation device including a plurality of display pixels, a lighting unit including a plurality of light adjusting elements, an illumination distribution storage unit that stores an illumination range information, a light adjusting information determination unit that determines light adjusting information for controlling the light adjusting elements of the lighting unit, and a shift information acquisition unit that acquires information of a position shift between the first light modulation device and the lighting unit. The light adjusting information determination unit modifies the illumination range based on the position shift information acquired by the shift information acquisition unit, and determines the light adjusting information based on the feature quantity of the first image information corresponding to display pixels in the modified illumination range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi Yoshizawa
  • Patent number: 9594295
    Abstract: A projector includes a plurality of light sources, a light modulator that modulates light fluxes emitted from the plurality of light sources based on input information, a projection system that projects modulated light fluxes from the light modulator, a light guiding system that has different areas on which the plurality of light fluxes emitted from the plurality of light sources are incident and guides the plurality of incident light fluxes to the light modulator, a lighting state detector that detects lighting states of the plurality of light sources, and a controller that corrects the input information with correction information based on a viewing angle characteristic of the light modulator in accordance with the lighting states of the plurality of light sources detected by the lighting state detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoichi Shishido, Takashi Endo
  • Patent number: 9588410
    Abstract: A projector which includes a light source, liquid crystal light valves, a dimming mechanism, an illumination optical system, a control circuit which determines an input light amount which is caused to be input to the liquid crystal light valve on the basis of an input image signal, outputs an output image signal which is decompressed according to the input light amount, and generates a first control signal which designates a first dimming rate of a high pressure mercury lamp and a second control signal which designates a second dimming rate of the dimming mechanism based on the input light amount, an illumination driving circuit which drives the light source on the basis of the first control signal, and a douser driving circuit which drives the douser on the basis of the second control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hirosada Horiguchi, Hiroshi Yoshimoto, Tadashi Yamada
  • Patent number: 9568165
    Abstract: An illumination system for a projection device is provided. The projection device emits a first waveband light along a first optical path. The illumination system includes a wavelength conversion element, a sequential light-filtering device, and a light guiding device. The wavelength conversion element converts the first waveband light into a second waveband light along a second optical path. The sequential light-filtering device sequentially filters the first waveband light and the second waveband light along a third optical path. The light guiding device guides the first waveband light and the second waveband light along a third optical path or guides the first waveband light to the wavelength conversion element. Consequently, the first waveband light and a first light beam and a second light beam of the second waveband light are sequentially filtered by the sequential light-filtering device and projected out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: June-Jei Huang