3m Innovative Properties Company

Flir Systems, Incorporated

Corning Precision Lens, Inc.

Other

Happy Products, Inc.

Bruce L Cannon

Arlie R Conner

Peter Richard Oehler

Gary B Kingsley

Juliette Fassett

David M Aikens

Bruce A Dickerson

Frederic R Engstrom

James Richard Kerr

Michael E Fossey

Eric Aspnes

John J McDonald

For multiple viewing angle media support, and apparatus includes three support sides. Each support side includes a back support and an edge support. A top of each back support is in physical communication with an adjacent edge support clockwise about a central axis and each back support and each edge support is in physical communication with two ends of a solid interior. Each back support, each edge support, and each end is a surface of the solid interior, the solid interior is a pillow covered in fabric, a first viewing angle of the first back support is 36 degrees, a second viewing angle of the second back support is 74 degrees, and a third viewing angle of the third back support is 49 degrees.

Multiple viewing angle media support

Techniques are disclosed for mounting optical elements in optical systems. A system may include a mirror assembly. The mirror assembly may include a mounting stem and a mirror. The system may further include a mounting ring. The system may further include a metering structure. The metering structure may include a receiving interface having an inner surface defining an aperture. The metering structure may be configured to receive the mounting stem within the aperture and receive the mounting ring within a gap between the mounting stem and the inner surface. The system may further include a bonding layer disposed between the mounting stem and the mounting ring. Additional apparatus and related methods are provided.

Mounting optical elements in optical systems

A table-top rear projection television employs a single large-panel (e.g., 7 inch-15 inch, 17.5 cm-38 cm, diagonal), multi-color transmissive imaging device (e.g., an amorphous silicon liquid crystal display). The rear projection television has a cabinet with a pedestal having a height and a depth that are each less than or equal to about 0.65 the height of the display screen. The display screen may have any aspect ratio of a wide format (e.g., 16:9, 15:9, 16:10) or a conventional format (i.e. 4:3).

Large-panel table-top rear projection television

1266-03028 A color display system includes a color light separator that separates incident white illumination light into red, green and blue wavelength bands to be directed to distinct color component sub-pixels (sometimes called dots) that are arranged in a dot-matrix, color triad arrangement (e.g., stripe or delta) to form individual picture elements (pixels) on a pixelated electronic image device (e.g., LCD of DMD). The entire picture is optically shifted from one set of color component sub-pixels to another in a 3-field sequence. As a result, the sets of red, green and blue color component sub-pixels appear to an observer as a single full-color image, thereby providing a dot sequential color display.

Dot-sequential color display system

The present invention is particularly useful for projection systems in which portions of an unwanted light beam overlap with the image beam. Such an overlap reduces the image contrast. Under the present invention, an aperture is used to restrict the extent of the unwanted beam while an integrator changes the shape of the light beam illuminating the image display device. The integrator changes the illumination beam so as concentrate the light in those areas of the illumination beam that are transmitted through the aperture. When the aperture and the integrator are used together in the projection system, both the image brightness and the image contrast are increased.

Contrast and brightness enhancing apertures for illumination displays

Projection lenses for use with pixelized panels (PP) are provided. The projection lenses have first and second lens units (U,U), with the first lens unit having a negative or weakly positive power and the second lens unit having a positive power. The second lens unit has first and second subunits (USand US) which provide positive power followed by negative power. The second subunit (US) of the second unit (U), in turn, has negative power followed by positive power. In this way, an overall short projection lens (e.g., BRL/f&#x2266;0.9) along with small lens elements (e.g., CA/f&#x2266;0.8) can be achieved.

Compact projection lenses for use with large format pixelized panels

Projection lenses for use with pixelized panels (PP) are provided. The projection lenses have a negative first unit (U ) separated from a positive second unit (U ) by a reflective surface (RS) which folds the lens' optical axis. The lenses are telecentric on the short conjugate side, have a large field of view in the direction of the long conjugate, and have low aberration levels, including, in particular, low levels of lateral color.

Low element count projection lenses for use with pixelized panels

A light engine ( ) for a projection display is provided which employs: 1) at least one light source ( ), 2) at least one TIR prism assembly ( ), and 3) at least one digital micromirror device ( ), wherein: (a) the illumination path ( ) between the light source ( ) and the prism assembly ( ) is unfolded, i.e., the illumination path is free of fold mirrors; and (b) the angle &ggr; between the illumination path ( ) and the device's horizontal axis ( ) is preferably less than or equal to about 20&deg;.

TIR prism for DMD projector

An electronic (e.g., LCD) projector combines multiple projection lens assemblies with equal color component optical path lengths to provide improved display images and a compact arrangement. In one implementation, the projector includes a successive pair of angled dichroic mirrors that fold the red and blue color components of light in opposed directions. The green color component of light passes through the dichroic mirrors toward a pixelated electronic light modulator, such as a liquid crystal display, and an associated projection lens assembly. The red and blue color components of light are each folded again to propagate parallel with the green color component toward a pixelated electronic light modulator, such as a liquid crystal display, and an associated projection lens assembly. The separate projection lens assemblies are arranged in a non-linear, close-packed arrangement to receive the color components of light.

Electronic projector with equal-length color component paths

A polarization conversion system provides generally uniform polarized illumination light while maximizing illumination brightness by utilizing all illumination light, particularly the typically brightest illumination light available in a central region. In one implementation, the polarization conversion system includes a pair of lens arrays that successively receive light from an illumination source. A planar array of polarization beamsplitters is positioned adjacent the latter lens array. Each polarization beamsplitter includes a pair of elongated right-angle prisms having their respective inclined faces positioned against each other and their lengths extending vertically across multiple lenslets of the latter lens array. The polarization beamsplitter array includes coplanar top and bottom array segments, the inclined faces of the prisms of the polarization beamsplitters of the top array segment being oriented at substantially one angle (e.g., &plus;45&deg;) and the inclined faces of the prisms of the polarization beamsplitters of the bottom array segment being oriented at substantially a reversed angle (e.g., &minus;45&deg;). The top and bottom polarization beamsplitter array segments meet each other end-to-end with substantially no space between them. As a result, the polarization conversion system of the present invention provides generally uniform polarized illumination light while maximizing illumination brightness.

Integrating polarization conversion system

The imaging range finder of the invention includes a radiation transmitter, a transmitting section and a receiving section. The transmitting section directs radiation across an angular field of view by a first rotating mirror having a plurality of facets. The receiving section includes a second rotating mirror also with a plurality of facets which collects any reflected radiation. An image is produced by measuring the intensity of the reflected radiation at numerous points in the field of view. Range is determined by radiation modulation. Range may be determined more precisely at shorter ranges by modulating the radiation to produce two subcarriers and using one subcarrier to supply short range information. The finder is stabilized to preserve imaging and range finding accuracy when it is exposed to vibration or pitch-angle disturbance. The invention also discloses a method of imaging and range finding over very wide angles and at standard picture frame frequencies.

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Portland, OR, United States of America

Bruce L Cannon