Granted Patent B1

US 9,336,748 · App. 13/892,409 · Granted May 10, 2016

Abstract

Claims (64)

1. A method of producing an image on a multi-tiled scanning system, the method comprising:

in a first display tile, scanning a light source in a scanning direction across a first portion of the first display tile disposed at a first edge of the first display tile to produce a first portion of the image in the first display tile;

after scanning the first portion, scanning a light source across a second portion of the first display tile that is disposed at a second edge of the first display tile to produce a second portion of the image in the first display tile, wherein the second edge is positioned opposite the first edge; and

after scanning the first portion, begin a scan in second display tile by scanning a light source across a portion of the second display tile disposed at a first edge of the second display tile to produce a portion of the image in the second display tile, where the second display tile is at a location perpendicular to the scanning direction,

wherein the first edge of the second display tile is adjacent to the second edge of the first display tile, and

wherein scanning the light source across the portion of the second display tile begins immediately after a selected time delay with respect to scanning the first portion, the selected time delay being substantially equal to the duration of time between beginning scanning the first portion of the first display tile and completing scanning the second portion of the first display tile.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected time delay is a programmable delay implemented via a frame buffer associated with each of the first display tile and the second display tile.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bottom portion of the first tile comprises a bottom row of pixels and the portion of the second tile comprises a top row of pixels.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the top row of pixels of the second tile are illuminated by the scanning light source immediately after the bottom row of pixels of the first tile are illuminated.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first tile is positioned directly above the second tile.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first display tile is part of a first row of display tiles and each display tile in the first row of tiles is programmed with the same selected time delay.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second display tile is part of a second row of display tiles and each display tile in the second row of tiles is programmed with a second selected time delay.

8. The method of claim 1 , in a third display tile, scanning a light source across a portion of the third display tile disposed at a second edge of the second display tile to produce a portion of the image in the third display tile,

wherein an edge of the third display tile is adjacent to the second edge of the second display tile, and

wherein scanning the light source across a portion of the third display tile begins after a selected time delay with respect to scanning the second portion of the second display tile, the selected time delay being substantially equal to the duration of time between scanning the first portion of the second display tile and completing scanning the second portion of the second display tile.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each display tile includes a corresponding polygon scanner and the polygon scanner associated with the first display tile is offset relative to the polygon scanner associated with the second display tile.

10. A method of producing an image on a multi-tiled scanning system, the method comprising:

in a first display tile, scanning a light source across a first portion of the first display tile disposed at a first edge of the first display tile to produce a first portion of the image in the first display tile;

after scanning the first portion, scanning a light source across a second portion of the first display tile that is disposed at a second edge of the first display tile to produce a second portion of the image in the first display tile, wherein the second edge is positioned opposite the first edge; and

after scanning the first portion, in a second display tile, scanning a light source across a portion of the second display tile disposed at a first edge of the second display tile to produce a portion of the image in the second display tile, wherein the first edge of the second display tile is adjacent to the second edge of the first display tile,

wherein scanning the light source across the portion of the second display tile begins after a selected time delay with respect to scanning the first portion, the selected time delay being substantially equal to the duration of time between beginning scanning the first portion of the first display tile and completing scanning the second portion of the first display tile,

wherein the selected time delay is a programmable delay implemented via a frame buffer associated with each of the first display tile and the second display tile, and

wherein the frame buffer delays generation of the image by a programmable number of frames.

11. A method of producing an image on a multi-tiled scanning system, the method comprising:

in a first display tile, scanning a light source across a first portion of the first display tile disposed at a first edge of the first display tile to produce a first portion of the image in the first display tile;

after scanning the first portion, scanning a light source across a second portion of the first display tile that is disposed at a second edge of the first display tile to produce a second portion of the image in the first display tile, wherein the second edge is positioned opposite the first edge; and

after scanning the first portion, in a second display tile, scanning a light source across a portion of the second display tile disposed at a first edge of the second display tile to produce a portion of the image in the second display tile, wherein the first edge of the second display tile is adjacent to the second edge of the first display tile,

wherein scanning the light source across the portion of the second display tile begins after a selected time delay with respect to scanning the first portion, the selected time delay being substantially equal to the duration of time between beginning scanning the first portion of the first display tile and completing scanning the second portion of the first display tile,

wherein the selected time delay is a programmable delay implemented via a frame buffer associated with each of the first display tile and the second display tile, and

wherein the frame buffer stores a number of frames for each corresponding tile and the number of frames is a function of a frame rate of the image being produced and the duration of the selected time delay.

12. A multi-tiled scanning system, comprising:

a plurality of tiles positioned to form a single display screen, comprising:

a first row of display tiles; and

a second row of display tiles;

a light module, comprising:

a laser array for generating multiple scanning laser beams to simultaneously scan the display screen;

a signal modulation controller that controls and modulates the scanning laser beams in the laser array to produce a desired image on the display screen;

a relay optics module is disposed in the optical path of the scanning laser beams and is configured to shape the scanning laser beams to a desired spot shape and to direct the scanning laser beams into a closely spaced bundle of somewhat parallel beams;

an imaging lens designed to direct each of the scanning laser beams onto pixel elements on the display screen;

a polygon scanner comprising a rotating, multi-faceted optical element having a plurality of reflective surfaces for directing the scanning laser beams through the imaging lens to the display screen, wherein the rotation of the polygon scanner sweeps the scanning laser beams horizontally across the display screen and further defines the vertical positioning of the scanning laser beams on the display screen;

a mirror for directing the scanning laser beams from the relay optics module to the polygon scanner, where the orientation of the mirror partly determines the vertical positioning of the scanning laser beams on the display screen; and

a central controller operable to:

provide output signals to each of the display tiles, wherein the output signals include a tile-to-tile delay such that the tiles of the second row receive portions of an image to be displayed immediately after an appropriate, predetermined time delay substantially equal to the duration of time between beginning scanning a first portion of a first display tile and completing scanning a second portion of a first display tile.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the display tiles of the second row begin to produce the received portions of the image with a delay that causes a top portion of each tile in the second row to be illuminated immediately after a bottom portion of each tile in the first row is illuminated.

14. The system of claim 12 , further comprising: a frame buffer associated with each display tile, wherein each display tile in the multi-tiled scanning system receives image data substantially simultaneously with the other display tiles of the scanning system and the image data is stored in the frame buffer and each display tile then displays a portion of the image after the delay with respect to an adjacent row tiles.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein each of the display tiles is a light-based display selected from the group of: a laser-phosphor display (LPD), a light-emitting diode (LED), and digital light processing (DLP).

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein each display screen includes phosphorescent stripes of alternating phosphorescent stripes of different colors.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the scanning laser beams excite the phosphorescent stripes.

18. The system of claim 12 , wherein the scanning laser beams are modulated light beams that are scanned across the display screen along two orthogonal directions in a raster scanning pattern to produce the image anon the display screen.

19. The system of claim 12 , wherein each display tile in the first row of tiles is programmed with the same tile to tile delay.

20. A multi-tiled scanning system, comprising:

a plurality of tiles positioned to form a single display screen, comprising:

a first row of display tiles; and

a second row of display tiles;

a light module, comprising:

a laser array for generating multiple scanning laser beams to simultaneously scan the display screen;

a signal modulation controller that controls and modulates the scanning laser beams in the laser array to produce a desired image on the display screen;

a relay optics module is disposed in the optical path of the scanning laser beams and is configured to shape the scanning laser beams to a desired spot shape and to direct the scanning laser beams into a closely spaced bundle of somewhat parallel beams;

an imaging lens designed to direct each of the scanning laser beams onto pixel elements on the display screen;

a polygon scanner comprising a rotating, multi-faceted optical element having a plurality of reflective surfaces for directing the scanning laser beams through the imaging lens to the display screen, wherein the rotation of the polygon scanner sweeps the scanning laser beams horizontally across the display screen and further defines the vertical positioning of the scanning laser beams on the display screen;

a mirror for directing the scanning laser beams from the relay optics module to the polygon scanner, where the orientation of the mirror partly determines the vertical positioning of the scanning laser beams on the display screen;

a central controller operable to:

provide output signals to each of the display tiles, wherein the output signals include a tile-to-tile delay such that the tiles of the second row receive portions of an image to be displayed after an appropriate, predetermined time delay relative to when the tiles of the first row receive portions of the image to be displayed; and

a frame buffer associated with each display tile, wherein each display tile in the multi-tiled scanning system receives image data substantially simultaneously with the other display tiles of the scanning system and the image data is stored in the frame buffer and each display tile then displays a portion of the image after the delay with respect to an adjacent row tiles, and wherein the frame buffer delays generation of the image by a programmable number of frames.

Assignments (9)