Granted Patent B2

US 12,510,863 · App. 17/160,060 · Granted Dec 30, 2025

Inventors: Muralidhar Madabhushi Balaji (Dallas, TX); Jeffrey Matthew Kempf (Dallas, TX); Terry Alan Bartlett (Dallas, TX)

Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED

G03H1/2286G03H1/0443G03H1/08G03H1/0866G03H1/10G03H1/14G03H1/2202G03H1/2294H04N9/3102H04N9/3161G03H2001/2231G03H2210/10G03H2210/12G03H2225/22G03H2225/24G03H2225/32

Abstract

Claims (51)

1 . A projection system comprising:

an illumination source configured to output illumination light;

a processing element configured to:

obtain a digital image having a dark region and a bright region; and

produce a phase hologram based on the digital image comprising adding noise comprising first added noise in the dark region and second added noise in the bright region, the dark region having a first intensity and first added noise, the bright region having a second intensity and second added noise, the second intensity greater than the first intensity and the second added noise greater than the first added noise; and

a phase light modulator (PLM) coupled to the processing element and optically coupled to the illumination source, the PLM configured to:

receive the illumination light; and

phase modulate the illumination light based on the phase hologram, to produce modulated light to produce an image at a viewing distance, wherein the phase hologram causes the image to have a dark region and a bright region.

2 . The projection system of claim 1 , wherein producing the phase hologram comprises:

producing an iterative phase hologram having a random initial phase;

producing a binary goal image based on the digital image; and

iteratively:

performing a Fourier transform on the iterative phase hologram to produce a target plane image;

in response to determining that the target plane image is within an error threshold of the digital image, produce the phase hologram based on the iterative phase hologram; and

in response to determining that the target plane image is not within the error threshold of the digital image:

producing an updated image based on the binary goal image and the target plane image; and

performing an inverse Fourier transform based on the updated image to produce the iterative phase hologram for a next iteration.

3 . The projection system of claim 1 , wherein the processing element is further configured to produce the phase hologram by:

producing a binary goal image based on the digital image; and

producing the phase hologram based on the binary goal image.

4 . The projection system of claim 3 , wherein producing the binary goal image comprises:

setting a bit of the binary goal image to a first value when a corresponding pixel of the digital image is in a bright region of the digital image; and

setting the bit of the binary goal image to a second value when the corresponding pixel of the digital image is in a dark region of the digital image.

5 . The projection system of claim 1 , wherein the phase hologram is a first phase hologram, and wherein the processing element is further configured to produce a second phase hologram responsive to the digital image, and wherein the PLM is configured to phase modulate the illumination light based on the second phase hologram.

6 . The projection system of claim 1 , further comprising projection optics optically coupled to the PLM.

7 . A method comprising:

providing illumination light from an illumination source;

obtaining, by a processing element, a digital image having a dark region and a bright region;

producing, by the processing element, a phase hologram based on the digital image comprising adding noise comprising first added noise in the dark region and second added noise in the bright region, the dark region having a first intensity and first added noise, the bright region having a second intensity and second added noise, the second intensity greater than the first intensity and the second added noise greater than the first added noise;

receiving the illumination light on a phase light modulator; and

modulating, by the phase light modulator, the illumination light, to produce a projected image based on the phase hologram.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein producing the phase hologram further comprises:

producing, by a processing element, an iterative phase hologram having a random initial phase;

producing a binary goal image based on the digital image; and

iteratively:

performing a Fourier transform on the iterative phase hologram to produce a target plane image;

in response to determining that the target plane image is within an error threshold of the digital image, produce the phase hologram based on the iterative phase hologram; and

in response to determining that the target plane image is not within the error threshold of the digital image:

producing an updated image based on the binary goal image and the target plane image; and

performing an inverse Fourier transform based on the updated image to produce the iterative phase hologram for a next iteration.

9 . The method of claim 7 , and further comprising displaying multiple phase holograms on the phase light modulator corresponding to a goal image.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein displaying the phase hologram on the phase light modulator comprises displaying the phase hologram using a phase light modulator comprising a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) phase light modulator or a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) phase light modulator.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein producing the phase hologram based on the digital image comprises:

producing a binary goal image based on the digital image; and

producing the phase hologram based on the binary goal image.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein producing the binary goal image comprises:

setting a bit of the binary goal image to a first value when a corresponding pixel of the digital image is in a bright region of the digital image; and

setting the bit of the binary goal image to a second value when the corresponding pixel of the digital image is in a dark region of the digital image.

13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the phase hologram is a first phase hologram, and the method further comprising:

producing a second phase hologram responsive to the digital image; and

phase modulating the illumination light based on the second phase hologram.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (31)