Variable-resolution cameras and optical communication systems comprising variable-resolution cameras

1 . A variable-resolution optical communication system comprising:

a display operable to display an image; and

a variable-resolution camera disposed and operable to optically capture the image displayed on the display;

wherein the display comprises a display substrate, display pixels disposed on the display substrate, and a display pixel cluster comprising a display cluster controller disposed on the display substrate between display pixels, wherein the display cluster controller is operable to control two or more display pixels; and

wherein the variable-resolution camera comprises a camera substrate, camera pixels disposed on the camera substrate, and a camera pixel cluster comprising a camera cluster controller disposed on the camera substrate between camera pixels, wherein the camera cluster controller is operable to control two or more camera pixels.

2 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 1 :

wherein the display pixels have a variable spatial resolution over the display substrate and are controllable to emit light; and

wherein the camera pixels have a variable spatial resolution over the camara substrate and are controllable to capture light.

3 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 2 , wherein the variable spatial resolution of the display pixels is spatially matched to the variable spatial resolution of the camera pixels.

4 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 2 , wherein the variable spatial resolution of the display pixels is geometrically similar to the variable spatial resolution of the camera pixels.

5 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 3 , wherein the display is disposed relative to the variable-resolution camera such that at least one of the display pixels is optically imaged to at least one of the camera pixels.

6 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 3 , wherein the display is disposed relative to the variable-resolution camera such that at least one of the display pixels is optically imaged to at least one group of multiple, adjacent camera pixels.

7 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 6 , wherein the multiple, adjacent camera pixels form a two-dimensional array.

8 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 1 , wherein the display is disposed relative to the variable-resolution camera such that the display pixel cluster is optically imaged onto the camera pixel cluster.

9 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 1 , wherein the display pixel cluster is geometrically similar to the camera pixel cluster.

10 . The variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 1 , wherein the display is a variable-resolution display.

11 . A method of operating the variable-resolution optical communication system of claim 1 , comprising:

displaying an image using the display pixels of the display;

recording the image with the camera using the camera pixels of the variable-resolution camera; and

extracting information from the recorded image.

12 . The method of claim 11 , comprising recording all of the camera pixels at a first time or during a first time period before recording one or more of the camera pixels at a second time after the first time or during a second time period after the first time period.

13 . The method of claim 11 , comprising recording all of the camera pixels at a same time.

14 . The method of claim 11 , comprising (i) sequentially capturing or recording rows of the camera pixels or sequentially recording columns of the camera pixels, (ii) sequentially capturing or recording rows of the camera pixels or sequentially capturing or recording columns of the camera pixels, or (iii) both (i) and (ii).