JP2009186678A - Projection apparatus and projection control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To contribute to miniaturization of a projection apparatus and to perform accurate range-finding with simpler constitution. <P>SOLUTION: The projection apparatus includes: a light source lamp 28; projection systems 24 to 34 which drive a mirror element 26 forming an optical image with reflected light by controlling respective tilt angles of many micro mirrors to light from the light source lamp 28 and project the optical image through a projection lens part 12; laser beam emitting parts 32A to 32C which are provided separately from the light source lamp 28 and arranged to make modulated light incident on the micro mirror in a state where the micro mirror is set at the tilt angle at which it reflects the light from the light source lamp 28 to the outside of a projection lens part 12 and emit the reflected light through the projection lens part 12; a laser beam receiving part 13 which receives reflected light obtained from a projection object by emitted light from the laser beam emitting parts 32A to 32C; and a CPU 35, a main memory 36 and a program memory 37 which measure a distance to the projection object according to a phase difference between the emitted light by the laser beam emitting parts 32A to 32C and received light by the laser beam receiving part 13 and control a projection condition in the projection systems 24 to 34 according to the measured distance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a projection apparatus and a projection control method suitable for a data projector or the like.

Conventionally, a data projector that connects to a personal computer and projects various images on a screen to give presentations, etc., captures the irradiation position of a laser pointer emitted at a predetermined angle, and positions the pointer in the captured image. Thus, a technique for measuring the distance to the screen to be projected has been considered. (For example, Patent Document 1)
JP-A-2005-017336

  In the above Patent Document 1, it is described that the laser pointer projects laser light in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the projection lens. However, since the laser pointer and the projection lens use different optical systems, It is difficult to match the axes accurately. In addition, in order to improve the distance measurement accuracy, an imaging lens is provided as far as possible in the same plane as the laser pointer and the projection lens, and from the point position reflected in the photographed image obtained through this photographing lens. The distance is measured using parallax. Therefore, when the projector is downsized, the distance between the laser pointer and the projection lens and the photographing lens is inevitably reduced, so that it is considered that the ranging accuracy is also lowered.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to contribute to the miniaturization of the apparatus and to perform highly accurate distance measurement with a simpler configuration. And providing a projection control method.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a light source and a mirror element that forms a light image by reflected light by controlling each inclination angle of the plurality of micromirrors arranged in an array with respect to the light from the light source are input. A projection means for projecting a light image corresponding to the image signal to be projected onto an object to be projected via an optical lens system, and the light source, and a micromirror of the mirror element transmits light from the light source to the optical lens. A light emitting means arranged so that the modulated light is incident on the micromirror in a state of being inclined to be reflected outside the system, and the reflected light is emitted through the optical lens system; and Receiving the reflected light obtained from the projection object via the optical lens system, and detecting the phase difference between the light emitted by the light emitting means and the reflected light received by the light receiving means. A distance measuring means for measuring a distance to an object, characterized by comprising a control means for controlling the projection conditions at a distance by said projection means obtained above distance measuring means.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the light emitting means includes a plurality of light emitting portions that are incident on different micromirror positions of the mirror element, and the distance measuring means is the light emitting means. Each distance to a plurality of positions of the projection target is measured by detecting a phase difference between light emission from the plurality of light emitting units and light reception by the light receiving means.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the optical lens system of the projection unit has a zoom function for changing a projection angle of view, and the light emitting unit includes a plurality of optical lens systems. Each of the distance measuring means detects a phase difference between light emitted from the light emitting part of the light emitting means and light received by the light receiving means at a plurality of projection angles of view by the optical lens system. Thus, each distance to a plurality of positions of the projection target is measured.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the light emitting means includes a laser oscillation section that oscillates laser light and a collimator lens that converts the oscillated laser light into parallel light. And

  According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the control means temporarily stops the formation of an optical image by the mirror element when the light emitting means emits light.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the control means emits light emitted from the light emitting means among a plurality of micromirrors constituting the mirror element when the light emitting means emits light. It is characterized in that the formation of the optical image is temporarily stopped only for the micromirror located at the position.

  The invention according to claim 7 drives the mirror element that forms a light image by reflected light by controlling each inclination angle with respect to the light from the light source of the light source and the plurality of micromirrors arranged in an array. And a projection unit that projects a light image corresponding to an image signal to a projection target through an optical lens system, the control method being provided separately from the light source, and the mirror element In such a state that the minute mirror is at an inclination angle that reflects the light from the light source to the outside of the optical lens system, the modulated light is incident on the minute mirror, and the reflected light is emitted through the optical lens system. A light emitting step for driving the light emitting unit disposed in the light receiving step, a light receiving step for receiving the reflected light obtained from the projection target through the optical lens system by light emission in the light emitting step, and light emission and light receiving in the light emitting step. In the process A distance measuring step for measuring the distance to the projection target by detecting the phase difference of the reflected light received, and a control step for controlling the projection condition in the projection unit based on the distance obtained in the distance measuring step. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size of the apparatus and to perform highly accurate distance measurement with a simpler configuration.

  An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a data projector apparatus of DLP (Digital Light Processing) (registered trademark) system will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an external configuration of a data projector apparatus 10 according to the embodiment. In the figure, the data projector device 10 includes a projection lens unit 12, a laser light receiving unit 13, and an Ir light receiving unit 14 on the front surface of a rectangular parallelepiped main body casing 11.

  In addition, a speaker unit 15, an indicator unit 16, and a key operation unit 17 are disposed on the upper surface of the main body casing 11.

  The projection lens unit 12 enlarges an optical image created inside and projects it onto a screen or the like to be projected, and the focus position and the zoom position (projection angle of view) can be arbitrarily changed.

  The laser light receiving unit 13 is installed in the vicinity of the projection lens unit 12, and receives a reflected light when a later-described laser beam is projected onto the projection target via the projection lens unit 12.

  The Ir light receiving unit 14 is a part that receives an infrared modulation signal from a remote controller (not shown) of the data projector device 10, and a similar receiving unit is also provided on the back side of the data projector device 10.

  The speaker unit 15 emits a voice signal input together with the image signal, a voice message stored in the data projector device 10 in advance, a beep sound, and the like.

  The indicator unit 16 displays the power on / off state, the case where the temperature of the light source lamp described later becomes abnormal, etc., by lighting / flashing of an LED (light emitting diode) provided therein.

  The key operation unit 17 directly accepts user key operations and controls various projection operations. For example, a power key, an input switching key, a zoom up / down key, an AFK (Auto Focus / automatic Keystone correction) Focus / automatic keystone correction) key, menu key, cursor keys (“↑”, “↓”, “←”, “→”), enter key, cancel key, etc.

  In addition, a pair of adjustment legs 18A and 18B are provided at both left and right end portions on the front end side of the lower surface of the data projector device 10. Although not shown, another fixed leg portion is provided at the center of the rear end of the lower surface of the data projector device 10, and the data projector device 10 is supported by a total of three leg portions and located on the front side. By individually adjusting the leg lengths of the adjusting leg portions 18A and 18B, the elevation angle of the projection optical axis of the projection lens unit 12 and the left / right inclination of the projection image can be adjusted.

  Although not shown here, the back surface of the main casing 11 is provided with a connector portion for inputting / outputting various image signals, an anti-theft bracket mounting portion, an Ir light receiving portion similar to the Ir light receiving portion 14 and the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an electronic circuit provided in the data projector device 10.
In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes an input / output connector portion provided on the back side of the main body casing 11, which comprises, for example, a pin jack (RCA) type video input terminal, an RGB input terminal of a D-sub 15, and a USB terminal.

  Image signals of various standards input from the input / output connector unit 21 are sent to the image conversion unit 23 via the input / output interface (I / F) 22 and the system bus SB. The image conversion unit 23 is generally also referred to as a scaler. The image conversion unit 23 is unified into an image signal having a predetermined format including the number of resolutions and the number of gradations of the transmitted image signal, and then sent to the projection image processing unit 24. .

  At this time, a character image for OSD (On Screen Display) and a symbol such as a pointer are also sent to the projection image processing unit 24 while being superimposed on the image signal as necessary.

  The projection image processing unit 24 develops and stores the transmitted image signal in the video RAM 25 and then generates a video signal from the stored contents of the video RAM 25.

  The projected image processing unit 24 uses a higher speed time division drive that multiplies the frame rate of this video signal, for example, 60 [frames / second], the number of color component divisions, and the number of display gradations, to thereby generate a spatial light modulation element. The micromirror element 26 which is (SOM) is driven to display.

  The micromirror element 26 forms an optical image with reflected light by controlling on / off operation of each tilt angle of a plurality of micromirrors arranged in an array, for example, XGA (horizontal 1024 × vertical 768 dots). To do.

  On the other hand, a light source lamp 28 using a high-pressure mercury lamp, for example, disposed in the reflector 27 emits high-intensity white light. The white light emitted from the light source lamp 28 is colored in a primary color in a time-division manner through the color wheel 29, and is converted into a luminous flux having a uniform luminance distribution by an integrator (not shown), and then totally reflected by the mirror 30 and reflected by the micromirror. The element 26 is irradiated.

  Thus, an optical image is formed by the reflected light from the micromirror element 26, and the formed optical image is projected and displayed on the screen (not shown) to be projected through the projection lens unit 12.

  As described above, the projection lens unit 12 can arbitrarily change the in-focus position and the zoom position (projection angle of view). That is, among a plurality of optical lenses constituting the projection lens unit 12, a focus lens and a zoom lens (not shown) are controlled by moving back and forth along the optical axis direction, and these lenses are stepping motors (M). It moves by the rotational drive of 31.

  Further, three laser light emitting units 32A to 32C are provided so as to face the mirror 30 with the space between the micromirror element 26 and the projection lens unit 12 interposed therebetween. Each of these laser light emitting units 32A to 32C is configured by combining a laser diode and a collimator lens, and irradiates the micromirror element 26 with laser light of spot-like parallel light that is AM-modulated at 20 [MHz], for example.

  That is, the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C are originally in a state in which each micromirror of the micromirror element 26 is in an off position, that is, at an inclination angle that reflects light from the light source lamp 28 so as to remove the projection lens unit 12. By irradiating the micromirror element 26 with spot-like laser light, the reflected light irradiates a screen (not shown) to be projected through the projection lens unit 12.

  The light source lamp 28 is turned on, the color wheel 29 motor (M) 33 is rotated, the stepping motor 24 is rotated, the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C are driven, and the laser light receiving unit is driven. The projection light processing unit 34 executes the light reception at 13.

  In the projection light processing unit 34, the laser light emitting units 32 </ b> A to 32 </ b> C are driven to emit light in a time-sharing manner as will be described later, and the phase difference from the emitted light when the reflected light is received by the laser light receiving unit 13 for each light emission. After calculating the time difference, the half-value of the obtained time difference is divided by using the speed of light as a divisor to calculate the distance to the projection target.

  The projection light processing unit 34 only drives the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C and the laser light receiving unit 13, and the calculation for calculating the distance value from the phase difference between the emitted light and the received light is performed by the CPU 35 described later. It is also good.

  The CPU 35 controls all the operations of the above circuits. The CPU 35 executes a control operation in the data projector apparatus 10 by using a main memory 36 composed of DRAM and a program memory 37 which is an electrically rewritable nonvolatile memory storing an operation program and various fixed data. To do.

  The CPU 35 executes various projection operations in response to key operation signals from the operation unit 38. The operation unit 38 includes the key operation unit 17 provided in the main body of the data projector device 10 and the laser light receiving unit 13 that receives infrared light from a remote controller (not shown) dedicated to the data projector device 10. A key operation signal based on a key operated directly or via a remote controller is directly output to the CPU 35.

  The CPU 35 is further connected to the indicator unit 16 and the audio processing unit 39 via the system bus SB.

  The sound processing unit 39 includes a sound source circuit such as a PCM sound source, converts the sound data given at the time of the projection operation into an analog signal, drives the speaker unit 15 to emit a loud sound, and generates a beep sound or the like if necessary.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 shows the basic operations after the power is turned on by operating the power switch and the processing contents corresponding to the “AFK” key operation of the key operation unit 17 or the remote controller. All the operation control shown in FIG. 3 is executed by the CPU 32 while reading the operation program stored in the program memory 34 and developing it in the main memory 33.

  During processing, first, it is determined whether or not an image signal is input from the input / output connector unit 21 (step S101). Only when it is determined that there is an input, an image corresponding to the input image signal is displayed on the micromirror element 26, so that the light source light transmitted through the mirror 30 is projected and reflected. A light image is formed with light and emitted toward the projection target by the projection lens unit 12 (step S104).

  FIG. 4A illustrates the inclination angles of the individual micromirrors 26a, 26a,... Constituting the micromirror element 26 at the time of image projection. At this time, the micromirrors 26a, 26a,... Are selectively turned on / off in units of individuals (pixels).

  The individual (pixel) minute mirror 26 a that is turned on reflects the light source light toward the projection lens unit 12. On the other hand, the individual (pixel) micromirror 26 a turned off reflects the light source light in a direction away from the projection lens unit 12.

  Note that the gradation of each pixel is adjusted by the time width during which the pixel is turned on. For example, when the color wheel 29 has R, G, and B primary color filters, all of the R, G, and B primary colors constituting the image 1 frame are irradiated on the micromirror element 26. By maintaining the ON state, the corresponding pixel of the frame is expressed in full gradation for each of the R, G, and B primary color components, and as a result, the corresponding pixel is projected in white.

  On the contrary, by maintaining the OFF state during the period when the R, G, and B primary color lights constituting one frame of the image are irradiated on the micromirror element 26, the corresponding pixel of the frame is projected in black. Will be.

  For the other colors, the time width between the on state and the off state is set to, for example, 8 bits in each of the periods in which the R, G, and B primary color lights constituting one frame of the image are irradiated on the micromirror element 26. By adjusting in the middle, the corresponding pixel of the frame is projected with intermediate gradation expression of about 16.77 million colors.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not there is an operation signal of the “AFK” key for instructing automatic focusing and automatic keystone correction from the operation unit 38 (step S102). It is determined whether or not an operation of a power key for instructing power-off is performed from 38 (step S103).

  If it is determined that there is no operation of the power key, the process returns to step S101. Thereafter, in the process of repeatedly executing steps S101 to S103, if there is an input of an image signal, it is projected from the projection lens unit 12 as needed, and “AFK Wait for key and power key operations.

  Therefore, when the “AFK” key is operated during the projection operation, when this is determined by the key operation signal from the operation unit 38 in step S102, the micromirror element 26 corresponding to the image signal so far is temporarily driven. Are stopped, and all the micromirrors 26a, 26a,... Constituting the micromirror element 26 are all set to be in the OFF state (step S105).

  Of course, at this time, all the light from the light source lamp 28 is reflected in a direction away from the projection lens unit 12, and no light is emitted from the projection lens unit 12.

  When the entire surface of the micromirror element 26 is off, the projection light processing unit 34 performs AM modulation of the laser light for a short time using one of the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C, for example, the laser light emitting unit 32A, and drives to emit light. The emitted laser light passes through the projection lens unit 12 reflected by any one of the micro mirrors 26a, 26a,..., And is emitted when reflected by the projection target screen and received by the laser light receiving unit 13. The time difference is calculated from the phase difference between the light and the received light.

  4B shows a state in which the micro mirrors 26a, 26a,... Of the micro mirror element 26 are in an off state, and any one of the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C emits laser light, and the laser light is emitted from the micro mirrors 26a, 26a. ,..., Are introduced into the projection lens unit 12 and emitted from the projection lens unit 12 toward the projection target.

  Each of the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C projects the emitted laser light onto a part of the micromirrors 26a, 26a,... In the off state, and the reflected light is projected through the projection lens unit 12. It is assumed that the position and direction are fixedly set so as to be emitted toward the target.

In addition, the positions of the micromirror element 26 on which the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C project the laser light are set to be different from each other.
FIG. 5 shows the concept of the arrangement position and the arrangement direction of the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C with respect to the micromirror element 26 and the position where the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C are actually irradiated on the screen SCR via the projection lens unit 12. .

  This figure shows a form in which only the projection range by the projection lens unit 12 on the screen SCR is extracted, and the laser light emission unit for the micromirror element 26 so that the irradiation positions of the three laser beams are separated as much as possible within the projection range. The arrangement positions and directions of 32A to 32C are set in advance. Reflected light from the screen SCR due to irradiation of each laser light is received by the laser light receiving unit 13.

  However, when the time difference, that is, the flight time of light, is measured from the phase difference between the light emission from the laser light emitting unit 32A and the light received by the laser light receiving unit 13, the projection light processing unit 34 uses the half of the time difference as the divisor of the light velocity. By dividing, the quotient becomes the distance between the projection lens unit 12 and the screen SCR (step S106).

  In this case, since the arrangement positions of the projection lens unit 12 and the laser light receiving unit 13 are exactly different, the laser light has a triangular locus from the projection lens unit 12 to the screen SCR and from the screen SCR to the laser light receiving unit 13. However, since the projection lens unit 12 and the laser light receiving unit 13 are arranged adjacent to each other on the front surface side of the main body casing 11 as described above, the distance between them is larger than the distance to the screen SCR. Is almost negligible as an error.

  Similarly, laser light emission by the laser light emission units 32B and 32C and distance measurement by light reception are continuously executed in a time division manner (steps S107 and S108).

  Thus, when the distance to three points on the screen SCR is measured by the time-division emission driving of the laser emission units 32A to 32C, the relative positional relationship between the projection lens unit 12 and the plane screen in the three-dimensional space, specifically In step S109, the distance to the screen and the tilt of the screen with respect to the optical axis of the projection lens unit 12 are calculated.

  Based on the calculation result, the focus lens constituting a part of the projection lens unit 12 is moved by driving the stepping motor 31 as the AF (automatic focusing) process based on the distance to the center position of the three points, and the screen As automatic trapezoidal correction processing corresponding to the inclination angle and direction of the plane, various settings for intentionally deforming the image displayed by the micromirror element 26 are executed (step S110).

  Thereafter, the entire off state of the micromirror element 26 until then is canceled and set so as to correspond to the input image signal again (step S111), and a series of processes according to the operation of the “AFK” key as described above. As the process ends, the process proceeds to step S103.

  If it is determined in step S103 that the power key for instructing power-off is operated from the operation unit 38, the light source lamp 28 is turned off and projection image processing is performed as the projection operation ends at that time. After performing a predetermined power-off process including reset of the unit 24 (step S112), the process of FIG.

  In the above embodiment, the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C sequentially irradiate the micromirror element 26 with laser light in a time-sharing manner, for example, at one point at the upper center of the rectangular projection image, It is assumed that the position corresponds to a total of three points, two points at both ends of the lower part.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the irradiation state of the laser light into the projection range by the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C as described above. As shown in the figure, the irradiation positions of the laser light in the projection range PR11 having a relatively small projection angle of view are P11 to P13.

On the other hand, the irradiation positions of the laser light when the projection field angle is increased by the zoom function of the projection lens unit 12 to be the projection range PR12 are P21 to P23.
Although the irradiation position of the laser beam with respect to each projection range is relatively the same, of course, when the projection range is PR12, the interval between the irradiation positions of the respective laser beams is absolutely larger. When the distance is calculated from the time difference received by the light receiving unit 13, the distance calculation accuracy improves as the projection angle of view increases.

  In general, this type of projector apparatus is more likely to be installed such that the projection position of the screen is higher than the installation position of the projector apparatus, and the projection optical axis is higher than the horizontal direction.

  Therefore, the original rectangular projection range often has an inverted trapezoidal shape with a wider upper side in a state where trapezoid correction is not performed. In consideration of this point, even when the same three points of laser light irradiation are performed, Ranging was performed with a total of three inverted triangles consisting of two points at the upper ends and one point at the lower center, instead of a total of three points at the upper center and two points at the lower ends of the rectangular projection image. However, it is more likely that the distance measurement is performed in a state where the two points at both ends of the upper part are further spread, and therefore the distance measurement accuracy can be further improved.

  Further, as described above, the projection angle of view can be varied by the zoom function by utilizing the fact that the projection lens unit 12 has a zoom function, instead of measuring a total of three points within one projection range. However, it is also possible to measure the distance to a total of three or more irradiation positions and detect the distance to the screen plane to be projected and the inclination.

  FIG. 7 shows another example of such an operation. Here, first, laser light irradiation is performed at two points P31 and P32 at both ends of the upper portion of the projection range PR21 having a relatively small projection angle of view to measure the distance at that position. Thereafter, the laser beam is irradiated at two points P41 and P42 at both upper ends of the projection range PR22 in which the projection angle of view is increased by the zoom function of the projection lens unit 12, and the distance of the position is measured.

  It is possible to detect the distance to the screen plane to be projected and the inclination based on the distance values of the total four points of the point positions P31, P32, P41, and P42 thus obtained.

In this way, by utilizing the fact that the projection lens unit 12 has a zoom function, the number of point positions to be measured per projection range can be reduced, and as a result, the configuration of the laser emitting unit is further simplified. Can be
In principle, even if the laser light emitting unit is composed of only one system and only one irradiation position can be measured with respect to one projection range, the projection range is subsequently reduced by the zoom function of the projection lens unit 12. If the irradiation distance measurement at three different points is performed a total of three times, the angle and direction of the inclination relative to the projection optical axis as well as the distance to the projection target screen are detected. Can do.

  Furthermore, the operation is simplified, and the direction and magnitude of the inclination along the straight line connecting the two points can be detected even by performing distance measurement by irradiating up to a total of two points by changing the projection angle of view once. Can do.

  As described above in detail, according to the present embodiment, the laser light emitting unit 32A reflects the laser light toward the projection lens unit 12 in a state where the micro mirrors 26a, 26a,. ˜32C is provided and distance measurement within the projection range is performed via the projection lens unit 12, which contributes to downsizing of the apparatus and enables highly accurate distance measurement with a simpler configuration. It becomes possible.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C composed of a plurality of light emitting units are provided, and these can be used to measure the distances to a plurality of point positions within one projection range. In addition to the distance to the screen, the direction and magnitude of the inclination of the screen plane with respect to the projection optical axis can be detected, and high-quality projection can be realized by reflecting the projection contents.

  Further, as described above, the projection lens unit 12 has a zoom function, and the light emitting unit emits light at each of a plurality of projection angles of view. As a result, each distance to a plurality of projection target positions is measured, thereby emitting light. It is possible to detect the inclination of the projection target screen with respect to the projection optical axis while further simplifying the configuration of the unit.

  In the above embodiment, the configuration of the light emitting unit is a unit having a laser oscillation unit that oscillates laser light and a collimator lens that converts the oscillated laser light into parallel light.

  As a result, compared with the case where a high-intensity LED or the like is used for the light emitting unit, laser light having a high energy density is irradiated onto the projection target in a substantially parallel light state. More reliable and stable ranging operation can be realized.

  In the above embodiment, all the micromirrors 26a, 26a,... Constituting the micromirror element 26 are temporarily turned off during the distance measuring operation. This makes it possible to reliably perform distance measurement without setting the irradiation positions of the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C to the minute mirrors 26a, 26a,.

  On the contrary, the irradiation positions of the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C on the micro mirrors 26a, 26a,... Are precisely set, and the laser light emitting unit 32A is executed while performing a projection operation corresponding to a normal input image signal. It is also possible to temporarily turn off only the minute mirrors 26a, 26a,... Corresponding to the position where the laser beam of .about.32C is irradiated.

  In this case, whether or not the image quality of the projected image is impaired depends on the operation time and the pixel position within the projection range, but the distance measurement operation to the projection target can be performed while continuing the projection operation. Ranging operation can be realized without making the viewer of the projected image feel uncomfortable.

  In the above embodiment, the number of the laser light receiving units 13 is one, and the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C are sequentially emitted to measure the distance. However, the laser light receiving units 13 corresponding to the laser light emitting units 32A to 32C, respectively. If three are provided, it is also possible to perform distance measurement by causing the laser light emitting sections 32A to 32C to emit light simultaneously.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the distance to the screen is measured using a laser beam that is one of the light beams. However, the reference signal is not limited to the laser beam and is transmitted to the target at a predetermined frequency. Any light beam that can measure the distance to the target by irradiating the modulated light beam and detecting the phase difference between the received light-receiving signal and the reference signal that has returned. For example, even a light emitting element such as an LED can be used as long as the output light can be modulated and irradiated.

  In the above embodiment, after measuring the time difference until the reflected light is received, the half-value of the obtained time difference is divided by the light speed as a divisor to calculate the distance to the projection target. If a calculation table in which the distance is known from the phase difference between the received light reception signal and the reference signal is stored in advance, the distance can be easily obtained without calculation.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, the functions executed in the above-described embodiments may be implemented in appropriate combination as much as possible. The above-described embodiment includes various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by an appropriate combination according to a plurality of disclosed structural requirements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, if the effect is obtained, a configuration from which the constituent requirements are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a data projector apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram showing a functional configuration of an electronic circuit included in the data projector apparatus according to the embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing basic processing contents when power is turned on according to the embodiment. The figure which shows the relationship between the micromirror which comprises the micromirror element which concerns on the embodiment, light source light, a laser light emission part, and a projection lens part. The figure which shows the concept of the projection to the screen by the several laser light emission part which concerns on the same embodiment. The figure which illustrates the laser beam irradiation position to the projection object which concerns on the same embodiment. The figure which illustrates the other laser beam irradiation position to the projection object which concerns on the same embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Data projector apparatus, 11 ... Main body casing, 12 ... Projection lens part, 13 ... Laser light-receiving part, 14 ... Ir light-receiving part, 15 ... Speaker part, 16 ... Indicator part, 17 ... Key operation part, 18A, 18B ... Adjustment Leg part, 21 ... Input / output connector part, 22 ... Input / output interface (I / F), 23 ... Image conversion part, 24 ... Projection image processing part, 25 ... Video RAM, 26 ... Micromirror element, 26a ... Micromirror, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 27 ... Reflector, 28 ... Light source lamp, 29 ... Color wheel, 30 ... Mirror, 31 ... Stepping motor (M), 32A-32C ... Laser emission part, 33 ... Motor (M), 34 ... Projection light processing part, 35 ... CPU, 36 ... main memory, 37 ... program memory, 38 ... operation unit, 39 ... audio processing unit, SB ... system bus, SCR ... screen.

Claims (7)

A light source;
A mirror element that forms an optical image with reflected light is controlled by controlling the inclination angle of the light from the light source of a plurality of micromirrors arranged in an array, and an optical image corresponding to the input image signal is optically generated. Projection means for projecting toward a projection object via a lens system;
Provided separately from the light source, in a state where the micro mirror of the mirror element is at an inclination angle that reflects the light from the light source to the outside of the optical lens system, the modulated light is incident on the micro mirror and reflected Light emitting means arranged to emit light through the optical lens system;
A light receiving means for receiving reflected light obtained from the projection object through the optical lens system by light emission from the light emitting means;
Ranging means for measuring the distance to the projection object by detecting the phase difference between the light emitted by the light emitting means and the reflected light received by the light receiving means;
A projection apparatus comprising: control means for controlling a projection condition of the projection means based on a distance obtained by the distance measurement means. The light emitting means has a plurality of light emitting portions that are incident on different mirror positions of the mirror element,
The distance measuring unit measures each distance to a plurality of positions of the projection target by detecting a phase difference between light emitted from a plurality of light emitting units of the light emitting unit and light received by the light receiving unit. The projection apparatus according to claim 1. The optical lens system of the projection means has a zoom function for varying the projection angle of view,
The light emitting means causes each light emitting unit to emit light at a plurality of projection angles of view by the optical lens system,
The distance measuring means detects each phase difference between the light emitted from the light emitting portion of the light emitting means and the light received by the light receiving means at a plurality of projection angles of view by the optical lens system, to each of a plurality of positions of the projection target. The projection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the distance is measured.   2. The projection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting means includes a laser oscillation unit that oscillates laser light and a collimator lens that converts the oscillated laser light into parallel light.   The projection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit temporarily stops the formation of a light image by the mirror element when the light emitting unit emits light.   The control means temporarily stops the formation of an optical image only for the minute mirrors at the position irradiated with the light emitted from the light emitting means among the plurality of minute mirrors constituting the mirror element when the light emitting means emits light. The projection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: Light corresponding to an input image signal by driving a mirror element that forms an optical image by reflected light by controlling each inclination angle with respect to light from the light source of a light source and a plurality of micromirrors arranged in an array A control method in a projection apparatus comprising a projection unit that projects an image toward a projection target via an optical lens system,
Provided separately from the light source, in a state where the micro mirror of the mirror element is at an inclination angle that reflects the light from the light source to the outside of the optical lens system, the modulated light is incident on the micro mirror and the reflected light A light emitting step for driving a light emitting unit arranged to emit light through the optical lens system;
A light receiving step of receiving reflected light obtained from the projection target through the optical lens system by light emission in the light emitting step;
A distance measuring step of measuring a distance to the projection target by detecting a phase difference between light emission in the light emitting step and reflected light received in the light receiving step;
And a control step of controlling a projection condition in the projection unit based on the distance obtained in the distance measurement step.

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