JP2011180384A - Projector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a projector which can adjust an optical axis to be perpendicular to a projection surface while keeping an installation surface between the projector and an installation place wide, and which need not correct irregularity of the projection surface by oblique incidence in image processing or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The projector has an optical mechanism part including: a light source for image projection; an image forming element for forming an image; and a projection optical system for projecting the image by the image forming element to the projection surface. A part of the optical mechanism part is rotated centering an axis parallel with a luminous flux-emitting direction of the light source, so as to adjust an angle between the optical axis direction of the projection optical system and the installation surface. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a projector that irradiates an image forming element with light emitted from a light source and creates an image of the image forming element on a projection surface by a projection optical system. In particular, the present invention relates to a projector that can be projected on a wall regardless of whether it is placed on a desk or on a wall.

  As an embodiment of Patent Document 1, a projection optical system that forms an intermediate image with a first optical system including a lens system as an image forming element and enlarges and projects the intermediate image onto a projection surface by a concave reflecting mirror is shown. Has been. However, there is no disclosure about the configuration of the device when it is actually implemented as a projector and the device is placed on a desk and an image is projected onto a wall surface, and when the device is placed on a wall surface and the image is projected onto a wall surface. Absent.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a projector apparatus using a projection optical system using a concave mirror as shown in Patent Document 1. The arrangement of the light source in the projector apparatus is characterized in that the light source is always directed in the horizontal direction even when the entire projector is in a stationary arrangement, a desktop arrangement, or a ceiling arrangement.

  However, in a case configuration as shown in Patent Document 2, when a projector is attached to a wall surface and an image is projected onto the same wall surface, an installation surface in a desktop arrangement is attached to the wall surface. Since the area of the surface is small and the entire housing protrudes from the wall, the weight balance is poor, so the projector attached to the wall will fall unless the strength applied is very strong. In addition, it is possible to increase the attachment strength by taking a large installation surface on the wall and increasing the attachment area, but in this case, the entire case must be enlarged. Absent.

  In addition, when the stationary desk surface is tilted with respect to the projected wall surface or screen at the time of stationary placement, especially in an optical system that projects at a close distance using a mirror, so-called trapezoidal distortion of the image and the vertical direction One blur appears. In the case of the housing of Patent Document 2, the entire projector housing must be tilted and trapezoidal distortion and vertical blur adjustment must be made (see FIG. 1).

  The object of the present invention is to adjust the optical axis perpendicular to the projection surface while keeping a wide installation surface between the apparatus and the installation location, and image processing is performed for obliquely incident projections such as trapezoidal distortion. It is an object of the present invention to provide a projector that does not need to be corrected by, for example.

  The invention according to claim 1 includes an optical mechanism unit including a light source for image projection, an image forming element that forms an image, and a projection optical system that projects an image of the image forming element onto a projection surface. A part of the optical mechanism unit rotates around an axis parallel to the light beam emission direction of the light source, and the angle between the optical axis direction of the projection optical system and the installation surface is adjusted.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the projector according to the first aspect, the rotating optical mechanism unit is all the components of the mechanism.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the projector according to the first or second aspect, the projection optical system includes, in order from the optical path separation element, a first optical system including a lens and a second optical system including a reflective mirror having a curvature. It is characterized by the following.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the projector according to the third aspect, the projection optical system forms an intermediate image of the image forming element between the first optical system and the second optical system, and the intermediate image is formed. An enlarged projection is performed by the second optical system.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the projector according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the optical mechanism portion includes a cylindrical portion, and the cylindrical portion is a part of the rotating mechanism. Features.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the projector according to the fifth aspect, a light source is arranged inside a cylindrical shape.

  According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in the projector according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the power source and the control mechanism section in the casing are fixed to the casing, and the optical mechanism section rotates. And

  According to the present invention, it is possible to adjust the optical axis perpendicular to the projection surface while keeping a wide installation surface between the apparatus and the installation location, and image processing is performed for obliquely incident projections such as trapezoidal distortion. It is not necessary to correct with such as.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the projector which is embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows rotating an optical mechanism part to the uniaxial direction which is embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed a mode that the projector which is embodiment of this invention is arrange | positioned on a desk, and the image is projected on the wall. It is the figure which showed a mode that the image was projected on the desk using the projector which is embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed a mode that the image | video was projected on the wall, using the projector which is embodiment of this invention, fixing by attaching a housing | casing to a wall. It is a figure explaining the balance at the time of desk installation. It is a figure which shows that a projection image becomes trapezoid shape. It is a figure explaining an optical mechanism part. It is a figure which shows using a reflection type liquid crystal element for an image forming element. It is a figure which shows using a transmissive liquid crystal element for an image forming element. It is drawing explaining another embodiment of this invention. It is drawing explaining another embodiment of this invention. It is drawing explaining contrast of another embodiment of this invention and a prior art.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a projector according to the present embodiment.
The projector is composed of a housing, and the housing includes an optical mechanism unit including a light source, an image forming element, a lens, an electric circuit unit that controls the lamp, an image input terminal, a switch, an image control circuit unit that controls the input image, and the like. And a rotation mechanism that rotates the optical mechanism in one axial direction with respect to the housing.

  The optical mechanism unit includes, for example, a white lamp as a light source, a rod integrator for uniformizing light intensity, a color wheel for colorization, an image forming element, and a projection optical system. For example, the optical system includes a first optical system including a lens and a second optical system including a reflecting mirror having a curved surface.

The optical mechanism unit will be described with reference to FIGS. The lamp has an ellipsoidal reflector and a light source that emits light for image projection to the first focal point.
As the reflector, a parabolic mirror, an elliptical mirror, or the like can be used. The light emitted from the lamp enters the rod integrator, and the lighting condition of the object to be illuminated is adjusted by the rod integrator. The light emitted from the rod integrator is transmitted through a color wheel that colors white transmitted light, and is incident on an image forming element that is an object to be illuminated through a relay lens.

1 and 8, the image forming element uses a mirror device in which a large number of mirror elements are regularly arranged vertically and horizontally, each mirror element is individually controlled, and the direction of emitted light with respect to incident light can be controlled. In that case, it is necessary to separate the incident light direction and the emitted light direction. In FIGS. 1 and 8, incident light is incident from an oblique direction of the image forming element using a bending mirror.
Although the light emitted from the image forming element is not shown in FIG. 1 by the first optical system including the lens system, an intermediate image of the image forming element is formed, and the intermediate image is a second optical system including the concave mirror. To tie an image on the projection surface. In FIG. 1, a folding mirror is arranged in the second optical system between the concave mirror and the projection surface, and the direction of projection is changed.

  In addition, the control mechanism section includes a lamp control circuit that performs lamp ON / OFF and lamp temperature control, an image control circuit that controls the color wheel and the image forming element according to the input image, and generates an optimal image. Arranged to air-cool the image processing control circuit, input switch circuit, various power supply circuits, lamps and image forming elements, etc. A fan control circuit for controlling the fan to be operated is included, and the projector and the output image are controlled.

  As described above, the optical mechanism unit, the control mechanism unit, and the like are mounted / built in the housing. In the present embodiment, the rotating mechanism unit further rotates the optical mechanism unit in one axial direction with respect to the housing. As shown in FIG. 2, the optical mechanism can be rotated in one axial direction as shown in FIG. 2, for example, 90 °. In this case, the rotating axis of rotation rotates about an axis parallel to the light source beam emission direction in which the shortest ray connecting from the center of the light source to the center of the image forming element is emitted from the light source. The light source beam emission direction and the optical axis of the projection optical system are substantially perpendicular when projected onto a plane parallel to each direction.

  In FIG. 2, all of the optical mechanism is rotated in one axis direction, but the system after the rod integrator that creates illumination that matches the shape of the image forming element only needs to be rotated, and the lamp rotates. It does not matter even if it is fixed without. However, in this case, the optical mechanism rotates around the center of the rotating rod integrator, and there is a non-rotating lamp arc on the extension line of the rotating shaft, and a reflector shape is formed symmetrically around the rotating axis. It is essential.

  FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which the projector is placed on a desk and an image is projected on a wall. FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which an image is projected on the desk using the projector. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which an image is projected on the wall by using the projector to fix the case by attaching it to the wall.

The state of projection in FIG. 3 is a general usage of a projector. In particular, since the projector described in this embodiment can project at a wide angle using a concave mirror and a projection system with only a lens, the projection distance can be shortened even with the same projection size. In other words, when a wall is used as a projection surface, the projector can be placed near the wall and projected.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 12 of the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, the projection distance of the projection optical system can be covered with the height of the projector device, and a large screen can be projected on the desk by standing the device. . However, as shown in FIG. 12 of the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, if it is intended to realize the stationary arrangement and the desktop installation with the device as it is, there is a risk that the installation surface of the device and the desk will fall down because the installation surface of the device and the desk is narrow and poorly balanced. (See FIG. 6). Further, if the area is increased, the size of the apparatus is increased.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, since the optical mechanism unit is in operation with respect to the housing, the optical axis of the installation surface and the projection optical system, that is, the projection direction can be adjusted. Even when the projector is installed on the desk 4, the projector body can be installed in a well-balanced manner during projection, so there is little risk of falling. For this purpose, it is better not to operate the built-in casing other than the optical mechanism section that operates, because the center of gravity is close to the installation surface when installing on the desk. Since at least the control mechanism unit includes a human interface unit such as a switch, it is possible to prevent erroneous operation if it is not operated.

  In addition, the image input terminal for inputting video / image information from the outside of the projector body is basically connected to an external video output device (for example, a personal computer) by wire during projection, so it does not operate with respect to the housing. However, even if the projection direction changes, the input terminal position does not change, so the connection line is less likely to hang. Also, if the connection line is pulled by being caught by the connection line, it does not operate near the center of gravity. Because it is installed on the body side, there is little possibility of falling down.

  Further, by operating only the optical mechanism unit, as shown in FIG. 5, the casing is fixed to the wall surface, and only the optical mechanism unit is operated and fixed so that the optical axis of the projection optical system is perpendicular to the wall surface. This makes it possible to project onto the wall surface without a desk on which the projector is installed. At this time, if the optical mechanism portion does not operate as in Patent Document 2 and an attempt is made to fix the housing to the wall surface, the installation surface is narrow and difficult to fix, and the balance is poor and installation is difficult. If the installation surface is to be widened, the entire housing becomes large.

  However, as in this embodiment, the housing is fixed to the wall surface, and only the optical mechanism unit is operated and fixed so that the optical axis of the projection optical system is perpendicular to the wall surface. Wide and well balanced, it is easy to fix to the wall. For example, if the wall is made of metal, a magnet or the like can be used as a method of installing the wall, and hooking with a hook or the like is also conceivable. Of course, it may be stopped with a screw or the like. In any case, it is advantageous to have a large installation area and good balance.

  Further, in this embodiment, when the optical mechanism unit is driven around one axis, when the rotation axis that is driven with respect to the direction of gravity is always set to be perpendicular, the light source of the light source is parallel to the rotation axis. The light emission direction is arranged. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress the shortening of the life of the light source due to the light source being directed in the vertical direction. That is, when projecting onto the wall surface as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, projecting onto the desk, or projecting onto the ceiling (not shown), the optical axis of the projection optical system is projected in any case. Although it is operated and adjusted so that it is perpendicular to the surface, the light source beam emission direction in the optical mechanism and the optical axis of the projection optical system are always set so that the light source beam emission direction is always perpendicular to the gravity direction. Direction is set.

  Further, in the conventional projector as shown in FIG. 7, when the installation surface is inclined with respect to the projection surface, the projection surface, that is, the image surface is inclined with respect to the optical axis. It may become a part that is out of focus.

  However, in this embodiment, since the optical mechanism unit is rotated in a uniaxial direction and the rotation axis is perpendicular to the optical axis of the projection optical system, the projection surface and the projection optical system are always arranged even if the installation surface is inclined. The optical axis can be kept vertical. Here, the optical axis is generally the central axis of the optical system. However, for example, an optical system that does not have a central axis, such as an eccentric optical system, or an object surface that is not perpendicular to the central axis. Since the tilting optical system that tilts the image plane may be used, when it is defined, when the projection optical system is designed, it is perpendicular to the object plane such as an image forming element and the image plane formed by the designed optical system. Direction.

Further, the optical mechanism portion can use not only the form described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 8, but also a reflective liquid crystal element as an image forming element as shown in FIG.
The substantially collimated light emitted from the lamp is aligned in one direction by a polarization conversion system including a fly eye integrator, a polarization beam splitter array, and a condenser lens. Then, it is colored by transmitting only each wavelength band by the color wheel, and is incident on the polarization beam splitter. The light reflected by the polarization beam splitter is incident on each pixel of the reflective liquid crystal element. The light incident on each pixel is reflected while being polarized by a control unit that controls the reflective liquid crystal element, and is incident again on the polarization beam splitter. The transmitted light is intermediate between the image forming elements in the first optical system including the lens system. The images are connected, and the intermediate image is connected to the projection surface by the second optical system composed of a concave mirror.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, a transmissive liquid crystal element can be used as the image forming element.
The substantially collimated light emitted from the lamp is aligned in one direction by a polarization conversion system including a fly eye integrator, a polarization beam splitter array, and a condenser lens. Thereafter, only the blue wavelength band is reflected by the dichroic mirror A, and the others are transmitted. The light in the blue wavelength band reflected by the dichroic mirror A has its optical path bent by the mirror and enters the condenser lens.
Further, the light transmitted through the dichroic mirror A is reflected by the dichroic mirror B, and the light in the red wavelength band is transmitted by the dichroic mirror B. The light in the green wavelength band reflected by the dichroic mirror B enters the condenser lens. The light in the red wavelength band that has passed through the dichroic mirror B is bent by the two mirrors and enters the condenser lens. The light incident on the condenser lens is modulated by the transmissive liquid crystal element for each color, and the modulated light is synthesized again by the dichroic prism. The synthesized light forms an intermediate image of the image forming element in a first optical system composed of a lens system, and the intermediate image forms an image on the projection surface by a first optical system composed of a concave mirror.

  According to the above-described embodiment, since a part of the optical mechanism portion can be rotated in the uniaxial direction, the optical axis can be adjusted to be perpendicular to the projection surface. It is not necessary to correct the collapse of the surface by image processing or the like. In addition, since only the optical mechanism moves, the above adjustment can be performed with a wide installation surface between the apparatus and the installation place, and the stability is good. When the control unit such as the board is moved, the connection line with the PC connected to the control unit is also moved, and the balance of the entire casing is easily lost, and it is very dangerous such as dropping from the desk to the floor. Therefore, the control unit does not move. In addition, when only the optical mechanism is rotated in the uniaxial direction and the optical axis is adjusted to be perpendicular to the projection surface, the lamp does not always face in the vertical direction regardless of the amount of rotation, so the lamp faces in the vertical direction. Therefore, the shortening of the life of the light source can be suppressed.

11 and 12 are diagrams for explaining another embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the optical mechanism unit, the rotation mechanism unit, the control mechanism unit, and the like are arranged on a base plate (which is a casing) including the installation surface. Of course, as shown in FIG. Further, the optical mechanism portion and the rotation mechanism portion may be structured so as to be wrapped in the casing. Further, in any embodiment, after the rotation mechanism is rotated, a mechanism that strongly keeps the rotation at that position is attached. For example, a hole is made in one surface of the housing and the one surface of the optical mechanism part facing each other, and rotation can be stopped by inserting a pin into the hole. Further, the rotation mechanism may be manual or electrically driven.

  In FIG. 12, the optical mechanism portion is not on the base portion including the installation surface of the housing, but is in contact with the side surface. Even in such a form, the optical mechanism unit can rotate with respect to the housing including the control mechanism unit to satisfy the above functions. In this embodiment, the cylindrical portion of the optical mechanism portion also serves as the rotation mechanism portion, and an illumination optical system such as a light source and a rod integrator is built in this cylindrical portion, and a rotation mechanism portion is provided separately. This can save the layout space and contribute to the downsizing of the projector.

Of course, the present invention can be applied not only to a projector including a projection optical system using a concave mirror, but also to a projector of a projection system including only a normal lens.
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing how the projector is used in comparison with a conventional projector.
In FIG. 13A, a conventional projector is installed on a desk and projects an image on a wall surface. When it is necessary to install and use the projector on the wall facing the wall on which the image is to be captured for some reason, as shown in FIG. There is a high possibility that the balance will fall off when it is fixed to the wall with a magnet.
On the other hand, if the projector of the present application is used as shown in FIG. 13C, the optical axis of the projection optical system is always relative to the projection surface, regardless of whether the installation area is placed on the desk or the wall surface facing the projection surface. Can be adjusted vertically, so that the installation surface can always be fixed, and for example, when the wall surface is installed, the installation area is large, so that it is difficult to drop when fixed with, for example, a magnet.

Hereinafter, the function and effect of each claim will be described.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the entire optical mechanism portion is rotated, the optical mechanism portion can be easily configured. That is, it is not necessary to separate the component that is rotated in the rear part of the optical device from the component that is not rotated.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the light beam is reflected by the mirror having a curved surface, it has a power twice that of the refracting lens, so that it is easy to make a wide angle. Can be installed nearby. In particular, when projecting on a desk as in this embodiment, if the projection distance is the same, projection can be performed on a larger screen, which is good.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, an intermediate image is once formed by the projection optical system including the lens system, and the intermediate image is formed on the image plane by the concave mirror, so that the entire optical system is formed before and after the intermediate image. Since the magnification can be divided, the design can proceed independently, and the design becomes easy.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since a part of the optical mechanism part serves as a part of the rotating mechanism part, it is possible to save space as compared with an independent structure.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the lamp light source is arranged inside the portion that bears the rotation mechanism portion of the optical mechanism portion, thereby saving the space while keeping the rotation axis and the light source beam emission direction parallel to each other. Can be planned.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the power source and the control mechanism unit do not move, the center of gravity does not change easily when the optical mechanism unit is rotated in the wall surface installation or the desktop installation, and the balance is not easily lost.

  Each embodiment described above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

JP 2008-165187 A JP 2008-250281 A

Claims (7)

An optical mechanism including a light source for image projection, an image forming element that forms an image, and a projection optical system that projects an image of the image forming element onto a projection surface;
A part of the optical mechanism unit rotates around an axis parallel to a light beam emission direction of the light source, and an angle between an optical axis direction of the projection optical system and an installation surface is adjusted.   The projector according to claim 1, wherein the rotating optical mechanism unit is all components of the mechanism.   3. The projector according to claim 1, wherein the projection optical system includes a first optical system including a lens and a second optical system including a reflective mirror having a curvature in order from an optical path separation element.   The projection optical system forms an intermediate image of the image forming element between the first optical system and the second optical system, and enlarges and projects the intermediate image by the second optical system. The projector according to claim 3.   The projector according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the optical mechanism portion includes a cylindrical portion, and the cylindrical portion is a part of a rotation mechanism.   The projector according to claim 5, wherein the light source is disposed inside the cylindrical shape.   The projector according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a power source and a control mechanism section in the casing are fixed to the casing, and the optical mechanism section rotates.

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