JP2782450B2 - Laser pointer device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser pointer device, and more particularly, to a laser beam generated by a semiconductor laser, which is condensed by an optical system to form a light beam, and projects this light beam onto a projection surface. The present invention relates to a laser pointer device that issues a spot instruction by performing a spot instruction.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional laser pointer devices include screens, bulletin boards,
Conventionally, a continuous light beam of visible light is projected onto a projection surface such as a wall, and one point on the projection surface is designated as a spot (hereinafter, referred to as a spot designation).

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional laser pointer device, since a continuous light beam is projected on the projection surface and one spot is designated, there is a problem that current consumption is large. In addition, when a plurality of users use the laser pointer device to simultaneously perform a spot instruction on the same projection surface, it becomes difficult to identify which user is performing a spot instruction on which point. There was a point.

Furthermore, since only one spot could be designated, a certain range on the projection surface could not be designated,
There is a problem that its function is limited.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to reduce an average current consumption and to blink one point on a projection surface by incorporating an electronic circuit for intermittently emitting a semiconductor laser that generates laser light. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser pointer device capable of giving a spot instruction (hereinafter, referred to as a blink instruction).

Another object of the present invention is to deflect a light beam in synchronism with intermittent light emission of a semiconductor laser to designate a range on a projection surface with a plurality of spots (hereinafter, referred to as multipoint designation). It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser pointer device which can be used.

[Means for solving the problem]

The laser pointer device according to the present invention is a laser pointer device that converges a laser beam generated by a semiconductor laser by an optical system to form a light beam and projects the light beam on a projection surface to perform a spot instruction. Characterized by having an electronic circuit that enables a flashing instruction by intermittently emitting light.

Further, the laser pointer device of the present invention is a laser pointer device which converges a laser beam generated by a semiconductor laser by an optical system to form a light beam and projects the light beam on a light beam projection surface, thereby instructing a spot. A reflecting mirror for reflecting the light beam collected by the system,
A piezoelectric actuator that oscillates the reflection mirror to deflect the light beam; and emits the semiconductor laser intermittently and simultaneously drives the piezoelectric actuator in synchronism with the intermittent light emission to cause a certain range on the projection surface. And an electronic circuit capable of giving a multipoint instruction.

[Action]

In the laser pointer device according to the present invention, the electronic circuit allows the semiconductor laser to emit light intermittently, thereby enabling a flashing instruction.

In the laser pointer device of the present invention, the reflection mirror reflects the light beam condensed by the optical system, the piezoelectric actuator vibrates the reflection mirror to deflect the light beam, and the electronic circuit intermittently switches the semiconductor laser. By driving the piezoelectric actuator in synchronization with the intermittent light emission at the same time as the light emission, it is possible to specify a certain point on the projection surface at multiple points.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a main part of a laser pointer device according to one embodiment of the present invention. The laser pointer device of the present embodiment is a semiconductor laser 1 that generates a visible laser beam.
An optical system 2 including a lens or the like for converging laser light from the semiconductor laser 1 into a parallel light beam, an electronic circuit 3 for controlling light emission of the semiconductor laser 1, and the semiconductor laser 1 and the electronic circuit 3. Power supply 4 consisting of a battery etc. for driving
Thus, the main part is constituted. Reference numeral 5 denotes a housing of the laser pointer device, and reference numeral 6 denotes a projection surface such as a screen, a bulletin board, or a wall on which a light beam from the laser pointer device is projected.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic circuit 3. The electronic circuit 3 includes an automatic optical output control circuit (hereinafter abbreviated as an APC circuit) 7 connected between the power supply 4 and the semiconductor laser 1, and a supply of a current flowing from the power supply 4 to the semiconductor laser 1 through the APC circuit 7. And a switching circuit 8 for controlling to turn on / off. Note that a frequency control signal for controlling the frequency or pulse width of the switching pulse applied to the APC circuit 7 or a pulse width control signal is input to the switching circuit 8 as a blinking control signal.

Next, the operation of the laser pointer device of the present embodiment thus configured will be described with reference to the timing charts shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b).

When a switching pulse as shown in FIG. 3A is generated from the switching circuit 8 and applied to the APC circuit 7, the APC circuit 7 sends a semiconductor signal from the power supply 4 to the semiconductor according to the on / off of the applied switching pulse. The supply of the current flowing into the laser 1 is turned on / off, and as a result, the semiconductor laser 1 emits light intermittently as shown in FIG. 3 (b). When the switching pulse is on, the semiconductor laser 1 stops emitting light, and when the switching pulse is off, the semiconductor laser 1 emits light.

The laser light emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 is condensed by the optical system 2 to become a substantially parallel light beam, and is projected on the projection surface 6 as shown by a dashed line, thereby generating a spot on the projection surface 6. At this time, since the semiconductor laser 1 emits light intermittently as described above, the spot generated on the projection surface 6 blinks, and one point on the projection surface 6 is instructed to blink.

If the frequency or pulse width of the switching pulse output from the switching circuit 8 is appropriately controlled from the state of the blinking instruction by the blinking control signal, a spot having a desired blinking frequency or blinking luminance can be obtained. Therefore, even when a plurality of users use the laser pointer device at the same time to instruct a point on the same projection surface to blink, any one of the users can make any point by changing the blinking frequency or the blinking luminance. It is possible to easily identify whether the flashing instruction is given. Also, by setting the cycle of the switching pulse to a cycle shorter than the time during which an afterimage remains in the human eye, it is possible to provide a spot indication that can be viewed continuously while reducing the average current consumption, and can be continuously performed. By using both the visible spot instruction and the blinking instruction, it is possible to more easily recognize the correspondence between the user of the laser pointer device and the point pointed to. In addition, by controlling the switching pulse not to be output from the switching circuit 8 by the blinking control signal and causing the semiconductor laser 1 to continuously emit light,
It is also possible to give a continuous spot instruction similar to the conventional one.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a main part of a laser pointer device according to another embodiment of the present invention. The laser pointer device of the present embodiment is a semiconductor laser that generates a laser beam of visible light.
11, an optical system 12 for condensing the laser light from the semiconductor laser 11 into a parallel light beam, a first reflecting mirror 13 for reflecting the parallel light beam from the optical system 12, and a first reflecting mirror. A piezoelectric actuator 14 of a bimorph type or the like for adhering the mirror 13 to the surface, and a second reflecting mirror 15 for further reflecting the light beam reflected by the first reflecting mirror 13 to the outside.
An electronic circuit 16 for driving the semiconductor laser 11, the piezoelectric actuator 14, and a power supply 17 for operating the semiconductor laser 11, the piezoelectric actuator 14, and the electronic circuit 16 constitute a main part thereof. Reference numeral 18 denotes a housing of the laser pointer device, and 19 denotes a projection surface.

FIG. 5 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration of the electronic circuit 16. The electronic circuit 16 turns on / off an APC circuit 21 connected between the power supply 17 and the semiconductor laser 11 and supplies a current flowing from the power supply to the semiconductor laser 11 by applying a first switching pulse to the APC circuit 21. A switching circuit 22 for controlling the APC circuit 21 so as to perform
Counter that counts the second switching pulse that is output after being delayed by half the time when the switching pulse is OFF with respect to the switching pulse, and inverts the output every predetermined count value
23 and the piezoelectric actuator 14 according to the output of the counter 23.
And a drive circuit 24 that drives the.
In the switching circuit 22, a frequency control signal or a pulse width control signal for controlling the frequency or pulse width of the first switching pulse applied to the APC circuit 21 and the second switching pulse applied to the counter 23 blinks. It is designed to be input as a control signal. Further, a counter value switching signal for switching a predetermined count value for inverting the output is input to the counter 23.

Next, the operation of the laser pointer device of the present embodiment thus configured will be described with reference to timing charts shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b).

When a first switching pulse as shown in FIG. 6 (a) is generated from the switching circuit 22 and applied to the APC circuit 21, the APC circuit 21 turns on the power supply in accordance with on / off of the applied switching pulse. The supply of the current flowing from 17 into the semiconductor laser 11 is turned on / off. As a result, the semiconductor laser 11 emits light intermittently as shown in FIG. 6 (b). Note that the semiconductor laser 11 stops emitting light when the first switching pulse is on, and emits light when the first switching pulse is off.

On the other hand, a second switching pulse as shown in FIG. 6 (c) generated from the switching circuit 22 is applied to the counter 23, and the counter 23 outputs three switching pulses as shown in FIG. 6 (d), for example. The output is inverted each time the pulse is counted. Then, as shown in FIGS. 6 (d) and (e), when the output of the counter 23 is on, the drive circuit 24 operates to drive the piezoelectric actuator 14, and when the output of the counter 23 is off, the piezoelectric actuator 14 returns to its natural state due to its own elasticity. Therefore, the reversal of the output of the counter 23 is repeated, so that the piezoelectric actuator 14 vibrates.

Laser light generated by the semiconductor laser 11 is condensed by the optical system 12 to become a substantially parallel light beam, and is incident on the first reflection mirror 13. Now, piezoelectric actuator 14
Is driven and the first reflection mirror 13 is turned into a piezoelectric actuator.
Since the light beam is oscillated so as to reciprocate around the fixed position of the housing 14 with respect to the housing 18, the incident light beam should be incident on the first reflecting mirror 13 at a different incident angle when viewed in time. As a result, the light beam incident on the first reflecting mirror 13 is reflected at different reflection angles in time and deflected in conjunction with the vibration of the piezoelectric actuator 14. The light beam deflected by the first reflecting mirror 13 is
The light is further reflected by the reflection mirror 15 and is deflected and scanned at high speed between the one-dot chain line and the two-dot chain line.
One spot is generated (see FIG. 4), and a certain linear range on the projection surface 19 is designated by multiple points.

By changing the frequency or pulse width of the first switching pulse and the second switching pulse output from the switching circuit 22 by the blink control signal from the state of the multipoint instruction, the blink cycle or the lighting time of the semiconductor laser 11 is changed. Change and at the same time piezoelectric actuator
Since the frequency or vibration width of 14 will change,
Accordingly, the interval or length of the four spots generated on the projection surface 19 changes (that is, the designated linear range changes). Further, when the counter 23 switches a predetermined count value at which the output is inverted by the count value switching signal, the number of spots generated on the projection surface 19 is increased or decreased. In particular, if the count value is increased, it is possible to instruct a certain linear range on the projection surface 19 to blink.

By the way, in the above embodiment, only the first reflection mirror 13 is provided in association with the piezoelectric actuator 14,
The reflection mirror 15 is also related to other piezoelectric actuators, so that the deflection angle of the light beam is increased to extend the range of a straight line that can be specified at multiple points. It is also possible to designate the range of the dimension at multiple points.

Further, the first switching pulse and the second switching pulse output from the same switching circuit 22 are applied to the APC circuit 21 and the counter 23, respectively. If a delay relationship between the pulse and the second switching pulse applied to the counter 23 is maintained for a half of the off-time, these may be output from different switching circuits. Needless to say. Note that the delay relationship between the first switching pulse and the second switching pulse, which is a half of the off-time, corresponds to the spot generated on the projection surface 19 when the piezoelectric actuator 14 moves forward and backwards. This is a condition required to synchronize the positions.However, it is not always necessary to synchronize the spot position on the projection surface 19 when the piezoelectric actuator 14 moves forward and backward, so When the number of spots is increased without synchronizing the spot positions on the projection surface 19 between the first and second switching pulses, there is no need to synchronize the phase relationship between the first switching pulse and the second switching pulse.

Furthermore, the case where the first reflection mirror 13 is adhered to the surface of the piezoelectric actuator 14 has been described. However, not only the first reflection mirror 13 is adhered but also, for example, a metal film or the like is vapor-deposited on the surface of the piezoelectric actuator 14. It may be formed by another method such as direct formation.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, by causing the semiconductor laser to emit light intermittently, there is an effect that the average current consumption can be reduced as compared with the case where the semiconductor laser emits light continuously. In addition, it is possible to instruct a point on the projection surface to blink, and it is possible to easily identify the point to be designated for each user even when a plurality of users use the laser pointer device at the same time. There is.

Further, according to the present invention, by deflected the light beam generated by the semiconductor laser in synchronization with the intermittent light emission of the semiconductor laser, a certain range on the projection surface can be multi-pointed (particularly, dotted line). There is an effect that the application range of the laser pointer device can be greatly expanded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a main part of a laser pointer device according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic circuit in FIG. 1, and FIGS. b) is a timing chart of the electronic circuit shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a main part of a laser pointer device according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an electronic circuit in FIG. 6 (a) to 6 (e) are timing charts of the electronic circuit shown in FIG. In the figure, 1,11 ... semiconductor laser, 2,12 ... optical system, 3,16 ... electronic circuit, 4,17 ... power supply, 5,18 ... housing, 6,19 ... projection surface, 7,21 ... Automatic light output control circuit (APC circuit), 8,22 ... Switching circuit, 13 ... First reflection mirror, 14 ... Piezoelectric actuator, 15 ... Second reflection mirror, 23 ... The counter 24 is a drive circuit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-60-50580 (JP, A) JP-A-2-75576 (JP, U) JP-A-61-242517 (JP, U) (58) Investigation Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G02B 27/20

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A laser pointer device for converging laser light generated by a semiconductor laser by an optical system to form a light beam and projecting the light beam on a projection surface to indicate a spot. A reflecting mirror that reflects the light beam, a piezoelectric actuator that oscillates the reflecting mirror to deflect the light beam, and emits the semiconductor laser intermittently and simultaneously synchronizes the piezoelectric actuator with the intermittent light emission. An electronic circuit capable of instructing a certain range on the projection surface at multiple points by being driven.