JPH08186781A - Projector device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily detect a black level defect element by emitting an incident light made incident from an opposite side at the same angle as an incident angle of a lighting light to a mirror surface deflection optical modulator and detecting a defective very small mirror surface element among very small mirror surface elements of the modulator. CONSTITUTION: A lighting light is emitted to a mirror surface deflection optical modulator 2 having pluralities of very small mirror surface elements arranged in response to elements of video data, a signal from the modulator 2 (2R, 2G, 2B) is modulated with the video data, a valid reflected light of the modulator 2 in response to the video data is synthesized and the result is projected onto a display screen. A lighting light L1 made incident into the modulator 2 and an incident light L2 made incident from an opposite side at the same angle as the incident angle of the light L1 with respect to the optical axis on the plane including the optical axis of the valid reflected light of the modulator 2 are emitted to the modulator 2. Then a defective very small mirror surface element is detected among pluralities of the very small mirror surface elements of the modulator 2. Thus, the projector is made simple and small in size and them black level defective pixel of a mirror light bulb is easily detected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Table of Contents] The present invention will be described in the following order. Field of Industrial Application Conventional Technology Problems to be Solved by the Invention Means for Solving the Problems (FIGS. 6 and 9) Action (FIGS. 6 and 9) Example (1) Overall Configuration of Projector Device (FIG. 1) (FIG. 5) (2) Projector device of the embodiment (FIGS. 6 to 8) (3) Other embodiment (FIG. 9) Effect of the invention

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a projector device, and is suitable for application to, for example, a device for projecting a color image.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a projector device of this type, there is a projector device which individually displays red, green and blue components of image data on three CRTs (cathode ray tubes).
On the front surface of this projection type three-tube projector device, three CRTs in which red, green, and blue color filters and projection lenses are sequentially arranged on the image projection surface side are arranged.

The CRT is designed so that the red, green and blue components of the image data are directly projected onto the screen separately at the time of projection, whereby the projected light of the red, green and blue components projected from each CRT on the screen is projected. One image is formed by combining them, and a color image is projected as a whole.

Further, instead of the projection type three-tube type projector device, there is a reflection type three-tube type projector device in which three CRTs are arranged inside the box. In the case of this projector device, an optical path similar to that of the projection-type three-tube projector device is reflected and bent by a mirror arranged inside the box, and projection light is irradiated from the back surface to a frosted glass-like semitransparent screen.

As a result, each CR is displayed on the screen.
The projection lights of the red, green, and blue components emitted from T are combined to form one image, and a color image is projected as a whole. In the case of this reflection type three-tube type projector device, by bending the optical path to reduce the size and integrally forming the screen itself, it is possible to realize a smaller size projector device than the projection type three-tube type projector device. The usability of can be improved.

[0007]

However, in the projection type three-tube projector device or the reflection type three-tube projector device having such a configuration, a CRT is used as a light source and an image projected from the CRT is enlarged and displayed on the screen. Therefore, there is a problem in that it is inevitable that the entire device becomes large, and it is difficult to increase the brightness of the display image.

In order to solve such a problem, three liquid crystal panel plates are used as an image source in place of the CRT, each of the liquid crystal panel plates displays red, green and blue components, and one surface of the liquid crystal panel plate is displayed. There is a so-called liquid crystal projector device which irradiates light from the side and forms an image of the transmitted light on a screen through red, green and blue color filters, respectively.

In the case of this liquid crystal projector device, the entire device can be remarkably miniaturized as compared with a projector device which uses a CRT because a liquid crystal panel is used, but the liquid crystal panel plate itself has a low light transmittance and displays a display image. In terms of achieving high brightness, it has not been practically sufficient.

By the way, as a display system, a minute mirror surface element is arranged in a plane according to a pixel, and a mirror surface deflection type optical modulator utilizing the reflection of each mirror surface element (hereinafter referred to as a mirror light valve) is used. Those have been proposed (JP-A-60-179781, JP-A-3-40693, and JP-A-3-174112).

If a projector device for magnifying and projecting a color image can be formed by using this mirror light valve as an image source, the overall structure of the device can be simplified to the same scale as the liquid crystal projector device and downsized,
Further, it is considered that the display image can be significantly increased in brightness by improving the utilization efficiency of the light source as compared with the liquid crystal.

Since a projector device having this mirror light valve generally uses only incident light for displaying an image, when detecting a white defective pixel, all the mirror surfaces are displayed so that the image display surface is entirely black. When the element is turned off, the white defective pixels are displayed in white, so that it is easy to detect the non-black portion, that is, the white defective pixel, appears visually from the image display surface displayed in black.

However, when a black defective pixel is detected, all the specular elements are turned on so that the entire image display surface is displayed in white, and only the portion illuminated by the black defective pixel is displayed in black. However, there is a problem that the display portion formed by the black defective pixels is buried in the surrounding white image display surface and is difficult to identify.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to propose a projector device that can be simply and miniaturized and that can easily detect black defective pixels of a mirror light valve.

[0015]

In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, a specular deflection type optical modulator (2 (2R, 2G, 2B)) is irradiated with illumination light, the specular deflection type optical modulator (2) is modulated with image data, and the effective reflected light of the specular deflection type optical modulator (2) corresponding to the image data is synthesized. Then, in the projector device (40) for displaying a desired image on the image display surface, the illumination light (L1) incident on the specular deflection type optical modulator (2) and the specular deflection type optical modulator (2) are Incident light (L2) incident from the opposite side at the same angle as the incident angle of the illumination light (L1) with respect to the optical axis on the plane including the optical axis of the effective reflected light is reflected by the specular deflection type optical modulator (2). ), And a plurality of microscopic elements included in the specular deflection type optical modulator (2). So as to detect a small mirror elements that are defective among the surfaces element.

[0016]

The function of irradiating the specular deflection type optical modulator (2) having a plurality of minute specular surface elements arranged according to the pixel of the image data with the illumination light and the specular deflection type optical modulator (2) to the image data. In the projector device (40) for displaying a desired image on an image display surface by synthesizing the effective reflected light of the mirror-deflecting optical modulator (2) according to the image data. Illumination light (L
1) and the optical axis of the effective reflected light of the specular deflection type optical modulator (2), the illumination light (L
The mirror-deflecting optical modulator (2) is irradiated with incident light (L2) that is incident from the opposite side at the same angle as the incident angle of 1), and a plurality of micro-mirror elements included in the mirror-deflecting optical modulator (2). By detecting the defective micro mirror surface element, it is possible to easily and miniaturize and to easily detect the black defective pixel of the micro mirror surface element.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overall Structure of Projector Device In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates three mirror light valves 2 corresponding to respective red, green and blue image data as a whole.
1 shows a projector device using R, 2G, 2B. 2 and 3 in which parts corresponding to those in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the projection light L1 emitted from the high-intensity white light source 3 is converted into parallel light through a condenser lens 4 while unnecessary UV rays are removed by a UV filter (not shown). The dichroic mirrors 6R and 6 for separation while being bent by the reflection mirror 5 of No. 1
It is incident on G and 6B.

Separation dichroic mirrors 6R, 6G,
6B is a procession light L2 consisting of white light in red,
The green and blue lights LR, LG and LB are separated. This red,
The green and blue lights LR, LG, LB are obliquely bent upward by the second reflecting mirrors 8R, 8G, 8B through the beam shaping cylindrical lenses 7R, 7G, 7B, respectively, and reflected by the mirror light valves 2R, 2G, 2B. The surface is illuminated.

The mirror light valves 2R, 2G and 2B are
According to the pixel array of video data (for example, 768 x 576 pixels), a plurality of minute mirror surface elements each having a size of, for example, 17 [μm] square are arrayed, and thereby, a half
A reflective surface having a size similar to that of an inch CCD (solid-state image sensor) is formed. The micro mirror surface element is arranged corresponding to each memory cell of the frame memory according to the array of pixels of the video data, and the tilt state of the corresponding micro mirror surface element is changed individually according to the state of each memory cell. Has been done.

Practically, each micro mirror element is tilted by + 10 ° as shown in FIG. 4A when the memory cell is in the on state, that is, effective as a pixel, with respect to the neutral state, and conversely, when the memory cell is in the off state, When it is invalid as a pixel, it is tilted by −10 ° as shown in FIG.
As a result, the reflected light reflected by the mirror surface with respect to the incident light is
It is switched so as to have an optical path difference of 20 ° between the effective reflected light necessary for forming an image and the invalid reflected light which is not effective.

In the case of the projector device 1, the image data for one frame of red, green and blue is set in the frame memories corresponding to the mirror light valves 2R, 2G and 2B, respectively, so that the effective reflected light is obtained. Red,
Green and blue image lights are formed. The red, green and blue image lights are respectively associated with relay lenses 9R, 9G and 9B.
Through dichroic mirrors for synthesis 10R, 10G,
It is guided to 10B and is combined as a color image light, and this is enlarged and projected through a projection lens 11 having a zoom lens structure onto a screen (not shown) arranged outside the projector device 1 at a distance.

In the case of this projector device 1, the high-brightness white light source 3, the condenser lens 4, the first reflecting mirror 5, the separating dichroic mirrors 6R to 6B, the cylindrical lenses 7R to 7B, and the second reflecting mirror 8R. ~
The optical axis of the optical system of the projection lights L1 and L2 reaching 8B, the relay lenses 9R to 9B reflected by the mirror light valves 2R to 2B, and the dichroic mirror for synthesis 10R.
˜10B, the optical axis of the effective reflected light reaching the projection lens 11 is displaced by a predetermined height, thereby preventing interference between the projection light and the effective reflected light and the invalid reflected light. It is designed to get you.

Further, in the projector device 1, the beam shape of the projection light is shaped by the cylindrical lenses 7R to 7B, whereby the second reflecting mirror 8 is formed.
Even if the light is reflected obliquely upward by R to 8B, the reflecting surfaces of the mirror light valves 2R to 2B can be illuminated with a uniform illuminance.

Here, in the projector device 1, the optical device shown in FIG.
The circuit portion shown in FIG. 5 in which the same reference numerals are assigned to the corresponding portions is provided. In this projector device 1, as a video signal to be displayed, a video signal S1 input as an RGB signal from a video device or a V signal from a personal computer or the like is used.
The video signal S2 sent corresponding to GA (video graphics arrey) and the video signal S3 of VGA pattern can be selected.

These video signals S1, S2, S3 are
Each of them is input to the video select circuit 21 and selected, and the resulting video signal S4 is converted into a digital video signal S5 by the analog-digital conversion circuit 22,
It is input to the gamma correction circuit 23. The test pattern signal S6 generated by the test pattern generation circuit 24 is input to the gamma correction circuit 23 as needed. As a result, the gamma correction circuit 23 performs gamma correction on the digital video signal S5 or the test pattern signal S6 according to the set gamma correction parameter S7, and sends the resulting digital video signal S8 to the reformatting circuit 25.

The re-format circuit 25 inputs the video signals S1 and RGB video signals S2 and S input as RGB signals.
The digital video signal S8 corresponding to 3 is, for example, mirror light valves 2R to 2B composed of 768 pixels × 576 lines.
The digital video signal S9 of red, green, and blue components obtained by performing re-formatting according to the arrangement of the mirror surface elements
R, S9B and S9G are sent to the corresponding frame memories 26R, 26G and 26B, respectively.

The frame memories 26R to 26B correspond to the mirror light valves 2R to 2B, respectively. The frame memories 26R to 2B are sequentially frame by frame in accordance with the control signal S10 input from the timing control circuit 27.
The contents of 6B are written in the mirror light valves 2R to 2B, whereby red, green and blue image lights are formed as effective reflected lights.

In the case of the projector device 1, the timing control circuit 27 uses the input video signals S1 to S3.
Using the system clock S12 generated by the clock generation circuit 28 in accordance with the phase control signal S11 based on the above, the frame memories 26R to 26B and the mirror light valve 2R are used.
The control signal S10 for controlling .about.2B is generated.

In the projector device 1, when a power switch (not shown) is turned on, the AC power S13 is supplied to the power supply circuit 30 and the lamp drive circuit 31. Of these, the power supply circuit 30 supplies a predetermined DC power S14 to each circuit section to start the operation of the projector device 1. Further, the lamp drive circuit 31 drives the high-intensity white light source 3 to be turned on, so that the white light source 3 emits the projection light L1.

According to the configuration of the projector device 1,
Mirror light valves 2R, 2G, and 2B corresponding to red, green, and blue are used as image sources, and the mirror light valves 2R to 2B are driven by red, green, and blue video signals, respectively, and white light is emitted. By irradiating red, green, and blue projection lights separated by color, and synthesizing the effective reflected light, and enlarging and projecting, compared with the conventional projector using a CRT. Projector device 1 with significantly smaller size, lighter weight and simple structure
Can be realized.

Further, since the mirror light valves 2R-2B are designed to reflect the projection light,
As compared with the liquid crystal projector device, the utilization efficiency of light can be remarkably improved, and thus it is possible to realize the projector device which can be reduced in size and weight and which can increase the brightness of the displayed image.

(2) Projector device of this embodiment As shown in FIG. 6 in which parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are assigned the same reference numerals, in the projector device 40 of this embodiment, the light reflected by the mirror light valves 2R-2B is effective. The reflected light forms a focused image at a virtual image forming point A in the space immediately in front of the projection lens 11 with a size about twice as large as that of the relay lenses 9R to 9B. This relay lens 9R ~
The magnification of 9B is selected so that the size of the image formed at the virtual image forming point A is smaller than the aperture of the projection lens 11. This virtual imaging point A
A half mirror 41 is arranged immediately before, and a part of the effective reflected light is bent by the half mirror 41 so as to be condensed on the two-dimensional position detector 42 arranged at the same distance as the virtual image formation point A. .

The projector device 40 includes a mirror light valve 2R used for displaying an image on the image display surface.
~ 2B is used. Mirror light valve 2R-2
The plurality of specular elements B has a quadrangular shape, and has a diagonal hinge. An example of the arrangement of the mirror surface elements is shown in FIGS. 7 (A) and 7 (B).

Here, the plurality of mirror surface elements included in the mirror light valves 2R to 2B in the present invention are arranged to be rotated by 180 degrees with respect to the center of the array of the mirror surface elements. For this reason, the mirror surface elements are arranged to be rotatable 180 degrees without changing the arrangement as shown in FIG. 8 (A). In this way, by rotating the plurality of mirror surface elements by 180 degrees, the mirror surface element that is turned off according to the result of the modulation of the image data emits the effective reflected light.

In the projector device 40, three mirror light valves 2R to 2B are used to display a color image on the image display surface. For alignment of these three images, a rectangular pattern P1 composed of a plurality of fixed mirrors is formed around the plurality of mirror surface elements as shown by the broken line in FIG. 8 (A). This rectangular pattern is provided on each of the mirror light valves 2R to 2B and is used at the time of image alignment. The fixed mirrors are all fixed in the off state, and are incident from the side opposite to the incident light for displaying images, that is, when multiple mirror elements are rotated 180 degrees without changing the arrangement. The effective reflected light is emitted by the incident light.

In the above structure, all the plurality of mirror surface elements of the mirror light valves 2R-2B are turned off, and the incident light L1 used for image display is applied to these mirror surface elements. At this time, since the normal specular element is in the off state, the incident light L1 is emitted as ineffective reflected light, and it is possible to detect that the entire black display on the screen is a white defective pixel.

In addition, a plurality of mirror surface elements are turned on and rotated 180 degrees about the center of the array without changing the array,
The incident light L1 is emitted. At this time, since the inclination directions of the respective mirror surface elements are reversed, the incident light L1 incident on the mirror surface element in the ON state is emitted as invalid reflected light. For this reason, the entire screen is displayed in black on the screen, and the portion illuminated by the black defective pixel is displayed as white as in the detection of the white defective pixel, so that the black defective pixel can be easily detected.

Further, since a rectangular pattern P1 composed of a plurality of fixed mirrors fixed in an off state is arranged around the plurality of mirror surface elements, the incident light L1 is generated when displaying an image or detecting a white defective pixel. When the black defective pixel is detected, the black display is not displayed on the screen due to the incident light, and when the black defective pixel is detected, the incident light is rotated 180 degrees around the array center without changing the array. Light L
When 1 is incident, the pattern P1 is displayed and the images can be aligned.

According to the above configuration, the array of the plurality of mirror surface elements of the mirror light valves 2R to 2B is held, the mirror light valves 2R to 2B are rotatable 180 degrees around the center of the array, and a plurality of them are detected when a black defective pixel is detected. Turn on all mirror elements of the
When the incident light L1 is incident on the screen, the irradiation area by the black defective pixels is displayed in white on the screen of full black display and can be easily detected. Further, by disposing a rectangular pattern P1 composed of a plurality of fixed mirrors in the off state around the plurality of mirror surface elements, it is possible to detect black defective pixels and easily perform image alignment.

(3) Other Embodiments In the above embodiment, the mirror light valve 2R is used.
2B has a plurality of mirror surface elements that can be rotated 180 degrees around the center of the array while holding the array, and when detecting a black defective pixel, all the plurality of mirror surface elements are turned on. Although the incident light L1 for displaying is made incident with the function of the reverse incident light, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 9A, illumination from another optical system is used. When the incident angle of the incident light L1 is 10 ° with respect to the optical axis from the side opposite to the incident light L1 for displaying the image, that is, on the plane including the incident light L1 and the optical axis, the illumination light L2 is displayed. May be incident from the optical axis at an angle of −10 °.

FIG. 9B shows a state in which the incident light L1 for displaying an image is incident on the mirror surface element at this time, and FIG. 9B shows a state in which illumination light L2 from another optical system is incident on the mirror surface element. It shows in (C). Since the illuminating light L2 is a reverse incident light with respect to the incident light L1, by irradiating with all the mirror surface elements turned on, the entire screen is displayed in black, and only the irradiation portion by the black defective pixel is displayed in white. And can be easily detected. Incidentally, as the illumination light L2, an invisible light ray or the like not displayed on the screen may be used.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the defective pixel is detected by displaying on the screen using the effective reflected light of the plurality of mirror surface elements of the mirror light valves 2R-2B. Not limited to this, the angle of the mirror surface element may be used to detect the light reflected by the defective pixel by guiding it to a predetermined position other than the screen.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a rectangular pattern P1 composed of a plurality of fixed mirrors in the OFF state is arranged around a plurality of mirror surface elements of the mirror light valves 2R to 2B, and when detecting a black defective pixel. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
The pattern of the plurality of fixed mirrors may be a pattern other than a rectangle. In this case, it suffices that all mirror light valves made of a plurality of sheets have the same shape. Further, the detection of defective pixels and the alignment of images may be performed separately.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the detection of the defective pixel in the projector device is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be used for the detection of the pixel defect on the manufacturing line of the mirror light valve or the like. good.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where a mirror surface deflection type optical modulator in which 768 × 576 micro mirror surface elements are arranged on the reflecting surface according to the arrangement of the pixels of the image data is used. As mentioned above, the arrangement of the micro mirror elements is not limited to this, and various selections may be made.
Further, not only the two-dimensional array, but also the minute mirror surface elements are one-dimensionally arrayed and the image is formed by scanning the projection light, the same effect as the above-described embodiment can be realized.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the mirror deflection type optical modulators driven in accordance with the red, green and blue images are irradiated with the red, green and blue projection light, respectively, and their effective reflection is performed. Although the case where light is combined and enlarged is described, instead of this, a single specular deflection type optical modulator is sequentially driven in time division according to red, green and blue images,
In synchronization with this, a projector that combines the projection of red, green, and blue projection light in a time-sequential manner, and a projector that combines two or more colors with a single mirror-deflecting light modulator Even when applied to a device or the like, the same effect as that of the above-described embodiment can be realized.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention, the illumination light is incident on the optical axis on the plane including the illumination light incident on the specular deflection type optical modulator and the optical axis of the effective reflected light. Incident light incident from the opposite side at the same angle is applied to the specular-deflection type optical modulator to detect the defective micro-specular element among the plurality of micro-specular elements of the specular-deflection type optical modulator. As a result, it is possible to realize a projector device that can be easily and miniaturized and that can easily detect black defective pixels of the mirror light valve.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall configuration of a projector device using a mirror-polarized light modulator.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view for explaining an optical system of the projector device of FIG.

3 is a schematic rear view for explaining an optical system of the projector device of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the mirror surface element of the mirror surface deflection type optical modulator.

5 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the projector device of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the projector device of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an array of mirror surface elements.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining a mirror surface element of a mirror light valve according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view for explaining detection of a black defective pixel by incident light from another direction according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 40 ... Projector device, 2 ... Mirror light valve, 3 ... High-intensity white light source, 4 ... Condenser lens, 5 ... First reflection mirror, 6 ... Separation dichroic mirror, 7 ... Beam shaping cylindrical lens, 8 ... second reflecting mirror, 9 ... relay lens, 1
0 ... Dichroic mirror for composition, 11 ... Projection lens, 21 ... Video select circuit, 22 ...
... analog-digital conversion circuit, 23 ... gamma correction circuit, 24 ... test pattern generation circuit, 25 ... refinance circuit, 26 ... frame memory, 27 ... timing control circuit, 28 ... clock generation circuit, 30 ...
Power supply circuit, 31 ... Lamp drive circuit, 41 ... Half mirror, 42 ... Two-dimensional position detector.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Junichi Iwai 6-735 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Corporation

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A mirror-deflecting optical modulator having a plurality of micro-mirror elements arranged corresponding to pixels of the image data is irradiated with illumination light, and the mirror-deflecting optical modulator is controlled by the image data. In a projector device that modulates and synthesizes the effective reflected light of the specular deflection type optical modulator according to the image data to display a desired image on the image display surface, it is incident on the specular deflection type optical modulator. Incident light incident from the opposite side at the same angle as the incident angle of the illumination light with respect to the optical axis on the plane including the illumination light and the optical axis of the effective reflected light of the specular deflection type light modulator. And irradiating the mirror-deflecting type optical modulator with the mirror-deflecting optical modulator, and detecting a defective micro-mirror surface element among the plurality of micro-mirror surface elements of the mirror-deflecting light modulator. 2. The incident light is the illumination light which is incident on the plurality of minute mirror surface elements rotated by 180 degrees while holding the array of the plurality of minute mirror surface elements of the mirror surface deflection type optical modulator. The projector device according to claim 1, wherein the projector device is provided. 3. The projector device according to claim 1, wherein the incident light is an incident light from an optical system different from an optical system having the illumination light. 4. The alignment pattern, which is arranged around a plurality of the minute mirror surface elements of the mirror-deflecting optical modulator and is composed of a plurality of fixed mirrors. Alternatively, the projector device according to claim 3.