We claim:
1. An optical display element comprising:
a binary optical display element; and,
a multiple-bit storage element to store a number of bits of a color intensity value to be displayed by the binary optical display element during a display period,
each bit loaded from the multiple-bit storage element into the binary optical display element one or more times during the display period to achieve the color intensity value.
2. The optical display element of claim 1, wherein the multiple-bit storage element comprises a number of bit storage cells equal to the number of bits of the color intensity value.
3. The optical display element of claim 2, wherein the multiple-bit storage element further comprises a mirror storage cell connected to the binary optical display element.
4. The optical display element of claim 2, wherein the number of bit storage cells are circularly interconnected.
5. The optical display element of claim 4, wherein the multiple-bit storage element further comprises a control cell having a load line that is asserted to load a next bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value into the multiple-bit storage element and a rotate line that is asserted to rotate the number of bits among the number of bit storage cells.
6. The optical display element of claim 4, wherein a closest bit storage cell of the number of bit storage cells to the binary optical display element stores a bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value to be loaded next into the binary optical display element, such that the number of bits are rotated among the number of bit storage cells to select the bit to be loaded next into the binary optical display element.
7. The optical display element of claim 1, wherein one of the number of bits of the color intensity value is loaded from the multiple-bit storage element into the binary optical display element during each interval of the display period.
8. The optical display element of claim 7, wherein the interval of the display period is a multiple of the display period divided by two to the power of the number of bits of the color intensity value minus one.
9. The optical display element of claim 7, wherein each bit is loaded into the binary optical display element a number of times based on a significance of the bit relative to other of the number of bits of the color intensity value.
10. The optical display element of claim 9, wherein the number of bits of the color intensity value are loaded into the binary optical display element in accordance with a binary-weighted pulse-width modulation approach.
11. The optical display element of claim 9, wherein the number of bits of the color intensity value are loaded into the binary optical display element in accordance with a bit-splitting binary-weighted pulse-width modulation approach.
12. The optical display element of claim 1, wherein the number of bits of the color intensity value are serially loaded into the multiple-bit storage element.
13. The optical display element of claim 1, wherein the binary optical display element is a micro-electromechanical (MEM) device.
14. The optical display element of claim 1, wherein the binary optical display element is a digital micromirror device (DMD).
15. The optical display element of claim 1, wherein the optical display element is an integrated circuit (IC).
16. An optical display element comprising:
a binary optical display element; and,
means for storing a number of bits of a color intensity value to be displayed by the binary optical display element without loading the number of bits thereinto more than once during a display period.
17. The optical display element of claim 16, wherein the means selectively loads each bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value into the binary optical display element at least once during the display period.
18. The optical display element of claim 16, wherein the means selectively loads each bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value into the binary optical display element a number of times based on a significance of the bit relative to other of the number of bits of the color intensity value.
19. The optical display element of claim 16, wherein the binary optical display element is at least one of: a micro-electromechanical (MEM) device and a digital micromirror device (DMD).
20. A multiple-bit storage element for a binary optical display element comprising:
a plurality of circularly interconnected bit storage cells to store a number of bits of a color intensity value to be displayed by the binary optical display element during a display period, a last storage cell storing a bit to be displayed next by the binary optical display element;
a load line that is asserted to shift bits stored by a first bit storage cell through a second-from-last bit storage cell to a second bit storage cell through the last bit storage cell and to load a next bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value into a first bit storage cell; and,
a rotate line that is asserted to shift the bits stored by the first bit storage cell through the second-from-last bit storage cell to the second bit storage cell through the last bit storage cell and to shift a bit stored by the last bit storage cell to the first bit storage cell.
21. The multiple-bit storage cell of claim 20, further comprising a control cell having the load line, the rotate line, and a data line asserted in correspondence with the next bit to be loaded into the first bit storage cell when the load line is asserted, and in correspondence with the bit stored by the last bit storage cell to be loaded into the first bit storage cell when the rotate line is asserted.
22. The multiple-bit storage cell of claim 20, further comprising a mirror storage cell to store a bit identical to the bit stored by the last bit storage cell to avoid visual artifacts from being displayed by the binary optical display element when the bit stored by the last bit storage cell is changing.
23. The multiple-bit storage cell of claim 20, further comprising one or more clock lines having clock signals asserted thereon to synchronize the plurality of bit storage cells.
24. The multiple-bit storage cell of claim 20, wherein the load line is asserted for each of the number of bits of the color intensity value to load the number of bits of the color intensity value into the plurality of bit storage cells.
25. The multiple-bit storage cell of claim 20, wherein the rotate line is asserted one or more times to select a bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value to be loaded next into the binary optical display element.
26. The multiple-bit storage cell of claim 20, wherein one of the number of bits of the color intensity value is loaded into the binary optical display element during each interval of the display period equal to a multiple of the display period divided by two to the power of the number of bits of the color intensity value minus one.
27. The multiple-bit storage cell of claim 20, wherein each bit is loaded into the binary optical display element a number of times based on a significance of the bit relative to other of the number of bits of the color intensity value.
28. A color optical display element comprising:
a plurality of binary optical display elements corresponding to color components of a color to be displayed by the color optical display element; and,
a plurality of multiple-bit storage elements, each multiple-bit storage element corresponding to one of the plurality of binary optical display elements and storing a number of bits of an intensity value of a different color component of the color to be displayed by the color optical display element during a display period,
each bit stored by each multiple-bit storage element loaded from the multiple-bit storage element into one of the plurality of binary optical display elements during the display period to achieve the color.
29. The optical display element of claim 28, wherein each bit of the number of bits of each multiple-bit storage element is loaded into one of the plurality of binary optical display elements during each interval of the display period equal to a multiple of the display period divided by two to the power of the number of bits of the intensity value minus one.
30. The optical display element of claim 28, wherein each bit of the number of bits of each multiple-bit storage element is loaded into one of the plurality of binary optical display elements a number of times based on a significance of the bit relative to other of the number of bits of the intensity value.
31. The optical display element of claim 28, wherein each binary optical display element is at least one of: a micro-electromechanical (MEM) device and a digital micromirror device (DMD).
32. The optical display element of claim 28, wherein the color components of the color to be displayed by the color optical display element are red, green, and blue.
33. A display device comprising:
a plurality of binary optical display elements; and,
a multiple-bit storage element for each binary optical display elements to store a number of bits of a color intensity value of an image pixel to be displayed by the binary optical display element without loading the number of bits into the multiple-bit storage element more than once during a display period.
34. The display device of claim 33, wherein the plurality of binary optical display components corresponds to a plurality of image pixels to be displayed thereby, such that each multiple-bit storage element stores the number of bits of a color intensity value of one of the plurality of image pixels.
35. The display device of claim 33, wherein a plurality of color image pixels to be displayed by the plurality of binary optical display components each corresponds to a number of the plurality of binary optical display components, including a binary optical display component to display each of a plurality of color components of the color image pixel, such that each multiple-bit storage element stores the number of bits of a color intensity value of one color component of one of the plurality of color image pixels.
36. The display device of claim 33, wherein each multiple-bit storage element selectively loads each bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value into a binary optical display element at least once during the display period.
37. The display device of claim 33, wherein each multiple-bit storage element selectively loads each bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value into a binary optical display element a number of times based on a significance of the bit relative to other of the number of bits of the color intensity value.
38. The display device of claim 33, wherein each binary optical display element is at least one of: a micro-electromechanical (MEM) device and a digital micromirror device (DMD).
39. A method comprising:
during each of a plurality of display period intervals of a display period,
rotating a number of bits of a color intensity value as stored in an equal number of circularly interconnected bit storage cells among the number of storage cells so that a selected bit to be displayed by a binary optical display element in the display period interval is stored in a given bit storage cell of the number of bit storage cells; and,
loading the selected bit from the selected bit storage cell into the binary optical display element to display the selected bit in the display period interval.
40. The method of claim 39, further initially comprising serially loading the number of bits of the color intensity value into the number of bit storage cells.
41. The method of claim 40, wherein serially loading the number of bits into the number of bit storage cells comprises, for each bit to be loaded, asserting the bit on a data line and asserting a load line to load the bit into a first bit storage cell of the number of bit storage cells.
42. The method of claim 39, wherein rotating the number of bits of the color intensity value as stored in the number of bit storage cells comprises asserting a rotate line once for each desired rotation of the number of bits among the number of bit storage cells.
43. The method of claim 39, wherein rotating the number of bits of the color intensity value as stored in the number of bit storage cells comprises rotating the number of bits as stored in the number of bit storage cells so that the selected bit to be displayed by the binary optical display element in the display period interval is selected in accordance with a binary-weighted pulse-width modulation approach.
44. The method of claim 39, wherein rotating the number of bits of the color intensity value as stored in the number of bit storage cells comprises rotating the number of bits as stored in the number of bit storage cells so that the selected bit to be displayed by the binary optical display element in the display period interval is selected in accordance with a bit-splitting binary-weighted pulse-width modulation approach.
45. A method comprising:
providing a plurality of binary optical display elements for each of one or more of at least one color component of each of a plurality of image pixels; and,
providing a multiple-bit storage element for each binary optical display element to store a number of bits of a color intensity value of the color component of the binary optical display element to be displayed by the binary optical display element, each bit loaded from the multiple-bit storage element into the binary optical display element one or more times during a display period to achieve the color intensity value.
46. The method of claim 45, wherein providing the plurality of binary optical display elements comprises providing a plurality of binary optical display elements for each of a plurality of monochromatic image pixels.
47. The method of claim 45, wherein providing the plurality of binary optical display elements comprises providing a plurality of binary optical display elements for each of a red color component, a green color component, and a blue color component of each of the plurality of image pixels.
48. The method of claim 45, wherein providing the multiple-bit storage element for each binary optical display element comprises providing a number of bit storage cells equal to the number of bits of the color intensity value.
49. The method of claim 48, wherein providing the multiple-bit storage element for each binary optical display element further comprises at least one of:
providing a mirror storage cell connected to the binary optical display element; and,
providing a control cell having a load line that is asserted to load a next bit of the number of bits of the color intensity value into the multiple-bit storage element and a rotate line that is asserted to rotate the number of bits among the number of bit storage cells of the multiple-bit storage element.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A camera system to capture an image comprising:
a first beam splitter, said first splitter being positioned to intercept a beam of electromagnetic radiation corresponding to the captured image and split the beam into a first beam and a second beam; the first beam comprising of radiation of two different spectral bands; the second beam comprising of radiation of two different spectral bands; the spectral bands of the first beam each being different from the spectral bands of the second beam;
a first filter, said first filter being positioned to intercept the first beam; said first filter comprising of a first filter material and a second filter material; said first filter material allowing radiation that corresponds to one of the two different spectral bands in the first beam to pass through; said second filter material allowing radiation that corresponds to the other of the two spectral bands in the first beam to pass through;
a second filter, said second filter being positioned to intercept the second beam; said second filter comprising of a third filter material and a fourth filter material; said third filter material allowing radiation that corresponds to one of the two different spectral bands in the second beam to pass through; said fourth filter material allowing radiation that corresponds to the other of the two spectral bands in the second beam to pass through; and
a first image sensor and a second image sensor, each image sensor being positioned to intercept the first beam and second beam after said first and second beams pass through the first and second filters; said first and second filters measuring the intensity of the radiation for the four spectral bands in the first and second beams.
2. The camera system as recited in claim 1, wherein said spectral bands in the first beam and the second beam are red light, blue light, green light and near infrared light.
3. The camera system as recited in claim 1, wherein the amount of said first filter material is approximately equal to the amount of said second filter material in the first filter.
4. The camera system as recited in claim 1, wherein said first filter material and said second filter material are arranged in said first filter in a checkerboard pattern.
5. The camera system as recited in claim 1, further comprising of a processor; wherein each of said image sensors will output the measured intensity data to said processor; said processor being capable of interpolating said measured intensity data to calculate additional intensity data for each of the spectral bands.
6. The camera system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a display that will display a graphical image based on the measured intensity data.
7. The camera system as recited in claim 6, wherein said the graphical image is based on the measured intensity data for one spectral band.
8. The camera system as recited in claim 6, wherein the graphical image is based on the measured intensity data for four spectral bands.
9. The camera system as recited in claim 3, wherein the amount of the first filter material, the second filter material, the third filter material and the fourth filter are approximately equal to each other in the first and second filters.
10. The camera system as recited in claim 5 wherein the processor calculates ratios of intensities between different spectral bands and displays the calculations on a display.
11. A camera system to capture a image comprising:
a housing; said housing designed to allow a beam of electromagnetic radiation corresponding to the captured image to enter said housing;
a first beam splitter situated in said housing such that the beam of electromagnetic radiation entering said housing will pass through the splitter; said first beam splitter splitting said electromagnetic radiation and causing a first spectral beam to be directed in a first direction and a second spectral beam to be directed in a second direction; said first and second directions being different from each other;
a first filter situated in said housing such that the first spectral beam will pass through and be filtered by said first filter; said first filter having a first portion allowing radiation of a first filtered spectral band to pass through while filtering out other spectral bands and having a second portion allowing a second filtered spectral band to pass through while filtering out other spectral bands;
a second filter situated in said housing such that the second spectral beam will pass through and be filtered by said second filter; said second filter having a third portion allowing radiation of a third filtered spectral band to pass through while filtering out other spectral bands and having a fourth portion allowing a fourth filtered spectral band to pass through while filtering out other spectral bands; wherein the first portion, the second portion, the third portion and the fourth portion are approximately the same size in the first and second filters;
a first image sensor unit situated in said housing to intercept the first spectral beam after passing through said first filter; said first image sensor unit comprising of a first sensor that will measure the intensity of the radiation for said first and second spectral bands from the first spectral beam; and
a second image sensor unit situated in said housing to intercept the second spectral beam after passing through said second filter; said second image sensor unit comprising of a second sensor that will measure the intensity of the radiation for said third and fourth spectral bands from the second spectral beam.
12. The camera system as recited in claim 11, wherein said first, second, third and fourth filtered spectral bands are red light, blue light, green light and near infrared light.
13. The camera system as recited in claim 11, wherein said first filtered spectral band comprises of radiation of a first selected spectral band selected from a group consisting of red light, blue light, green light and near infrared light; said second filtered spectral band comprises of radiation of a second selected spectral band and a third selected spectral bands; said second and third selected spectral bands selected from a group consisting of red light, blue light, green light and near infrared light; wherein said second selected spectral bands is the same as said first selected spectral band; and wherein said first sensor unit further comprises of a processor that will interpolate intensity data for said third selected spectral band based on the measurements of intensity of the radiation composed of the first filtered spectral band and the second filtered spectral band.
14. The camera system as recited in claim 11, further comprising
a second beam splitter; said second splitter being positioned to intercept the beam of electromagnetic radiation and create a third beam directed in a third direction;
a third filter situated in said housing such that the third spectral beam will pass through and be filtered by said third filter; said third filter allowing radiation of a fifth filtered spectral band to pass through while filtering out other spectral bands; said fifth spectral band being different from said first, second, third and fourth filtered spectral bands; and
a third image sensor situated in said housing to intercept the third spectral beam after passing through said third filter so that the third image sensor can measure the intensity of the radiation for said fifth filtered spectral band.
15. The camera system as recited in claim 14, wherein the third filter will allow radiation of a sixth filtered spectral band to pass though while filtering out other spectral bands; said sixth spectral band being different from said first, second, third, fourth and fifth spectral bands and the third image sensor will measure the intensity of the sixth spectral band.
16. The camera system as recited in claim 15 wherein the fifth and sixth filtered spectral bands are short wave infrared bands.
17. The camera system as recited in claim 15 wherein the third filter will allow approximately equal amounts of radiation for the fifth and sixth filtered spectral bands to pass through as the amounts of radiation for the first, second, third and fourth spectral bands.
18. The camera system as recited in claim 16 wherein a graphical image of the visual image will be displayed on a display based on the measured intensity of the spectral bands.
19. The camera system as recited in claim 16 wherein a ratio of the measured intensity between spectral bands will be calculated by a processor and the calculations displayed on a display.
20. A camera system to capture a visual image comprising:
a housing; said housing allowing a first beam of light to enter the housing; the beam of light representing the visual image to be captured;
a dichroic beam splitter placed in the path of the beam of light to split the beam of light into a second beam and a third beam of light; said second beam comprised of light of red light and blue light; said third beam comprised of green light and near infrared light;
a first filter placed in the path of the second beam; wherein said first filter is comprised of an array of a first and second filter elements; said first filter element allowing red light to pass through it; said second filter element allowing blue light to pass through it; said first and second filter elements arranged in a checkerboard pattern in said first filter to cover approximately equal amounts of space in said filter;
a second filter placed in the path of the third beam; wherein said second filter is comprised of an array of a third and fourth filter elements; said third filter element allowing green light to pass through it; said fourth filter element allowing near infrared light to pass through it; said third and fourth filter elements arranged in a checkerboard pattern in said second filter to cover approximately equal amounts of space in said second filter;
a first and second image sensor placed in the path of the second and third beams to measure the intensities of the red, blue, green and near infrared lights.