Who invented dlp projector

Through years of research and development Hornbeck came up with an idea to use micromirrors as a sort of on-off switch to modulate digital light pulses. Hornbeck was granted the first patent for the DMD design in This initial design was the basis for current Digital Micromirror Devices.

Each micromirror in a DMD represented 1 pixel in a projected image. The DLP projectors included either one or three DMD chips and weighed in under two pounds, less than half the weight of previous projectors. Reels of film used in old projectors became obsolete with the introduction of DLP projectors. The light from a source like a high-powered halogen bulb is passed through a condensing lens onto the object for projecting images on the screen. However, these projectors make use of transparencies instead of slides.

Transparencies are transparent sheets with a size similar to the paper sheets. The image could be drawn or printed on these transparent sheets. They have to be placed face-up on the projector. Overhead projectors have a mirror that reverses the mirror image produced by the face-up orientation of the transparencies. Overhead projectors also have an inbuilt blower that prevents the bulb from overheating.

These projectors were popularly used in the US military training programs during the World War II as well as in educational institutions and offices.

Slide and overhead projectors remained popular almost up to the late s when the digital projectors superseded them. The years from the s to s witnessed the introduction of some of the earlier digital formats. Hardware and software innovations gained momentum and there were some groundbreaking discoveries. Modern projectors still utilize refined versions of the technologies discovered in this era.

The document cameras are commonly used projecting devices that were introduced in the s and s. They are also known as visual presenters. These devices have a high-resolution camera that captures the images of the documents or objects in real time and displays them on a screen.

They can be connected to a monitor or an interactive whiteboard. Some models of the document cameras can also be connected to video projectors. They allow the users to rotate the camera around the objects as desired. Document cameras have a zoom feature that enables the users to enlarge small print or highly-detailed images.

The document cameras superseded overhead projectors and became popular in lecture halls, offices, courtrooms and even in the medical domain. They produce more realistic and vibrant images as compared to the overhead projectors.

Overhead and slide projectors were adequate for still images, slides, and transparencies; however, they were not as good for presenting videos. The device consists of an array of small mirrors wherein each mirror is responsible for projecting one pixel on the screen.

The mirrors reflect light from a source like a Xenon lamp onto the projector screen to produce the images. The alignment of the mirrors is controlled digitally depending on the image that has to be output. The first DLP projector became commercially available in It produced images with higher accuracy and at a faster speed as compared to the different projectors available at its introduction.

After their introduction, the DLP projectors were adopted quickly in different sectors including the entertainment, education and commercial ones. DLP projectors are still popular in home theaters, educational institutions, and offices due to their decent image quality and affordability. While liquid crystals were discovered several decades ago, displays made from them became available commercially only in the s and s.

However, early models of LCD projectors had low resolution and their LCDs were prone to damages from the heat produced by the light source. Gene Dolgoff was another inventor who had been working on creating an LCD projector since the late s.

He improved upon his design, patented it in and started his company Projectavision, Inc. He also licensed the technology to other companies. LCD projectors are popularly used in different avenues. The LCoS technology was introduced in the s for creating displays. The process is repeated until the 3D modle is complete and the vat is drained of liquid, revealing the solidified model.

DLP 3D printing is faster and can print objects with a higher resolution. DLP is used for projectors and uses digital micromirrors laid out in a matrix on a semiconductor chip called the Digital Micromirror Device. Each mirror represents a pixel in the image for display.