Two-stage light modulation for high dynamic range

摘要

An imaging apparatus for two-stage light modulation in high-definition digital projection or cinema can include two light modulators. Each light modulator can include a multi-chip imaging system coupled to a total internal reflection prism (TIR) system, which has a light input face and an on-state face. Relay optics can be positioned between the two light modulators. The relay optics can be configured to defocus light received from the pre-modulator and to provide defocused light to the prime modulator using a substantially Gaussian pixel shaping function. The prime modulator can be oriented to receive defocused light from the relay optics at the light input face of its TIR prism system. The pre-modulator can be oriented backwards, so as to receive source light at the on-state face of its TIR prism system and to output pre-modulated light to the relay optics via the light input face of the TIR prism system.

主权项

1. An imaging apparatus comprising:
a light source configured to emit source light; a pre-modulator positioned in a path of the source light, the pre-modulator including a pre-modulating imaging system configured to perform coarse modulation on the source light according to image data and to emit pre-modulated light at a pre-modulator output, the pre-modulator further including a first total internal reflection prism system oriented to refract the source light into the pre-modulating imaging system and to reflect the pre-modulated light received from the pre-modulated imaging system to the pre-modulator output; relay optics positioned in a path of the pre-modulated light and configured to defocus the pre-modulated light to output defocused light; a prime modulator positioned in a path of the defocused light, the prime modulator including a prime modulating imaging system configured to generate an image using the defocused light according to the image data, the prime modulator further including a second total internal reflection prism system oriented to reflect the defocused light to the prime modulating imaging system and to refract the image received from the prime imaging system to a prime modulator output; and an integrator positioned between the light source and the pre-modulator, the integrator including at least two integrating rods and at least one diffuser disposed between the at least two integrating rods.