Holographic Display Unit Cell Array Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Holographic video projectors face challenges in efficiently writing large amounts of data to an array of unit cells to rapidly change holographic images, requiring tens of Gb of data to be written within a short time frame without disrupting the viewer's experience.
Innovation Solution
An optical device with an array of unit cells, where subsets are selectively active or inactive, allowing inactive unit cells to be addressed during image display, using a light shutter structure to control interaction with the incident light beam, enabling simultaneous or fast switching between subsets to facilitate data writing without affecting the viewer's experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If all unit cells are simultaneously active to display a holographic image, then the image quality and resolution are maintained, but the time required to write data to all unit cells becomes excessively long
Solution Approach 1:
The array of unit cells is divided into multiple subsets, where only one subset is active at any given time to form the holographic image. This segmentation allows other subsets to be updated with new data simultaneously, effectively parallelizing the data writing process across multiple subsets while maintaining image quality during display.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic switching between different subsets of unit cells. One subset is actively displaying an image while others are being updated, and this role assignment periodically changes. This periodic action enables continuous image display while systematically updating all subsets over time, resolving the conflict between image quality and data writing speed.
2Loss of information
If data is written to all unit cells simultaneously, then complete image update is achieved, but the writing speed becomes insufficient for holographic video applications
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the unit cell array into multiple subsets and enabling independent control of each subset's active/inactive state, the system can write data to multiple inactive subsets in parallel. This segmentation strategy maintains complete image update capability while dramatically increasing the effective data writing speed through parallel operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent prepares data for future images by writing it to inactive subsets in advance, before those subsets are needed for display. This preliminary action allows the system to have pre-prepared image data ready in multiple subsets, enabling rapid switching and maintaining high update completeness without bottlenecking on write speed.
3Measurement precision
If the pitch between adjacent unit cells is reduced to 100 nm for high resolution, then the image resolution improves, but the complexity of addressing and controlling each unit cell increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the high-resolution array into multiple subsets, reducing the number of unit cells that need to be individually addressed at any one time. This segmentation lowers the instantaneous addressing complexity while maintaining the overall high resolution capability of the full array, as each subset can be controlled with fewer address lines.
Solution Approach 2:
By periodically activating different subsets rather than all unit cells simultaneously, the system reduces the peak addressing complexity. At any given moment, only the subset currently being displayed needs full addressing precision, while other subsets are in inactive or update modes, effectively distributing the addressing burden over time.
Data Source
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AI summary
An optical device (100) for forming a distribution of a three-dimensional light field comprises: an array (102) of unit cells (104), a unit cell (104) being individually addressable for switching the optical property of the unit cell (104) between a first and a second condition; wherein the unit cells (104) are configured to be selectively active or inactive and wherein the array (102) comprises at least a first and a second disjoint subset (110; 112; 114; 116), and wherein the unit cells (104) in a subset (110; 112; 114; 116) are configured to be jointly switched from inactive to active, wherein the active unit cells (104) are configured to interact with an incident light beam (106) for forming the distribution of the three-dimensional light field; and wherein the optical device (100) is configured to address inactive unit cells (104) for switching the optical property of unit cells (104).