| ahzhuo |
2007-11-27 10:36 |
Pocket Projectors
Mobile devices can store pictures and videos, but viewing them on such a small screen isn't ideal. Microvision, based in Redmond, WA, hopes to solve this problem with a microprojector the company plans to reveal at next year's Consumer Electronics Show. The system, composed of semiconductor lasers and a tiny mirror, will be small enough to integrate into a phone or an iPod, says Randy Sprague, chief engineer at Microvision. v
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Right now there is great interest in putting projectors in phones. Indeed, major phone manufacturer Nokia is "looking at" different technologies to integrate projectors into mobile devices (see "The Future of Cell Phones"). As the fabrication technology used to make the components of these projectors matures, it is becoming more economically feasible to create a projector small enough to fit into a handheld device, says Microvision's Sprague. /;\{zA$uC=
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The projector developed at Microvision is composed of two main parts: a set of red, blue, and green lasers made of semiconductor material, such as gallium indium arsenide, and a mirror--one millimeter across--that tilts on two axes. The lasers shine on the mirror, and the mirror reflects the pixel of light onto a wall or other surface. The intensities of the lasers change to produce different colors: when all three are pumping out light full blast, the pixel is white; when all three are off, the pixel is black. Other colors are produced from various combinations in between. [sweN]b6F
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