Slashdot Mirror
A Projection Display For Your Pocket
lub writes "The German Fraunhofer-Instituts für Siliziumtechnologie is developing a pocket beamer. It uses a laser beam and a rotating mirror to display the image. Another laser and a photo diode is used to verify whether the displayed image is shown correctly, so the electronics can adjust the image when the beamer moves. No colors yet; 320x240 in nice shades of red is what they have now, but higher resolutions and color might be implemented later. I want this in my BlackBerry!"
Loosely translated in English (I don't soeak German, but my dog does).
Beamer for the vest pocket
A projector in the pocket size is in range: In it a mobile micro mirror develops the picture line for line. In laboratory prototypes researchers could increase its frequency of oscillation and dissolution so far that diagrams and texts appear clearly readable.
Not much more largely than a piece wuerfelzucker could be the Beamer of the future. Built into Handys would always participate the mini projector - approximately for a PowerPoint presentation in the small circle or the fast view into an on-line journal. In strange cities it could facilitate orientation, by projecting simply a city plan to the next house wall. Still is this future music. Researchers of the institute for Fraunhofer for silicon technology ISIT in Itzehoe however already built a demonstrator for such a tiny equipment. It projects texts and diagrams with a dissolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Heart is a mobile mirror with a diameter of 1,5 millimeters, which can be manufactured as mass product on a chip. It directs a laser beam by speedy changing of its tilting angle, and develops so the picture pixel for pixels.
"the special at the mirror is its suspension", stresses Ulrich Hofmann. "by a special attachment at two torsion bars the mirror can be tilted around two axles. Thus it can divert a laser beam horizontal and vertically." After each deflection the feathers/springs withdraw the mirror so fast into its initial position that it can be tilted several thousands times per second. Suitably the high mobility the researchers accelerated electronics. It decides within the range of nanoseconds, how it must modulate the laser light, so that each pixel in the correct brightness appears. In order to avoid errors in the projection, a second laser serves as control. It radiates likewise on the mobile mirror; the reflected light meets however a photodiode, which locates, as the mirror tilted. "the mirror changes its position for example by vibrations inadvertently, notices control this", explains Hofmann. "electronics can react then flexibly to it and adapt the picture information accordingly." The system is thereby to a large extent insensitively in relation to disturbances from the outside.
Still the demonstrator fits into no mobile telephone. "for the test we had not made, say electronics smaller yet to a minimum" Hofmann. That is however one of the next goals of the researchers, who in addition the frequency of the mirror movement and so the dissolution would like to increase. Also in other place it hooks still: As tiny source of light with sufficient life span and leuchtstaerke there are so far only red laser diodes. Within this range the researchers wait now for developments of their colleagues. They however already prepared their system for the multi-color enterprise.
Repant. Thy end is sheer.
http://mirrordot.org/stories/eb57b2ee6820e0666d616 ccb92825fc0/index.html
Colour projection is obviously going to rely on having either 3 base colour lasers (red, green, blue) or having a full-spectrum white.
In the world of lasers, Red is the cheapest right now with Green a close second.
However, when you get to Blue lasers, the price is significantly higher and then White lasers require you to sell your granny to afford them.
I'd like to be wrong but a system like this will probably stay monochrome for a while yet.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
At technology review they have an article about a similar device.m o1204.asp?p=1
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/de
Here is the story (in german) and here is the image only (obvious mockup)
Move Sig. For great justice.
Or how about a translation serice that doesnt rely on the currently /.'ed server:
Google's translation of the MirrorDot mirror
Is this really new technology? The Canesta keyboard already projects an image of a keyboard on any surface. This seems to be the same thing, except the Canesta keyboard exists in reality, and this site has a (well looks like anyway) photoshoped image. It could of course differ in resolution, etc.
The very high-frequency sound is form the vibrating coils of the flyback transformer used in CRTs. My TV also emits a 60Hz buzz, I have no idea what causes it.