September 2001 Meeting

 

Due to the events of September 11, 2001 this meeting was canceled.
There is no rescheduling at this time.

 

Digital Light Processing Projection Displays:
What are they and how are they changing the way we see things?

This evening, the Optical Society of San Diego will join the Society for Information Display (SID), for a talk by Dr. Larry Hornbeck (Texas Instruments). This evening's host will be Dick Kessler (SID).

Abstract: Digital Light Processing(tm) electronic projection displays are based upon the Digital Micromirror Device(tm) display chip. The DMD(tm) chip contains an array of electrostatically actuated tiltable aluminum micromirrors that each flip through an angle of ± 10 degrees in response to the state of an underlying CMOS memory cell. As part of a DLP(tm) projection system, the micromirrors act as fast digital light switches, having the capability of turning the light on or off at each pixel location on the projection screen up to five thousand times per second. Grayscale is achieved by a pulse-width modulation technique. The presentation will include review and compare the traditional film-based technology and the new digital cinema technology from post production to the cinematic experience. Also included will be a description and status of field demonstrations based on Texas Instruments DLP Cinema(tm) projector technology. Also, discussed will be TI's new HDTV DLP chip for Home Theater Television products.

Speaker: Larry J. Hornbeck is a Ph.D. physicist working as a TI Fellow in Digital Imaging at Texas Instruments in Dallas. In 1987 while employed at TI he invented the Digital Micromirror Device(tm) display chip, a MEMS array of fast digital light switches monolithically integrated onto a silicon address circuit. The DMD(tm) display chip forms the basis for Texas Instruments Digital Light Processing(tm) projection display technology. Dr. Hornbeck has received numerous awards for his invention of the DMD(tm) display chip, including Germany's Eduard Rhein Foundation Technology Award, England's Rank Prize, an Emmy(tm) from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize from the Society for Information Display. He holds thirty patents, including the fundamental patent for the DMD(tm) display chip.