CA2245842C - A programmable light beam shape altering device using programmable micromirrors - Google Patents

Abstract

A digital micromirror device ("DMD") (320) is used to alter the shape of lig ht that is projected onto a stage (582). The DMD selectively reflects some light, thereby shaping the light that is projected onto the stage. The control for the alteration is controlled by an image. That image can be processed (812), thereby carrying out image processing effects on the shape of the light that is displayed.

Description

A PROGRAMMABLE LIGHT BEAM SHAPE ALTERING DEVICE
USING PROGRAMMABLE MICROMIRRORS
Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a programmable light beam shaping device. More specifically, the present invention teaches a control system and micromirror device which can alter the shape of light beams passing therethrough, and provide various effects to those shaped light beams.
Background of the Invention It is known in the art to shape a light beam.
This has typically been done using an element known as a gobo. A gobo element is usually embodied as either a shutter or an etched mask. The gobo shapes the light beam like a stencil in the projected light.
Gobos are simple on/off devices: they allow part 2fl of the light beam to pass, and block other parts to prevent those other parts from passing. Hence. mechanical.
gobos are very simple devices. Modern laser-etched gobos go a step further by providing a gray scale effect.
Typically multiple different gobo shapes are obtained by placing the gobos are placed into a cassette or the like which is rotated to select between the different gobos_ The gobos themselves can also be rotated within the cassette, using the techniques, for example, described in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,113,332 and 4,891,738.
All of these techniques, have the drawback that only a limited number of gobo shapes can be provided.
These gobo shapes must be defined in advance. There is SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26j no capability to prav:ide axay kind ::~.f. gray scale in the system. The resolution of the system is also limited by the resolution of the rnachin~n.c~. 'this system allows no way to switch gradual:7.y bPtweex~ di f.ferent gobo shapes .
Tn addition, moving between one goba and another is limited by the maximum passible mechanical motion speed of the gobo-moving elemenr_.
Various patents and literature have suggested using a liquid crystal as a gobo. For example, U.S.
Patent No. 5,282,121 describes such a liquid crystal device.
However, no practical liquid crystal element of this type has ewer been develop~:d. The extremely high temperatures caused by blocking some of this high intensity beam producE; ermrmous amounts of heat. The projection gage sometime s must block beams with intensities in excess of :1.0, 000 lurriens and sometimes as high as 2000 watts. The=w ~~bove--ciisc:ussed patent applications discuss var;ic>us tec:hni.ques of heat handling.
However, because the light. energy i.s passed through a liquid crystal array, some of the energy must inevitably be stored by the li.quic3 crystal. i~iquid crysta~_ is not inherently capable o.f storing such heat, and the phases of the liquid crystal, in practice, may be destabilized by such heat. The amount of Gaoling required, therefore, has made this an impractical task. Research continues on how to accomplish this task more practically.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate this problem by px°ovidi.rag a digital Eight beam shape altering device, e.g. a gobo, which operates completely dif;ferexitly than any previous devic.~e.
Specif icall.y, this device embodies the invE?nt<ar' s understanding that many c~f the heat problems in such a system are obvriated if the light: beam shape altering device would selectively deflectr instead of blocking, the undesired light.
Summarv of the Invention An object of the present invention is to provide a programmable light beam shape altering device using programmable micromirrors.
In accordance with an aspect. of the present invention, there is provided a light shape altering device, having elements which selectively modify light, located in the path of a light beam and comprising: a first selective light reflection device, having a plurality of elements, each element defining a portion of an image, and each element being separately controllable between a first state which passes light to a desired object of illumination and a second state which reflects light away from the desired object of illumination; and a controller which obtains a desired shape and which converts said shape into control signals for said first selective light reflection device, so that said selective light reflective device passes light of a predetermined shape to said desired object of illumination.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of projecting an intensity modulated scene on a stage, comprising: determining a factor of modulation; translating the factor into a duty cycle, each portion of the duty cycle being a time -3a-shorter than a human eye's persistence of vision;
alternately projecting the scene onto the stage, and some other image less than the scene onto the stage at alternate times defined by said duty cycle, so that persistence of vision averages the total light impinging on the scene.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention a light shape altering device, comprising: a plurality of selectively direction-reflecting devices, each device selectively passing light in a first direction or in a second direction, depending on an applied control signal;
and projection optics, optically in series with the plurality of direction reflecting devices, and receiving light from those devices which are passing light in the first direction, and passing the light from those devices to a stage.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a mirror gobo, comprising: a light source; a plurality of electrically controllable mirrors, which are electrically controlled to change position, said mirrors being optically in series with said electrically controllable mirrors; and a control system that controls the mirrors to change position according to a specified template to thereby alter the shape of the light according to the specified template.

-3b-In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a light projecting device which changes a shape of light projecting therethrough, comprising: a processor element, running image processing software of a type that accepts an input image and makes some change to the input image, said processor element operating based on an image and changing said image using said image processing software, said processor producing an output signal indicative of the changed image; and a digital light altering device, connected to said processor element and responsive to said output signal, said digital light altering device producing an area which passes light, said area being based on said changed image.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of operating a gobo, comprising: defining a gobo shape using a software-based system, to provide a computer file indicative of an image of the gobo shape; and using the computer file indicative of the image of the gobo shape to project an image of light on the stage.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a light altering apparatus, comprising:
a digital light reflecting device, including a plurality of elements, each of said elements being electrically controllable between a first state which reflects light in a first direction, and a second state which reflects light in a second direction; projection optics, coupled adjacent to said digital light reflecting device, and in -3c-a location to receive said light reflected in said first direction and coupling light towards the stage; and a memory element, storing a digital image representation therein, said memory element connected to control said digital reflecting device in a way such that reflecting states of the elements of said digital reflecting device are controlled to conform to said digital image representation in the memory element.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of altering a shape of a light beam transmitted to a stage in a stage lighting apparatus, comprising:
providing a plurality of reflectors which are controllable to change a direction of reflection thereof;
and controlling said reflectors so that some of said reflectors allow light to pass to the stage, and others of said reflectors reflect light away from the stage, to thereby shape a beam of light which is reflected towards the stage.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of altering a light beam, comprising: obtaining a digital representation file indicative of an image; coupling the digital representation file to a display controller which drives a digital projection gate based on contents of the digital representation file; using the digital projection gate to change some aspect of light that passes; and changing said contents in some way while the digital representation file is coupled to the digital projection -3d-gate, thereby changing light passing characteristics of the digital projection gate.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a stage lighting apparatus, comprising:
a lighting element, producing a beam of light; a light altering device, comprising an element which alters the beam of light based on a control signal applied thereto, said control signal being indicative of a shape; and a processor, forming said control signal and connecting said control signal to said light altering device, said control signal changing over time, said light altering device responsive to change in said control signal to change a shape of the image, said processor operating to morph the shape between a first shape and a second shape, to thereby produce an output beam which is morphed between said first shape and said second shape.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of shaping a light beam for a stage lighting device, comprising: forming a light beam of a first shape: defining a second shape as an object of morphing; and morphing the shape of the light beam from the first shape to the second shape.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a stage lighting apparatus, comprising:
a shape-controllable light beam altering device, including an array of light beam modifying elements, said array being located in a path of a light beam, said array being controllable according to a control signal and said -3e-array changing in response to changes in said control signal; a memory, storing a digital representation of an image, said digital representation being applied to said shape-controllable light beam altering device as said control signal, the value being indicative of an image shape which is to be applied to shape the light beam; and a processor, including image processing software of a type which can be used to alter some characteristic of said digital representation of an image, said processor modifying said digital representation, and continuously providing a signal to said memory indicative of the control signal.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a gobo effect in a stage lighting device using duty cycle modulation, comprising: defining a shape of light to be displayed;
and adjusting some portion of the shape of said light to be displayed by displaying said portion at a duty cycle less than one, said duty cycle having a frequency greater than a persistence of vision of the human eye.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for displaying a variable intensity image on a stage, comprising: a shape-controllable light beam altering device, including an array of light beam modifying elements, said array being located in a path of a light beam, said array being controllable according to a control signal and said array changing in response to changes in said control signal; a memory, storing a digital representation of an image, -3f-said digital representation being applied to said shape-controllable light beam altering device as said control signal, said representation being indicative of an image shape which is to be applied to shape the light beam; and a processor, including input of data defining a shape to be displayed and a desired intensity of the shape, and wherein said processor, in response to an intensity value lower than a predetermined threshold, produces a duty cycle signal, the duty cycle signal being used to selectively mask operation of said light altering device at a duty cycle faster than persistence of vision, said mask operation preventing any light from being projected to the display, to perform a dimming function.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a strobe gobo, comprising: a plurality of selectively-direction reflecting devices, each device selectively passing light in a first direction or in a second direction, depending on an applied control signal;
and projection optics, optically in series with the plurality of direction reflecting devices, and receiving light from those devices which are passing light in the first direction, and passing the light from those devices to a stage; and a processor, producing said control signal, said processor forming a duty cycle operation which provides a strobe effect.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a stage lighting spot light apparatus, comprising: a first element which determines a shape of a performer on the stage and produces a digital -3g representation indicative thereof; a memory, storing said digital representation; a light shape altering device, in a path of a beam of light, said light shape altering device altering a shape of said beam of light to substantially conform with contents of said digital representation in said memory.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of lighting a performer on a stage, comprising: obtaining an image of a portion of the stage which includes the performer; processing said image to determine a shape of the performer in said image;
forming a digital representation of said shape; and using said digital representation to form a beam having the shape of the performer, to thereby project a light in the shape of the performer.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of illuminating a stage performer, comprising: obtaining information indicative of a shape of the performer on the stage within a field of view of a light beam projecting device; adjusting said information to slightly shrink an outline of the shape and to form modified information; and using said modified information to alter a shape of light being projected to thereby project a beam of light having the shape of the performer.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a shadowless spot -3h-light, comprising: analyzing an image of a stage including the performer thereon to determine a shape of the performer on the stage; and adjusting a shape of light projected onto the stage to conform with said shape.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method adjusting to conform with the determined shape of the performer.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method comprising slightly shrinking the shape of the performer prior to adjusting the shape of light.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a color image to be projected, comprising: forming an image source indicative of color components of the image, a plurality of said color components together forming a frame of the image at a given time; controlling a selective light reflection device to selectively reflect light to the stage and away from the stage; controlling a light filtering device to provide light of a specific color, synchronized with said light reflection device producing a scene indicative of each of said color components, said color components for each said frame all occurring in a time which is less than persistence of vision of the human eye, such that said scenes are perceived as averaging together.

-3i-In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a reflecting gobo, comprising: a control system, which includes a plurality of desired gobo shapes therein, and which selects one of said gobo shapes and produces a control signal indicative of the selected shape; and a controllable array of mirror devices, arranged in a light beam path, said controllable array of mirror devices comprising a plurality of mirrors arranged in an array, each of said plurality of mirrors selectively controllable between a first position in which light from the light beam is passed away from the stage, and a second position in which light from the light beam is passed towards the stage, at least one of said positions being a position which reflects light, said mirrors controlled according to said control signal, such that selected elements of said array are enabled to pass light to the stage, those selected elements forming a gobo shape.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a heat-controlled gobo device, comprising: a light projector, a gobo device in the path of said light projector, said gobo device allowing only light of a specified shape to pass; and a heat sink device, receiving the light which is not allowed to pass by said gobo device.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a light shape altering device, having elements which selectively modify light, comprising:

-3j -a light beam producing element, producing a light beam which is projected along a path; a digital micromirror device, having a plurality of elements arranged in an array, each element defining a portion of an image, and each element being separately controllable between a first state which reflects to a desired object of illumination and a second state which reflects light away from the desired object of illumination; projection optics, optically in series with the plurality of direction reflecting devices and the light beam, receiving light from those devices which are passing light in the first direction, and passing the light from those devices to a the desired object; a controller which obtains a desired shape for a light beam; a memory element, storing a digital image representation therein of said desired shape, said memory element connected to control said digital micromirror device in a way such that reflecting states of the elements of said digital micromirror device are controlled to conform to said digital image representation in the memory element.
The preferred mode of the present invention uses a digitally-controlled micromirror semiconductor device.
However, any selectively-controllable multiple-reflecting element could be used for this purpose. These special optics are used to create the desired image using an array of small-sized mirrors which are movably positioned. The micromirrors are arranged in an array that will define the eventual image. The resolution of the image is limited by the size of the micromirrors:
here 17 um on a side.

-3k-The mirrors are movable between a first position ~in which the light is directed onto the field of a projection lens system, or a second position in which the light is deflected away from the projection lens system.
The light deflected away from the lens will appear as a dark point in the resulting image on the illuminated object. The heat problem is minimized according to the present invention since the micromirrors reflect the unwanted light rather than absorbing it. The absorbed heat is caused by the quantum imperfections of the mirror and any gaps between the mirrors.
A digital micromirror integrated circuit is currently manufactured by Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, Texas.
This application note describes using a digital micromirror device in a television system. Red, green and blue as well as intensity grey scales are obtained in this system by modulating the micromirror device at very high rates of speed. The inventor recognized that this would operate perfectly to accomplish his objectives.

- ,4 _ It is hence an object of the present invention to adapt such a device which has small-sized movable, digitally controllable mirrors which have positions that can be changed relative to one another, to use as a light beam shape altering device in this stage lighting system.
It is another object of the present invention to use such a system for previously unheard-of applications.
These applications include active simulation of hard or soft beam edges on the gobo. It is yet another application of the present invention to allow gobo cross-fading using time control, special effects and morphing.
It is yet another object of the present invention to form a stroboscopic effect with variable speed and intensity in a stage lighting system. This includes simulation of a flower strobe.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a multiple colored gobo system whichcaW have split colors and rotating colors.
It is yet another object of the present invention to carry out gobo rotation in software, and to allow absolute position and velocity control of the gobo rotation using a time slicing technique.
Another objective is to allow concentric-shaped images and unsupported images.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a control system for the micromirror devices which allows such operation.
Yet another particularly preferred system is a shadowless follow spot, which forms an illuminating beam which is roughly of the same shape as the performer, and , more preferably precisely the same as the performer. The beam shape of the beam spot also tracks the performer's .
current outline. The spot light follows the performer as it lights the performer. This action could be performed SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 97/29396 PCTlLIS97/OI397 manually by an operator or via an automated tracking ' system, such as Wybron's autopilot.
Since the beam does not overlap the performer's ' body outline, it does not cast a shadow of the performer.
Brief Description of the Drawings These and other objects will be readily understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 shows a single pixel mirror element of the preferred mode, in its first position;
Figure 2 shows the mirror element in its second position;
Figure 3 shows the mirror assembly of the present invention and its associated optics;
Figure 4 shows more detail about the reflection carried out by the DMD of the present invention;
Figure 5 shows a block diagram of the control electronics of the present invention;
Figure 6 shows a flowchart of a typical operation of the present invention;
Figure 7 shows a flowchart of operation of edge effects operations;
Figure SA shows a flowchart of a first technique of following a performer on stage;
Figure 8B shows a flowchart of a correlation scheme;
Figure 8C shows a flowchart of another correlation scheme;
Figure 9 shows a block diagram of a color . projection system of the present invention;
Figure 9A shows a color wheel of the present invention; and Figure 10 shows a block diagram of the shadowless follow spot embodiment.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) - & -Description of the Preferred Embodiment The preferred embodiment herein begins with a brief description of controllable mirror devices, anal the way in which the currently-manufactured devices operate.
Work on semiconductor-based devices which tune the characteristics of light passing therethrough has been ongoing since the 1970's. There are two kinds of known digital micromirror devices. A first type was originally called the formal membrane display. This first type used a silicon membrane that was covered with a metalized polymer membrane. The metalized polymer membrane operated as a mirror.
A capacitor or other element was located below the metalized element. When the capacitor was energized, it attracted the polymer membrane and changed the direction of the resulting reflection.
More modern elements, however, use an electrostatically deflected mirror which changes in position in a different way. The mirror of the present invention, developed and available from Texas Instruments, Inc. uses an aluminum mirror which is sputter-deposited directly onto a wafer.
The individual mirrors are shown in Fig. 1. Each individual mirror includes a square mirror plate 100 formed of reflective aluminum cantilevered on hollow aluminum post 102 on flexible aluminum beams. Each of these mirrors 100 have two stop positions: a landing electrode, which allows them to arrive into a first position shown in Fig. 2, and another electrode against which the mirror rests when in its non-deflected position. These mirrors are digital devices in the sense that there two "allowable" positions are either ina first position which reflects light to the lens and hence to the illuminated object, and a second position where the light is reflected to a scattered position. Light SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) _ y _.
scattering (i.e. selective Light ref=lection) of this type could also be done with ocher means, i.e. selectively polarizable polymers, electroni.cal~.y-controlled holograms, light valves, or any other means.
The operation of the dark field projection optics which is used according to the preferred micromirror device is shown in Fig. 3. ~'he two bi-stable positions of the preferred devices are preferably plus or minus 100 from the horizontal.
An incoming illumination bundle 305 is incident at an arc of less than 20° on the digital micromirrar device 320. The illumination bounces off the mirrors in are of two directions 325 or 335 depending on the mirror position. In the first dir~ectiam 325, the position we call "on", the information is t:x°ansmitted in the 0°
direction 325 towards lens 330 which focuses the information to the desired location. In the'second direction of the mirror, tree position we call "off", the information is deflected away from the desired location to the directiorx 3.'35.
The human eye cannot perceive actions faster than about 1/30 second. Impartantl~~r the mirror transit time from tilted left to tilk~ed x~i.ght is orr the ardor of 10 yes . This allows the pixels to be ehaanged in of>eration many orders of magnitude:-~ fasten than tree human eye's persistence of vision.
Lights source 310 used acc:c:ordi.ng to the present invention is preferably a ha.gri inren~~:;ity light source such as a xenon or meta:r. ha~..:ide bulb of between 600 and 1000 watts. The bulb is preferab:l.y ~~urraunded by a reflector of the parabo;Li.c ~~ax° ~x.:Ll.ipscaiclal type which directs the outL:rut frrom x:mlb 3011 ~:~le~~ar~ a first optical incidence path 305.
The preferred embr~di.menl~. c:~f the invention provides a color cross--fading sy;~tem 3:L5, :~ucrn as described ir; U.S.

_ c~ _ Patent No. 5,426,476. Alternately, however, any other color changing system cau7.d be used. This cross-fading system adjusts t:r3e color of the lz~~ht . The light intensity may al:~o be controlled using any kind of associated dirnrrier-; either- e:Lc~c.tron:~.~:, mechanical or electromechanical means. More pre::ferably, the DMD 320 could be used to control beam interosit"y as described herein.
The light beam projected 310 along path 305 is incident to the digital light alter°ing device embodied as DMD 320, at point: 322. 'fhe DMD a~..:~.ows operations between two dif ferent states . When the rnl.xror ire the DMD is pointed to the right, the right beam is reflected along path 325 to projection/zoom lens combination 330, 332.
The zoom lens combination 33c~, 332 is used to project the image from the DMI) 320 onto the object of illumination, preferably a stage. The si~:e and sharpness quality of the irnage can therefore bk:~ a.r~,justed by reposit~ior~ing of the lens. When the mirror i~ tilted to the left , the light beam is projected along the light path 335, away from projection lens 330/332. The pixels which have lfight beams projected away from the :Lens appear as dark points in the resulting image.. The dark spots are not displayed on the stage.
This DMD ;system reflects in~:ornration from all pixels. Hence, nuinimal er~er~gy is absorbed in the DMD
itself or any of the other optics. The device still may get hot, however not nearly as hot as ~:he liquid crystal gobos . Cooling 340 may stir. be ne~uesw:3ax°y. The DMDs can be cooled using any of the teGhni.ques clesc:ribed i.n European document 511 , 8:? 9 a or by a neap:: sink and convection, or by blowing cold air from ref:rige~at:i..on unit across the device. More preferably, a hot or ~~001 mirror can be used in the path of the light beam to reflef::~t x.nfrared out: of the light beam to minimize the transmit~ed heat.

WO 97!29396 PCTlU897/OI397 _ g _ Figure 3 shows hot mirror 330 reflecting infra red 332 to heat sink 334. A cold mirror would be used with a folded optical path.
This basic system allows selecting a particular aperture shape with which to which pass the light. That shape is then defined in terms of pixels, and these pixels are mapped to DMD 320. The DMD selectively reflects light of the properly-shaped aperture onto the stage. The rest of the light is reflected away.
The micromirror can be switched between its positions in approximately 10 ~.s. A normal time for frame refresh rate, which takes into account human persistence of vision, is 1/60th of a second or 60 hertz.
Various effects can be carried out by modulating the intensity of each mirror pixel within that time frame.
The monolithic integration which is being farmed by Texas Instruments includes associated row and~column decoders thereon. Accordingly, the system of the present invention need not include those as part of its control system.
Detailed operation of DMD 320 is shown in Fig. 4.
The source beam is input to the position 322 which transmits the information either towards the stage along path 325 or away from the stage along path 335.
The various effects which are usable according to the present invention include automatic intensity dimming, use of a "shadowless follow spot", hard or soft beam edges, shutter cut simulation, gobo cross fading, gobo special effects, stroboscopic effects, color gobos, rotating gobos including absolute position and velocity control, and other such effects and combinations thereof.
. All of these effects can be controlled by software running on the processor device. Importantly, the characteristics of the projected beam (gobo shape, color etc) can be controlled by software. This enables any SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) software effect which could be done tcD any image of any image format to xae done t.o the lig~~.t;. beam. The ~;oftware that is used is preferably image processing software such as Adabe photoshop '"' ICa:~i' s ~ar.~wer ~c~>ol:: "" or the :Like which are used to manipulate images. Any kind of image manipulation can be mapped tc~ the screen. Each incremental changes to the image ~::~~n be mapped to the screen as it occurs.
Another important feature of the gobo is its ability to projec::t unconnectw~:d shapes that cannot be formed by a stencil. An example is two concentric circles. A concentric circle gabo needs physical connection between the circlers. ~t.her unconnected shapes which are capable of rendering as an image can a7_so be displayed.
The effects carried out by t:he software are grouped into three different categories: an edgy effects processing; an image shape process~.ng; and a duty cycle processing.
The averall control system is shown in block diagram form in fig. 5. M:icx°oprocesso:r 500 operates based on a program which exec~.ztes , .inter al~:a, the flowchart of Fig. 6. T'he light shape altering operates according to a st,enci.l aut~l~.3ae. 'ffa.is :~tenci.l outline can 2 5 be any image or image port i.on . An image f ram image source 550 is input to a ~_ox°mat converter 550 which converts the imagk~ from its native forEn into digital image that is compatable with storage on a computer. The preferred digital image formats a.nclude a bitmap format or compressed b:itmap form auclz as the ~3IF, JPEG, PC:X
format (1 bit per' pixel) file, a "EMP" file (8 bits/pixel B/W or 24 bits/pixel col.a:r-x car a geome~.~ric description (vectorized image) . Moving i.rnage~::~ could also be sent in any animation format such as MPEG or the like. It~should be understood that any image. x-epresentr~tion format .could WO 97/29396 PCTlUS97101397 be used to represent the image, and that any of these - representations can be used to create information that can modify reflecting positions of the array of reflecting devices. The present specification uses the term "digital representation" to generically refer to any of these formats that can be used to represent an image, and are manipulable by computers.
Image 554 is input into a working memory 556. BM:P
format represents each "'pixel" picture element of the image by a number of bits. A typical gray scale bit map image has 8 bits representing each pixel. A colored image of this type has 8 bits representing each of red, green, and blue representations. This color representation is called a 24-bit representation, since 24-bits are necessary for each pixel. The description herein will be given with reference to gray scale images although it should be understood that this system can also be used with color images by forming more detailed maps of the information. Bit maps are easiest.to process, but extremely wasteful of storage space.
Each memory area, representing each pixel, therefore, has 8 bits therein. The memory 556 is 576 x 768 area, corresponding to the number of mirror elements in the preferred use.
This image is defined as image No. x, and can be stored in non-volatile memory 520 (e.g., flash RAM or hard disk) for later recall therefrom. An important feature of the present invention is that the images are stored electronically, and hence these images can also be electronically processed in real time using image processing software. Since the preferred mode of the present invention manipulates the image information in bitmap form, this image processing can be carried out in a very quick succession.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) The i~crage to be pr of ect trd is sent , by processor 500, over char~ne.l. 560, to VRAMI 5"~0. Lime driver 562 and line receiver 56~ buf:Cex~ t::he si.~gnal at both ends. The channel ca:n be a local. bu:~ i.n:ai.de the lamp unit, or can be a transmission lane, si.ach as a serial bus. The image information can be sent:. in any of the forms described above_ Standard and commonly available image processing software is available to carry out many functions described herein. The.=se include for example, morphing' rotating' scaling, edge b~.urrin~~~, ~:~x~d other operations that are described herein. Commerr.i.al image processing TM
can use °I~al.' ~ Power TC>O~.S", u~~'r"t,.'J.praW! ", Or "MOrph Studio" for_ example. These functions are shown with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 6.
Step 600 represeryts tae system determining the kind of operation which has beern requested: between edge processing, image processing, and r~u.ty cycle processing.
The image processing operati.on;s wi.~.~ be defined first.
Briefly stated, the image proceM:~sirbg operatioxxs include rotation of the image ' i.rnage mcarph~ng from image 1 to image 2, dynamic control of image shape and special effects. Eaclx of these processing elements can select the speed of the pracessirag to effectively time-slice the image. The morphing of tine pre~aent invention preferably synchronizes ).eyframes of t:he mcarph with desired time slices.
Step 602 defines the operation. As described above, this operation can include rotation, position shift' and the like. Step 604 defines the time or velocity of operation. Ttiis time can be ending time for all or part af~ the a~overr~erst' ox- velocity of tkie movement.
Note that a11. of the e~:fc:~cts cax~r:Led out in step 602 require movinc:~ same party o>f the image from one position to another.

WO 97!29396 PCT/iTS9710I397 Step 606 determine the interval of slicing, depending on the velocity. It is desireable to slice an appropriate amount such that the user does not see jerky - motion. Ideally, in fact, we could slice movement of the image one pixel at a time, but this is probably unnecessary for most applications. One hundred pixel slicing is probably sufficient for all applications. The pixel slices are selected at step 606.
Step 608 calculates using the time or velocity entered at step 604 to determine the necessary time for operation based on the amount of position shift for rotation over 100 pixel slices. This is done as follows.
Position shift, rotate, and sprite animation are all simple movements. In both, the points of the image which define the gobo shape move over time. It is important, therefore, to decide how much movement there is and how much time that movement will take. A rate of change of points or velocity is then calculated. Of course velocity need not be calculated if it has already been entered at step 604.
Having velocity of movement and pixels per second, the time between slices is calculated using 100 pixels per slice divided by the velocity in pixels per second.
The direction of movement is defined by this operation.
Therefore, the image is recalculated at step 610 for each time interval. This new image becomes the new gobo stencil at the new location. That is to say, the outline of the image is preferably used as the gobo -light within the image is passed, and light outside the image is blocked. In the color embodiment described herein, more sophisticated operations can be carried out on the image. For example, this is not limited to stencil images, and could include for example concentric circles or letter text with font selection.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 97!29396 PCT/US97/OI397 At any particular time, the image in the VRAM 570 is used as the gobo stencil. This is carried out as follows. Each element in the image is a gray scale of 8-bits. Each 1/60th of a second is time-sliced into 256 different periods. Quite conveniently, the 8-bit pixel image corresponds to 28 = 256.
A pixel value of 1 indicates that light at the position of the pixel will be shown on the stage. A
pixel value of zero indicates that light at the position of the pixel will not be shown on the stage. Any gray scale value means that only part of the intensity pixel will be shown (for only part of the time of the 1/6oth of a second time slice). Hence; each element in the memory is applied to one pixel of the DMD, e.g. one or many micromirrors, to display that one pixel on the stage.
When edge processing is selected at step 600, control passes to the flowchart of Fig. 7. The edge graying can be selected as either a gradual edge graying or a more abrupt edge graying. This includes one area of total light, one area of only partial light, and one area of no light. The intensity of the gray scaled outline is continuously graded from full image transmission to no image transmission. The intensity variation-is~effected by adjusting the duty cycle of the on and off times.
Step 700 obtains the image and defines its outlines. This is carried out according to the present invention by determining the boundary point between light transmitting portions (1's) and light blocking portions (0's). The outline is stretched in all directions at step 702 to form a larger but concentric image -- a , stretched image.
The area between the original image and the stretched image is filled with desired gray scale information. Step 704 carries this out for all points which are between the outline and the stretch image.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 97!29396 PCTlUS97/01397 This new image is sent to memory 570 at step 706.
As described above, the image in the memory is always used to project the image-shaped information. This uses standard display technology whereby the display system is continually updated using data stored in the memory.
The duty cycle processing in the flowchart of Figure 6 is used to form strobe effects and/or to adjust intensity. Tn both cases, the image is stored in memory and removed from memory at periodic intervals. This operation prevents any light from being projected toward the stage at those intervals, and is hence referred to as masking. When the image is masked, all values in the memory become zero, and hence this projects all black toward the source. This is done for a time which is shorter than persistence of vision, so the information cannot be perceived by the human eye. Persistence of vision averages the total light impinging on the~scene.
The eye hence sees the duty cycle processing as a different intensity.
The stroboscopic effect turns on and off the intensity, ranging from about 1 Hz to 24 Hz. This produces a strobe effect.
These and other image processing operations can be carried out: (1) in each projection lamp based on a pre-stored or downloaded command; (2) in a main processing console; or (3) in both.
Another important aspect of the invention is based on the inventor's recognition of a problem that has existed in the art of stage lighting. Specifically, when a performer is on the stage, a spotlight illuminates the performer's area. However, the inventor of the present invention recognized a problem in doing this.
Specifically, since we want to see the performer, we must illuminate the performer's area. However, when we illuminate outside the performer's area, it casts a SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) shadow on the stage behind the performer. In many circumstances, this shadow is undesirable. -It is an object of this embodiment to illuminate an area of the stage confined to the performer, without illuminating any location outside of the performer's area. This is accomplished according to the present invention by advantageous processing structure which forms a "shadowless follow spot". This is done using the basic block diagram of Figure 10.
The preferred hardware is shown in Fig. 10.
Processor 1020 carries out the operations explained with reference to the following flowcharts which define different ways of following the performer. In all of these embodiments, the shape of the performer on the stage is determined. This can be done by (1) determining the performer's shape by some means, e.g. manual, and following that shape; (2} correlating over the image looking for a human body shape; (3} infra red detection of the performer's location followed by expanding that location to the shape of the performer; (4) image subtraction; (5) detection of special indices on the performer, e.g. an ultrasonic beacon, or, any other technique even manual following of the image by, for example, an operator following the performer's location on a screen using a~mouse.
Fig. 8A shows a flowchart of (1) above. At step 8001, the performer is located within the image. The camera taking the image is preferably located at the lamp illuminating the scene in order to avoid parallax. The image can be manually investigated at each lamp or _ downloaded to some central processor for this purpose.
Once identified, the-borders of the performer are found at 8005_ Those borders are identified, for example, by abrupt color changes near the identified point. At step 8010, those changes are used to define a SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) WO 97/29396 PCTlFJ897l01397 "stencil" outline that is slightly smaller than the performer at 8010. That stencil outline is ued as a gobo for the light at 8015.
The performer continues to move, and at 8020 the processor follows the changing border shape. The changing border shape produces a new outline which is fed to 8010 at which time a new gobo stencil is defined.
Alternative (2) described above is a correlation technique. A flowchart of this operation is shown in Fig. 8B. At step 8101, the camera obtains an image of the performer, and the performer is identified within that image. That image issued as a kernel for further later correlation. The entire scene is obtained at step 8105. The whole scene is correlated against the kernel at 8110. This uses known image processing techniques.
The above can be improved by (3), wherein infra red detection gives the approximate area for the performer.
As explained in previous embodiments, the DMD is capable of updating its position very often: for example, 106 times a second. This is much faster than any real world image can move. Thirty times a second would certainly be cuff icient to image the performer's movements. Accordingly, the present invention allows setting the number offrame updates per second. A frame update time of 30 per second is sufficient for most applications. This minimizes the load on the processor, and enables less expensive image processing equipment to be used.
Figure 8C shows the image subtracting technique.
First, we must obtain a zeroing image. Therefore, the first step at step 800, is to obtain an image of the stage without the performers) thereon. This zero image represents what the stage will look like when the performers are not there.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Between processing iterations, the processor can carry out other housekeeping tasks or can simply remain idle.
Step 802 represents the beginning of a frame update. An image is acquired from the video camera 550 at step 804. The image is still preferably arranged in units of pixels, with each pixel including a value of intensity and perhaps red, green, and blue for that pixel.
At step 806 subtracts the current image from the zeroed image. The performer image that remains is the image of the performers) and other new elements on the stage only. The computer determines at this time which part of that image we want to use to obtain the shadowless follow spot. This is done at step 808 by correlating the image that remains against a reference, to determine the proper part of the image to be converted into a shadowless follow spat. The image of the performer is separated from other things in the image.
Preferably it is known for example what the performer will wear, or some image of a unique characteristic of the performer has been made. That unique characteristic is correlated against the performer image to determine the performer only at the output of step 808. This image is digitized at step 810: that is all parts of this image which are not performer are set to zeros so that light at those positions is reflected. In this way, a gobo-like image is obtained at step 810, that gobo-like image being a changing cutout image of the performer. An optional step 812 further processes this image to remove artifacts, and preferably to shrink the image slightly so that it does not come too close to the edge of the performer's outline. This image is then transferred to the VRAM at step 814, at which time it is re-entered into the DMD 1012 to form a gobo-like mask for the lamp. This SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) - .l'~
f allows the light to be appropr.i_at~.=ly shaped to agree with the outline «.f the perfo~_-mer 3.n0~.
Another embodiment of the present invention uses the above described tecl°miques and basic system of the present invention to proui.de color to the lamp gobo.
This is done using techniques that were postulated in the early days of color tv, and whA~_c:h now find a renewed use.
This system allows colored gabos, and snore generally, allows -any video image to be displayed.
Figure 9 shows the lamp :3J.C~ in a series with a rotating multi.calored disk 902. Fig. 9b shows the three sectors of the; disk. Reel sector 950, a blue sector 952, and a green sector 95~. The light along the optical path 902 is colored by passing through one of these three 'quadrants, and then through DMD 320. DMD 320 is driven by a rotating source 910, synChron:~.~ed with the operation of spinning of the co=l.or disk 902. The video is driven to produce a red frame, then a green frame, then a blue frame, one after another, for example. The red filtered video is transferred at. the same moment when the red sector 950 is in the light: path. ;o as long as the different colors are switched :aster than the eye's persistence of vision, the eye will average tZ~etn together to see a full color scene.
Although only a few embodimk:~nts have been described in detail. above, thos~j having ordinary skill in the axt will certainly understand that many modifications are possible in the prefei_-red embodiment without departing from the teacha.zxgs thereof .
A11 such madif:icat:.ions axe intended tc> be encompassed within the following claims.
For e~cample, airy directi.an deflecting device could be used in place of the DMD. A custom micro mirror device wouJ.d be ta:ansparent, arid have thin mia.~rors that '°stowed" at. 9c~~ tc~ the light. be<~m to allow the: f>eam to pass, and turned off by moving to a reflecting position to scatter select pixels of the light beam. The color changing devices could be any device including dichroics.
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)

Claims (42)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION FOR WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A light shape altering device, having elements which selectively modify light, located in the path of a light beam and comprising:
a first selective light reflection device, having a plurality of elements, each element located at a position which defines a portion of the light beam, and each element being separately controllable between a first state which passes light to a desired object of illumination and a second state which reflects light away from the desired object of illumination; and a controller which obtains a desired shape for light from said light beam and which converts said shape into control signals for said first selective light reflection device said selective light reflective device passing only light of said desired shape to said desired object of illumination and passing light which is not of said predetermined shape away from the desired object of illumination.

2. A light shape altering device, comprising:
a control system, selecting a shape of a light beam to be projected on to a stage, and producing a control signal indicative thereof;
a plurality of selectively direction-reflecting devices arranged as an array, coupled to receive said control signal from said control system, each device selectively passing light in a first direction or in a second direction, depending on said control signal, the light which is passed on the first direction having a shape which is based on the shape that is selected by the control system; and projection optics, optically in series between the plurality of direction reflecting devices and the stage, and receiving light from those devices which are passing light in the first direction, and passing the light from those devices to the stage.

3. The device as in claim 2, wherein said direction reflecting devices are digital micromirrors.

4. The device as in claim 2, wherein the projection optics are arranged such that light from the devices in the first direction is coupled to the stage, and light from the devices in the second direction is not coupled to the stage.

5. The device as in claim 4, further comprising an image memory, storing an image whose contents control the direction reflecting devices to shape the light according to a perimeter of said image.

6. A mirror gobo, comprising:
a light source;
a plurality of electrically controllable mirrors, which are electrically controlled to change position, said mirrors being optically in series with said light source; and a control system that controls the mirrors to change position according to a specified template to thereby alter the shape of the light according to the specified template.

7. The mirror gobo as in claim 6, wherein said template is a shape of a performer on a stage.

8. A light projecting device which changes a shape of light projecting therethrough, comprising:
a processor element, running image processing software of a type that accepts an input image and makes some change to the input image, said processor element operating based on an image and changing said image using said image processing software, said processor producing an output signal indicative of the changed image; and a digital light altering device which is a mirror which is selectively switchable between first and second positions., connected to said processor element and responsive to said output signal, said digital light altering device producing an area which passes light, said area being based on said changed image.

9. A light altering apparatus, comprising:
a digital light reflecting device, including a plurality of elements, each of said elements being electrically controllable between a first state which reflects light in a first direction, and a second state which reflects light in a second direction, wherein the elements of the digital light reflecting device are arranged in an array;
projection optics, coupled adjacent to said digital light reflecting device, and in a location to receive said light reflected in said first direction and coupling light towards an object of illumination; and a memory element, storing a digital image representation therein, said memory element connected to control said digital reflecting device in a way such that reflecting states of the elements of said digital reflecting device are controlled to conform to said digital image representation in the memory element, said digital image representation in the memory element includes a representation indicative of an on/off condition of each bit of a plurality of bits forming the image, said bits being mapped to said array of elements to alter a shape of light reflected by said digital light reflecting device to the object of illumination.

10. A method of altering a shape of a light beam transmitted to a stage in a stage lighting apparatus, comprising:
providing a plurality of reflectors which are controllable to change a direction of reflection thereof; and controlling said reflectors so that some of said reflectors allow light to pass to the stage, and others of said reflectors reflect light away from the stage, to thereby shape a beam of light which is reflected towards the stage.

11. The method as in claim 10, wherein said controlling comprises controlling some of said reflectors to reflect light in a first direction which is away from the stage, and controlling others of said reflectors to reflect light in a second direction which is towards the stage.

12. The method as in claim 10, wherein said controlling comprises forming a digital file indicative of an image, and mapping values of said digital file to said reflectors to control states of said reflectors.

13. The method as in claim 12, further comprising image processing said image using image processing software.

14. A stage lighting apparatus, comprising:
a lighting element, producing a beam of light;
a light altering device, comprising an element which alters the beam of light based on a control signal applied thereto, said control signal being indicative of a shape; and a processor, forming said control signal and connecting said control signal to said light altering device, said control signal changing over time, said light altering device responsive to change in said control signal to change a shape of the image, said processor operating to morph the shape between a first shape and a second shape, to thereby produce an output beam which is morphed between said first shape and said second shape.

15. The apparatus as in claim 14, wherein said processor comprises a time slicing element which defines intervals of time, and which forms intermediate shapes between the first shape and the second shape, and which produces said intermediate shapes at times which are synchronized with said intervals.

16. A stage lighting apparatus, comprising:
a shape-controllable light beam altering device, including an array of light beam modifying elements which physically move in response to an applied control signal, said array being located in a path of a light beam, said array being controllable according to a said control signal and said elements changing position in response to changes in said control signal;
a memory, storing a digital representation of an image, said digital representation being applied to said shape-controllable light beam altering device as said control signal, the value being indicative of an image shape which is to be applied to shape the light beam; and a processor, including image processing software of a type which can be used to alter some characteristic of said digital representation of an image, said processor modifying said digital representation, and continuously providing a signal to said memory indicative of the control signal.

17. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein said image processing software includes operation which morphs the image to a second image.

18. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein said image processing software rotates the image.

19. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein said image processing software shifts a position of the image.

20. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein said image processing software modifies a characteristic of an edge of the image.

21. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein said light beam altering device includes an array of elements which vary a direction of light based on said control signal.

22. The apparatus as in claim 21, wherein said array of elements is a digital micromirror device.

23. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein said light beam altering device comprises a device which is responsive to an electrical control signal to reflect light in a different directions depending on contents of said control signal.

24. An apparatus for displaying a variable intensity image on a stage, comprising:

a shape-controllable light beam altering device, including an array of light beam modifying elements, said array being located in a path of a light beam, said array being controllable according to a control signal and said array changing in response to changes in said control signal;
a memory, storing a digital representation of an image, said digital representation being applied to said shape-controllable light beam altering device as said control signal, said representation being indicative of an image shape which is to be applied to shape the light beam; and a processor, including input of data defining a shape to be displayed and a desired intensity of the shape, and wherein said processor, in response to an intensity value lower than a predetermined threshold, produces a duty cycle signal, the duty cycle signal being used to selectively mask operation of said light altering device at a duty cycle faster than persistence of vision, said mask operation preventing any light from being projected to the display, to perform a dimming function.

25. A strobe gobo, comprising:
a plurality of selectively-direction reflecting devices; each device selectively passing light in a first direction or in a second direction, depending on an applied control signal; and projection optics, optically in series with the plurality of direction reflecting devices, and receiving light from those devices which are passing light in the first direction, and passing the light from those devices to a stage; and a processor, producing said control signal, said processor forming a duty cycle operation which provides a strobe effect.

26. A method of forming a color image to be projected, comprising:
forming an image source indicative of color components of the image, a plurality of said color components together forming a frame of the image at a given time;
controlling a selective light reflection device to selectively reflect light to the stage and away from the stage;

controlling a light filtering device to provide light of a specific color, synchronized with said light reflection device producing a scene indicative of each of said color components, said color components for each said frame all occurring in a time which is less than persistence of vision of the human eye, such that said scenes are perceived as averaging together.

27. A reflecting gobo, comprising:
a control system, which includes a plurality of desired gobo shapes therein, and which selects one of said gobo shapes and produces a control signal indicative of the selected shape; and a controllable array of mirror devices, arranged in a light beam path, said controllable array of mirror devices comprising a plurality of mirrors arranged in an array, each of said plurality of mirrors selectively controllable between a first position in which light from the light beam is passed away from a target, and a second position in which light from the light beam is passed towards the target, at least one of said positions being a position which reflects light, said mirrors controlled according to said control signal, such that selected elements of said array are enabled to pass light to a stage, those selected elements forming a gobo shape.

28. The gobo as in claim 27, wherein said gobo shape includes two unconnected geometrical shapes, one inside the other.

29. The gobo as in claim 27, wherein each said mirror device includes two reflecting positions, a first reflecting position reflecting light to the stage, and a second reflecting position reflecting light away from the target.

30. The gobo as in claim 27, further comprising a heat sink, located at a position of said second reflecting position such that said light reflected away from the target is reflected to said heat sink.

31. The gobo apparatus as in claim 28, wherein said controller includes an image processor, operating to vary some characteristic of the signal used to project the gobo shape, and wherein that signal, when modified, also changes the characteristics of the gobo shape.

32. The device as in claim 1, further comprising an element which operates to cool said first selective light reflection device.

33. A digital gobo, comprising:
a digital mirror device, having a plurality of elements, each element defining a portion of an image, and each element being separately controllable between a first state which passes light in a first direction toward a desired object of illumination and a second state which reflects light away from the desired object of illumination; and a controller which obtains a desired gobo shape for the light to be displayed and which converts said desired gobo shape into control signals for said digital mirror device to control a shape of the output light from said digital mirror device according to the desired gobo shape to pass only light of a predetermined shape in said first direction toward said desired object of illumination.

34. The gobo as in claim 33, further comprising:
means for determining a shape of a performer within said object of illumination, and producing information indicative thereof, said determining means coupled to said controller; and wherein said controller uses said information indicative of said shape to form said shape of said light to thereby shape said light according to the shape of the performer.

35. A reflecting gobo, comprising:
a controllable array of mirror devices, arranged in a light beam path, said controllable array of mirror devices comprising a plurality of mirrors arranged in an array, each of said plurality of mirrors selectively controllable between a first position in which light from the light beam is passed in a first direction, and a second position in which light from the light beam is passed in a second direction;
a control system, determining a desired gobo shape and producing a control signal indicative of the selected shape, and said array of mirror devices controlled according to said control signal, such that selected elements of said array of mirror devices are enabled to pass light to in the first direction, those selected elements forming the gobo shape.

36. The gobo as in claim 35, further comprising a heat sink in a path of the second direction, receiving unwanted light which is passed in said second direction.

37. The gobo as in claim 35, further comprising a cooling element, operating to cool said array of mirror devices.

38. An electronic gobo, comprising:
a controllable light reflecting device, including a plurality of elements, each of said elements being electrically controllable between a first state which reflects light in a first direction, and a second state which reflects light in a second direction;
a controller device, having a memory element, said memory element storing a representation indicating a stencil outline that will control a shape of a light beam to be projected, said controller device producing an output signal to said controllable light reflecting device to control said elements to pass only light having a shape indicated by said stencil outline in said first direction.

39. The gobo as in claim 38, further comprising a heat absorbing element, located in a path of said second direction, to receive undesired light passing in said second direction.

40. The gobo as in claim 38, further comprising a stencil source, remote from said controller, producing information to be used to form said stencil, and passing that information to said controller to be stored in said memory.

41. The gobo as in claim 38, wherein said memory stores a plurality of image information pieces as prestored stencil outlines.

42. An electronic reflecting gobo, comprising:
a controllable light reflecting device, including a plurality of elements, each of said elements being electrically controllable between a first state which reflects light in a first direction, and a second state which reflects light in a second direction;
a controller device, controlling said light reflecting device to shape a light beam by selectively reflecting elements of the light beam.