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US005142414A
United States Patent [19] [11] Patent Number: 5,142,414
Koehler [45] Date of Patent: Aug. 25, 1992
[54] ELECTRICALLY ACTUATABLE TEMPORAL TRISTIMULUS-COLOR DEVICE
[76] Inventor: Dale R. Koehler, 1332 Wagontrain Dr., Albuquerque, N. Mex. 87123
[21] Appl. No.: 688,891
[22] Filed: Apr. 22, 1991
[51] Int. CI.' G01B 9/02
[52] U.S. CI 359/578; 356/352;
359/579
[58] Field of Search 359/577, 578, 579, 68,
359/71; 356/352, 405, 406
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
2,534,846 12/1950 Ambrose et al 359/577
2.804.803 9/1957 Edwards et al 359/578
3,471,217 10/1969 Wright 356/352
3,612,655 10/1971 Buchan et al 356/352
3,841,734 10/1974 Kermode 359/578
3.902,012 8/1975 Dalton et al 356/352
4,222,635 9/1980 Julke 356/352
4.453.804 6/1984 Evans 359/578
4,825,262 4/1989 Mallinson 356/352
4,859,060 8/1989 Katagiri et al 356/352
4,973,131 11/1990 Carnes 356/352
5,062,689 11/1991 Koehler 359/227
Primary Examiner—Bruce Y. Arnold
Assistant Examiner—Martin Lerner
[57] ABSTRACT
The electrically actuated light filter operates in a cyclical temporal mode to effect a tristimulus-color light analyzer. Construction is based on a Fabry-Perot interferometer comprised of a high-speed movable mirror pair and cyclically powered electrical actuators. When combined with a single vidicon tube or a monochrome solid state image sensor, a temporally operated tristimulus-color video camera is effected. A colorgenerated is accomplished when constructed with a companion light source and is a flicker-free coloredlight source for transmission type display systems. Advantages of low cost and small physical size result from photolithographic batch-processing manufacturability.
11 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets
