I seem to spend a lot of time tracking develops in 3D, LED and laser displays. These are clearly new frontiers in the display industry and it is fun to watch all the pieces coming together. A couple more pieces of the pico projection tapestry, involving Motorola, Symbol Technologies, Microvision and Teraop Displays, were stitched together this week.

Chris Chinnock
Senior Analyst and Editor
for Insight Media

A clear consensus is emerging that the pico projector market - the smallest of the projectors, most driven by laser sources, will come to market in two sub classes of products. These will be stand-alone companion projectors that are accessories to mobile devices like iPhone and iPods. The second wave will follow later with embedded or integrated pico-projectors - even smaller projectors that are built into the phones, PMPs or navigation devices.

News came this week that Motorola has now struck up a development agreement with Microvision. Microvision will develop its PicoP projector for integration into mobile products developed by Motorola. This is another feather in the cap of Microvision, and an interesting development for Motorola.

Why? Because Motorola bought Symbol Technologies last fall (see Display Daily, Sept. 20, 2006) and, as part of that purchase, acquired the development team that was also working on a pico projector. The Symbol approach featured two separate scan mirrors to create the image, while the Microvision approach uses a single scan mirror.

Does this agreement mean the Symbol approach is dead and Motorola will now be using the PicoP in products? The answer according to Motorola spokesperson, Jennifer Lyons, is a firm no. She indicated that Motorola believes there may be different applications for the two different designs of laser scanning pico projectors.

We agree. The ultra-compact design of the Microvision system makes it most suitable for projectors embedded in cell phones and other mobile devices. The very good image quality of the Symbol Technology approach may make it more suitable for companion projectors where image quality becomes more of an issue.

So what are some of the image quality issues with the PicoP? Microvision admits that there is inherent pincushion distortion in the image due to the interaction of the horizontal and vertical deflection mechanisms. The variable length of the scan lines can be compensated for easily enough, but it is more difficult to compensate for the curvature of the lines.

That’s because Microvision uses two different methods to do the biaxial mirror movement: electrostatic and electromagnetic deflection. And, according to Teraop Displays CEO Pinny Chaviv, the coils and currents required for electromagnetic drive make the biaxial mirror incompatible with standard MEMS foundry processes.

Consequently, his company is developing a scanning pico projector engine that uses two electrostatic scanning mirrors, each housed in separate packages. The high-speed mirror is a resonant system that Chaviv says is similar to resonant mirrors developed elsewhere. The second mirror scans vertically in a linear ramp, and he says that this, along with the associated optics, is the main Teraop Displays IP. Chaviv emphasized the importance of the optics in the system and said Teraop Displays already has 2 patents pending on the subject.

There’s never a dull moment in the display industry - and this proves just how interesting the display industry can be!

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