US 5,061,049 · Granted 1991-10-29

Texas Instruments' Gentle Beam Steering: The Patent Behind Digital Light Manipulation

Imagine a tiny mirror that can be steered by electricity instead of moving physically. This patent describes a way to make beams of light bounce and land exactly where you want them without crashing or bouncing badly, using clever electrode placement that acts like a electronic landing pad.

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The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a spatial light modulator design that uses electrostatically deflectable beams combined with address electrodes and specially positioned landing electrodes to achieve controlled beam deflection and soft landing. What's protected here is the specific arrangement and method for steering light beams to large angles while ensuring they land gently and reliably on target electrodes, rather than slamming down or missing their marks.

Why it matters

Spatial light modulators are foundational components in projection displays, imaging systems, and laser applications. Texas Instruments filed this during the early 1990s when digital projection was emerging as a commercial opportunity. The soft-landing innovation addresses a real engineering challenge: deflecting beams over large angles while maintaining reliability and image quality, which directly impacts product durability and performance in consumer-grade projectors and displays.

Real-world use

Every digital projection system that creates images by steering thousands of tiny light beams—from business projectors to cinema displays—relies on spatial light modulator technology similar to what this patent describes.

Original USPTO abstract

An electrostatically deflectable beam spatial light modulator with the beams (30), address electrodes (42, 46), and landing electrodes (40, 41) to provide soft-landing of the beams on the landing electrodes (40, 41) which gives uniform large-angle deflection plus high reliability.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,061,049
Filing date: 1990-09-13
Grant date: 1991-10-29
Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
Inventor(s): HORNBECK; LARRY J.
CPC class: G03F7/70291

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