Dia and automotive dia projection system

Abstract

A dia for an automotive dia projection system has a transparent substrate with an opaque coating in portions thereof, thereby forming a binary pattern for projection. The pattern features a dither noise microstructure, such that an associated image is projectable giving the perception of a greyscale image to the human viewer.

Claims

1. A dia for an automotive dia projection system, the dia comprising: a transparent substrate with an opaque coating in portions thereof, thereby forming a binary pattern for projection, wherein the pattern has a dither noise microstructure, such that an associated image is projectable giving the perception of a greyscale image to a human viewer, and wherein the coating is a low-reflective coating.

2. The dia according to claim 1, wherein the dither noise microstructure is based on halftone dithering or random dithering.

3. The dia according to claim 1, wherein a minimal structure size within the dither noise microstructure measures at least 1 micrometre.

4. The dia according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is provided from a silicate glass or an optical polymer.

5. An automotive dia projection system comprising: a dia according to claim 1; an illumination module for backlighting the dia; and a projection optic for projection of an image of the dia.

6. The dia projection system according to claim 5, wherein the projection optic includes an angular magnification of 1 to 500.

7. The dia projection system according to claim 6, wherein the projection optic includes an angular magnification of 10 to 100.

8. The dia projection system according to claim 5, wherein the illumination module comprises an LED-based illuminant and an associated condenser optic.

9. A motor vehicle comprising: the dia projection system of claim 6 for the projection of images for signalling or entertainment purposes, wherein the dia projection system is integrated into an exterior mirror, a rocker panel, a front end, a back end or an interior of a motor vehicle.

10. The dia according to claim 1, wherein the coating is a chromium-based coating.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Reference is now made more particularly to the drawings, which illustrate the best presently known mode of carrying out the invention and wherein similar reference characters indicate the same parts throughout the views.

(2) FIG. 1 is a section of a first embodiment of a pattern with dither noise microstructure.

(3) FIG. 2 is a section of a second embodiment of a pattern with dither noise microstructure.

(4) FIG. 3 is a section of a third embodiment of a pattern with dither noise microstructure.

(5) FIGS. 4a and 4b are exploded views of an automotive dia projection system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(6) FIGS. 1-3 show sections of various embodiments of pattern 10 with dither noise microstructures 11 as elements of dias according to the invention. The pattern 10 are binary black/white pattern, wherein black pixels correspond to sections with opaque coating and white pixels correspond to uncoated sections of the transparent substrate.

(7) FIGS. 1-2 show pattern 10 with dither noise microstructures 11 generated by halftone dithering. The pattern 10 feature transparent (white) dots of locally varying size, spacing and number density in order to generate the desired grayscale depth in a corresponding projected image. Exemplarily, the dots are arranged in a concentric grid (FIG. 1) or a hexagonal grid (FIG. 2).

(8) FIG. 3 shows a pattern 10 with dither noise microstructure 11 generated by random dithering and exhibits a grainy, erratic appearance typical for this dithering algorithm.

(9) FIGS. 4a-4b show exploded view of an automotive dia projection system 1000 according to the invention comprising the dia 100, the illumination module 200, the projection optic 300 and the housing 400.

(10) The dia 100 comprises the transparent substrate 1 with the opaque coating 2 in portions thereof, whereby the binary pattern for projection is not shown in the Figures. The dia 100 is received by the dia holder 110.

(11) The illumination module 200 comprises the light-emitting diode (LED) based illuminant 210 on the printed-circuit board (PCB) 230 and the condenser optic 220 adjusted for backlighting of the dia 100.

(12) The projection optic 300 preferably features a magnification of 10 to 100 for the intended use in automotive applications.

(13) The automotive dia projection system 1000 is configured to be integrated in an exterior mirror of a motor vehicle, in such a way that the projection optic 300 points vertically downwards as to project an image of the pattern on the dia 100 to the road surface next to the motor vehicle.

(14) The present invention is not limited by the embodiments described above, which are represented as examples only and can be modified in various ways within the scope of protection defined by the appending patent claims.

(15) TABLE-US-00001 List of Numerals 1000 Dia projection system 100 dia 1 substrate 10 pattern 11 dither noise microstructure 2 coating 110 dia holder 200 illumination module 210 illuminant 220 condenser optic 230 PCB 300 projection optic 400 housing