[54] DIGITAL VIDEO AND AUDIO SYSTEMS
USING NANO-MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
[75] Inventor: Stephen Francis Taylor, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
[73] Assignee: Taylor Group of Companies, Inc., Santa Monica, Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 660^32
[22] Filed: Jun. 10,1996
Related U.S. Application Data
[60] Continuation of Set No. 459,416, Jun. 2, 1995, which is a division of Ser. No. 245,246, May 17, 1994.
[51] Int CI.6 H04N 5/74
[52] U.S. CI 348/758; 348/744
[58] Field of Search 348/771, 761.
348/770, 756, 755, 744, 759, 750, 758
[56] References Cited
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FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
WO95/30924 11/1995 WIPO .
Primary Examiner—Victor R. Kostak
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Merchant, Gould, Smith, Edell,
Welter & Schmidt
[57] ABSTRACT
Applications of digitally-controlled nano-mechanical structures are described, including both digital video and audio systems. For video systems, the nano-mechanical structures comprise resonant membrane spatial light modulators (SLMs), which are used in either transmissive mode or reflective mode operations to generate images. For audio systems, the nano-mechanical structures comprise resonant membrane spatial acoustic modulators (SAMs), which are used in reflective mode operations to generate sounds. For both SLMs and SAMs, a flexible support layer is deformed upon application of an electrical potential to the device, thus altering either the optical or acoustical characteristics of the device, respectively.
12 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets
