Shutterless playback device for holographic motion picture record pressings

Claim 1

Playback apparatus for a motion picture recorded on a storage medium as a series of micro-holograms each of which is an interference fringe pattern redundantly representaive of the visual information in a frame of a given motion picture, said series of micro-holograms being arranged in a given order determined by the order of successive frames of the given motion picture so that sequential reconstruction of each of said series of micro-holograms in said given order will result in the playing back of said given motion picture, each of said micro-holograms having the same given area and dimensions; said apparatus comprising: a. a mechanism for supporting said medium for given movement and for moving said supported medium; b. a source of spatially coherent monochromatic light arranged with respect to said supported medium for illuminating each individual micro-hologram in turn with an incident beam of spatially coherent monochromatic light when said medium has said given movement to thereby produce an information beam which forms at a given place a reconstructed real image of the visual information represented by an illuminated microholorgram, the cross-sectional area and cimensions of said incident beam being no larger than said given area and dimensions, so that when said medium is moved the illuminated area of any microhologram traversing said incident beam gradually increases to a maximum and then gradually decreases to cause the intensity of the information beam produced thereby gradually to brighten as the illuminated portion of the area of this micro-hologram increases and gradually to fade as the illuminated portion of the area of this microhologram decreases, and c. utilization means for displaying said motion picture, said utilization means including viewing means situated at said place which is illuminated by and views the real image being formed by said information beam while said medium is being moved and while successive ones of said series of microholograms are traversing said incident beam, whereby said playback apparatus requires no shutters and permits said medium to be moved while said motion picture is being displayed.