US4384768A — Method and apparatus for manipulating the contras…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 198 words

In a projecting system for projecting light along an illuminating path to a viewing screen, the improvement of an image forming system which can be manipulated to adjust the contrast between juxtaposed areas of the projected light distribution image comprising: (a) a source of substantially unpolarized light arranged to project along an illuminating path, (b) image forming means having at least two discrete light transmitting zones disposed in said illuminating path to receive and transmit primary and secondary illuminating light beams respectively, the first of said zones having juxtaposed areas of sharply contrasting translucence whereby the primary illuminating light beam emanating from said first zone forms a primary image which has sharply contrasting image areas, (c) contrast adjustment means in said illuminating path for receiving the primary and secondary light illuminating beams, said contrast adjustment means being adjustable to vary the ratio of the light intensity of the primary and secondary illuminating light beams transmitted therethrough to vary the contrast of the light distribution image and, (d) a Maddox rod in said illuminating path arranged to receive the light emanating from the contrast adjustment means to smear the image formed thereby prior to projection onto said viewing screen.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 198 words

In a projecting system for projecting light along an illuminating path to a viewing screen, the improvement of an image forming system which can be manipulated to adjust the contrast between juxtaposed areas of the projected light distribution image comprising: (a) a source of substantially unpolarized light arranged to project along an illuminating path, (b) image forming means having at least two discrete light transmitting zones disposed in said illuminating path to receive and transmit primary and secondary illuminating light beams respectively, the first of said zones having juxtaposed areas of sharply contrasting translucence whereby the primary illuminating light beam emanating from said first zone forms a primary image which has sharply contrasting image areas, (c) contrast adjustment means in said illuminating path for receiving the primary and secondary light illuminating beams, said contrast adjustment means being adjustable to vary the ratio of the light intensity of the primary and secondary illuminating light beams transmitted therethrough to vary the contrast of the light distribution image and, (d) a Maddox rod in said illuminating path arranged to receive the light emanating from the contrast adjustment means to smear the image formed thereby prior to projection onto said viewing screen.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 128 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said contrast adjustment means comprises; (a) orthogonally polarized first and second polaroid filters disposed in said illuminating path, said first polaroid filter being aligned with said first zone and said second polaroid filter aligned with said second zone to transmit polarized light of opposite polarity from said first and second zones respectively, and (b) third polarized filter mounted in said illuminating path to receive the polarized light emanating from said first and second polarized filters, said third polarized filter being mounted for movement whereby its polarity may be varied with respect to that of said first and second filters to thereby selectively obscure the polarized light emanating from said first and second filters in inverse proportion to one another.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 103 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said contrast adjustment means comprises; (a) occluder means disposed in said illuminating path for receiving light emanating from said image forming means, said occluder means being mounted for movement relative to said image forming means so as to occlude varying proportions of the light emanating from said first and secnd zones to adjust the contrast of the projected light distribution image as aforesaid, and (b) a lens disposed in said illuminating path between said occluder and said Maddox rod, said lens serving to direct the light emanating from said occluder to said Maddox rod.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 53 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said image forming means has a third discrete light transmitting zone disposed in said illuminating path through which light is transmitted directly to said third polaroid filter to provide an illuminated background at the viewing screen in all positions of the third polarized filter.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 45 words

A projection system as claimed in claims 2 or 4 further comprising a light collimating lens disposed in said illuminating path between said light source and said image forming means whereby light from the light source is substantially evenly distributed across the image forming means.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 27 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 2 or 4 wherein the third polarized filter is mounted for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the illuminating path.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 42 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4 wherein the juxtaposed areas of sharply contrasting translucence of the first zone are separated from one another along a sinusoidal wave form pattern extending along the length of the first zone.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 33 words

A projectin system as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4 wherein the juxtaposed areas of sharply contrasting translucence of the first zone are separated from one another along vertically oriented separation lines.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 67 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the image forming means is in the form of a photographic slide in which said juxtaposed areas of the first zone are respectively translucent and opaque and separated from one another along a sinusoidal boundary extending along the length of the first zone and the second zone is translucent and co-extensive with the first zone.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 73 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the image forming means is in the form of a photographic slide in which said juxtaposed areas of the first zone are respectively translucent and opaque and separated from one another along a sinusoidal boundary extending along the length of the first zone and the second zone is translucent and co-extensive with the first zone, said third zone of said slide being uniformly translucent.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 61 words

A projection system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the image forming means is in the form of a photographic slide in which said juxtaposed areas are respectively translucent and opaque and separated from one another along vertically oriented boundary lines, said second zone being translucent and co-extensive with said first zone, said third zone of said slide being uniformly translucent.

Claim 13

Independent Claim 144 words

A method of manipulating the contrast of a projected image comprising the steps of; (a) projecting substantially unpolarized light along an illuminating path, (b) partially occluding the light passing along said illuminating path to provide at least two discrete light transmitting zones disposed in said illuminating path to receive and transmit primary and secondary illuminating light beams respectively, the first of said zones having juxtaposed areas of sharply contrasting translucence whereby the primary illuminating light beam emanating from said first zone forms a primary image which has sharply contrasting areas, (c) adjusting the ratio of the light intensity of the primary and secondary illuminating light beams to adjust the contrast of the illuminated image and smearing the contrast adjusted illuminated image by transmitting it through a Maddox rod disposed in the illuminating path and projecting the image as formed on to a viewing screen.

Claim 14

Independent Claim 144 words

A method of manipulating the contrast of a projected image comprising the steps of; (a) projecting substantially unpolarized light along an illuminating path, (b) partially occluding the light passing along said illuminating path to provide at least two discrete light transmitting zones disposed in said illuminating path to receive and transmit primary and secondary illuminating light beams respectively, the first of said zones having juxtaposed areas of sharply contrasting translucence whereby the primary illuminating light beam emanating from said first zone forms a primary image which has sharply contrasting areas, (c) adjusting the ratio of the light intensity of the primary and secondary illuminating light beams to adjust the contrast of the illuminated image and smearing the contrast adjusted illuminated image by transmitting it through a Maddox rod disposed in the illuminating path and projecting the image as formed on to a viewing screen.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1986-05-23	1986-11-22	1987-05-24	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1990-05-23	1990-11-22	1991-05-24	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1994-05-23	1994-11-22	1995-05-24	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Method and apparatus for manipulating the contrast of sine wave gratings and other visual patterns

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