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3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8081381 | Laser beam combining by polarization interlacing The present invention is a time division multiplexed beam combination for laser signal generation. In one aspect, the time division multiplexed beam combination employs a mechanical implementation. In a second aspect, the time division multiplexed beam combination e... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8004761 | Stereo projection optical system A stereo projection optical system includes a polarization converter, a 2-way wheel, a retarder, and an image engine. The polarization converter is configured for converting an incident light into a polarized light which have single polarization. The 2-way wheel inc... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7911702 | Beam shaper A beam shaper including a reflection device and a plurality of reflectors. The reflection device is disposed on a transmission path of an incident light beam and has a plurality of reflection surfaces capable of reflecting the incident light beam. The reflection sur... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7843643 | Laminated micromirror package A system and method of aligning a micromirror array to the micromirror package and the micromirror package to a display system. One embodiment provides a method of forming and utilizing a package that exposes regions of an alignment reference plane. The device withi... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7768708 | Light source having spatially interleaved light beams A light source includes a first set of first beam sources having parallel output beams lying in a first-beam-source plane and a second set of second beam sources having parallel output beams lying in a second-beam-source plane. The first-beam-source output beams are... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7764432 | Laser equipment A laser apparatus (10) has a plurality of light sources (11a to 11c) that include laser array stacks (12a to 12c). Laser beams (32b, 32c) are respectively deflected by a slit ... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7755838 | Optical devices An optical manifold for efficiently combining a plurality of blue LED outputs to illuminate a phosphor for a single, substantially homogeneous output, in a small, cost-effective package. Embodiments are disclosed that use a single or multiple LEDs and a remote phosp... | 07/13/2010 |
| 7742234 | Composite optical dividing device A composite optical-dividing component receives a light beam. There are mixed-bands in the light beam. The composite optical-dividing component includes a first optical-patch and a second optical-patch. The first optical-patch has multiple micro-structural lenses in... | 06/22/2010 |
| 7710655 | Display with image-guiding substrate A display system includes an angle-mapped display engine operable to launch angle-mapped image-bearing rays through an image-guiding substrate for display. ... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7679829 | Apparatus and method for optically combining at least three light beams At least three incoming light beams (10a-c) are combined partly combined into a null beam and partly into fringe tracking beams. The relative phase difference between the incoming beams (10a-c) is controlled so that a phase ... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7580191 | Wavelength branching filter and optical communication module There is provided a low-cost wavelength branching filter that transmits lights of 1310 nm wavelength band, and reflects light of 1490 nm and 1650 nm wavelength bands. In one embodiment, a wavelength branching filter includes a first multilayer film filter positioned... | 08/25/2009 |
| 7499218 | Illumination system An illumination system including at least one first light source, a prism and a light uniforming device is provided. The first light source is capable of providing a first beam. The prism is disposed on a transmission path of the first beam, and has four first facet... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7437034 | Device for coupling the light of multiple light sources A device for coupling the light of multiple light sources (2, 3) that substantially consists of a reflectance surface (10, 11) for one or more of said light sources (2, 3) and at least one integration rod (14) having an incident surface (... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7423806 | Microscope system with a beam hub unit having a beam multiplexer for alternatively selecting beam ports A microscope system having an objective lens (10) defining a central optical axis (14) of the microscope system; an optical beam hub unit (18, 20) having a center coinciding with the central optical axis, a plurality of optical beam ports (24... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7391573 | Substrate-guided optical devices There is provided an optical device, having a light-transmitting substrate having at least two major surfaces (26) parallel to each other and edges; optical means (16) for coupling light waves located in a field-of-view into the substrate by internal r... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7390095 | Projector Aspects of the invention can provide a projector that includes three optical modulators which modulate respectively red light, green light, and blue light, a color-synthetic optical system which synthesizes the light modulated by the three optical modulators, and a ... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7364302 | Projection display system using multiple light sources and polarizing element for using with same An image projection system has two illumination beams of different colors. A first polarizing beamsplitter (PBS) has first and second input faces. Light of the first color is incident on the first input face and the light of the second color is incident on second in... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7330314 | Color combiner for solid-state light sources An illumination apparatus has first and second optical condenser systems sharing a common aperture. The first optical condenser system has a first solid-state light source having a first spectral band and a first curved surface spaced apart from the first solid-stat... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7322706 | Device for adjusting light intensity for discharge lamp projectors The invention relates to a device for adjusting light intensity for discharge lamp projectors with an optical assembly that contains a spherical mirror and a discharge lamp, and a Fresnel lens provided in front of the lamp of the optical assembly. The device is char... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7321343 | Method for auto-stereoscopic image display with a wavelength filter array A method of spatial visualization in which several views are decomposed into bits of partial information, which are made optically visible by image rendering elements. Neighboring image rendering elements emit light of different wavelengths or wavelength ranges. Pro... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7312933 | Rectangular monobloc optical lens and manufacturing method thereof A rectangular monobloc optical lens and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. A monobloc optical lens includes a rectangular surround and a central mirror-surface area. The rectangular surround is mounted inside a clipping part of a lens holder. The central ... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7307787 | Beam splitting prism, method of manufacturing beam splitting prism, and all-optical switching device In order to obtain a beam splitting prism which a beam can be split with simpler configuration in a state in which an optical path length is precisely controlled, there is provided a beam splitting prism having an incident and an outgoing faces orthogonal or paralle... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7301686 | Optically controlled optical-path-switching apparatus, and method of switching optical paths An optical signal optical path switching method comprising steps of using a thermal lens based on a distribution of refractive index produced reversibly caused by temperature increase generated in an area of the light-absorbing layer film of thermal lens forming dev... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7298558 | Electronic adjustable color filter device An electronically adjustable, combinational color filter device is provided for generating color light. Incoming light is split in a polarizing beam splitter/combiner into a first and a second element of light. One or more wave plates operate to modify the polarizat... | 11/20/2007 |
| 7289218 | Optical component for directing electromagnetic radiation A passive optical component directs first electromagnetic radiation incident on the component in a first direction and second electromagnetic radiation incident on the component in a second direction to a mutual direction. The optical component comprises an interact... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7277213 | Aperture plate and related system and method An aperture plate includes an opening and a surface adjacent to the opening. The opening passes electromagnetic energy such as light to a reflector that is aligned with the opening and that directs the electromagnetic energy to a location. The surface reflects incid... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7253959 | Method and apparatus for distributing the flux density of a light flow For distributing the flux density of an input light flow (11), this input light flow is split-up in at least two light flows (12, 13) comprising different cross-sectional parts of the input light flow (11), and an output light flow (15) i... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7248362 | Small-spot spectrometry instrument with reduced polarization and multiple-element depolarizer therefor A small-spot imaging, spectrometry instrument for measuring properties of a sample has a polarization-scrambling element, such as a birefringent plate depolarizer, incorporated between the polarization-introducing components of the system, such as the beamsplitter, ... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7242537 | Holding and positioning apparatus for an optical element In a holding and positioning apparatus for an optical element, the optical element is mounted in a mounting ring and the mounting ring is mounted via at least one manipulator unit. The manipulator unit has a linear actuating element. The manipulator unit has a manip... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7242748 | X-ray transmissive optical mirror apparatus A mirror is reflective to light and transmissive to x-rays. The mirror has a continuous mirror surface and an x-ray aperture within a body portion of the mirror proximate the continuous mirror surface that is transmissive to x-rays. ... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7222967 | Image display optical system and projection type image display apparatus An image display optical system according to the present invention has an illumination optical system, a plurality of image display elements, a color separation/combination optical system, and a projection optical system. The image display optical system also has a ... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7222968 | Illumination system with separate optical paths for different color channels Illumination systems are disclosed, which include illumination channels of different colors and at least one image-forming device. Each illumination channel, in turn, includes a bank of light sources, and the image-forming device is disposed to receive illumination ... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7221689 | Laser apparatus A laser apparatus capable of emitting laser beams of a plurality of different wavelengths includes: a solid-state laser medium which emits light of a plurality of different peak wavelengths; a resonance optical system which resonates the emitted light of the plurali... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7215491 | Optical path switching device and method An optical path switching method includes converging and irradiating, on a light absorption layer film provided in a thermal lens forming element including at least the film, each of a control light having a wavelength selected from a wavelength band which is absorb... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7210792 | Projection system and method A micromechanical mirror combined with a photoluminescent screen is able to efficiently use light from the light source. In such a device, the light source produces light that is directed onto the micromechanical mirror. The micromechanical mirror then selectively r... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7210788 | Color prism and projection-type image display apparatus employing the same A color prism capable of separating incident light into four color beams and synthesizing incident four-color beams, and a projection-type image display apparatus employing the color prism. The color prism includes: first through third triangular prisms each having ... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7207678 | Prism for high contrast projection Prism elements having TIR surfaces placed in close proximity to the active area of a SLM device to separate unwanted off-state and/or flat-state light from the projection ON-light bundle. The TIR critical angle of these prisms is selected to affect either the off-st... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7203005 | Real image configuration for a high efficiency heads-up display (HUD) using a polarizing mirror and a polarization preserving screen An image display system includes a polarized image projection device, a polarization preserving transmissive diffusiver, and a polarizing reflector element as a non-blocking mirror (referred to as a “combiner”). The combination of a polarization preserving trans... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7187270 | Vehicle display device and light guide plate thereof Disclosed are a vehicle display device providing excellent visibility and does not obstruct a sight ahead of a driver, regardless of a frame, a seating position and the like of the driver. The device comprises a transparent light guide plate having first and second ... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7187500 | Peak power and speckle contrast reduction for a single layer pulse A system and method for reducing peak power of a laser pulse and reducing speckle contrast of a single pulse comprises a plurality of elements oriented to split and delay a pulse or pulses transmitted from a light emitting device. The design provides the ability to ... | 03/06/2007 |
