Imagine a world where convergence has gone mad, and mobile phones can do pretty much anything. As technology improves, that world is almost upon us. If Light Blue Optics has its way, mobile phones will soon have built-in pico projectors so that we can enjoy video footage projected onto walls and screens.
An industry-leading developer of holographic laser projection technology, Light Blue Optics (LBO), has announced that it has secured £12.7m million in funds to develop its portable mini-projector technology.
Founded in 2004, LBO has developed an innovative holographic laser projection technology that allows full colour, high-quality video images to be projected onto flat or curved surfaces. Eventually these projectors could be as small as a sugar cube - tiny enough to fit inside mobile devices like phones and portable video players.
Mobile phone projector
LBO's novel approach to projection delivers a unique combination of enabling features including an ultra-wide throw angle, in-built laser speckle reduction, infinite focus, low power consumption, no moving parts and a robust design that naturally lends itself to miniaturisation and low-cost manufacture.
Light Blue Optics' CEO, Dr Chris Harris said, "The closure of this US$26 million funding round will allow us to accelerate our product development and commercialisation programme towards the high-volume manufacture of miniature projection systems.
"LBO has world-beating technology, excellent customer traction across a wide range of markets, a strong investor syndicate and is ideally placed to become the world's leading supplier of miniature projection systems," he said.
Of course LBO doesn't have it all its own way - Texas Instruments and MicroVision are also working on pico projector technology with partners that include Motorola, Mitsubishi, Samsung and Toshiba.
