Patent ID: 8218222

Claim:
Controllable light modulator with at least one addressable transmissive layer and at least one substrate layer, where the addressable transmissive layer has pixels which are regularly arranged in modulator columns and/or modulator rows, and where the substrate layer has retro-reflective elements with reflective surfaces for guiding light of incident pencils of rays, and with a system controller with modulation control means for controlling the modulation of the pixels, wherein The modulation control means generate a number of macro-pixels of at least two pixels which are arranged next to each other in a modulator row and/or modulator column and which are assigned by the system controller with a selected modulation characteristic, and that The retro-reflective elements are arranged side by side in the substrate layer in a plane which is parallel to the plane of the light modulator such that each retro-reflective element covers two adjacent pixels of a macro-pixel in a modulator row or modulator column of the addressable layer in order to direct a pencil of rays which falls on one pixel of a macro-pixel after reflection from at least one retro-reflective element sequentially through at least one further pixel of the macro-pixel in order to modulate the incident pencils of rays.