Patent ID: 7483200

Claim:
A micro mirror device, comprising: a hinge supported by a substrate; a mirror plate tiltable around the hinge and having a reflective surface configured to reflect incident light to form a reflected light beam, wherein the hinge is configured to produce an elastic restoring force on the mirror plate when the mirror plate is tilted away from an un-tilted position; a controller configured to produce an electrostatic force to overcome the elastic restoring force to tilt the mirror plate from an un-tilted position to an “off” position, a first “on” position, or a second “on” position; an opaque aperture structure configured to block substantially all of a reflected light beam from reaching the display surface when the mirror plate is tilted to the “off” position, wherein the opaque aperture structure has an opening configured to allow a first portion of a reflected light beam to pass through when the mirror plate is tilted to the first “on” position and to allow a second portion of a reflected light beam to pass through when the mirror plate is tilted to the second “on” position, and the first portion is a greater portion than the second portion; and an optical projection system configured to direct the first portion of the reflected light beam to produce at a first level of brightness at a pixel on the display surface and to direct the second portion of the reflected light beam to produce a second level of brightness at the pixel on the display surface, wherein the pixel forms a portion of a display image on the display surface and the first level of brightness is greater than the second level of brightness.