Patent ID: 7235047

Claim:
A method of illuminating a target comprising: a) transmitting light from a light source to a proximal end of a light guide bundle via a spatial light modulator wherein the spatial light modulator transmits the light substantially only to cores of light guides in the light guide bundle; b) transmitting the light from the proximal end of the light guide bundle to a distal end of the light guide bundle and emitting the light from the distal end of the light guide bundle; and, c) illuminating the target with the light emitted from the distal end of the light guide bundle, wherein the method comprises scanning a light beam across the spatial light modulator and simultaneously setting at least one pixel of the spatial light modulator that corresponds to a core of one of the light guides to an on-state to provide at least one on-pixel and setting other pixels of the spatial light modulator to an off-state, whereby the light beam is transmitted substantially only to the core of the light guide when the light beam contacts the on-pixel and the light beam is not transmitted to inter-core areas of the light guide bundle or to light guides adjacent to the light guide.