Patent ID: 7258450

Claim:
A projector optical system configuration employing one or more light sources, the projector optical system configuration comprising: at least one LED plane light source formed such that a plurality of LED cells are arrayed in two dimensions; at least one first lens array which is disposed on at least one side of the at least one LED plane light source from which light exits, which comprises a plurality of first lens members arrayed so as to individually oppose at least a portion of the respective LED cells, and which by action of at least a portion of the respective first lens members separately collects light irradiated from at least a portion of the respective LED cells of the at least one LED plane light source; and at least one second lens array which is disposed on at least one side of the at least one first lens array from which light exits, which comprises a plurality of second lens members arrayed so as to individually oppose at least a portion of the respective first lens members of the at least one first lens array, which by action of at least a portion of the respective second lens members separately magnifies light received from at least a portion of the at least one first lens array, and which causes at least a portion of light exiting at least a portion of the respective second lens members to be combined in mutually superposed fashion at at least one irradiation surface, wherein: at least a portion of the respective lens members of the at least one first lens array and the at least one second lens array are made up of lens cells comprising one or more clusters of one or more lenslets; at the at least one first lens array, respective first lenslets making up at least a portion of the lens cells separately collect light irradiated from at least a portion of the respective LED cells of the at least one LED plane light source; at the at least one second lens array, respective second lenslets making up at least a portion of the lens cells separately magnify light received from at least a portion of the first lenslets of the at least one first lens array; and at least a portion of light exiting at least a portion of the second lenslets is combined in mutually superposed fashion at the at least one irradiation surface, and wherein: within each of the lens cells the respective lenslets therein are mutually substantially nonuniform in size, but across the respective lens cells at least one mode of subdivision is mutually substantially identical; and between mutually opposing lens cells of the at least one first lens array and lens cells of the at least one second lens array, the at least one mode of subdivision is mutually substantially identical.