US Patent 11674795 Miniature pattern projector using microLEDs and micro-optics

An apparatus projecting light onto a projection surface comprises: a substrate having disposed thereon two or more LED clusters and two or more micro-lenses, each LED cluster comprising a plurality of LEDs and each of the micro-lenses being disposed the plurality of LEDs. Each of the LED clusters is arranged to emit light through each of the micro-lenses in a pattern of dots. A center of at least one LED cluster is off-set from an optical center of the micro-lens of its LED cluster. A projected image includes arrangements of individual dots and/or areas of smooth light resulting from the pattern of dots.