Wobulation

A technique originally invented by Hewlett-Packard for its inkjet printers. Texas Instruments, promoter of the DLP technology screens, using the modulation in some of the imaging chips used in projection televisions.

When combined with Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology "wobulation" allows for a digital image to be projected at double its resolution – without changing the light modulator or increasing pixels – while maintaining a crisp image. The result is that better resolution is available at a more affordable price. HP was an early supporter of DLP technology and its current digital projector portfolio includes DLP offerings for the entire spectrum of business customers.

A term loosely derived from the word "wobble" -- works by shifting an image slightly in one direction or another by a distance less than the width of a single pixel, changing the image according to where the projection beam is directed. The overlapping images together can create details finer than the original pixel width.

For example, a 1024-by-768 pixel display, augmented by first-generation 2X wobulation, would have an effective resolution of 2,048 pixels by 1,536 pixels. Using the later 4X wobulation, it would have 4,096 pixels by 3,072 pixels.

Like the entanglement, modulation allows you to see half the picture at a time, but it shows the two halves so rapidly that our very eyes merging the two images into one. A 1080p DLP TV can display images of 1920 x 1080 pixels, but his chip image DMD (digital micromirror device) has mirrors of 960 x 1080. Displays half of the picture. Then, a rotating reflective panel called "trigger" shifts the display to one side at half the width of a pixel. This is happening fast enough to generate full 60 frames per second for a clean image of progressive scan. Texas Instruments calls this technique SmoothPicture ™, and also is called "pixel shifting."