Personal projection

Moench started his presentation with a list of criteria that the company had established through questioning customers. For example, the ideal light source for personal projection should be a maximum 50 W lamp with a minimum of 200 — 300 lm so that the room doesn't have to be darkened. Battery operation and easy replacement are also considerations.

All in all, a tough combination for a light source and one that Moench said only a UHP lamp can live up to at the present time. So, Philips Lumileds set about designing a new lamp assembly and driver paying careful attention to factors such as the emission spectrum, lamp lifetime and electrode design. The end result is the Ujoy.

Philips believes that the Ujoy lighting system is ideal for the personal projection market, specifically in areas such as video gaming, photo projection and laptop use. According to Moench, the company's market research confirmed that there was a clear need for a compact, affordable and portable projector for in-home use.

The sting in the tail is that the lamp does not dominate the overall price of the projector — the display in the projector is the costly component. All we need now is affordable displays and we could see personal projectors becoming another must have gadget, just like the iPod. I know I'd put a personal projector on my Christmas list.