Anyone else found it a little surprising he managed to get a patent for it? Encoder wheels for 7-segment-displays have been around for a long time (e.g. http://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/old-two-digit-led-wit... ), and this is just the straightforward implementation of one using photonics - basically a 1-of-10 to 7-segment decoder with OR gates.

Very, very impressive. This stuff should be built for tech colleges. A great way to showcase the use of old and new technologies together.

I really like how each digit only uses enough "logic" to display the numbers it needs to display. There's nothing generic or inefficient here!