Optical: systems and elements – Single channel simultaneously to or from plural channels – By surface composed of lenticular elements
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-15
2004-11-30
Mai, Huy (Department: 2873)
Optical: systems and elements
Single channel simultaneously to or from plural channels
By surface composed of lenticular elements
C359S621000, C345S032000, C345S055000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06825985
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an autostereoscopic display and method of displaying multidimensional images on the display. More particularly, the autostereoscopic display of the present invention includes a lenslet array of rotated cylindrical lenses positioned between a viewer and a pixel array. The present invention allows the interlacing of multiple image views by using segmented lenslets. The use of grayscale technology controls the lenslet shape and rotation very precisely to control the blurring and blending of views. An autostereoscopic display in accordance with the present invention is particularly advantageous for creating stereoscopic displays in conjunction with color pixel arrays.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, three-dimensional displays of images have been achieved by using stereoscopic displays. A stereoscopic display is a display providing multidimensional image cues to a viewer by combining two alternative two-dimensional views of the same object or scene. Each view is observed by one of the viewer's eyes and the two views are subsequently integrated by the human visual system to form a three-dimensional (3-D) image as perceived by the viewer, through the display.
A simple example of an autostereoscopic display is the classic 3-D image and accompanying 3-D glasses used to view the image. The 3-D image contains superimposed red and green images slightly offset from each other and independently representing an object from separate, slightly different perspectives. The overlapped red and green images are integrated when a viewer wearing glasses with a red-color filter over one eye and a green-color filter over the other eye views the image and the respective perspectives are directed independently to the respective eyes receiving the image information. The result observed by the viewer is that the image appears to have a limited amount of spatial depth.
There are problems associated with using these types of 3-D glasses. First, they are usually flimsy and bulky and not well suited for ordinary wear. Furthermore, subjects that are residing in the images when viewed without the 3-D glasses are not easily discerned. Also, they do not interface well with individuals who need to wear corrective lenses.
To address such aforementioned problems and disadvantages, it is desirable to have autostereoscopic displays requiring no special glasses or other type of head-mounted equipment to bring the alternative views to each of the viewer's eyes. In one example, conventional autostereoscopic displays have been implemented on an LED display, by alternately generating light emitting lines on the display representing interlaced left and right eye images and respectively directing the interlaced left and right images to a viewer's left and right eyes. Such an implementation may require construction of a specialized flat panel display and/or display driver incorporating the capability to generate the light emitting “lines” or interlaced images. This type of display would be capable of replacing conventional backlit display sources.
Other conventional autostereoscopic displays have been proposed with lenses positioned in alignment with display picture elements. However, there are problems arising with this approach, because the interlaced left and right eye images directed at fixed viewing angles do not necessarily represent a viewer's actual left eye and right eye viewing zones. Further, such an implementation may also require construction of a specialized flat-panel display incorporating cylindrical lenses embedded within the display picture elements structure. Also, because such lenses are aligned, interference pattern noise or moire patterns may result from spatial mismatches between pixel edges and cylindrical lens edges when viewed off-axis. Such alignment may further result in projection of images outside the viewer's proper left and right eye viewing zones. Additional problems may arise when one attempts to implement autostereoscopic display on color displays.
Color displays are normally constructed with pixels having a plurality of color elements such as red, green, and blue arranged alongside each other along a generally horizontal line of the display relative to a position of intended use. Another common characteristic of conventional displays is that the color elements associated with the pixels tend to be vertically aligned so that, for example, red, green, and blue elements are vertically aligned with each other throughout the display. In this case, problems arise in displaying color images in such a situation since the focal axis of a typical lens is vertical and thus the point focus in a color display where color elements are vertically aligned would be on only one color at a time, thereby distorting the color rendering for the image.
Consequently, in order to create an autostereoscopic color display which accurately renders color, the display should be rotated ninety degrees or otherwise physically altered to achieve a change in orientation, so that the color elements of the pixels are arranged vertically one above the other. Color elements of pixels are then appropriately oriented with respect to the vertical focal axis of the lens. It should be noted that rotating or otherwise physically altering the display may require modification to any software drivers that support the display. Thus, the extent to which existing or conventional displays may be adapted to provide stereoscopic images is limited, because of this rotation and other such alterations required of the display.
For a better understanding of the characteristics of known systems, reference is made to an exemplary autostereoscopic display as shown in FIG.
1
A. Included is a pixel array
11
, having several pixel groups
111
. These pixel groups typically include three color elements such as red, green, and blue (RGB). A lenticular array
12
is positioned adjacent to pixel array
11
separated by a distance “d” which varies based on the desired or anticipated distance S between a viewing perspective represented in
FIG. 1A
as, for example, eyes
13
-
14
[left eye (
13
) and right eye (
14
)] and the front of the autostereoscopic display. As will be understood by one skilled in the art, each pixel group
111
includes pixel columns corresponding to independent image perspectives which, when viewed together form the autostereoscopic display image.
In accordance with the autostereoscopic display illustrated in
FIG. 1A
, lenticular array
12
includes several adjacent lenses, each lens
121
-
123
within lenticular array
12
corresponding to different pixel columns
112
-
113
within the pixel groups
111
of the pixel array
11
. By anticipating both the distance S between a viewer and the lenticular array
12
located at the front of the pixel array
11
and the desired separation “d” between pixel lens arrays
11
and
12
, an appropriate pitch WL for lenses
121
-
123
within a lenticular array of the display may be calculated (described later in greater detail) such that the autostereoscopic effect is achieved. A desired separation d between the pixel and lenticular arrays
11
and
12
may be determined based on various criteria, such as the size and/or appearance of the resulting display. Typically, the separation d is representative of the focal length of the lenses that are used to make up the lenticular array.
Further, reference is made to an exemplary autostereoscopic display as illustrated in FIG.
1
B. It should be noted that due to the similarity between FIG.
1
A and
FIG. 1B
, the reference numerals shown in FIG.
1
B and the accompanying discussion herein below relate to aspects of the display which differ from those aspects already illustrated in FIG.
1
A.
The displays shown in
FIGS. 1A and 1B
differ with respect to the alignment of the lenses within lenticular array
12
relative to the pixel groups
111
within pixel array
11
.
FIG. 1B
illustrates a configuration in which the position of the lenticular
Brown Daniel M.
Erbach Peter Scott
Minamitani Takahisa
Pezzaniti Joseph Larry
Keady, Olds & Maier PLLC
Mai Huy
MEMS Optical Inc.
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