Card – picture – or sign exhibiting – Display with special effects
Patent
1996-11-14
1998-09-15
Davis, Cassandra H.
Card, picture, or sign exhibiting
Display with special effects
40442, 40768, G02B 722
Patent
active
058062181
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a border for a substantially planar image, the border carrying a first pattern and a second pattern superimposed on, but spaced from the first pattern in a direction substantially orthogonal to the plane of the image, the patterns being made up from visually contrasting regions, overlying parts of the first and second patterns being such as to form a resultant pattern appearing to lie in front of and/or behind the plane of the image, the first pattern comprising relatively bright and relatively darker regions.
A known border of this general kind is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,961. In this known border the first and second patterns are formed by visually contrasting regions in the form of stripes. When viewed together these patterns form a resultant stripe pattern which appears to lie out of the plane of the two patterns. The result is that, if the image is two dimensional, for example a pictorial or graphics image displayed on the display screen of a cathode ray tube, flatness cues in the image are suppressed as far as an observed is concerned; an illusion of depth in the image is created, which derives from monocular depth cues e.g. perspective, motion parallax etc.) in the image.
This known border has certain disadvantages, however. The strip patterns only give parallax when the viewer moves his head in one direction, for example from left to right. Also, the resultant pattern is not very bright. If a light source is positioned behind the patterns to improve the brightness of the resultant pattern, the border becomes bulky and difficult to position and handle.
A second known border is disclosed in WO 93/13699. This border comprises a pair of microlens arrays which produce a "bubble-like" pattern.
According to the invention, a border of the kind defined in the first paragraph above is characterized in that the said relatively bright regions consist of light sources or regions which scatter or reflect incident light, and the second pattern comprises regions which are relatively more and relatively less light transmissive thereby forming a masking pattern. Using this arrangement the border brightness can be made less dependent on ambient light conditions.
The resultant pattern and the image preferrably exhibit parallax in a plurality of directions. This arrangement can make the illusion of a border in a different plane to that of the image more complete.
The first or second pattern is preferrably carried on a major surface of a light transmissive sheet, and the sheet is provided with means for inputting light through an edge thereof. The first pattern may advantageously comprise an array of regions which scatter or reflect incident light, which regions are carried on a major surface of a light transmissive sheet. The light transmissive sheet may be provided with a light source being positioned for inputting light to the sheet through an edge thereof. Such an arrangement can be much thinner and more compact than a back lit arrangement.
Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which
FIG. 1 illustrates the formation of a resultant pattern by means of an embodiment of the invention,
FIG. 2 shows a cross-section through a possible construction for part of the embodiment of FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 shows a possible configuration for part of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, and
FIG. 4 shows a possible alternative to the configuration of FIG. 3.
FIG. 1 illustrates in perspective view the general effect of a border in accordance with the invention. In this Figure the border 1 surrounds and is substantially coplanar with a substantially planar two-dimensional image 2, for example an image displayed on the display screen of a cathode ray tube (not shown). However, an observer 3 observes a virtual border 4 which lies out of the plane of the border 1 and the image 2, and the psychological effect of this is that flatness cues in the image 2 are suppressed; the apparent depth of the image 2 is enhanced. The virtual b
REFERENCES:
patent: 3583961 (1971-06-01), Shindo
patent: 3701581 (1972-10-01), Henkes
Dobrusskin Christoph
Shanks Ian Alexander
Central Research Laboratories Limited
Davis Cassandra H.
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