Photocopying – Contact printing – Light boxes
Patent
1993-05-05
1994-12-13
Blankenship, Howard B.
Photocopying
Contact printing
Light boxes
355 22, G03B 3500
Patent
active
053733355
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the formation and use of images which comprise a cellular structure and suitable apparatus. Inter alia this includes the field of three-dimensional imaging in which an array of lens elements is employed to form or view a corresponding array of image components or cells.
The use of a lenticular screen comprised of cylindrical lens elements or a two-dimensional array of microlenses as a component in forming and/or displaying an autostereoscopic image is well known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,442 (Street) provides an imaging system for the recording of such an image, whilst U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,063 (Street) provides an intermediate record of an autostereoscopic image comprised of an array of elongate elements each of which comprises a range of perspectives along its length and substantially less or no perspective range in the orthogonal direction. Each of these elongate elements may be regarded as an image of the taking camera's aperture. The array of co-ordinates of the centres of these elongate image elements corresponds to the array of co-ordinates of the microlenses used in their formation. It is an object of U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,063 to provide an intermediate record for use with a purpose designed optical printer or enlarger to produce a viewable three-dimensional image.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the current invention is to provide a modified form of an intermediate record which may be separated from the array of microlenses used to form it and processed in a number of ways to generate images in a more flexible manner than can be achieved with an optical transfer system alone.
The main advantages of the current invention include: transparency stage of production; subsequent enlargement; the microlens array used to form the intermediate image.
Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided a cellular image array comprising a plurality of distinct image components arranged in an array extending in one or two dimensions and a second corresponding and distinct array of reference components displaced with respect to said image component array, both said arrays being formed in the same photosensitive recording medium so that the displacement between each said image component and its respective reference component is substantially the same for every image component of said image component array.
Preferably each image component and its respective reference component are created by exposing the recording medium through the same element of an array of convergent optical elements. Said two exposures may occur simultaneously or consecutively.
The two dimensional array of convergent optical elements may comprise the combination of two one dimensional arrays of cylindrical lenses in which the optical axis of one cylindrical array has been arranged to be substantially orthogonal to that of the other array so that, in use, a single element of said two dimensional array is formed by the region of intersection of one element from each cylindrical array.
In certain embodiments of the invention, each said image component comprises a discreet or continuous plurality of picture elements. Each picture element may represent a single picture element of a substantially single perspective of a recorded image, said image comprising a plurality of perspectives.
A single resolution element of an image component may represent a colour component of a single picture element of a recorded image.
A single resolution element of an image component may be one of a plurality of different representations of a single picture element of a recorded image.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a method of processing a cellular image array comprises pixelating said image with a pixel or image point rasterising or scanning system, detecting the location of a plurality of reference components within an array of said reference components in the image data, relating each image component within said image data to its respective reference component in said data, and, foll
REFERENCES:
patent: 4494864 (1985-01-01), Smith et al.
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