Optics: eye examining – vision testing and correcting – Spectacles and eyeglasses – With antiglare or shading
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-09
2003-05-13
Mai, Huy (Department: 2873)
Optics: eye examining, vision testing and correcting
Spectacles and eyeglasses
With antiglare or shading
C348S060000, C359S464000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06561646
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in viewing of improved perceptions of stereoscopic images and, more particularly, to improved anaglyphic viewing which eliminates optical distortions which otherwise arise with conventional anaglyphic filters.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
An anaglyph is a composite picture which has been photographed from two slightly different angles. Each angle is then filtered to remove one of the three primary colors (red) from one view, and the opposite two of the three primary colors (both green and blue) from is the other view. The two are superimposed and viewed with a red filter over one eye and a complementary colored filter, either blue or green over the other eye. This filtration causes a vectoring of discreet image information to go to each eye and pass into the visual center of the brain for processing into a virtual stereoscopic image.
The purpose of the color filtering is wholly related to separation of the two points of view. In other stereo photo methods, the images are physically separated by a mechanical viewing device (a stereoscope) or may be polarized, thereby reducing color distortion when displayed through projection onto a screen through a set of two of angled Polaroid filters on the projector. Polarized glasses and anaglyph glasses are the two most common examples of use of glasses to see stereo. Shutter liquid crystal glasses are a third alternative presently used with television and computer screens.
In most cases, conventional anaglyphic spectacles would use one filter which is formed of a primary red color and a second filter is essentially a primary blue filter. In essentially all cases, it was assumed that there necessarily was no need for an optical strength, let alone an equality of optical strength in each of the filters used in a pair of spectacles. In practice, filters had no power as they were almost always gel filled.
Filters of the type used in the prior art have no power and do not affect the focal length of an image with respect to the viewer and, thus, filters are more in the nature of a transparent medium. Therefore, for the purposes of the present invention, the viewing medium of the invention typically comprises lenses, which do affect the optical viewing characteristics of a viewer.
Prior art in anaglyph spectacles is almost a “folk technology”, in that very little attempt has been made to optimize the resulting effect. As stated above, the primary color red is almost always the “reddish” color of the viewing filter. Its opposite color would be both blue and green in equal amounts to effect the maximum cancellation of light. In the folk practice of anaglyph, blue filters have been almost universally used, mainly due to lower cost of material and a general lack of optical knowledge on the part of the makers.
In all known prior anaglyph art, simple filters have been used in front of the viewers' eyes. In other cases, paper framed glasses have been put over the prescription eye wear of the viewer. An unintended consequence of using simple filters over the unaided eye is a subtle negative focus shift, in effect, an introduction of the symptoms of “far-sightedness”. In a theater context, they would have little effect due to the long distance between a viewer and a screen. In the case of a computer screen, less than a meter normal spacing, the viewer typically experiences eyestrain when using gel filter glasses. In fact, the red filtered image is very noticeably out of focus in most cases due to the focus accommodation limits of all but the most youthful viewers. Plastic mounted filters have the same poor performance as paper framed glasses mentioned above.
The symptom arising out of use of the conventional anaglyph viewing filters were numerous and well known. In many cases, after a short period of time, the use of anaglyph lenses would cause fatigue and, in some cases, even dizziness. Frequently, users of these filters when viewing an anaglyph would complain of optical distortion with use of the filters. In essentially all cases, viewers complained of discomfort arising out of the use of anaglyph filters. It is because of these complaints use of this type of sterographic technology has fallen into a state of relative disuse.
Anaglyphic stereoscopic viewing is a technology which has been in existence for well over one hundred years. For some of that time, particularly in the 1950's and early 1960's, in the United States, anaglyphic viewing for purposes of amusement, such as in books and movie theaters, had become quite popular. In each of these anaglyph stereoscopic viewing medium, the conventional red and blue filters were mounted in a frame for wearing as a pair of glasses. The viewer would then view the anaglyph to obtain a three dimensional image. However, the technology of anaglyph viewing has not really been advanced beyond the stage of amusement and novelty type viewing. Even there, because of the distortions and the inconvenience of wearing anaglyphic filters, this form of stereoscopic viewing has become relatively dormant.
Heretofore, and due to the distortions as well as poor optical quality and, particularly, color rendition with anaglyphic stereoscopic reading, the concept of anaglyphic gel spectacles with anaglyphic images or prints was only used as a novelty item. However, it has been recognized that if the limitations of simple filters could be overcome, this technology could be elevated from a novelty item to a very useful art with numerous scientific applications.
The problem which involves the use of anaglyphic spectacles is addressed with an optical remedy as proposed in this present application. In effect, all prior anaglyph art has ignored this phenomenon and has consistently relied on simple filters, which are innately flawed by their inability to provide a sharp picture without optical diopter correction for the natural focus shift between the two very different colors, and the lesser distortion caused by the simple interruption of the light rays by a filter of either or both colors. These discrete problems are separately addressed in the present application.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an anaglyphic optical instrument which employs a pair of actual lenses with one lens located for each eye of a viewer and where one or both of the lenses have diopter strength to alter viewing compatibility.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an anaglyphic optical instrument of the type stated which employs a pair of actual lenses with one lens located for each eye of a viewer and where one of the lenses has a different diopter strength than that of the other.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an optical instrument of the type stated in which there are a pair of lenses in a pair of spectacles for perspective viewing of an anaglyphic image and wherein one of the lenses has a density different from that of the other of the lenses by a factor in a specified range of density differentials.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a pair of spectacles having a pair of lenses and where one of the lenses is a red lens and the other is a cyan lens designed to reduce red overload in viewing and where the colors forming the cyan exist in a specified percentage.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an optical instrument of the type stated which allows for perspective viewing of an anaglyphic image with minimal focal distortion, thereby reducing eye strain.
It is another salient object of the present invention to provide a method of allowing for perspective viewing of an anaglyphic image without optical distortion by use of a pair of lenses which are corrected to provide optical efficiency.
With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement and combination of parts and components presently
Mai Huy
Schaap Robert J.
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