EP0726482A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Autostereoscopic display and method of controlling an autostereoscopic display
Assignee: Sharp Corp
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Filing: 1996-01-26
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2016-01-26
Abstract
Abstract An observer tracking autostereoscopic display is provided in which the image data displayed by at least three image displays (23,40,51,55,58,76,80,135) along respective different directions is updated depending on the lateral position of an observer. The image displayed in a viewing region not visible to the observer is updated with an appropriate image in anticipation of the observer moving to a position where that viewing region is visible.
Inventors
- 👤 Graham J. Woodgate
- 👤 Nicolas S. Holliman
- 👤 David Ezra
- 👤 Basil A. The Old Forge Omar
- 👤 Richard R. Moseley
- 👤 Jonathan Harrold
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 12:51
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B27/00; G02B27/0093; G02B30/00; G02B30/20; G02B30/26; G02B30/27; G02B30/30; H; H04; H04N; H04N13/00; H04N13/10; H04N13/106; H04N13/111; H04N13/117; H04N13/30; H04N13/302; H04N13/305; H04N13/31; H04N13/32; H04N13/324; H04N13/346; H04N13/349; H04N13/366; H04N13/376; H04N13/122; H04N13/161; H04N13/189; H04N13/20; H04N13/286; H04N13/289; H04N13/327; H04N13/361; H04N13/398
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 28
Claim 1
Independent Claim
134 words
An observer tracking autostereoscopic display comprising: at least three image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135) arranged to direct respective images along different directions so as to define a pattern of at least three image regions at a nominal viewing distance; and an observer tracker (112) for detecting the position of an observer characterised by an image controller (100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110) responsive to the observer tracker (112) for updating the images displayed by the image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135) such that the image displayed in an image region which is not visible to an observer is updated in anticipation of an observer eye moving into that image region and images displayed in image regions which are visible to the observer are not updated.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
37 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that each of the image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135) is arranged to repeat the respective image regions in a plurality of lobes.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
22 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that adjacent pairs of the image regions are substantially contiguous.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the image displays are spatially multiplexed within a single display device (23, 80).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
66 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 4, characterised in that the single display device (23, 80) is adjacent an array (22, 22a, 22b, 84) of parallax elements and is divided into repeating regions of N columns where N is the number of image displays, each region of N columns being adjacent a respective element or column of elements of the array (22, 22a, 22b, 84).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
22 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 5, characterised in that the array of parallax elements comprises a lenticular screen (22, 84).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 5, characterised in that the array of parallax elements comprises a parallax barrier (22a, 22b).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
22 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 4, characterised by a hologram (131) arranged to direct the images along the different directions.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
27 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of Claims 4 to 8, characterised in that the single display device (23, 80) is a spatial light modulator.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
25 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of Claim s 4 to 8, characterised in that the single display device is an emissive display.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
55 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the image displays are spatial light modulators (51, 55, 58), each of which is illuminated by at least one light source (50, 54, 57, 50a, 54a, 57a) and the images from which are combined by beam combiners (60, 62).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
43 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the image displays are temporally multiplexed by a single spatial light modulator (40) cooperating with at least three individually controllable light sources (41-44) operated in a sequence.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
24 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 12, characterised in that each of the light sources (42-44) comprises at least two light emitting regions.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
49 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 4, characterised in that the single display device is a spatial light modulator (180) illuminated by at least two individually controllable light sources (88, 90) and arranged to operate in a time multiplexed manner in synchronism with the light sources (88, 90).
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
68 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 14, characterised in that the spatial light modulator (80) is intermediate first and second arrays (82, 84), of parallax elements, the first array (82) having a pitch substantially equal to a pixel pitch of the spatial light modulator (80) and the second array (84) having a pitch substantially equal to an integer multiple of the pitch of the first array (82).
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
28 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 15, characterised in that the pitch of the second array (84) is substantially twice the pitch of the first array (82).
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
46 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the image within each of the image regions is inhibited from being updated when an eye of an observer is within a predetermined distance from the boundaries of that image region.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
25 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised by three image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135).
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
70 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135) are arranged to produce each image region with a lateral size substantially equal to 2e/N, where e is an average interocular separation for a predefined observer group and N is the number of the image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135).
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
18 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 19, characterised in that e is substantially equal to 65 millimetres.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
47 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 18, characterised in that the image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135) are arranged to produce the image regions such that adjacent pairs of the image regions cross-fade spatially into each other.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
44 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 21, characterised in that the image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135) are arranged to produce the image regions with a pitch substantially equal to an average interocular separation for a predefined observer group.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
23 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 22, characterised in that the pitch of the image regions is substantially equal to 65 millimetres.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
68 words
A method of controlling an autostereoscopic display which provides a pattern of images in at least three image regions at a nominal viewing distance, the method comprising updating the image displayed in an image region which is not visible to an observer in anticipation of an observer eye moving into that image region and not updating the images displayed in image regions which are visible to the observer.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
86 words
An autostereoscopic display comprising at least three image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135) arranged to direct respective images along different directions so as to define a pattern of at least three image regions at a nominal viewing distance, characterised by a manual control (111) for operation by an observer and an image controller (110, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110) responsive to the manual control (111) for updating the images displayed by the image displays (23, 40, 51, 55, 58, 76, 80, 135).
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
35 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 23 and 25, characterised in that the image controller (110) is arranged to permit different interactions with the display for different observer positions.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
27 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 26 when dependent on Claim 25, characterised in that the manual control (111) is arranged to control the different interactions.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
25 words
An autostereoscopic display as claimed in Claim 26 or 27, characterised in that the different interactions include supplying different images to the different observer positions.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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