Method of image enhancement

Claim 1

A method of viewing a substantially two-dimensional visual image in an image plane comprising the steps of: locating optical bending means in a path through which said image is viewed by an observer at a position between said image plane and said observer such that any two rays emanating from substantially any point on said image plane pass through said optical bending means and diverge in the place between said observer and said bending means; maintaining substantially the same perceived overall image size for both the eyes of the observer with said optical bending means; and selectively bending light rays extending from said image plane to the eyes of the observer, using said optical bending means, so that, for substantially any two horizontally spaced points in the image plane, the left and right eyes of the observer perceive a different horizontal spacing between said points; in which said selective bending step is carried out by optical bending means in the form of a transparent sheet having a refractive index higher than that of air and having undulating horizontal cross-sections, and in which the distance h between the high points of the peaks and the low points of the adjacent valleys of the undulations is at least approximately ten times greater than sd 1 /d 2 where s is the interocular spacing of the observer, d 1 is the closest distance between the image plane and the surface of the optical bending means nearest the image plane, and d 2 is the distance between the image plane and the observer, and in which the undulations are formed so that the effective focal length at substantially any location on the surface of the optical bending means is at least approximately 400 mm.

Claim 2

A method of viewing a substantially two-dimensional visual image in an image plane comprising the steps of: locating optical bending means in a path through which said image is viewed by an observer at a position between said image plane and said observer such that any two rays emanating from substantially any point on said image plane pass through said optical bending means and diverge in the place between said observer and said bending means; maintaining substantially the same perceived overall image size for both the eyes of the observer with said optical bending means; and selectively bending light rays extending from said image plane to the eyes of the observer, using said optical bending means, so that, for substantially any two horizontally spaced points in the image plane, the left and right eyes of the observer perceive a different horizontal spacing between said points; in which said selective bending step is carried out by optical bending means in the form of a transparent sheet having a refractive index higher than that of air and having undulating horizontal cross-sections, and in which the distance h between the high points of the peaks and the low points of the adjacent valleys of the undulations is at least approximately ten times greater than sd 1 /d 2 where s is the interocular spacing of the observer, d 1 is the closest distance between the image plane and the surface of the optical bending means nearest the image plane, and d 2 is the distance between the image plane and the observer, and in which the undulations are formed so that the effective focal length at substantially any location on the surface of the optical bending means is at least approximately 400 mm.