Newness and distinctiveness is claimed in the features of ornamentation as shown inside the broken line circle in the accompanying representation.

Display screen or portion thereof with graphical user interface

A modulator for modulating an incident beam of light, the modulator comprising a plurality of equally spaced-apart elements, each of which includes a light-reflective planar surface. The elements are arranged parallel to each other with their light-reflective surfaces parallel to each other. The modulator includes means for supporting the elements in relation to one another and means for moving particular ones of the elements relative to others so that the moved elements transit between a first configuration wherein the modulator acts to reflect the incident beam of light as a plane mirror, and a second configuration wherein the modulator diffracts the light reflected therefrom. In operation the light-reflective surfaces of the elements remain parallel to each other in both the first and second configurations. The perpendicular spacing between the reflective surfaces of the respective elements is equal to m/4 × the wavelength of the incident beam of light, wherein m equals an even whole number or zero when the elements are in the first configuration and m equals an odd whole number when the elements are in the second configuration.

Method and apparatus for modulating a light beam

Most of the perceptual cues that humans use to visualize the world's 3D structure are available in 2D projections. This is why we can make sense of photographs and images on a television screen, at the cinema, or on a computer monitor. Such cues include occlusion, perspective, familiar size, and atmospheric haze. Four cues are missing from 2D media: stereo parallax - seeing a different image with each eye, movement parallax - seeing different images when we move our heads, accommodation - the eyes' lenses focus on the object of interest, and convergence - both eyes converge on the object of interest. All 3D display technologies (stereoscopic displays) provide at least stereo parallax. Autostereoscopic displays provide the 3D image without the viewer needing to wear any special viewing gear.

Autostereoscopic 3D displays

A stacked array magnifier (SAM) forms a magnified, demagnified or unit image of an object. The SAM includes one or more non-refractive lenslet arrays and one or more refractive lenslet arrays to form a plurality of lenslet channels. Each lenslet channel has at least one refractive lenslet and at least one non-refractive lenslet. SAMs are combined and tiled to form a scaleable display of flat panel displays. Multiple SAMs are used to increase magnification selectively. Hybrid lenslet arrays of the invention are also useable for optical processing and non-imaging applications.

Lenslet array systems and methods

An autostereoscopic display apparatus comprising a matrix display panel (10), preferably an active matrix LC display panel, having display elements (12) in rows and columns and arranged in groups of at least three adjacent display elements, and optical director means (15) in the form of, for example, a lenticular screen overlying the panel (10) and having lenticules (16) extending in the column direction with each lenticules overlying an associated display element group, in which adjacent display elements in a group are arranged so as to partly overlap one another in the column direction (Y). The display elements in a group can, for example, be arranged in a line in the row direction (X) and shaped as non-rectangular parallelograms, or triangles, successive ones being inverted, or interdigitated, or arranged in two or more rows. As a result, unwanted display artifacts such as dark banding caused by black matrix extending between columns of display elements is eliminated and the transition between stereoscopic views is smoothed due to an image merging effect as a viewer's head moves in the row direction.

Autostereoscopic display apparatus

An auto stereoscopic 3D display comprises a hybrid sandwich comprising a first lenticular screen, a spatial light modulator, a diffuser, and second lenticular screen. A plurality of light sources produce in turn divergent light beams which are modulated by the modulator with two interlaced views. The hybrid sandwich projects the views in different directions towards an observer. The different 2D views are thus visible from directions corresponding to the directions in which the views were captured during recording of a 3D image. Each eye of the observer sees a single view across the whole of the display.

Autostereoscopic display device

A light source (1) comprises an array of contiguous transparent blocks (2), each of which contains a light emitter such as a cold cathode fluorescent tube (4). The blocks (2) have a transparent front surface which may be optically diffusing, the other surfaces being coated with a thin optically reflective layer so that each block (2) acts as a light guide. The tubes (4) are independently controllable, for instance so as to simulate a moving light source which may be controlled so as to track the position of an observer of a 3D display.

Light source and display

An autostereoscopic display of the invention includes: an illumination source for producing light of a first polarization and light of a second polarization different from the first polarization; a spatial light modulator for modulating the light of the first polarization and the light of the second polarization from the illumination source; and an optical system for directing the light of the first polarization to a first viewing region and the light of the second polarization to a second viewing region, wherein the spatial light modulator includes: a first polarization adjusting member for transmitting the light of the first polarization and substantially preventing transmission of the light of the second polarization; a second polarization adjusting member for transmitting the light of the second polarization and substantially preventing transmission of the light of the first polarization; and first and second groups of picture elements optically aligned with the first and second polarization adjusting member, respectively.

Autostereoscopic display and spatial light modulator

A spatial light modulator which may be used in 3D displays of stereoscopic type
comprises substrates (19, 21) between which is disposed a liquid crystal layer (20). The
layer comprises two sets of pixels (12, 13) for displaying left and right eye images. A
pixellated polarisation adjustor (31, 32; 33, 34) is disposed between one of the
substrates (21) and the liquid crystal layer (20) so as to minimise parallax effects. The
pixels (12, 13) of the liquid crystal layer (20) are operated in the same mode i.e. all
normally black or all normally white.

Spatial light modulator

A 3D projection display comprises an autostereoscopic image producing means (22-27) which directs light beams corresponding to respective 2D views in different directions towards a projection lens (28). The projection lens (28) co-operates with the image producing means (22-27) to image the light beams at respective different regions (30) in the aperture of the projection lens (28). A light-transmissive screen co-operates with the image producing means (22-27) and the projection lens (28) to image the views at the screen. The screen may comprise a Fresnel lens (29) or where a magnified image of increased angular spread is required, a double lenticular screen angular amplifier (33).

Basil Arthur Omar

Papers

Autostereoscopic display device

Light source and display

Autostereoscopic display and spatial light modulator

Spatial light modulator

Three-dimensional projection display apparatus