Switchable privacy display based on striped polarizer

• US 10,013,947 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2015
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ek, Martin, Hunt, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Srilakshmi K
• Assistant Examiner(s): KIYABU, KARIN A
• Application Number:
  US14/611,311
• Publication Number:
  US 20160225337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/288 Filters employing polarising elements, e.g. Lyot or Solc filters G02B5/3016 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/3025 Polarisers, i.e. arrangements capable of producing a definite output polarisation state from an unpolarised input state G02B5/3008, G02B5/3016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0613 The adjustment depending on the type of the information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/068 for control of viewing angle adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2358/00 Arrangements for display data security
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/00 Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/337 using polarisation multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/403 the images being monoscopic

Abstract

A computing device includes a display having a striped polarizer, the striped polarizer includes a set of sub-areas having a first polarization interspersed between another set of sub-areas having a second polarization. The sub-areas are arranged to provide an alternating polarization across a dimension of the display. The computing device may be configured to receive information specifying a privacy display mode, select a privacy display mode based upon the received information, receive input display data configured to represent information for display, generate, in response to selecting the privacy display mode, output display data by inverting a first portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with a first polarization, and not inverting a second portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with a second polarization, and provide the output display data to a display.

Claims

1. A method for selectively displaying content on a computing device, comprising:

receiving information to specify a privacy display mode;

selecting the privacy display mode based upon the received information;

receiving input display data configured to represent information for display;

generating, in response to selecting the privacy display mode and for every frame of the input display data during the entire time the privacy display mode is selected, a frame of output display data by inverting colors of a first portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with a first polarization of a display, and not inverting colors of a second portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with a second polarization of the display;

providing the output display data to the display, wherein for each frame of the output display data during the entire time the privacy display mode is selected, the inverted output display data of the frame is displayed as part of the same displayed frame with the non-inverted output display data of the frame such that the inverted output display data is displayed by the first portion of pixels and the non-inverted output display data is displayed by the second portion of pixels and the display appears as a gray image to a naked-eye viewer; and

passing emissions of the display through polarized glasses, the polarized glasses having static polarizers of the second polarization for each eye of a user, the static polarizers of the polarized glasses filtering out the inverted output display data to render the non-inverted output display data recognizable to the user wearing the polarized glasses.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode comprises:

receiving a command to instruct the computing device to enter the privacy display mode.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving the command further comprises receiving a remote command over a network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode comprises:

determining a location of the computing device; and

specifying, in response to the determined location, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode comprises:

determining at least one of file type or application type associated with the display data; and

specifying, in response to the determined at least one of file type or application type, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode comprises:

identifying metadata associated with the input display data; and

specifying, in response to the identified metadata, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the identifying metadata may comprise:

identifying at least one of information indicating sensitivity of information content, information regarding an identity of a sender or receiver of the information content, information regarding a time the information content was sent or received, information regarding an age-appropriate nature of the information content, or information identifying an organization associated with the information content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode comprises:

wirelessly detecting a second computing device within a specified distance of the computing device; and

specifying, in response to detecting the second computing device, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode comprises:

receiving camera image data representing the user;

identifying whether the user is wearing the polarized glasses; and

specifying, in response to identifying that the user is wearing the polarized glasses, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the colors of the first portion of pixels in the input display data are inverted by using complementary colors.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the input display data represents a grayscale image and each pixel of the first portion of pixels in the input display data is inverted by subtracting a given pixel value from a maximum grayscale value based on a format in which each pixel'"'"'s data is represented.

10. A display system, comprising:

a computing device, comprising;

a display comprising a striped polarizer, wherein the striped polarizer comprises a plurality of first sub-areas having a first polarization interspersed between a plurality of second sub-areas having a second polarization, wherein each first sub-area is located adjacent to each second sub-area to provide an alternating polarization across a dimension of the display;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

at least one processor, coupled to the display and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to;

receive information specifying a privacy display mode,

select the privacy display mode based upon the received information,

receive input display data configured to represent information for display,

generate, in response to selecting the privacy display mode and for every frame of the input display data during the entire time the privacy display mode is selected, a frame of output display data by inverting colors of a first portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with the first polarization of the display, and not inverting colors of a second portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with the second polarization of the display, and

provide the output display data to the display, wherein for each frame of the output display data during the entire time the privacy display mode is selected, the inverted output display data of the frame is displayed as part of the same displayed frame with the non-inverted output display data of the frame such that the inverted output display data is displayed by the first portion of pixels and the non-inverted output display data is displayed by the second portion of pixels and the display appears as a gray image to a naked-eye viewer; and

polarized glasses having static polarizers of the second polarization for each eye of a user, the static polarizers of the polarized glasses filtering out the inverted output display data to render the non-inverted output display data recognizable to the user wearing the polarized glasses.

11. The display system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of first sub-areas and each of the plurality of second sub-areas extend substantially over a vertical dimension of the display, and extend at least one pixel in a horizontal dimension.

12. The display system of claim 10, wherein each first sub-area and each second sub-area extend substantially over a horizontal dimension of the display, and extend at least one pixel in a vertical dimension.

13. The display system of claim 10, wherein the first polarization is polarized in a first direction, and the second polarization is polarized in a direction opposite to the first direction.

14. The display system of claim 13, wherein the first polarization and the second polarization are circular polarizations.

15. The display system of claim 10, wherein the computing device further comprises a camera coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode further cause the at least one processor to:

receive camera image data representative of the user,

identify whether the user is wearing the polarized glasses, and

specify, in response to identifying the user is wearing the polarized glasses, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

16. The display system of claim 10, wherein the computing device further comprises at least one connectivity interface coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode further cause the at least one processor to:

wirelessly detect a second computing device within a specified distance of the computing device, and

specify, in response to detecting the second computing device, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

17. The display system of claim 10, wherein the computing device further comprises a position determination system coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the receiving information specifying a privacy display mode further cause the at least one processor to:

determine a location of the computing device using the position determination system, and

specify, in response to the determined location, that the privacy display mode will be enabled.

18. A method for selectively displaying content on a computing device, comprising:

receiving input display data configured to represent information for display;

providing the input display data to a display and displaying the input display data with the display, wherein corresponding emissions of the display are viewable to a user at a full resolution;

receiving information to specify a privacy display mode;

selecting the privacy display mode based upon the received information;

generating, in response to selecting the privacy display mode and for every frame of the input display data during the entire time the privacy display mode is selected, a frame of privacy output display data by inverting colors of a first portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with a first polarization of the display, and not inverting colors of a second portion of pixels in the input display data which are associated with a second polarization of the display;

providing the privacy output display data to the display for the entire time the privacy display mode is selected, wherein for each frame of the privacy output display data, the inverted privacy output display data of the frame is displayed as part of the same displayed frame with the non-inverted privacy output display data of the frame such that the inverted privacy output display data is displayed by the first portion of pixels and the non-inverted privacy output display data is displayed by the second portion of pixels and the display appears as a gray image to a naked-eye viewer; and

passing emissions of the display through polarized glasses, the polarized glasses having static polarizers of the second polarization for each eye of a user, the polarizers of the polarized glasses filtering out the inverted privacy output display data to render the non-inverted privacy output display data recognizable to the user while wearing the polarized glasses,

wherein the non-inverted privacy display data is viewable by the user via the polarized glasses at a reduced resolution relative to the displaying of the input display data.