SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL MULTIPLEXING DISPLAY

• US 20110310232A1
• Filed: 06/21/2010
• Published: 12/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wilson, Andrew D., Bathiche, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 10,089,937 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/51
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/003 to produce spatial visual effects
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/342 using several illumination sources separately controlled corresponding to different display panel areas, e.g. along one dimension such as lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/305 using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/31 using parallax barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/32 using arrays of controllable light sources; using moving apertures or moving light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/366 using viewer tracking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/398 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof

Abstract

Described is using a combination of which a multi-view display is provided by a combining spatial multiplexing (e.g., using a parallax barrier or lenslet), and temporal multiplexing (e.g., using a directed backlight). A scheduling algorithm generates different views by determining which light sources are illuminated at a particular time. Via the temporal multiplexing, different views may be in the same spatial viewing angle (spatial zone). Two of the views may correspond to two eyes of a person, with different video data sent to each eye to provide an autostereoscopic display for that person. Eye (head) tracking may be used to move the view or views with a person as that person moves.

Claims

1. A system comprising, a multi-view display configured to combine spatial multiplexing using a parallax barrier or lenslet, and temporal multiplexing using a directed backlight, to generate a plurality of views by determining which light sources corresponding to a viewing space are illuminated at a particular time.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of views includes two different views, each different view directed toward one different eye of a person to provide autostereoscopic display for that person.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a scheduling algorithm and an eye or head tracking component that tracks a person'"'"'s eye or head positions, respectively, the scheduling algorithm configured to receive position data from the eye or head tracking component and to redirect one or more of the views based on the position data.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of views correspond to a parallax-correct rendering of a 3D scene.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of views correspond to at least two different video images.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a distribution mechanism that computes timing parameters for use in temporal multiplexing, based at least in part on a desired number of views.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the distribution mechanism computes the timing parameters for a view based upon content corresponding to that view.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the distribution mechanism computes timing or resolution parameters, or both timing and resolution parameters, based upon a number of views to be generated.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein the distribution mechanism computes timing or resolution parameters, or both timing and resolution parameters, based upon a number of views to be generated and preference data.

10. A method performed on at least one processor, comprising, determining a first position of a first view and a second position of a second view, determining subsets of light sources of a display that, when illuminated behind a lens, direct light to a spatial viewing angle corresponding to the both the first view and the second view, and in a first time slice, illuminating selected light sources of the subsets to direct collimated light corresponding to first video data to the first view and, in a second time slice, illuminating other selected light sources of the subsets to direct collimated light corresponding to second video data to the second view.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the first and second views correspond to two eyes of a person, and wherein illuminating the selected light sources in the first time slice and the other selected light sources in the second time slice comprise displaying autostereoscopic output to the person.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising a third view in a different spatial viewing angle, wherein the first and third views correspond to two eyes of one person such that each eye is in a different spatial viewing angle, and wherein illuminating the selected light sources in the first time slice comprises displaying autostereoscopic video to the person by providing first video data to the first view and third video data to the third view.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein determining the first position of the first view and the second position of the second view comprise receiving eye tracking data.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the first video data and second video data represent a three-dimensional scene, and further comprising, determining a new position of the first view that is within a different viewing angle, determining new subsets of light sources corresponding to the different viewing angle, and illuminating selected light sources of the new subsets to represent the three-dimensional scene from the different viewing angle to provide parallax-correct rendering of the three-dimensional scene.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein determining subsets of the light sources comprises selecting subsets of vertical columns of light sources corresponding to a lenticular array.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the first time slice corresponds to a number of video frames per second that is different from a number of frames per second corresponding to the second time slice.

17. A system comprising, a head tracking component that provides position data corresponding to each position of a plurality of views, distribution logic that determines from the position data, from a display device'"'"'s spatial capabilities, and from the display device'"'"'s frame rate capabilities, parameters for distributing video frames to each of the views, and a scheduling algorithm that uses the parameters to spatially and temporally multiplex light sources to output renderings of the video frames to the views.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the display device'"'"'s spatial capabilities comprise subsets of pixels behind lenses, and wherein the scheduling algorithm temporally multiplexes the light sources by illuminating only selected pixels of each subset during one time slice and illuminating other selected pixels during one or more other time slices to direct collimated light to each view.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the distribution logic accesses preference data to correlate the spatial capabilities and the frame rate capabilities to the number of views.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the scheduling algorithm uses the position data to direct the collimated light to a view as the view moves to a different position.