DISPLAY DEVICE AND METHOD

• US 20140300711A1
• Filed: 10/30/2012
• Published: 10/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leia Inc.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Kroon, Bart, Krijn, Marcellinus Petrus Carolus Michael, De Bruijn, Frederik Jan, Johnson, Mark Thomas, Newton, Philip Steven, Salters, Bart Andre, De Zwart, Siebe Tjerk, Korst, Johannes Henricus Maria
• Granted Patent: US 9,813,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/144 for flicker reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/302 for viewing without the aid of special glasses, i.e. using autostereoscopic displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/305 using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/307 using fly-eye lenses, e.g. arrangements of circular lenses

Abstract

A display device (40) comprising: a display panel (41) comprising a set of pixels (41R, 41L) the pixels being spatially distributed over the display panel, and each pixel being for providing a light output, the set of pixels comprising a plurality of different subsets (411) of pixels, each subset of pixels comprising one or more pixels of the set of pixels, an imaging unit (42) arranged for imaging the one or more pixels of a subset of pixels to form pixel images on a plurality of view areas on an imaginary plane located at a first distance in front of the display, the plurality of view areas not overlapping each other, with at least one pixel image of each one of the different subsets of pixels overlapping on a same one of the plurality of view areas, the imaginary plane comprising an imaginary circle having the diameter of the pupil of an eye, and the imaginary circle enclosing at least a part of at least two of the plurality of view areas, where the at least two of the plurality of view areas at least partly enclosed within the imaginary circle differ from each other with respect to at least one of the pixel images therein. The display system may be for one eye only or for two eyes of a viewer or for more eyes of more viewers.

Claims

1. A display device comprising:

a display panel comprising a set of pixels the pixels being spatially distributed over the display panel, and each pixel being for providing a light output, the set of pixels comprising a plurality of different subsets of pixels, each subset of pixels comprising one or more pixels of the set of pixels,

an imaging unit arranged for imaging the one or more pixels of a subset of pixels to form pixel images on a plurality of view areas on an imaginary plane located at a first distance in front of the display, the plurality of view areas not overlapping each other, with at least one pixel image of each one of the different subsets of pixels overlapping on a same one of the plurality of view areas, the imaginary plane comprising an imaginary circle having a diameter equal to or smaller than that of the pupil of an eye, and the imaginary circle enclosing at least a part of at least two of the plurality of view areas, where the at least two of the plurality of view areas at least partly enclosed within the imaginary circle differ from each other with respect to at least one of the pixel images therein.

2. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the light output of a first pixel of the one or more pixels of a subset of pixels is reconfigurable from a first light output to a second light output different form the first light output and/or vice versa within a reconfiguration time interval that is equal to, or shorter than 1/30 seconds, or than 1/45 seconds, or than 1/60 seconds, and

the imaging unit is reconfigurable for imaging a first pixel of the one or more pixels of a subset of pixels to a first one of the view areas in a first time interval and for imaging the first pixel to a second one of the view areas in a second time interval, different from the first time interval, where the first and second time intervals are shorter than the reconfiguration time interval.

3. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a subset of pixels comprises two pixels each one being imaged to only one of the plurality of view areas.

4. A display device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the more than one pixel of a subset of pixels are arranged in an array of s columns and t rows of pixels, with s and t being integer numbers.

5. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of view areas comprises three view areas and the imaginary circle encloses at least a part of the three view areas, and wherein the three view areas are arranged to form a two-dimensional pattern on the imaginary plane.

7. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of view areas are completely enclosed by the imaginary circle.

8. A display device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the number of pixels per subset of pixels is the same as the number of view areas in the plurality of view areas.

9. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the imaging unit comprises:

a plurality of imaging subunits, each imaging subunit being for imaging at least a part of one or more of the pixels of only one subset of pixels, and wherein each imaging subunit comprises an optical element in the form of a lens, and/or a mirror and/or a prism.

10. A display device as claimed in claim 9, wherein there are more than one imaging subunits for imaging the at least part of one or more of the pixels of only one subset of pixels.

11. A display device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the imaging subunit comprises a first optical element and a second optical element, where the first and second optical element are arranged such that the first optical element is for directing the light output of the at least a part of one or more of the pixels of only one subset of pixels to the second optical element and that the second optical element is for directing the at least part of the light output received from the first optical element to the imaginary plane.

12. A display device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the optical elements are lenses and the imaging subunits are arranged in an array of imaging subunits.

13. A display device as claimed in claim 9, wherein each pixel comprises a plurality of subpixels with mutually different colors and the subpixels are stacked on top of each other on the display panel such that they at least partly overlap.

14. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein each pixel comprises a plurality of subpixels with mutually different colors and the subpixels are spatially distributed over the display panel so that they do not overlap.

15. A display device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the number of subpixels within a pixel is equal to the number of imaging subunits that image the at least a part of one or more of the pixels of only one subset of pixels.

16. A display device as claimed in claim 14, wherein each pixel, or subpixel comprises a plurality of illumination portions arranged as a one, or two dimensional array of illumination portions.

17. A display device as claimed in any claim 14, wherein a distance between subsets of pixels is larger than a distance between pixels or subpixels of a subset of pixels.

18. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the imaging unit is also for imaging the one or more pixels of a subset of pixels to form further pixel images on a further plurality of view areas on the imaginary plane, the further plurality of view areas not overlapping each other, with at least one further pixel image of each one of the different subsets of pixels overlapping on a same one of the further plurality of view areas, the imaginary plane comprising an imaginary further circle having the diameter of the pupil of an eye, the distance between the centers of the imaginary circle and the imaginary further circle corresponding to the distance between the centers of the pupils of a left and right eye of a viewer and the imaginary further circle enclosing at least a part of at least two of the further plurality of view areas, where the at least two of the further plurality of view areas at least partly enclosed within the imaginary further circle differ from each other with respect to at least one of the further pixel images therein.

19. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the set of pixels comprises a further plurality of different subsets of pixels, each subset of pixels of the further plurality of subsets of pixels comprising one or more pixels of the set of pixels,

the imaging unit is also for imaging the one or more pixels of a subset of pixels of the further plurality of subsets of pixels to form further pixel images on a further plurality of view areas on the imaginary plane, the further plurality of view areas not overlapping each other, with at least one further pixel image of each one of the different subsets of pixels overlapping on a same one of the further plurality of view areas, the imaginary plane comprising an imaginary further circle having the diameter of the pupil of an eye, the distance between the centers of the imaginary circle and the imaginary further circle corresponding to the distance between the centers of the pupils of a left and right eye of a viewer and the imaginary further circle enclosing at least a part of at least two of the further plurality of view areas, where the at least two of the further plurality of view areas at least partly enclosed within the imaginary further circle differ from each other with respect to at least one of the further pixel images therein.

20. A display device as claimed in claim 18, wherein between the centers of the imaginary first circle and the imaginary second circle there is an area on the imaginary plane where no view areas exist.

21. A display device as claimed in claim 19, wherein the display device is a stereoscopic display device and at least two of the plurality of view areas at least partly enclosed within the imaginary circle and the at least two of the further plurality of view areas at least partly enclosed within the imaginary further circle differ from each other with respect to at least one of the pixel and further pixel images therein.

22. A display device as claimed in claim 19, wherein the plurality of subsets of pixels are arranged in an array of subsets of pixels having k rows and l columns, where k and l are integers

23. A display panel as claimed in claim 22 wherein the plurality of subsets of pixels and the further plurality of subsets of pixels area arranged in an array of subsets of pixels having k rows and l columns, where k and l are integers and wherein the subsets of pixels of the plurality of subsets of pixels are in columns with l an odd number and the subsets of pixels of the further plurality of subsets of pixels are in columns with l even number throughout the array.

24. A display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the imaging unit is reconfigurable for:

time sequentially imaging the pixels of a subsets of pixels to the different ones of the plurality of view areas within the imaginary circle and/or the imaginary further circle,

and/or, for

time sequentially imaging the pixels of the plurality of subsets of pixels and the further plurality of subsets of pixels to the plurality of view areas and the further plurality of view areas.

25. A display device as claimed in claim 24, comprising:

a tracking system for determining the position of a pupil of an eye, and

an imaging unit control system for controlling the imaging unit in dependence of the position of the pupil of an eye such that the imaginary circle and/or the further imaginary circle when coinciding with one or more pupils of the eyes of a viewer are substantially kept to coincide with these pupils when one or more of the pupils change position.

26. A display device as claimed in claim 24, wherein the display device further comprises a display controller for providing image data to the display panel, wherein the image data encodes a plurality of subimages, a first one of the plurality of subimages corresponding to a first viewpoint of a 3D scene and a second one of the plurality of subimages corresponding to a second viewpoint of the 3D scene related to the first viewpoint by the width of the pupil of an eye and wherein to each subset of pixels there is provided a portion of the first subimage and a portion of the second subimage.

27. A display device as claimed in claim 9, wherein each imaging subunit is individually controllable to implement a desired beam steering function.

6. (canceled)