Multiview autostereoscopic display

• US 7,626,644 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2007
• Issued: 12/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jung, Sung-yong, Kim, Dae-sik, Shestak, Sergey
• Primary Examiner(s): STAHL, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US11/785,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20070258140A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 349/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/305 using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/32 using arrays of controllable light sources; using moving apertures or moving light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/349 Multi-view displays for displaying three or more geometrical viewpoints without viewer tracking for viewing without the aid of special glasses using fly-eye lenses H04N13/307
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/351 for displaying simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/354 for displaying sequentially

Abstract

A multiview autostereoscopic display includes: a backlight; a first polarized panel transmitting light having a first polarization; a first polarization switch changing the polarization of incident light; a first anisotropic device array including anisotropic devices sequentially and repeatedly arranged in a horizontal direction, such that light transmitted from neighboring anisotropic devices has perpendicular polarizations; a lenticular lens array having lenticular lens devices, arranged horizontally, which separate incident light into different directions; a second polarized panel transmitting light having a second polarization; a second anisotropic device array having anisotropic devices alternately horizontally arranged, such that the anisotropic devices transmit light having perpendicular polarizations; a second polarization switch changing the polarization of light from the lenticular lens array; a third anisotropic device array having anisotropic devices, alternately vertically arranged, such that the anisotropic devices transmit light having perpendicular polarizations; and a display panel forming an image by modulating incident light.

Claims

1. A multiview autostereoscopic display comprising:

a backlight unit;

a first polarized panel which transmits light emitted from the backlight unit having a first polarization direction;

a first polarization switch which changes the polarization direction of light incident thereon;

a first anisotropic device array comprising first, second, third, and fourth anisotropic devices which are sequentially and repeatedly arranged in a horizontal direction, which transmits light such that light transmitted by an anisotropic device has a polarization perpendicular to a polarization of light transmitted by a neighboring anisotropic device;

a second polarized panel which transmits light emitted from the first anisotropic device array having a second polarization direction;

a second anisotropic device array, comprising fifth and sixth anisotropic devices alternately arranged in the horizontal direction, which transmits light such that light transmitted by the fifth anisotropic devices has a polarization perpendicular to a polarization of light transmitted by the sixth anisotropic devices;

a lenticular lens array comprising a plurality of lenticular lens devices which are arranged in the horizontal direction, the lenticular lens array separating light transmitted from the first, second, third, and fourth anisotropic devices into different directions;

a second polarization switch which changes the polarization direction of light incident thereon;

a third anisotropic device array, comprising seventh and eighth anisotropic devices which are alternately arranged in a vertical direction, which transmits light such that light transmitted by the seventh anisotropic devices has a polarization perpendicular to a polarization of light transmitted by the eighth anisotropic devices; and

a display panel which forms an image by modulating incident light.

2. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth anisotropic devices each correspond to one of the lenticular lens devices.

3. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 2, wherein a pitch of the lenticular lens devices is not greater than a sum of widths in the horizontal direction of the first, second, third, and fourth anisotropic devices.

4. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices each correspond to one of the lenticular lens devices.

5. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 4, wherein a pitch of the lenticular lens devices is not greater than a sum of widths in the horizontal direction of the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices.

6. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices correspond to one of a plurality of pixel lines of the display panel.

7. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 6, further comprising an opaque mask having a stripe shape disposed between the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices.

8. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 7, further comprising a black matrix disposed between pixels of the display panel,

wherein a width of the black matrix in the vertical direction is D1, a width of the opaque mask in the vertical direction is D2, a distance between a pixel of the display panel and the third anisotropic device array is t, a viewing distance from the display panel is L, and a height H2 of a viewing zone where crosstalk does not occur satisfies an equation that:

H2=(L/t)(D1+D2).

9. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 6, wherein a width in the vertical direction of the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices is not less than a pitch in the vertical direction between pixel lines of the display panel.

10. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 6, wherein each of the first and second polarization switches comprises one of an electrically-controllable liquid crystal retarder and an electrically-controllable polarization rotator.

11. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein a distance between the first anisotropic device array and the lenticular lens array is not less than a focal length of the lenticular lens device.

12. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the first through fourth anisotropic devices comprises a polarizer having a predetermined polarization surface, wherein the polarization surfaces of neighboring anisotropic devices are perpendicular to each other.

13. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices comprises a polarizer having a predetermined polarization surface, wherein the polarization surfaces of the polarizers forming the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices are perpendicular to each other.

14. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices comprises a polarizer having a predetermined polarization surface, wherein the polarization surfaces of the polarizers forming the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices are perpendicular to each other.

15. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the first through fourth anisotropic devices comprises a retarder that delays the incident beam by a predetermined phase, wherein a phase delay difference between neighboring anisotropic devices is λ

/2.

16. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices comprises a retarder that delays the incident beam by a predetermined phase, wherein a phase delay difference between the retarders forming the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices is λ

/2.

17. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices comprises a retarder that delays the incident beam by a predetermined phase, wherein a phase delay difference between the retarders forming the seventh and eight anisotropic devices is λ

/2.

18. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the first through fourth anisotropic devices comprises a rotator that rotates incident beam by a predetermined angle, wherein a rotation angle difference between neighboring anisotropic devices is 90°

.

19. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices comprises a rotator that rotates incident beam by a predetermined angle, wherein a rotation angle difference between the rotators forming the fifth and sixth anisotropic devices is 90°

.

20. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein each of the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices comprises a rotator that rotates incident beam by a predetermined angle, and a rotation angle difference between the rotators forming the seventh and eighth anisotropic devices is 90°

.

21. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein the first and second polarization switches are switched in synchronization with an operation of the display panel.

22. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein the backlight unit and the first and second polarization switches are separated into a plurality of segments and the segments are sequentially operated.

23. The multiview autostereoscopic display of claim 1, wherein the display panel displays interlacing images for a plurality of viewpoints.