Geometrically and optically corrected parallax barrier providing autostereoscopic viewing of a display

• US 9,291,829 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2011
• Issued: 03/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GRilli3D LLC
• Original Assignee: GRilli3D LLC
• Inventors: Prouty, Dwight IV
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Audrey Y
• Application Number:
  US13/284,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20120105954A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,607 Days
• Field of Search: 359/462, 359/464, 348/51, 348/54, 345/6, 345/32
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/24 involving temporal multiplexing, e.g. using sequentially activated left and right shutters
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/27 involving lenticular arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/30 involving parallax barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/31 using parallax barriers

Abstract

A apparatus and method of enabling autostereoscopic viewing of displays with a parallax barrier apparatus is provided. In one embodiment, the present invention employs a parallax barrier, comprising a plurality of opaque barrier lines, disposed on a flexible substrate that can adhere to an existing display. One application of the present invention is in enabling autostereoscopic viewing of a display that is not otherwise configured to display 3D images.

Claims

1. A parallax barrier for autostereoscopic viewing of a display with a plurality of columns of pixels, the parallax barrier comprising:

a substrate comprising a transparent material;

a plurality of parallel barrier lines disposed on the substrate, wherein;

each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines has a width and a height configured to, when the parallax barrier is coupled to the display, obstruct viewing of at least one column of pixels by one eye of a viewer of the display when the viewer is located at one of a plurality of viewing areas;

the parallax barrier includes corrective adjustments such that, for each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines, the width the parallel barrier line varies, the width being wider at the center of the parallel barrier than at either end of the parallel barrier; and

the total number of parallel barrier lines of the parallax barrier is configured to exceed half of the total number of columns of pixels of the display; and

an adhesive layer enabling the removal and reapplication of the parallax barrier to a surface of the display.

2. The parallax barrier of claim 1, wherein each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines is configured to, when the parallax barrier is coupled to the display, obstruct viewing of two or more adjacent columns of pixels by the one eye of the viewer of the display.

3. The parallax barrier of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a flexible material.

4. The parallax barrier of claim 1, wherein at least one of the parallel barrier lines has a different width than another of the parallel barrier lines.

5. The parallax barrier of claim 4, wherein the width of a first parallel barrier line near a center portion of the parallax barrier is greater than the width of a second parallel barrier line near an edge portion of the parallax barrier.

6. A method of manufacturing a parallax barrier for autostereoscopic viewing of a display with a plurality of columns of pixels, the parallax barrier comprising:

providing a substrate comprising a transparent material;

forming a plurality of parallel barrier lines on the substrate, wherein;

each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines is formed to have a width and a height configured to, when the parallax barrier is coupled to the display, obstruct viewing of at least one column of pixels by one eye of a viewer of the display when the viewer is located at one of a plurality of viewing areas;

the parallax barrier includes corrective adjustments such that, for each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines, the width the parallel barrier line varies, the width being wider at the center of the parallel barrier than at either end of the parallel barrier; and

the width of a first parallel barrier line plus a distance between the first parallel barrier line and a second parallel barrier line is less than twice a width of the at least one column of pixels of the display; and

forming an adhesive layer on the substrate, enabling the removal and reapplication of the parallax barrier to a surface of the display.

7. The method of manufacturing the parallax barrier of claim 6, wherein each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines is configured to, when the parallax barrier is coupled to the display, obstruct viewing of two or more adjacent columns of pixels by the one eye of the viewer of the display.

8. The method of manufacturing the parallax barrier of claim 6, wherein the substrate comprises a flexible material.

9. The method of manufacturing the parallax barrier of claim 6, wherein at least one of the parallel barrier lines is formed to have a different width than another of the parallel barrier lines.

10. The method of manufacturing the parallax barrier of claim 9, wherein the width of a third parallel barrier line near a center portion of the parallax barrier is greater than the width of a fourth parallel barrier line near an edge portion of the parallax barrier.

11. An apparatus which, when coupled to a display with a plurality of columns of pixels, enables autostereoscopic viewing of the display, the apparatus comprising:

an adhesive layer enabling the removal and reapplication of the apparatus to a surface of the display; and

a transparent substrate configured to be coupled, via the adhesive layer, to the display, the transparent substrate having a plurality of parallel barrier lines, wherein;

each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines has a width and a height configured to, when the apparatus is coupled to the display, obstruct viewing of at least one column of pixels by one eye of a viewer of the display when the viewer is located at one of a plurality of viewing areas;

the parallax barrier includes corrective adjustments such that, for each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines, the width the parallel barrier line varies, the width being wider at the center of the parallel barrier than at either end of the parallel barrier;

each parallel barrier line of the plurality of parallel barrier lines is separated from another parallel barrier line by an adjacent transparent channel-aperture; and

a barrier period, defined by the width of one parallel barrier line plus the width of one transparent channel aperture, is less than twice a width of the at least one column of pixels of the display.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the width of at least one parallel barrier line is partly determined based on a thickness of the at least one parallel barrier line.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the transparent substrate comprises a flexible material.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one column of pixels comprises two or more adjacent columns of pixels.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein at least one of the parallel barrier lines has a different width than another of the parallel barrier lines.