Display apparatus and method

• US 8,451,535 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2011
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Nam, Dong Kyung, Park, Ju Yong, Hwang, Kyu Young, Ha, In Woo
• Primary Examiner(s): Laballe, Clayton E
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUTLER, KEVIN C
• Application Number:
  US13/137,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20120113097A1
• Time in Patent Office: 684 Days
• Field of Search: 345/419, 445/24, 359/458
• US Class Current: 359/458
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/27 involving lenticular arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/40 giving the observer of a single two-dimensional [2D] image a perception of depth
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/606 for relief projection
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 35/24 using apertured or refractive resolving means on screens or between screen and eye
• 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 13/366 using viewer tracking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/383 for tracking with gaze detection, i.e. detecting the lines of sight of the viewer's eyes

Abstract

A display apparatus that may generate a high density light field image is provided. The display apparatus may identify an eye position of a user and set a virtual viewing window around the eye of the user. The display apparatus may generate a directional light corresponding to the viewing window and generate a high density light field image.

Claims

1. A display apparatus, comprising:

a position sensor to sense an eye position of a user;

a controller to set a virtual viewing window corresponding to the sensed eye position of the user and to provide a control signal to control generating of a directional light toward the virtual viewing window; and

a light generator to generate the directional light toward the virtual window based on the control signal.

2. The display apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a light modulator to modulate an intensity of the directional light based on the control signal.

3. The display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position sensor comprises at least one camera to photograph the eye position of the user.

4. The display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position sensor comprises at least one camera to identify the eye position of the user by photographing an identifier fixed around the eye position of the user.

5. The display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light generator comprises:

a backlight to generate a non-directional light;

a variable slit to convert, based on the control signal, the non-directional light to a plurality of point light sources, each having a different position; and

a lens to generate the directional light toward the virtual viewing window by refracting at least a part of the plurality of point light sources.

6. The display apparatus of claim 5, wherein the variable slit corresponds to a plurality of pixels of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel.

7. The display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises:

an eye position detector to calculate a coordinate value of the eye position of the user on a space coordinate using the sensed eye position of the user; and

a viewing window setting unit to determine at least one of a position of the virtual viewing window and a size of the virtual viewing window to cover the eye of the user using the coordinate value of the eye position of the user.

8. The display apparatus of claim 7, wherein the controller further comprises:

a directional light source controller to control a control signal to generate a directional light toward the virtual viewing window; and

a light field image generator to provide a control signal to generate a three-dimensional (3D) image of a light field scheme by adjusting an intensity of the directional light toward the virtual viewing window.

9. A display method, comprising:

sensing an eye position of a user;

setting a virtual viewing window corresponding to the sensed eye position of the user; and

generating a directional light toward the virtual viewing window.

10. The display method of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying, on the virtual viewing window, a light field 3D image by controlling generated the directional light.

11. The display method of claim 9, wherein the generating of the directional light comprises:

generating a non-directional light using a backlight;

converting, using a variable slit, the non-directional light to a plurality of point light sources, each having a different position; and

generating a directional light toward the virtual viewing window by refracting at least a part of the plurality of point light sources using a refracting lens.

12. The display method of claim 9, wherein the setting of the virtual viewing window comprises:

calculating a coordinate value of the eye position of the user on a space coordinate using the sensed eye position of the user; and

determining, to cover the eye of the user using the coordinate value of the eye position of the user, at least one of a position of the virtual viewing window and a size of the virtual viewing window.

13. The display method of claim 12, wherein the position of the virtual viewing window and the size of the virtual viewing window are determined based on a position of a pupil of the eye of the user and a size of the pupil, respectively.

14. The display method of claim 9, wherein the sensing of the eye position of the user comprises:

photographing a front image using at least one camera; and

sensing the eye position of the user by identifying the eye of the user from the front image.

15. The display method of claim 9, wherein the sensing of the eye position of the user comprises:

photographing an identifier fixed around the eye position of the user using at least one camera.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a program for instructing a computer to perform the display method of claim 9.

17. A display apparatus, comprising:

a position sensor to sense an eye position of a user using at least one of a visible light band camera, an infrared camera, and a depth camera;

a controller to set a size of a virtual viewing window and to determine a position of the virtual viewing window based on the eye position of the user and a size of the eye, and to provide a control signal to control generating of a directional light toward the virtual viewing window; and

a light generator including a backlight providing a standard light source, a variable slit to modulate the standard light source to a point light source at a predetermined position, and a lens to generate, based on the control signal, the directional light by refracting the point light source toward the virtual viewing window.

18. The display apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a light modulator to adjust at least one of an actual intensity of the point light and a direction of the directional light based on a control signal from the controller.

19. The display apparatus of claim 17, wherein the controller sets the size of the virtual viewing window based on a size of a pupil of the eye of the user and determines the position of the virtual viewing window based on a position of the pupil.

20. A display method comprising:

continuously tracing a pupil position of an eye of a viewer of a display;

dynamically setting a virtual viewing window of the display to correspond to the continuously traced pupil position; and

generating an image in the virtual viewing window while not generating an image in portions of the display that do not correspond to the virtual viewing window.