The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 10, 2020
Filed:
Jul. 14, 2016
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Nathan James Smith, Oxford, GB;
John Patrick Nonweiler, Oxford, GB;
Laura Huang, Oxford, GB;
Hywel Hopkin, Oxford, GB;
Takehiro Murao, Osaka, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A reconfigurable parallax barrier panel comprising an electro-optic material has first and second regions. The parallax barrier panel is configured in a first mode to address the first and second electrodes on the basis of at least one received drive signal such that: the first electrodes define, in the first region of the panel, a first parallax barrier array selected from a plurality of predetermined parallax barrier arrays; and the second electrodes define, in the second region of the panel, independently of the first parallax barrier array, a second parallax barrier array selected from the plurality of predetermined parallax barrier arrays, the second parallax barrier array being different to the first parallax barrier array. To obtain a good autostereoscopic 3-D viewing zone the pitch of a parallax barrier would ideally vary over the width of the parallax barrier panel as a function of viewing distance. This is impracticable to obtain in a practical parallax barrier panel, but the present invention can provide a change in barrier pitch at the boundary between the first region and the second region, and this effectively mimics a pitch that varies over the width of the parallax barrier panel as a function of viewing distance. A parallax barrier panel of the invention can provide improved 3-D viewing when the parallax barrier panel is incorporated in a display.