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:
Apr. 27, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 02, 1996
Jesse B Eichenlaub, Penfield, NY (US);
Russell W Gruhlke, Mt. Vernon, OH (US);
Dimension Technologies, Inc., Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
A reduced-thickness backlighter for an autostereoscopic display is disclosed having a lightguide and at least one light source parallel to an edge of the lightguide so as to be substantially coplanar with the lightguide. The lightguide is provided with a first surface which has a plurality of reflective linear regions, such as elongated grooves or glossy lines, parallel to the illuminated edge of the lightguide. Preferably the lightguide further has a second surface which has a plurality of lenticular lenses for reimaging the reflected light from the linear regions into a series of thin vertical lines outside the guide. Because of the reduced thickness of the backlighter system, autostereoscopic viewing is enabled in applications requiring thin backlighter systems. In addition to taking up less space, the reduced-thickness backlighter uses less lamps and less power. For accommodating 2-D applications, a 2-D diffuser plate or a 2-D lightguide parallel to the 3-D backlighter is disclosed for switching back and forth between 3-D viewing and 2-D viewing.