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:
Feb. 26, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 20, 1998
Stephen A. Benton, Lincoln, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
An autostereoscopic display system is capable of tracking one or more users within a viewing zone and presenting complementary stereoimages to each of the viewer's (or viewers') eyes. Polarization is used to segregate the images that are to be directed to different spatial regions. The two images are interdigitated within a single display—that is, each band of image points from the first image alternates with a band of image points from the second image on the display. The bands of the first image are polarized in a first mode and the bands of the second image are polarized in a second mode orthogonal to the first, e.g., through use of a liquid-crystal display (LCD) in which alternating, contiguous bands of pixels correspond to bands of one or the other image, and a “patterned polarizer” also organized into bands and aligned with the pixel bands. Autostereoscopic viewing is facilitated by a display (such as an LCD) that is illuminated by light from an outside source whose polarization can be controlled. Illumination from the light source passes through a focusing lens and then through the patterned polarizer and display so as to form a “real” or “aerial” image of the display in the viewing zone, with the different images directed to different regions of the viewing zone.