Directional view method for a time-sequential autostereoscopic display with full resolution.

ABSTRACT

A time-sequential autostereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) display using a set of cylindrical optical elements (COEs) as the backlight steering is proposed. The operation principle of the system and its detailed design are described. In our system, the COEs control the direction of the backlight for the proposed system of the user's right and left views. Additionally, the displayed images can be observed under ambient lighting by implementing the high density light-emitting diode (LED) arrays. Compared to the first-generation array display, the image resolution is greatly improved by the addition of the time multiplexing technique. A prototype system using a set of COEs, LED arrays, two linear Fresnel lenses, and an elliptical diffuser is constructed. Here, the directional backlight beams are synchronized with the right and left images alternately displayed on the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, and two convergent viewing zones are formed alternately in front of the user's eyes; then 3D images are perceived because of persistence of the vision of human eye. The experimental results show that the proposed method is a potential technology for 3D applications such as 3D television.