- Number
- 9712810
- Published
- 2017-07-18
- Filed
- 2015-06-03
- Assignee
- Disney Enterprises, Inc.
- Inventors
- Smithwick; Quinn Y., Gabriel; Christopher Stuart
- CPC
- H04N13/383; G06T19/20; H04N13/398; H04N13/305; G02B30/27; G06T19/006; G02B27/0093
- Verdict
- High Hardware
- Source
- Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline
The keeper's note
A glasses-free tabletop 3D display using a lenticular display surface facing upward with location tracking to serve correct imagery to each viewer.
Abstract
An apparatus for displaying three dimensional (3D) images to a viewer without the need for 3D glasses. The apparatus includes a display element with a lenticular display surface that is supported to be horizontal and face upward into a viewing space. The apparatus includes a location tracking element tracking a location of a viewer in the viewing space relative to the lenticular display surface. The apparatus includes a display controller generating reprojected content for operating the display element to display 3D images via the lenticular display surface. The reprojected content is generated by determining for each pixel of the display element the content or images passing through tracked and/or determined eye locations and then remapping content delivered to each of the pixels of the display element to achieve a predefined pattern of content in viewpoints of fixed camera positions for the display element.
Background
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS(1) FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic and/or functional diagramof a 3D display system of the present description;(2) FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a control method for use in controlling/operating a 3D display element to more effectively display 3D content to a viewer that may move relative to the horizontally oriented lenticular display surface;(3) FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a 3D display system of the present description;(4) FIG. 4 is a functional block or schematic side view of a 3D display system adapted for concurrent use by two users or viewers on opposite sides of the tabletop display; and(5) FIG. 5 is top view of the 3D display system of FIG. 4.DETAILED DESCRIPTION(6) Briefly, a tracked automultiscopic 3D tabletop display (or, more simply, a 3D tabletop display) is described that allows a viewer or user to view a 3D image or object on, above, below and/or straddling an upper, outer surface of the 3D tabletop display whilethe user is free to move relative to the upper, outer surface within a viewing space. It was desired to provide a large, wide field-of-view (fov) 3D tabletop display that does notrequire the viewers to don 3D glasses, and the inventors investigated an autostereoscopicextension of anamorphic projection. As part of this investigation and experimentation, a 42-inch autostereoscopic tabletop display was created using a commercially-available lenticular 3D display with viewer tracking that was modified s
Claims
1. An apparatus for displaying three dimensional (3D) images to a viewer, comprising: a display element with a lenticular display surface, wherein the lenticular display surface is horizontal and facing upward into a viewing space; a location tracking element tracking a location of a viewer in the viewing space relative to the lenticular display surface; a display controller generating reprojected content for use in operating the display element to display 3D images to the viewer via the lenticular display surface, wherein the reprojected content is generated from a digital 3D scene and is based on a set of eye locations determined based on the location of the viewer in the viewing space; a second location tracking element tracking a location of a second viewer in a second viewing space on a side of the lenticular display surface opposite the viewing space; and a backlight assembly operating to provide first and second backlighting to the display element in a time multiplexed manner, wherein the first backlighting is projected through the lenticular display surface to the viewing space and the second backlight is projected through the lenticular display surface to the second viewing space, wherein the display controller generates second reprojected content for use in operating the display element to display 3D images to the second viewer via the lenticular display surface, wherein the second reprojected content is generated from the digital 3D sceneand is based on a set of eye locations determined based on the location of the second viewer in the second viewing space, and wherein the backlight assembly comprises directional lighting selectively providing the first and second backlighting through the lenticular display surface with angular offsets of at least 30 degrees.
9. An autostereoscopic display,comprising: a display element projecting autostereoscopic images from a display surface; a tracking mechanism tracking locations of a viewer relative to the display surface; and acontroller generating reprojected content for use in operating the display element to display the autostereoscopic images to the viewer via the display surface, wherein the reprojected content is generated based on the tracked locations of the viewer, and wherein the reprojected content is generated by determining for each pixel of the display element content passing through eye locations determined for the each of the tracked locations of the viewer and remapping content delivered to each of the pixels of the display element to achieve a predefined pattern of content in viewpoints for a predefined set of fixed camera locations for the display element, wherein the display surface includes an array of lenticules and the display surface is supported in a horizontal, upward-facing position, wherein the display further comprises: a second tracking mechanism tracking a location of a second viewer positioned in a space on a side of the display surface opposite from a position of the viewer; and a backlight assembly operating to provide first and second directional backlighting to the display element in a time multiplexed manner, wherein the first backlighting is projected through the display surface to the viewer and the second backlight is projected through the lenticular display surface to the second viewer, wherein the controller generates second reprojected content for use in operating the display element to display second autostereoscopic images to the second viewer via the display surface when the secondbacklighting is provided to the display element, wherein the second reprojected content is generated based on a set of eye locations determined based on the location of the secondviewer, and wherein the backlight assembly comprises directional lighting selectively providing the first and second backlighting through the lenticular display surface with angular offsets of at least 30 degrees.
13. A method for providing a 3D experience without 3D glasses, comprising: tracking a location of a viewer relative to a lenticular display surface of a display element; determining a set of eye locations for the viewer based on the tracked location; rendering a virtual 3D scene; reprojecting viewpoints of the display element based on each of the eye locations; generating display content by interdigitating the rendered virtual 3D scene based on the reprojected viewpoints; operating the display element using the display content to provide a 3D object in a space above the lenticular displaysurface; repeating the tracking, the determining, the reprojecting, the generating, and the operating for a second viewer positioned on along a side of the lenticular display surface opposite the viewer; and operating a backlight assembly to provide directional backlighting through display element to alternate between providing the 3D object to the viewer and the second viewer, wherein the backlight assembly comprises directional lighting selectively providing the first and second backlighting through the lenticular display surface with angular offsets of at least 30 degrees.
18. An apparatus for displaying three dimensional (3D) images to a viewer, comprising: a display element with a lenticular display surface, wherein the lenticular display surface is horizontal and facing upward into a viewing space; a location tracking element tracking a location of a viewer in the viewing space relative to the lenticular display surface; a display controller generating reprojected content for use in operating the display element to display 3D images to the viewer via the lenticular display surface, wherein the reprojected content is generated from a digital 3D scene and is based on a set of eye locations determined based on the location of the viewerin the viewing space; a second location tracking element tracking a location of a second viewer in a second viewing space on a side of the lenticular display surface opposite the viewing space; and a backlight assembly operating to provide first and second backlightingto the display element in a time multiplexed manner, wherein the first backlighting is projected through the lenticular display surface to the viewing space and the second backlight is projected through the lenticular display surface to the second viewing space, wherein the display controller generates second reprojected content for use in operating the display element to display 3D images to the second viewer via the lenticular display surface,wherein the second reprojected content is generated from the digital 3D scene and is based on a set of eye locations determined based on the location of the second viewer in the second viewing space, and wherein the reprojected content is used to operate the display element only when the first backlighting is projected through the lenticular display surfaceand the second reprojected content is used to operate the display element only when the second backlighting is projected through the lenticular display surface.