Apple has filed a patent application for a “Three-dimensional Display System,” the United States Patent Office revealed today.
Apple’s Abstract:
A three-dimensional display system provides a projection screen having a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function. Three-dimensional images are respectively modulated in coordination with the predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function to define a programmable mirror with a programmable deflection angle.
Claims include:
A three-dimensional display system, comprising:providing a projection screen having a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function;determining the left and right eye locations of at least one observer;projecting left and right three-dimensional sub-images toward the projection screen; andmodulating the sub-images respectively in coordination with the predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function to respectively direct the left and right sub-images substantially exclusively to the respective left and right eye locations.
A three-dimensional display system, comprising:providing a projection screen having a spatial filter defining a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function;determining the left and right eye locations of at least one observer substantially facing and in proximity with the projection screen;projecting left and right sub-images of a three-dimensional image toward the projection screen; andangularly and intensity modulating the left and right sub-images respectively in coordination with the predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function to define respective discrete light paths that respectively direct the left and right sub-images to reflect from the projection screen substantially exclusively to the respective left and right eye locations to provide a three-dimensional viewing experience.
Descriptions include:
Although much more realistic, a dynamically presented holographic image also requires far greater computational ability and bandwidth than is generally required for a two-view stereo display. Effective means are also noticeably wanting for dynamically recreating the original wavefront, or an acceptable facsimile thereof, in real time and at commercially acceptable costs. Thus, a need still remains for highly effective, practical, efficient, uncomplicated, and inexpensive autostereoscopic 3D displays that allow the observer complete and unencumbered freedom of movement. Additionally, a need continues to exist for practical autostereoscopic 3D displays that provide a true parallax experience in both the vertical as well as the horizontal movement directions.
The patent app was originally filed on September 20, 2006.
Full patent application filing here.
Thanks Ampar. I thought it was a derogatory term for a woman driver or a woman of loose moral fiber.
we’ve been waiting for a long time for holographic displays to become a reality and mass manufactured… so far no one can produce it, to the point it’s usable.
if anyone is going to do it, it’s Apple… just like the multitouch, i thought I had to wait 10 years. But no, apple did it with the iPhone and iPod touch
@ChrissyOne
If you want your soldier to appear at an appropriate distance from you (ie not a blur half an inch in front of your eyes), then you have to fool your eyes into seeing this. Stereoscopy works by sending a different image to each eye – usually of the same object from a slightly different angle (the difference equalling the width between the human eyes) and relying on a lens to make the image in-focus at such close quarters. The brain receives these data and naturally works to successfully merge the two images together into the appearance of a 3D object. In doing so, the brain becomes disorientated after a short time because it is processing a conflicting collection of signals about the environment it is in (the muscular work the eye is engaged in does not match with other signals received by the brain) – leading to nausea.
This technology has been around almost as long a photography itself and was used extensively in the second world war for ariel reconnaissance. In fact the Mars space missions are using it today and if you go to the NASA sight they provide a large series of stereoscopic photos of the planet surface. Remarkably, you don’t really need the glasses to fool your eyes into merging these images into a 3d effect. If you line them up in the right way and concentrate ‘through’ the image into the mid-distance, your brain merges them into a 3d image (amazing… you’re on Mars!!). Its exactly the same ‘fooling’ process used with those ‘stippled-data’ posters in fashion a decade or to ago. Do it too long though, and that sickly dizziness sets in.
Here’s the patent drawings:
Because such a thing already exists…
http://www.dti3d.com/