Dual Polarized Display System for 3D and 2D Modes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional 3-D displays face issues with low brightness, low resolution, and the need for active shutter glasses, which are burdensome on projectors and uncomfortable for viewers, while dual displays require specialized goggles and operate at higher frame rates than necessary.
Innovation Solution
A display system utilizing a driver to generate command signals for polarized images along different optical paths, with polarized sources producing images of different polarizations simultaneously, a polarization co-alignment element to align these images, and a display screen to show the aligned images, allowing for passive polarized glasses and reduced frame rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If dual displays are used to achieve 3-D effect, then 3-D image quality is improved, but device complexity and frame rate requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the display system into two separate polarized display sources, each generating one image of the stereoscopic pair. Each source can be a conventional single-display system, simplifying individual components while achieving 3-D effect through the combination of two polarized images with opposite circular polarizations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from temporal multiplexing (time-interleaved displays alternating images for each eye) to spatial multiplexing by using two simultaneous polarized images with different circular polarizations. This dimensional change from time to polarization space allows both images to be displayed at once without requiring double the frame rate.
2Productivity
If time-interleaved displays operate at 120 Hz, then 3-D image delivery is achieved, but projector burden and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring 120 Hz operation, the system uses continuous simultaneous display of two polarized images at standard frame rates (e.g., 60 Hz or lower). The periodic switching is replaced by continuous polarized image presentation, reducing the temporal frequency requirement and associated energy consumption.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional dual displays use red/blue separation, then 3-D effect is achieved, but image quality and brightness are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the separation parameter from wavelength-based (red/blue color filtering) to polarization-based (circular polarization states). This parameter change allows full-color images to be displayed without the brightness loss and color distortion inherent in red/blue separation methods, while maintaining ease of implementation through polarizing filters.
4Ease of operation
If active shutter goggles are used, then 3-D image separation is achieved, but viewer comfort decreases and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the active shutter mechanism from the viewer's glasses and relocates it to the display system itself through the use of two polarized sources. This extraction eliminates the need for complex electronic shutters in the glasses, replacing them with simple passive polarizing filters that are much easier to manufacture and wear.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces polarized light as an intermediary between the display sources and the viewer's eyes. This intermediary enables automatic image separation without requiring active components in the glasses, as the polarized light itself carries the separation information that passive polarizing filters in the glasses can easily interpret.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves increased brightness, full-spatial resolution, and compactness, enabling the use of passive glasses and operating at lower frame rates, while also providing a 2-D mode with higher brightness, making it suitable for various applications including theaters and portable displays.
Implementation Method 1
a pair of polarized sources, each polarized source configured to produce a polarized image of one of the pair of images along a respective optical path at substantially the same time based on a command signal from the driver, the first of the pair of polarizer sources configured to produce a different polarization than the second of the pair of polarizer sources
Implementation Method 2
a polarization co-alignment element configured to optically align the polarized images from the respective polarizer along a common optical path
Data Source
AI summary
A display system includes a driver configured to create command signals for generating a pair of images along two different optical paths; a pair of polarized sources, each polarized source configured to produce a polarized image of one of the pair of images along a respective optical path at substantially the same time based on a command signal from the driver, the first of the pair of polarizer sources configured to produce a different polarization than the second of the pair of polarizer sources; a polarization co-alignment element configured to optically align the polarized images from the respective polarizer along a common optical path; and a display screen configured to display the co-aligned polarized images. Depending on the mode of the display system, 3-D polarized glasses may be worn by the viewers for observing the displayed images.