Irregular Triangular Tiles with Light Shielding for Stereoscopic Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tiling structures of reflective optical elements for forming stereoscopic images suffer from luminance variation due to irregular reflections at tile boundaries, leading to inconsistent image brightness when observing point moves around the Z-axis.
Innovation Solution
The optical element array is formed by arranging tiles with irregular triangular shapes based on Delaunay triangulation, each with a light shielding part at the end surfaces, using the LIGA process to produce tiles with high aspect ratios and applying a light shielding process to equalize the effect of light shielding parts across different tiles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional tiling structures with regular shapes are used to form stereoscopic images, then the manufacturing process is simple, but luminance variation occurs due to irregular reflections at tile boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by using irregular triangular shapes for the tiles instead of regular geometric shapes. Each tile has a unique irregular triangle shape, which eliminates the periodic boundary patterns that cause luminance variation. This asymmetric design ensures that light reflections from different tiles are uniformly distributed, resolving the luminance uniformity issue while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standardized production processes for irregular shapes.
2Illumination intensity
If light shielding parts are added to tiles, then luminance variation is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively adding light shielding parts only to specific regions of the tiles - specifically at the boundary areas where irregular reflections occur. The light shielding parts are positioned to block stray light at tile boundaries while leaving the main reflective surfaces uncovered. This localized approach achieves luminance uniformity without requiring complete coverage of light shielding materials, thereby minimizing the increase in device complexity.
3Manufacturing precision
If tiles with high aspect ratios are produced using LIGA process, then manufacturing precision is improved, but production time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by designing the tile structures with predetermined irregular triangular shapes and pre-positioned light shielding parts before the actual tiling assembly. The LIGA process is used to manufacture individual tiles with high precision in advance, allowing for quality control and inspection before final assembly. This preliminary manufacturing approach enables high-precision tiles to be produced once and then replicated through standardized assembly processes, improving overall production efficiency while maintaining manufacturing precision.
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
This configuration minimizes luminance variation in the image, ensuring consistent brightness across the stereoscopic image even when the observing point moves, by uniformly affecting light rays with the light shielding parts, thus enhancing the image quality.
Implementation Method 1
each of the tiles is provided with a light shielding part at an end surface thereof
Implementation Method 2
side surfaces B, B′, C and C′ of each reflective optical element 1 are so formed that at least two adjacent ones of the side surfaces are mirror surfaces which can reflect light
Data Source
AI summary
An optical element is configured by connecting a plurality of tiles each constituted by a plurality of reflective optical elements, and is formed in a shape having a plane surface. The tiles configuring the optical element are formed such that outer shapes on the plane surface of the tiles have at least two different triangular shapes, while an end surface of each tile is provided with a light shielding part.