Stereoscopic Micro Projectors with Retro-Reflective Screens for Glasses-Free 3D Viewing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current 3-D video projection technologies are bulky, expensive, and limited in mobility, requiring specialized equipment and glasses, and fail to provide a personalized, high-quality, spatially accurate 3-D experience due to limitations in screen size, weight, and viewer positioning.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight, power-efficient, portable system using stereoscopic micro projectors and retro-reflective screens that allow for individualized 3-D viewing without glasses, enabling multiple users to share a private and high-quality 3-D experience with improved motion parallax and spatial awareness through gaze tracking and adjustable image projection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If traditional 3-D projection equipment is used, then 3-D video quality is improved, but device weight and portability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the 3-D projection function into separate components: lightweight micro-projectors for each eye and a retro-reflective screen. This segmentation allows the projection functionality to be distributed and miniaturized, reducing the weight burden on each component while maintaining overall 3-D video quality.
Solution Approach 2:
A retro-reflective screen is introduced as an intermediary between the micro-projectors and the viewer's eyes. This screen reflects light back to the viewer, enabling 3-D image formation without requiring heavy traditional projection equipment, thus improving portability while maintaining image quality.
2Illumination intensity
If traditional 3-D projection systems are used, then 3-D image quality is improved, but system cost deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses inexpensive micro-projectors and a simple retro-reflective screen instead of expensive traditional 3-D projection equipment. The micro-projectors can be mass-produced at low cost, and the retro-reflective screen is a simple optical component, making the overall system much more affordable while maintaining adequate 3-D image quality.
3Illumination intensity
If specialized 3-D glasses and screens are used, then 3-D viewing experience is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the need for specialized 3-D glasses by using separate micro-projectors positioned near each eye that project directly into the viewer's field of view. Combined with the retro-reflective screen, this eliminates the requirement for additional optical components like glasses, simplifying the viewing experience while maintaining 3-D quality.
4Measurement precision
If fixed projection systems are used, then 3-D spatial accuracy is improved, but adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses movable micro-projectors that can be positioned close to the viewer's eyes and a retro-reflective screen that maintains image stability. This dynamic configuration allows the system to adapt to different viewer positions and movements while maintaining 3-D spatial accuracy through the retro-reflection property that returns light to its source.
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 provides a cost-effective, spill-resistant, and highly efficient means for personal 3-D viewing, allowing multiple users to interact naturally with high-quality 3-D images, enhancing social interaction and collaboration while minimizing energy consumption and visual discomfort.
Implementation Method 1
stereoscopic micro projectors and retro-reflective screens
Data Source
AI summary
A system projects a user-viewable, computer-generated or -fed image, wherein a head-mounted projector is used to project an image onto a retro-reflective surface, so only the viewer can see the image. The projector is connected to a computer that contains software to create virtual 2-D and or 3-D images for viewing by the user. Further, one projector each is mounted on either side of the user's head, and, by choosing for example a retro angle of less than about 10 degrees, each eye can only see the image of one of the projectors at a given distance up to 3 meters, in this example, from the retro-reflective screen. The retro angle used may be reduced with larger viewing distance desired. These projectors use lasers to avoid the need for focusing, and in some cases these projectors use instead of lasers highly collimated LED light sources to avoid the need for focusing.