Multi-zone backlight for glasses-free 3D and 2D displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Passive electronic displays, such as LCDs, lack the ability to emit light, limiting their practical applications due to their inherent low power consumption and limited use in displaying 3D content without requiring glasses.
Innovation Solution
A multi-zone backlight system that selectively provides either broad-angle emitted light for 2D displays or directional emitted light for multiview displays, enabling the creation of 'glasses-free' 3D images by configuring zones to emit light corresponding to different view directions, using a combination of broad-angle and multiview backlights with light guides and multibeam elements to scatter light accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If passive displays are used to achieve low power consumption, then energy efficiency is improved, but the ability to emit light and display 3D content without glasses is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The backlight is divided into multiple independently controllable zones, where each zone can selectively emit light in different directions (broad-angle for 2D, directional for 3D). This segmentation allows the display to switch between 2D and 3D modes without requiring active display technology, maintaining low power consumption while enabling versatile content display.
Solution Approach 2:
The backlight system dynamically adjusts the emission characteristics of different zones based on the displayed content type. By controlling the orientation and activation of specific backlight zones, the system adapts between broad-angle emission for 2D images and directional emission for 3D multiview content, resolving the contradiction between power efficiency and functional versatility.
2Area of moving object
If broad-angle backlight is used for 2D displays, then viewing angle is improved, but directional control for 3D multiview display is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The backlight is segmented into multiple zones with independent directional control. Each zone can be configured to emit light at specific angles, allowing the system to provide broad-angle coverage for 2D content while maintaining the capability to direct light precisely for 3D multiview display, thus resolving the contradiction between wide viewing angle and directional control.
Solution Approach 2:
Different zones of the backlight are assigned different emission characteristics tailored to their specific function. Zones designated for 2D content provide broad-angle emission, while zones for 3D content provide directional emission with controlled viewing angles. This local differentiation allows simultaneous optimization of viewing angle and directional control for different display modes.
3Ease of operation
If directional backlight is used for 3D multiview display, then viewing direction control is improved, but broad-angle emission for 2D display is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The backlight system is divided into multiple zones that can independently operate in broad-angle or directional mode. When 3D multiview content is displayed, specific zones are activated with directional emission characteristics to provide precise viewing direction control. When 2D content is displayed, other zones provide broad-angle emission, thus resolving the contradiction between directional control and broad-angle emission.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically reconfigures the emission characteristics of backlight zones based on the content type being displayed. For 3D content, zones are configured for directional emission with controlled viewing angles; for 2D content, zones are configured for broad-angle emission. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by allowing each mode to optimize its performance characteristics.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multi-zone backlight system is implemented to enable both 2D and 3D display, then display versatility is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The backlight is segmented into multiple zones with independent control, allowing each zone to be optimized for specific display modes. This segmentation enables the system to provide both 2D and 3D display capabilities using the same backlight infrastructure, achieving versatility without requiring entirely separate systems for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-zone backlight system serves multiple functions: it can display both 2D and 3D content, provide broad-angle and directional emission, and support various viewing modes. By designing the backlight to perform these multiple functions through zone-based control, the system achieves high versatility while avoiding the complexity of implementing separate dedicated systems for each function.
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
Enables the display of both 2D and 3D content with higher native resolution for 2D information and autostereoscopic 3D images, expanding the usability of passive displays in various devices like smartphones, computers, and automobile consoles.
Implementation Method 1
a light guide configured to guide light as guided light
Implementation Method 2
a multibeam element configured to scatter the guided light as scattered light to provide directional light beams
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-zone backlight and multi-zone multiview display with multiple zones selectively provide broad-angle emitted light corresponding to a two-dimensional (2D) image and directional emitted light corresponding to a multiview image to each zone of the multiple zones. The multi-zone backlight includes broad-angle backlight to provide the broad-angle emitted light and a multiview backlight to provide the directional emitted light. Each of the broad-angle backlight and the multiview backlight is divided into a first zone and a second zone that may be independently activated to provide the broad-angle emitted light and multiview emitted light, respectively. The multi-zone multiview display includes the broad-angle backlight and the multiview backlight and further includes an array of light valves configured to modulate the broad-angle emitted light as a two-dimensional image and the directional emitted light as a multiview image on a zone-by-zone basis.