Retro-reflective Screen Elements for Glasses-free 3D Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current display systems face limitations in achieving large screen sizes due to cost and power consumption issues with flat-panel displays, and in providing optimal glasses-free 3D immersive viewing experiences, especially beyond 80 inches in diagonal dimension.
Innovation Solution
A display system comprising a projector and a retro-reflective screen with customized retro-reflective screen elements, where each element has intersecting planes with offsets greater than 0°, optimizing the angular distribution of retro-reflected light to enhance image brightness and reduce optical cross-talk for glasses-free 3D viewing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the screen size is increased above 80 inches, then the display area is improved, but the cost and power consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional self-emissive display mechanism (LCD/LED panels) with a projection-based system that uses a retro-reflective screen. The projector emits light that reflects off the screen elements back to the viewer, eliminating the need for high-power backlighting in large displays. This substitution allows large screen sizes to be achieved with significantly reduced power consumption compared to conventional flat-panel displays of the same size.
Solution Approach 2:
The retro-reflective screen elements create virtual images by reflecting projector light back to the viewer's eyes. Each corner cube element acts as a mini-prism that copies and redirects light paths, enabling the projection of high-resolution images across large screen areas without requiring proportionally large light sources or high power consumption.
2Area of stationary object
If the screen size is increased above 80 inches, then the display area is improved, but the image brightness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The retro-reflective screen is composed of numerous discrete corner cube elements distributed across the screen surface. Each element is optimized to reflect light back to its specific corresponding region in the viewer's field of view. This local optimization ensures that even as the overall screen area increases, each local region maintains high brightness by efficiently directing projector light back to the viewer's eyes without the brightness dilution that occurs in conventional diffuse reflection screens.
Solution Approach 2:
The corner cube elements utilize three-dimensional geometric structures with reflective surfaces oriented at specific angles (typically 45 degrees). This 3D configuration enables the elements to reflect incident light from the projector back toward the viewer's eyes along the original light path, maintaining high intensity returns even over large screen areas. The volumetric nature of the corner cubes provides superior light return compared to two-dimensional surface reflections.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the incident angle is large, then the viewing angle is improved, but the retro-reflected image intensity and uniformity degrade
Solution Approach 1:
The corner cube elements are strategically positioned and oriented asymmetrically across the screen surface to compensate for varying incident angles from the projector. Elements at different locations have different orientations and sizes, creating a non-uniform distribution that optimizes light return for each specific viewing position. This asymmetric design allows the screen to maintain high brightness and uniformity even when the projector is positioned at angles that would cause significant degradation in conventional symmetric screen designs.
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 enables significant improvements in image brightness and reduced optical cross-talk, allowing for larger screen sizes and glasses-free 3D immersive viewing experiences with increased intensity and minimized ghosting effects.
Implementation Method 1
A display system comprising a projector and a retro-reflective screen with customized retro-reflective screen elements, where each element has intersecting planes with offsets greater than 0°, optimizing the angular distribution of retro-reflected light
Implementation Method 2
each element has intersecting planes with offsets greater than 0°, optimizing the angular distribution of retro-reflected light to enhance image brightness and reduce optical cross-talk
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a display system comprising a retro-reflective screen having retro-reflective screen elements that reflect incident light. Each of the retro-reflective screen elements can include three intersecting planes. At least one of the three intersecting planes intersects an adjacent plane at an angle that is 90° with an offset greater than 0°. The display system can further include at least one projector that projects the light onto the retro-reflective, which light characterizes an image or video. The retro-reflective screen having the retro-reflective screen elements can reflect the light at a cross-talk that is decreased by at least 10% and/or an intensity that is increased by at least 5%, as compared to a retro-reflective screen with retro-reflective screen elements having planes that each intersects an adjacent plane at an angle of 90° without the offset.