Thin Film Dimensional Display Device Ink Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dimensional image display devices face challenges with ink-to-ink registration accuracy, especially when using thinner lens sheets, leading to poor quality images and increased costs due to the need for precise registration and multiple processing steps, which limits their applications and flexibility.
Innovation Solution
A thin film display device with a lens array of ten mils or less in thickness, allowing for flexible fabrication using web processes, where the image is printed without requiring precise ink-to-ink registration accuracy, using techniques like one-color animation, hologravure, or bi-directional interlacing, enabling high-speed web press printing and reducing material costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If thinner lens sheets are used to reduce material costs and increase flexibility, then manufacturing cost and flexibility improve, but registration accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the registration function from the mechanical alignment process and relocates it to the digital image processing stage. By pre-registering image elements to lens positions through computer algorithms before printing, the system eliminates the need for precise mechanical registration during manufacturing, thereby enabling the use of thinner lens sheets without sacrificing image quality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical registration system (which requires precise physical alignment and critical registration accuracy) with a digital processing system. The image elements are digitally mapped and positioned relative to lens locations using computational methods, substituting mechanical precision requirements with digital coordinate transformations
2Manufacturing precision
If traditional multi-color printing is used to achieve full-color images, then image quality improves, but registration complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a one-color printing approach where all image elements are printed in a single color layer that is subsequently viewed through the lens array to create full-color perception. This eliminates the need for multiple color printing passes and their associated registration systems, significantly reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining image quality through optical color separation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional color printing problem (requiring multiple color layers with precise registration) to a three-dimensional optical solution. By utilizing the depth dimension created by the lens array and image element positioning, the system achieves color perception through spatial arrangement rather than through-color printing, thereby eliminating registration complexity
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 solution enables the production of high-definition dimensional images with reduced manufacturing costs and increased flexibility, allowing for wider applications in various fields, including packaging and security, while maintaining image quality and eliminating the need for critical registration accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
a lens array comprising a plurality of lenses, each lens having a focal point
Data Source
AI summary
A high definition thin lens dimensional image display device and methods of manufacturing the same. The thin lens dimensional image display device generally includes a lens array on a first surface of a film, such as a lenticular lens array or a fly's eye lens array, with a printed imaged either printed directly on a second planar surface of the film, or on a separate substrate that is laminated thereto. The resulting display device offers a lower cost display device having greater flexibility for a wider variety of applications than traditional image display devices, without compromising image quality. Processes for manufacturing the display device include printing on a pre-fabricated thin lens web, inline printing of an image and patterning of the lens array, and inline printing of a substrate and application of a coating to the substrate which is subsequently patterned or embossed.