Transparent Projection Display With Microlouver Camera Filtering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional video conferencing systems face challenges in aligning user gaze with the camera due to misplacement, with existing solutions compromising display quality or introducing optical artifacts like ghost images and Moiré patterns when integrating cameras behind displays.
Innovation Solution
A transparent projection display system with a reflective layer, microlouver film, and a camera aligned behind the screen, using aerofoil or flat slat-shaped louvers to block projected images from the camera while allowing user light transmission, ensuring natural eye contact and high-quality video capture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a camera is placed behind the display to align with user gaze, then eye contact alignment is improved, but the display transparency and image capture quality deteriorate due to opaque pixel structures and supporting electronics
Solution Approach 1:
The display is divided into two distinct regions: a transparent region without pixels and electronics where the camera is positioned, and a display region with full pixel structures for showing content. This segmentation allows the camera to have an unobstructed view through the transparent region while the display functionality is maintained in the display region, resolving the conflict between camera alignment and image capture quality
Solution Approach 2:
The camera is positioned in the third dimension (behind the display) rather than on the front surface, allowing it to look through the transparent region of the display. This spatial arrangement enables the camera to capture the user's face without being blocked by pixel structures, while maintaining proper eye contact alignment
2Device complexity
If a camera is placed on the front bezel for easy integration, then device complexity is reduced, but user gaze alignment with the camera deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of placing the camera on the front bezel where it would be easily integrated but misaligned with user gaze, the camera is inverted to the back of the display where it can properly align with the user's eyes. The transparent region enables this inverted positioning to work effectively, sacrificing front-bezel integration simplicity for proper gaze alignment
3Illumination intensity
If transparent OLED displays are used to allow camera visibility, then display transparency is improved, but manufacturing precision and cost worsen due to partial transparency limitations and opaque pixel structures
Solution Approach 1:
The pixel structures and supporting electronics are extracted (removed) from the region where the camera needs to look through. This creates a completely transparent region without any opaque elements, rather than trying to make the existing pixel structures transparent. The camera views through this extracted region, achieving full transparency without compromising manufacturing precision in the display regions
4Reliability
If beamsplitters or partially transparent mirrors are used to allow camera capture, then image capture capability is improved, but optical artifacts like ghost images and Moiré patterns increase
Solution Approach 1:
The beamsplitters and partially transparent mirrors are extracted from the optical path and replaced with a simple transparent region. Light from the user's face passes directly through this region to the camera without encountering any beam-splitting surfaces that would create ghost images or Moiré patterns. This eliminates the source of optical artifacts while maintaining image capture capability
Solution Approach 2:
The transparent region acts as a simple intermediary that allows light to pass through without modification, rather than using complex beam-splitting intermediaries. This simple mediation eliminates the optical artifacts generated by more complex light-manipulating components
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 natural, aligned eye contact during video communication by preventing projected content from being captured by the camera, maintaining display brightness, and reducing optical distortions, enhancing the realism and effectiveness of remote interactions.
Implementation Method 1
The microlouver film includes an array of louvers, such as aerofoil-shaped or flat slat-shaped structures, which block light transmission at angles greater than 30 degrees relative to the center axis
Implementation Method 2
a reflective layer on the front side of the screen
Data Source
AI summary
A transparent projection display system for video conferencing and collaborative communication is provided. The system comprises a transparent projection screen of clear material, a video projector configured to project images onto the front side of the screen, and a camera disposed behind the screen for capturing video of a user on the front side. To maximize the brightness of the projected image as viewed by the user while substantially preventing the camera from capturing the projected image transmitted through the screen, the system includes a reflective layer disposed on the front side of the projection screen and a microlouver film disposed on the rear side. The reflective layer is configured to reflect the projected image toward the user, and the microlouver film comprises an array of louvers that block transmission of the projected image to the camera except along a narrow viewing angle aligned with the camera's optical axis. This arrangement enables the camera to capture a clear user image through the screen while suppressing the capture of projected content, thus supporting natural, aligned eye contact and high-quality video communication.