Redirecting content from n-way displays (01-Oct-2009)

Redirecting content from n-way displays

Disclosed is hardware for redirecting content from n-way displays to one or more other displays. In 2005, a leading television manufacturer demonstrated a television fitted with physical barrier called a "parallax barrier". The barrier causes people sitting to the left of the television to see a first picture and people sitting to the right of the television to see a second picture. In other words, the barrier created a two-way display. The disclosed hardware extends the barrier capabilities to maximize energy efficiency and hardware real estate utilization. The disclosed hardware can redirect the content from n-way displays, projecting the resulting images to one or more other displays. With the disclosed hardware, a person can see all n-way content from a single viewpoint.

The parallax barrier shows that the overall size of the television picture can effectively double while maintaining the same power consumption. The disclosed hardware, using the same techniques and principles of the parallax barrier, can grow the effective picture even further by employing a barrier that redirects in more than two directions. For example,

just as content can be directed to the left and right, it can also be directed up,

down, diagonally down and left, diagonally down and right, diagonally up and left, and diagonally up and right. In another example, in a particular direction, like left, different pictures can be displayed in degree ranges to the left. For example, a person sitting

just to the left of a display's center sees one picture, while a second person sitting

immediately left of the first person sees a second picture, while a third person sitting immediately to the left of the second person sees a third picture, and so on. As a result, people sitting at various angles in various directions around a display can each see a different and unique picture. Changing the angles and/or directions is only an extension of the existing barrier.

The disclosed hardware differs from the existing barrier by taking some or all of the individual pictures and recombining them in interesting and meaningful ways. For example, the disclosed hardware can redirect all the individual pictures created by the barrier onto a single display plane viewable from a single viewpoint. In other words, if a barrier creates a picture for people on the left of a display and a second picture for people on the right of a display, the disclosed hardware can use mirrors and other known picture redirection techniques to place both the left and right image onto another display or screen which is viewable by a person from a single viewpoint. Pictures can be redirected to one or more displays or screens. For example, with an n-way barrier, like a four-way barrier, three of the images can be combined on a large screen, while...