LIGHTING ASSEMBLY WITH STATIC AUTOSTEREOSCOPIC IMAGE OUTPUT
A lighting assembly includes a light guide in which light propagates by total internal reflection between opposed major surfaces. The light guide receives light generated by two light sources at opposed light input edges of the light guide. The light guide includes light extracting elements that respectively extract light to form a left eye image at a first region and a right eye image at a second region. The left eye and right eye images, when viewed by a viewer, form a static autostereoscopic image.
1 . A lighting assembly that forms a static autostereoscopic image, comprising:
a light guide having a first major surface and an opposed second major surface between which light propagates by total internal reflection, a first light input edge, a second light input edge opposite the first input edge, first light extracting elements at at least one of the major surfaces, and second light extracting elements at the at least one of the major surfaces;
a first light source that edge lights the light guide through the first light input edge; and
a second light source that edge lights the light guide through the second light input edge; wherein:
the light extracting elements are elongate and are asymmetrical with respect to the light input edges;
the first light extracting elements extract light from the first light source through the first major surface toward a first region as a first pattern of light;
the second light extracting elements extract light from the second light source through the first major surface toward a second region, different from the first region, as a second pattern of light; and
the first pattern of light extracted towards the first region and the second pattern of light extracted towards the second region, when viewed within the first region and the second region by the left eye and the right eye, respectively, of a viewer, are perceived as a static autostereoscopic image.
2 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the first light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the first light source toward the first region, and to at least one of (a) disrupt the total internal reflection of the light from the second light source less than the total internal reflection of the light from the first light source, and (b) extract light from the second light source from the light guide in directions away from the first region and the second region; and
the second light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the second light source toward the second region, and to at least one of (a) disrupt the total internal reflection of the light from the first light source less than the total internal reflection of the light from the second light source, and (b) extract light from the first light source from the light guide in directions away from the first region and the second region.
3 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the first light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the first light source toward the first region, and to disrupt the total internal reflection of the light from the second light source less than the total internal reflection of the light from the first light source; and
the second light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the second light source toward the second region, and to disrupt the total internal reflection of the light from the first light source less than the total internal reflection of the light from the second light source.
4 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the first light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the first light source toward the first region, and to extract light from the second light source from the light guide in directions away from the first region and the second region; and
the second light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the second light source toward the second region, and to extract light from the first light source from the light guide in directions away from the first region and the second region.
5 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein each light extracting element is at the second major surface, and comprises:
a primary surface portion extending relative to the second major surface and angled relative to the second major surface to reflect light toward the respective region; and
a secondary surface portion extending between the primary surface portion and the second major surface, the secondary surface portion larger in surface area than the primary surface portion and having a smaller angle relative to the second major surface than the primary surface portion
6 . The lighting assembly of claim 5 , wherein:
the first light extracting elements are indentations in the second major surface, and are oriented with the primary surface portion thereof closer to the first light source than the secondary surface portion thereof; and
the second light extracting elements are indentations in the second major surface, and are oriented with the primary surface portion thereof closer to the second light source than the secondary surface portion thereof.
7 . The lighting assembly of claim 5 , wherein:
the first light extracting elements are protrusions from the second major surface, and are oriented with the primary surface portion thereof closer to the second light source than the secondary surface portion thereof and
the second light extracting elements are protrusions from the second major surface, and are oriented with the primary surface portion thereof closer to the first light source than the secondary surface portion thereof.
8 . The lighting assembly of claim 5 , wherein the secondary surface portion of at least some of the light extracting elements is curved.
9 . The lighting assembly of claim 5 , wherein the secondary surface portion of at least some of the light extracting elements is faceted.
10 . The lighting assembly of claim 5 , wherein at least some of the light extracting elements taper with increasing distance from the primary surface portion.
11 . The lighting assembly of claim 10 , wherein at least some of the light extracting elements taper in two dimensions with increasing distance from the primary surface portion.
12 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the first light extracting elements and the second light extracting elements are mirror images of one another.
13 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first light extracting elements are indentations in the one of the major surfaces, and the second light extracting elements are protrusions from the one of the major surfaces.
14 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first and second light sources comprise solid-state light emitters.
15 . The lighting assembly of claim 14 , wherein the first and second light sources comprise light emitting diodes.
16 . The lighting assembly of claim 1 , wherein:
the first light extracting elements are varied in one or more of size, shape, depth or height, density, orientation, slope angle, or index of refraction to extract the light from the first light source from the light guide with a spatial variation in intensity that produces the first pattern of light; and
the second light extracting elements are varied in one or more of size, shape, depth or height, density, orientation, slope angle, or index of refraction to extract the light from the second light source from the light guide with a spatial variation in intensity that produces the second pattern of light.
17 . A lighting assembly that forms a static autostereoscopic image, comprising:
a light guide having a first major surface and an opposed second major surface between which light propagates by total internal reflection, a first light input edge, a second light input edge opposite the first input edge, first light extracting elements at at least one of the major surfaces, and second light extracting elements at the at least one of the major surfaces;
a first light source that edge lights the light guide through the first light input edge; and
a second light source that edge lights the light guide through the second light input edge; wherein:
the light extracting elements are elongate and are asymmetrical with respect to the light input edges;
the first light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the first light source through the first major surface toward a first region as a first pattern of light having a spatial variation of intensity that produces a first image of a stereoscopic pair of images; and
the second light extracting elements are configured to extract light from the second light source through the first major surface toward a second region, different from the first region, as a second pattern of light having a spatial variation of intensity that produces a second image of the stereoscopic pair of images.
18 . The lighting assembly of claim 17 , wherein:
the first light extracting elements are varied in one or more of size, shape, depth or height, density, slope angle, or index of refraction to extract the light from the first light source as the first pattern of light having the spatial variation in intensity that produces the first image; and
the second light extracting elements are varied in one or more of size, shape, depth or height, density, slope angle, or index of refraction to extract the light from the second light source as the second pattern of light having the spatial variation in intensity that produces the second image.
19 . A lighting assembly that forms a static autostereoscopic image, comprising:
a light guide having a first major surface and an opposed second major surface between which light propagates by total internal reflection, a first light input edge, a second light input edge opposite the first input edge, and light extracting elements at at least one of the major surfaces;
a first light source that edge lights the light guide through the first light input edge; and
a second light source that edge lights the light guide through the second light input edge; wherein:
the light extracting elements are elongate and are asymmetrical with respect to the light input edges;
the light extracting elements extract light from the first light source through the first major surface toward a first region and extract light from the second light source through the first major surface toward a second region, different from the first region; and
the light extracted towards the first region and the light extracted towards the second region form respective patterns of light that, when viewed within the first region and the second region by the left eye and the right eye, respectively, of a viewer, are perceived as a static autostereoscopic image.