Automultiscopic display with viewpoint tracking and scalability for multiple views

1. A computer-implemented method for efficiently rendering and displaying viewpoint-specific images, the method comprising:

detecting, with an electronic device, a position of at least one eye relative to an automultiscopic display of the electronic device, the automultiscopic display including an array of multipixels, each multipixel including a plurality of sub-multipixels, each sub-multipixel within a given multipixel of the array of multipixels being configured to display light in a different direction relative to a remainder of the sub-multipixels within the given multipixel;

defining a multipixel display zone for each multipixel with respect to each detected eye position that encompasses only a portion of the plurality of sub-multipixels within each multipixel;

rendering a viewpoint-specific image for each detected eye position; and

selectively coloring the portion of the plurality of sub-multipixels within each multipixel encompassed by the corresponding multipixel display zone such that colors associated with the rendered viewpoint-specific image are only displayed within the multipixel display zone defined for each multipixel.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising deactivating a remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels that are not encompassed within any of the multipixel display zones defined for the multipixels.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising passively controlling a remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels that are not encompassed within any of the multipixel display zones defined for the multipixels.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein passively controlling the remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels comprises controlling the remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels to display a color not associated with displaying the rendered viewpoint-specific image.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a range of potential eye positions for each detected eye position;

defining a pixel-viewpoint bounds for each multipixel based on the range of potential eye positions; and

defining each multipixel display zone based on the pixel-viewpoint bounds defined for each multipixel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting a position of at least one eye relative to the automultiscopic display comprises:

capturing an image of the at least one eye using an image capture device of the electronic device; and

analyzing the image using a viewpoint tracking algorithm to determine the position of the at least one eye relative to the automultiscopic display.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting a position of at least one eye relative to the automultiscopic display comprises receiving a signal indicative of the position of the at least one eye from an item associated with a user of the electronic device.

8. An electronic device for efficiently rendering and displaying viewpoint-specific images, the device comprising:

an automultiscopic display including an array of multipixels, each multipixel including a plurality of sub-multipixels, each sub-multipixel within a given multipixel of the array of multipixels being configured to display light in a different direction relative to a remainder of the sub-multipixels within the given multipixel;

a viewpoint tracking feature configured to detect a position of at least one eye viewing the electronic device; and

one or more processors and associated memory, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the electronic device to:

define a multipixel display zone for each multipixel with respect to each detected eye position that encompasses only a portion of the plurality of sub-multipixels within each multipixel;

render a viewpoint-specific image for each detected eye position; and

selectively color the portion of the plurality of sub-multipixels within each multipixel encompassed by the corresponding multipixel display zone such that colors associated with the rendered viewpoint-specific image are only displayed within the multipixel display zone defined for each multipixel.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the electronic device is further configured to deactivate a remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels that are not encompassed within any of the multipixel display zones defined for the multipixels.

10. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the electronic device is further configured to passively control a remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels that are not encompassed within any of the multipixel display zones defined for the multipixels.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the electronic device is configured to passively control the remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels by controlling the remainder of the plurality of sub-multipixels to display a color not associated with displaying the rendered viewpoint-specific image.

12. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the electronic device is further configured to:

identify a range of potential eye positions for each detected eye position;

define a pixel-viewpoint bounds for each multipixel based on the range of potential eye positions; and

define each multipixel display zone based on the pixel-viewpoint bounds defined for each multipixel.

13. A computer-implemented method for efficiently rendering and displaying user-specific images, the method comprising:

recognizing, with an electronic device, an identity of a user of two or more users viewing an automultiscopic display of the electronic device, the automultiscopic display including an array of multipixels, each multipixel including a plurality of sub-multipixels, each sub-multipixel being configured to display light in at least one direction;

detecting a position of first and second eyes of the identified user relative to the automultiscopic display;

rendering a first viewpoint-specific image for each detected eye position, the viewpoint-specific image containing user-specific content;

selectively coloring a portion of the sub-multipixels within each multipixel such that colors associated with the first viewpoint-specific image are only displayed within a multipixel display zone defined for each multipixel with respect to each detected eye position of the identified user; and

controlling a remainder of the sub-multi-pixels within each multipixel such that colors associated with a second rendered image are displayed to viewpoints not associated with the detected eye positions of the identified user, the second rendered image differing from the first viewpoint-specific image.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein each sub-multipixel within a given multipixel is configured to display light in a different direction relative to a remainder of the sub-multipixels within the given multipixel.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein recognizing the identity of the user viewing the automultiscopic display comprises:

capturing an image of the user via an image capture device of the electronic device; and

analyzing the image using an image-based recognition algorithm to determine the identity of the user.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein recognizing the identity of the user viewing the automultiscopic display comprises receiving, from an item associated with the user, a signal associated with the identity of the user.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein recognizing the identity of the user viewing the automultiscopic display comprises:

receiving a spoken input for the user; and

analyzing the spoken input using a voice recognition algorithm to determine the identity of the user.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the user-specific content corresponds to personal information of the identified user.