Stacked display panels for image enhancement

1. An electronic display comprising:

a plurality of display panels that output image light, the plurality of display panels including a first display panel and a second display panel, wherein a first plurality of sub-pixels of the first display panel are configured to operate over a first range of luminosities, and a second plurality of sub-pixels of the second display panel are configured to operate over a second range of luminosities that is higher than the first range of luminosities;

wherein the electronic display is configured to:

divide a dynamic range of an image into multiple reduced dynamic ranges, wherein each reduced dynamic range corresponds to a different range of luminosities over which different display panels are configured to operate;

display, by the first display panel, a first portion of the image in accordance with the first range of luminosities and a first reduced dynamic range of the multiple reduced dynamic ranges; and

display, by the second display panel, a second portion of the image in accordance with the second range of luminosities and a second reduced dynamic range of the multiple reduced dynamic ranges.

2. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the displayed first portion of the image and the displayed second portion of the image have a total contrast ratio that is at least 100,000:1.

3. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the first display panel and the second display panel are both partially transparent to visible light.

4. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the electronic display is configured to:

receive image data describing an image object for presentation to a user as a 3D image;

determine a total depth of the image object using the image data;

segment the determined total depth of the image object into different successive regions;

assign the regions to different display panels of the plurality of display panels, wherein a first region of the image is assigned to the first display panel and a second region of the image is assigned to the second display panel;

display, by the first display panel, the first region of the image; and

display, by the second display panel, the second region of the image.

5. The electronic display of claim 4 , wherein each region, of the successive regions, has a same value of absolute depth as each other region of the successive regions, and wherein the value of absolute depth is the total depth of the image divided by a number of the different successive regions.

6. The electronic display of claim 4 , wherein the first region is associated with a first depth and the second region is associated with a second depth that is different than the first depth.

7. The electronic display of claim 1 , further comprising:

an intermediate component, the intermediate component positioned between the first display panel and the second display panel such that light emitted from the second display panel passes through the intermediate component before passing through the first display panel.

8. The electronic display of claim 7 , wherein the intermediate component is selected from a group comprising: a transparent electronic display panel, an attenuator, a polarizer, and diffractive element.

9. The electronic display of claim 7 , wherein a spacing between the intermediate component and the second display panel is different than a spacing between first display panel and the second display panel.

10. The electronic display of claim 7 , wherein the second display panel is opaque to the light emitted from the second plurality of sub-pixels and the intermediate component and the first display panel are both at least partially transparent to the light emitted from the second plurality of sub-pixels.

11. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of sub-pixels are separated from each other by a non-emission area, and the second display panel is positioned offset from the first display panel such that the second plurality of sub-pixels emit light through the non-emission area of the first display panel.

12. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the electronic display is part of a head-mounted display.

13. A method comprising:

dividing a dynamic range of an image into multiple reduced dynamic ranges, wherein each reduced dynamic range corresponds to a different range of luminosities over which different display panels of a plurality of display panels are configured to operate;

displaying, by a first display panel, a first portion of the image in accordance with a first range of luminosities and a first reduced dynamic range of the multiple reduced dynamic ranges; and

displaying, by the second display panel, a second portion of the image in accordance with a second range of luminosities and a second reduced dynamic range of the multiple reduced dynamic ranges, and the second range of luminosities is higher than the first range of luminosities.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving image data describing an image object for presentation to a user as a 3D image;

determining a total depth of the image object using the image data;

segmenting the determined total depth of the image object into different successive regions;

assigning the regions to different display panels of the plurality of display panels, wherein a first region of the image is assigned to the first display panel and a second region of the image is assigned to the second display panel;

displaying, by the first display panel, the first region of the image; and

displaying, by the second display panel, the second region of the image.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein each region, of the successive regions, has a same value of absolute depth as each other region of the successive regions, and wherein the value of absolute depth is the total depth of the image divided by a number of the different successive regions.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first region is associated with a first depth and the second region is associated with a second depth that is different than the first depth.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store program code instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

dividing a dynamic range of an image into multiple reduced dynamic ranges, wherein each reduced dynamic range corresponds to a different range of luminosities over which different display panels of a plurality of display panels are configured to operate;

displaying, by a first display panel, a first portion of the image in accordance with a first range of luminosities and a first reduced dynamic range of the multiple reduced dynamic ranges; and

displaying, by the second display panel, a second portion of the image in accordance with a second range of luminosities and a second reduced dynamic range of the multiple reduced dynamic ranges, and the second range of luminosities is higher than the first range of luminosities.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the program code instructions, further cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving image data describing an image object for presentation to a user as a 3D image;

determining a total depth of the image object using the image data;

segmenting the determined total depth of the image object into different successive regions;

assigning the regions to different display panels of the plurality of display panels, wherein a first region of the image is assigned to the first display panel and a second region of the image is assigned to the second display panel;

displaying, by the first display panel, the first region of the image; and

displaying, by the second display panel, the second region of the image.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein each region, of the successive regions, has a same value of absolute depth as each other region of the successive regions, and wherein the value of absolute depth is the total depth of the image divided by a number of the different successive regions.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the first region is associated with a first depth and the second region is associated with a second depth that is different than the first depth.