Mixed-format backlight, display, and method

1. A mixed-format backlight comprising:

a multiview zone having an array of multibeam emitters spaced apart from one another and configured to provide directional emitted light, a multibeam emitter of the multibeam emitter array being configured to provide the directional emitted light as a plurality of directional light beams having different principal angular directions corresponding to respective different view directions of a multiview image;

a light guide configured to guide light as guided light; and

a two-dimensional (2D) zone having a broad-angle scattering feature configured to scatter out a portion of the guided light from the light guide as broad-angle emitted light, the multiview zone and the 2D zone being mutually exclusive regions of the mixed-format backlight,

wherein a size of the multibeam emitter of the multibeam emitter array is comparable to a size of a light valve of a mixed-format display configured to employ the mixed-format backlight.

2. The mixed-format backlight of claim 1 , wherein a spacing between adjacent multibeam emitters of the multibeam emitter array is commensurate with a spacing between multiview pixels of a multiview portion of the mixed-format display.

3. The mixed-format backlight of claim 1 , wherein the multibeam emitter of the multibeam emitter array includes a multibeam element configured to scatter out another portion of the guided light as the directional light beam plurality.

4. The mixed-format backlight of claim 3 , wherein the multibeam element comprises one or more of a diffraction grating, a micro-refractive element, and a micro-reflective element configured to scatter out the other portion of the guided light as the plurality of directional light beams.

5. The mixed-format backlight of claim 1 , wherein the light guide is a first light guide, wherein the guided light is first guided light, and the mixed-format backlight further comprises:

a second light guide configured to guide light as second guided light, the multibeam emitter of the multibeam emitter array comprising a multibeam element configured to scatter out a portion of the second guided light from the second light guide as the plurality of directional light beams,

wherein the second light guide is configured to be transparent to the broad-angle emitted light within a region of the second light guide corresponding to the 2D zone of the mixed-format backlight.

6. The mixed-format backlight of claim 5 , wherein the multibeam emitter array is located in a region of the second light guide corresponding to the multiview zone of the mixed-format backlight and the broad-angle scattering feature is confined to a region of the first light guide corresponding to the 2D zone of the mixed-format backlight.

7. The mixed-format backlight of claim 5 , further comprising a mask between the first light guide and the second light guide in the region of the mixed-format backlight corresponding to the multiview zone, the mask being configured to block transmission of the broad-angle emitted light into and through the second light guide within the multiview zone.

8. A mixed-format display comprising the mixed-format backlight of claim 1 , the mixed-format display further comprising an array of light valves configured to modulate the broad-angle emitted light as a two-dimensional (2D) image portion of a displayed image and configured to modulate the directional emitted light as a multiview image portion of the displayed image, the 2D image portion being provided within a region of the mixed-format display corresponding to the 2D zone of the mixed-format backlight and the multiview image portion being provided within a region of the mixed-format display corresponding to the multiview zone of the mixed-format backlight, wherein the multiview image portion has views with view directions corresponding to respective different view directions.

9. The mixed-format display of claim 8 , wherein the 2D image portion and the multiview image portion are configured to be displayed simultaneously by the mixed-format display.

10. A mixed-format display comprising:

a first backlight configured to provide directional emitted light within a multiview zone of the mixed-format display;

a second backlight adjacent to the first backlight, the second backlight including a light guide configured to guide light as guided light, the second back light including a broad-angle scattering feature configured to scatter out a portion of the guided light from the light guide as broad-angle emitted light within a two-dimensional (2D) zone of the mixed-format display, the multiview zone and the 2D zone being mutually exclusive regions of the mixed-format display; and

an array of light valves configured to modulate the directional emitted light to provide a multiview image portion of a displayed image within the multiview zone of the mixed-format display, and configured to modulate the broad-angle emitted light to provide a 2D image portion of the displayed image within the 2D zone of the mixed-format display,

wherein the first backlight is between the second backlight and the array of light valves.

11. The mixed-format display of claim 10 , further comprising a mask disposed between the first backlight and the second backlight, the mask being configured to block a portion of the broad-angle emitted light from passing through a region of the first backlight corresponding to the multiview zone of the mixed-format display.

12. The mixed-format display of claim 10 , wherein the light guide is a first light guide, the guided light is first guided light, and the first backlight comprises:

a second light guide configured to guide light as second guided light; and

an array of multibeam elements spaced apart from one another and configured to provide the directional emitted light as a plurality of directional light beams having different principal angular directions corresponding to respective different view directions of the multiview image portion of the displayed image, a multibeam element of the multibeam element array being configured to scatter out a portion of the second guided light as directional light beams of the plurality of directional light beams.

13. The mixed-format display of claim 12 , wherein the multibeam element comprises one or more of a diffraction grating, a micro-reflective element, and a micro-refractive element.

14. The mixed-format display of claim 12 , wherein a size of the multibeam element is between fifty percent (50%) and two hundred percent (200%) of a size of a light valve of the light valve array, and wherein a spacing between adjacent multibeam elements of the multibeam element array is commensurate with a spacing between adjacent multiview pixels of the mixed-format display.

15. The mixed-format display of claim 10 , wherein the broad-angle scattering feature is confined to a portion of the light guide of the second backlight corresponding to the 2D zone of the mixed-format display.

16. The mixed-format display of claim 10 , wherein the first backlight comprises a first region of the light guide having an array of multibeam elements configured to scatter out a portion of the guided light as the directional emitted light,

wherein a multibeam element of the multibeam element array is configured to scatter out the guided light portion as a plurality of directional light beams having different principal angular directions corresponding to respective different view directions of the multiview image portion of the displayed image.

17. A method of mixed-format backlight operation, the method comprising:

emitting directional emitted light from a multiview zone of the mixed-format backlight using an array of multibeam emitters, each multibeam emitter of the multibeam emitter array providing a plurality of directional light beams of the directional emitted light having different principal angular directions corresponding to respective different view directions a multiview image;

guiding light in a light guide as guided light; and

scattering out a portion of the guided light from the light guide as broad-angle emitted light using a broad-angle scattering feature disposed in from a two-dimensional (2D) zone of the mixed-format backlight, the multiview zone and the 2D zone being mutually exclusive regions of the mixed-format backlight,

wherein a size of the multibeam emitter of the multibeam emitter array is comparable to a size of a light valve of a mixed-format display that employs the mixed-format backlight.

18. The method of mixed-format backlight operation of claim 17 , wherein the light guide is a first light guide, the guided light is first guided light, and emitting the directional emitted light comprises:

guiding light in a second light guide as second guided light; and

scattering out a portion of the second guided light using a multibeam emitter of the multibeam emitter array, one or more of a diffraction grating, a micro-refractive element, and a micro-reflective element of the multibeam emitter being configured to scatter out the guided light portion as the plurality of directional light beams.

19. The method of mixed-format backlight operation of claim 17 , further comprising:

modulating the directional emitted light using an array of light valves to provide a multiview image portion of a displayed image, the multiview image portion having view directions corresponding to respective different view directions of the multiview image; and

modulating the broad-angle emitted light using the light valve array to provide a 2D image portion of the displayed image.