Horizontal parallax multiview display and method having light control film
A horizontal parallax multiview display employs a plurality of slanted multibeam columns to scatter out of a light guide a plurality of directional light beams having principal angular directions corresponding to different view directions of the horizontal parallax multiview display. The plurality of directional light beams is modulated using an array of light valves to provide a multiview image having horizontal parallax. Further, the horizontal parallax multiview display employs a light control film having a slanted light control axis aligned with slanted multibeam columns of the slanted multibeam column plurality. The light control film is configured to control a view angle of the multiview image in a direction orthogonal to the horizontal parallax. The slanted multibeam columns may provide the multiview displays with a balanced resolution.
1. A horizontal parallax multiview display comprising:
a light guide configured to guide light;
a plurality of slanted multibeam columns distributed across the light guide and being configured to scatter out guided light from within the light guide as directional light beams having principal angular directions corresponding to different view directions of the horizontal parallax multiview display;
an array of light valves representing pixels of the horizontal parallax multiview display, the light valve array being configured to modulate the directional light beams as a multiview image having horizontal parallax; and
a light control film having a slanted light control axis aligned with a slanted multibeam column of the slanted multibeam column plurality, the light control film comprising parallel micro-baffles configured to control a view angle of the multiview image in a direction orthogonal to the horizontal parallax by allowing directional light beams having principal angular directions in a specified angular range to pass without redirection through the parallel micro-baffles and blocking directional light beams having principal angular directions outside the specified angular range.
2. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 1 , wherein a slope of the slanted multibeam column is equal to a width of a pixel of the horizontal parallax multiview display divided by a number of rows of the pixels in a pixel-view arrangement of the horizontal parallax multiview display.
3. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 2 , wherein the pixel-view arrangement of the horizontal parallax multiview display comprises two rows, the slope of the slanted multibeam column being one half of the pixel width.
4. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 1 , wherein a spacing between centerlines of the slanted multibeam columns of the slanted multibeam column plurality is a function of a number of pixels in a pixel-view arrangement of the multiview display divided by a number of rows of the pixels in the pixel-view arrangement.
5. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 1 , wherein a pixel of the horizontal parallax multiview display comprises a color sub-pixel, the horizontal parallax multiview display being a color multiview display.
6. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 1 , wherein the slanted multibeam column comprises a plurality of discrete multibeam elements, each discrete multibeam element of the plurality being offset in relation to adjacent discrete multibeam elements of the slanted multibeam column to provide a slope of the slanted multibeam column.
7. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 6 , wherein a spacing between discrete multibeam elements of the plurality is about equal to a spacing between adjacent rows of the light valve array.
8. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 6 , wherein the discrete multibeam element of the slanted multibeam column comprises a diffraction grating configured to diffractively scatter out the guided light.
9. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 1 , wherein the slanted multibeam column comprises a continuous multibeam element.
10. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 1 , wherein a width of the slanted multibeam column is between one half of a width of a pixel and the width of the pixel of the horizontal parallax multiview display.
11. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 1 , wherein the light control film is located between the array of light valves and a surface of the light guide.
12. A horizontal parallax multiview display comprising:
a backlight having a plurality of slanted multibeam columns, a slanted multibeam column of the slanted multibeam column plurality being configured to scatter out light from the backlight as directional light beams having principal angular directions corresponding to different view directions of a multiview image having horizontal parallax;
an array of light valves configured to modulate the directional light beams as the multiview image, a light valve of the light valve array corresponding to a pixel of the horizontal parallax multiview display; and
a light control film having a slanted light control axis aligned with the slanted multibeam column, the light control film comprising parallel micro-baffles configured to control a view angle of the multiview image in a direction orthogonal to the horizontal parallax by allowing directional light beams having principal angular directions in a specified angular range to pass without redirection through the parallel micro-baffles and blocking directional light beams having principal angular directions outside the specified angular range.
13. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 12 , wherein the backlight further comprises a light guide and the slanted multibeam column comprises a diffraction grating, the plurality of slanted multibeam columns being spaced apart along a length of the light guide and the diffraction grating of the slanted multibeam column being configured to diffractively scatter out guided light from within the light guide as the directional light beams.
14. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 12 , wherein the slanted multibeam column comprises a plurality of discrete multibeam elements, each discrete multibeam element of the plurality being offset from adjacent discrete multibeam elements by a distance corresponding to a spacing between adjacent rows of light valves of the light valve array.
15. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 12 , wherein the slanted multibeam column comprises a continuous multibeam element.
16. The horizontal parallax multiview display of claim 12 , wherein the array of light valves is between the light control film and the backlight having the plurality of slanted multibeam columns.
17. A method of multiview display operation, the method comprising:
guiding light along a length of a light guide;
scattering out guided light from the light guide as directional light beams using a plurality of slanted multibeam columns distributed along the light guide length, the directional light beams having directions corresponding to view directions of the multiview display;
modulating the directional light beams using an array of light valves to provide a multiview image having horizontal parallax, a light valve of the array corresponding to a pixel of the multiview display; and
controlling a view angle of the multiview image in a direction orthogonal to the horizontal parallax using a light control film having a slanted light control axis aligned with a slope of a slanted multibeam column of the slanted multibeam column plurality, the light control film comprising parallel micro-baffles configured to control the view angle by allowing directional light beams having directions in a specified angular range to pass without redirection through the parallel micro-baffles and blocking directional light beams having directions outside the specified angular range.
18. The method of multiview display operation of claim 17 , wherein the slope of the slanted multibeam column is a function of a pixel width and a pixel-view arrangement of the multiview display, the slope corresponding to one half of the pixel width when the pixel-view arrangement has two rows of pixels and the slope corresponding to the pixel width when the pixel-view arrangement has one row of pixels.
19. The method of multiview display operation of claim 17 , wherein the slanted multibeam column of the slanted multibeam column plurality comprises a plurality of discrete multibeam elements, each discrete multibeam element being spaced apart from other discrete multibeam elements of the plurality of discrete multibeam elements along a length of the slanted multibeam column.
20. The method of multiview display operation of claim 17 , wherein the light control film is located between the array of light valves and a surface of the light guide.