Displays with viewer tracking for vertical parallax correction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12294692-B2
Application number	US-202318189542-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2023
Priority date	Jun 23, 2022
Publication date	May 6, 2025
Grant date	May 6, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device may include a stereoscopic display with a plurality of lenticular lenses that extend across the length of the display. The lenticular lenses may be configured to enable stereoscopic viewing of the display such that a viewer perceives three-dimensional images. The display may have different viewing zones that account for horizontal parallax as a viewer moves horizontally relative to the display. The display may be dimmed globally, blurred, and/or composited with a default image based on the detected vertical position of the viewer. The display may render content that compensates for the real-time vertical positions of multiple viewers.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic device configured to be worn on a user's head, the electronic device comprising:
a display that includes an array of pixels and a lens film formed over the array of pixels, wherein the lens film spreads light from the display in at least a horizontal direction;
at least one sensor configured to obtain sensor data; and
control circuitry configured to:
determine first eye position information for a first viewer from the sensor data, wherein the first eye position information includes a first vertical eye position and a first horizontal eye position;
determine second eye position information for a second viewer from the sensor data, wherein the second eye position information includes a second vertical eye position and a second horizontal eye position; and
render content for the display, wherein the rendered content includes first content for the first viewer that is based at least partially on the first vertical eye position and second content for the second viewer that is based at least partially on a third vertical eye position different than the second vertical eye position.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the rendered content comprises a plurality of two-dimensional images and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to map each two-dimensional image to respective pixels on the array of pixels to obtain pixel data for the array of pixels.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the display has a plurality of independently controllable viewing zones in the horizontal direction and wherein the rendered content comprises a plurality of two-dimensional images that are each associated with a respective viewing zone.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 , wherein the two-dimensional images that are each associated with a respective viewing zone are two-dimensional images of the same content at different horizontal perspectives.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 3 , wherein the plurality of two-dimensional images comprises a first subset of two-dimensional images that are the first content for the first viewer and a second subset of two-dimensional images that are the second content for the second viewer.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 , wherein the first subset of two-dimensional images comprises two-dimensional images of the same content at different horizontal perspectives and a first vertical perspective that is based on the first vertical eye position and wherein the second subset of two-dimensional images comprises two-dimensional images of the same content at different horizontal perspectives and a second vertical perspective that is based on the third vertical eye position.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to dim at least some of the pixels based on the horizontal eye position.

8. A portable electronic device comprising:
a display that includes an array of pixels and a lens film formed over the array of pixels, wherein the lens film spreads light from the display in at least a horizontal direction;
an accelerometer;
an eye tracking system; and
control circuitry configured to:
determine, using the eye tracking system, a first position of a viewer;
determine, using the accelerometer, a change in a pose of the display;
determine, based on the change in the pose of the display and the first position of the viewer, a second position of the viewer; and
render content for the display based on the second position of the viewer.

9. The portable electronic device defined in claim 8 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
after determining the first position of the viewer and before determining the change in the pose of the display, render content for the display based on the first position of the viewer.

10. The portable electronic device defined in claim 8 , wherein the rendered content comprises a plurality of two-dimensional images and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to map each two-dimensional image to respective pixels on the array of pixels to obtain pixel data for the array of pixels.

11. The portable electronic device defined in claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
blur the plurality of two-dimensional images based on a vertical viewing angle associated with the second position.

12. The portable electronic device defined in claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
composite the plurality of two-dimensional images with a default image based on a vertical viewing angle associated with the second position.

13. The portable electronic device defined in claim 8 , wherein the display has a plurality of independently controllable viewing zones in the horizontal direction and wherein the rendered content comprises a plurality of two-dimensional images that are each associated with a respective viewing zone.

14. The portable electronic device defined in claim 13 , wherein the two-dimensional images that are each associated with a respective viewing zone are two-dimensional images of the same content at different horizontal perspectives.

15. A portable electronic device comprising:
a display that includes an array of pixels and a lens film formed over the array of pixels, wherein the lens film spreads light from the display in at least a horizontal direction;
at least one sensor configured to obtain sensor data; and
control circuitry configured to:
determine, using the sensor data, a first position of a first viewer and a second position of a second viewer;
determine, based on the first position and the second position, that a selected one of the first viewer and the second viewer is a primary viewer; and
render content for the display based on the selected one of the first viewer and the second viewer being the primary viewer, wherein at least some of the rendered content is the same for the first viewer and the second viewer.

16. The portable electronic device defined in claim 15 , wherein the display has a plurality of independently controllable viewing zones in the horizontal direction and wherein the rendered content comprises a plurality of two-dimensional images that are each associated with a respective viewing zone.

17. The portable electronic device defined in claim 16 , wherein the first viewer has a first eye in a first viewing zone and the second viewer has a first eye in the first viewing zone.

18. The portable electronic device defined in claim 17 , wherein determining, based on the first position and the second position, that the selected one of the first viewer and the second viewer is the primary viewer comprises determining that the first viewer is the primary viewer and wherein rendering content for the display based on the selected one of the first viewer and the second viewer being the primary viewer comprises rendering content for the first viewing zone that is based on a position of the first eye.

19. The portable electronic device defined in claim 15 , wherein determining, based on the first position and the second position, that the selected one of the first viewer and the second viewer is the primary viewer comprises determining that the selected one of the first viewer and the second viewer is the primary viewer based on a first distance between the display and the first viewer and a second distance between the display and the second viewer.

20. The portable electronic device defined in claim 15 , whe

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Dudrenov Pavel V
• Corley Zachary D
• Iskandar Edwin
• Bacim De Araujo E Silva Felipe
• Kim Seung Wook
• Li Yang
• Yimam Menelik Baye
• Cadet Gilles M

Classifications

• H04N13/398

  Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof · CPC title

• H04N13/376

  for tracking left-right translational head movements, i.e. lateral movements · CPC title

• H04N13/305

  using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses · CPC title

• H04N13/122

  Improving the three-dimensional [3D] impression of stereoscopic images by modifying image signal contents, e.g. by filtering or adding monoscopic depth cues (H04N13/128 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N13/383

  for tracking with gaze detection, i.e. detecting the lines of sight of the viewer's eyes · CPC title