Switched emissive transparent display with controllable per-pixel opacity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9916794-B2
Application number	US-201514818519-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2015
Priority date	Aug 5, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A display system adapted to use rapid switching techniques to switch between displaying content and displaying a mask for that content so as to provide per-pixel opacity control. The display system may employ rapid synchronized switching of both a non-emissive, transparent display and a transparent backlight. In a first state, the display is operated to display content with the backlight acting as a scattering luminous backlight. In the other or second state, the display is operated to display one or more masks (for some or all objects or items of the content displayed in the first state) with the backlight functioning as a clear and unlit backlight. The display system is capable of producing opaque emissive content on a transparent field to provide a novel display and/or for use in compact spatial augmented reality applications.

First claim

I claim:

1. A display system, comprising:
a display element including a non-emissive display panel;
a backlight assembly; and
a display controller operable to switch operations of the display element between first and second operating states and to switch operations of the backlight assembly between first and second operating states,
wherein the non-emissive display panel displays content in the first operating state of the display element and displays a mask for the content in the second operating state of the display element,
wherein the backlight assembly is luminous in the first operating state of the backlight assembly to direct light onto a surface of the non-emissive display panel and is transparent in the second operating state of the backlight assembly,
wherein the backlight assembly is opaque during the first operating state of the backlight assembly,
wherein the backlight assembly includes a smart glass panel that is controlled to be opaque in the first operating state of the backlight assembly and to be transparent in the second operating state,
wherein the backlight assembly further includes an edge lit particle-embedded plastic sheet positioned between the surface of the non-emissive display panel and the smart glass panel, and
wherein the edge lit particle-embedded plastic sheet is operable to be luminous in the first operating state of the backlight assembly and to be transparent in the second operating state of the backlight assembly.

2. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the controller synchronizes switching of the operations of the display element and the backlight assembly whereby the first operating states of the display element and the backlight assembly at least partially overlap and the second operating states of the display element and backlight assembly at least partially overlap.

3. The display system of claim 1 , further comprising a background object positioned for viewing through both the non-emissive display panel and the smart glass panel in the second operating states of the display element and the backlight assembly.

4. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the non-emissive display panel comprises a transparent liquid crystal display (LCD).

5. A display system, comprising:
a display element including a non-emissive display panel;
a backlight assembly; and
a display controller operable to switch operations of the display element between first and second operating states and to switch operations of the backlight assembly between first and second operating states,
wherein the non-emissive display panel displays content in the first operating state of the display element and displays a mask for the content in the second operating state of the display element,
wherein the backlight assembly is luminous in the first operating state of the backlight assembly to direct light onto a surface of the non-emissive display panel and is transparent in the second operating state of the backlight assembly,
wherein the backlight assembly is opaque during the first operating state of the backlight assembly,
wherein the backlight assembly includes a smart glass panel that is controlled to be opaque in the first operating state of the backlight assembly and to be transparent in the second operating state,
wherein the smart glass panel is spaced apart and parallel to the surface of the non-emissive display panel,
wherein the backlight assembly includes a quad-lenticular stack between the smart glass panel and the surface of the non-emissive display panel, and
wherein the quad-lenticular stack is edge lit causing the quad-lenticular stack to be luminous in the first operating state of the backlight assembly and to be non-luminous in the second operating state of the backlight assembly.

6. A display with per-pixel opacity, comprising:
a display panel operable in a first state to display content with a first set of pixels and in a second state to display a mask with at least a portion of the first set of pixels and to be transparent in a second set of pixels differing at least partially from the first set of pixels;
a backlight assembly positioned adjacent a back surface of the display panel, wherein the backlight assembly is operable in a first state to be luminous to light the back surface of the display panel and to be opaque to light from a background space and wherein the backlight assembly is operable in a second state to be transparent to the light from the background space;
a controller generating control signals to operate the display panel and the backlight assembly in synchronization and in a switched manner at a predefined switching rate, whereby the display panel and the backlight assembly at least partially concurrently operate in the first and second states,
wherein the backlight assembly includes a smart glass panel that is controlled to be opaque in the first state of the backlight assembly and to be transparent in the second state of the backlight assembly; and
a background lighting system unlit and not illuminating the background space during the first states of the display panel and the backlight assembly and also operable to transmit light onto surfaces of the background object and space to be viewable during the second states of the display panel and the backlight assembly through the display panel via the second set of pixels and a background light.

7. The display of claim 6 , wherein the display panel comprises a transparent LCD panel and the predefined switching rate is at least 120 Hz.

8. The display of claim 6 , further comprising a background object in the background space viewable during the second states of the display panel and the backlight assembly through the display panel via the second set of pixels and a background light operable to transmit light onto surfaces of the background object.

9. The display of claim 6 , wherein the content is displayed by operating the first set of pixels to display color and the mask is displayed by operating the first set of pixels to display color, gray, or black.

10. The display of claim 6 , wherein the backlight assembly further includes an edge lit particle-embedded plastic sheet positioned between the back surface of the display panel and the smart glass panel and wherein the edge lit particle-embedded plastic sheet is operable to be luminous in the first state of the backlight assembly and to be transparent in the second state of the backlight assembly.

11. The display of claim 6 , wherein the smart glass panel is spaced apart and parallel to the back surface of the display panel, wherein the backlight assembly includes an edge lit particle-embedded plastic sheet positioned to be transverse to the back surface of the display panel and to be between the back surface of the display panel and the smart glass panel, wherein the backlight assembly also includes a beamsplitter positioned between the smart glass panel and the edge lit particle-embedded plastic sheet, and wherein the edge lit particle-embedded plastic sheet is operable to be luminous in the first state of the backlight assembly and to be transparent in the second state of the backlight assembly.

12. The display of claim 6 , wherein the smart glass panel is spaced apart and parallel to the back surface of the display panel, wherein the backlight assembly further includes a light source positioned to direct output light onto a surface of the smart glass panel distal to the back surface of the display panel, and wherein the light source is operated to provide the output light during the first state of the backlight assembly and to be non-luminous during the second state of the backlight assembly.

Assignees

• Disney Entpr Inc

Inventors

• Smithwick Quinn Y

Classifications

• G09G3/3406 Primary

  Control of illumination source (illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336) · CPC title

• G09G2300/023

  Display panel composed of stacked panels · CPC title

• H04N13/04

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G09G3/003

  to produce spatial visual effects · CPC title

• H04N2213/006

  Pseudo-stereoscopic systems, i.e. systems wherein a stereoscopic effect is obtained without sending different images to the viewer's eyes · CPC title