See-through optical image processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9940901-B2
Application number	US-201313969202-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2013
Priority date	Sep 21, 2012
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods for performing optical image processing via a transparent display are disclosed. In one example approach, a method comprises determining a position of incident light on a see-through display device, determining a direction of the incident light relative to the see-through display device, and modulating, with the see-through display device, a transmission of the incident light through the see-through display device based on the determined position and determined direction of the incident light.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of optically processing light incident upon a see-through display device, the method comprising:
determining a position of incident light upon the see-through display device;
determining directions of light rays in the incident light relative to the see-through display device, wherein the directions are different among the light rays in the incident light; and
optically modulating, with the see-through display device, a property of the incident light transmitted through the see-through display device based on the determined position and determined directions of the light rays in the incident light, wherein the see-through display device comprises:
a first layer comprising a plurality of transmissivity regions separated by non-transmissive regions; and
a second layer spaced apart from the first layer and comprising a plurality of pixels,

wherein the optically modulating comprises: a respective transmissive region of the first layer directing light rays of multiple incident angles from the respective transmissive region to multiple pixels of the second layer; and the multiple pixels attenuating the light rays of the multiple incident angles.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the position of the incident light and the determining the directions of the light rays in the incident light are performed using a camera.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining the position of the incident light and the determining the directions of the light rays in the incident light comprise using the camera to determine a position of a viewed object.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining the position of the incident light and the determining the directions of the light rays in the incident light comprise using the camera to determine a position of a vantage point.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the position of the incident light and the determining the directions of the light rays in the incident light comprise determining a position of a viewed object.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the position of the incident light and the determining the directions of the light rays in the incident light comprise determining a position of a vantage point.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining the position of the vantage point comprises determining one of an eye position and an eye movement of a viewer.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining the position of the vantage point comprises determining a position of a viewer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optically modulating the property of the incident light is performed by using one or more liquid crystal display layers.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first layer comprises a microlens array and the second layer comprises a spatial light modulator.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optically modulating the property of the incident light further comprises modulating one of a frequency and an intensity of the incident light.

12. A method of optically processing light incident upon a see-through display device, the method comprising:
determining a position of incident light upon the see-through display device;
determining directions of light rays in the incident light relative to the see-through display device, wherein the directions are different among the light rays, wherein the determinings comprises (i) determining a position of a viewed object, and (ii) determining a position of a vantage point; and
optically modulating, with the see-through display device, a property of the incident light transmitted through the see-through display device based on a determined position of the incident light and determined directions of the light rays in the incident light, wherein the optically modulating comprises attenuating the light rays differently according to respective determined directions of the light rays, wherein the see-through display device comprises:
a first layer comprising a plurality of transmissivity regions separated by non-transmissive regions; and
a second layer spaced apart from the first layer and comprising a plurality of pixels,

wherein the optically modulating comprises: a respective transmissive region of the first layer directing light rays of multiple incident angles from the respective transmissive region to multiple pixels of the second layer; and the multiple pixels attenuating the light rays of the multiple incident angles.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the determining the position of the viewed object and the determining the position of the vantage point are performed by using a camera.

14. A see-through display system, comprising:
a transparent display comprising: a first layer comprising a plurality of transmissivity regions separated by non-transmissive regions; and a second layer spaced apart from the first layer and comprising a plurality of pixels; and
a controller configured to:
determine a position of incident light upon the transparent display; determine direction of light rays in the incident light upon the transparent display, wherein the directions are different among the light rays in the incident light; and
control optical modulation via the transparent display of a property of the incident light transmitted through the transparent display based on determined position and determined directions of the incident light,

wherein a respective transmissive region of the first layer is configured to direct light rays of multiple incident angles from the respective transmissive region to multiple pixels of the second layer; and the multiple pixels are configured to attenuate the light rays of the multiple incident angles.

15. The see-through display system of claim 14 , further comprising a camera, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the position of the incident light and determine directions of the light rays in the incident light by using output from the camera.

16. The see-through display system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the position of the incident light and determine the directions of the light rays in the incident light by determining a position of a viewed object by using output from the camera.

17. The see-through display system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the position of the incident light and determine the direction of the light rays in the incident light by determining a position of a vantage point by using output from the camera.

18. The see-through display system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the position of the incident light and determine the directions of the light rays in the incident light by determining a position of a viewed object.

19. The see-through display system of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the position of the incident light and determine the directions of the light rays of the incident light by determining a position of a vantage point.

20. The see-through display system of claim 14 , wherein the property of the incident light is one of frequency, phase and intensity of the incident light.

21. The see-through display system of claim 14 , wherein the first layer comprises a lenslet array and the second layer comprises a liquid-crystal display (LCD).

22. The see-through display system of claim 14 , wherein said transparent display comprises an anisotropic attenuat

Assignees

• Nvidia Corp

Inventors

• Luebke David Patrick
• Lanman Douglas

Classifications

• G09G5/10 Primary

  Intensity circuits · CPC title

• G02B3/0006

  Arrays (G02B3/02, G02B5/188 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B2027/0187

  slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye · CPC title

• G02B2027/014

  comprising information/image processing systems · CPC title

• G02B2027/0118

  comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility · CPC title