System for 3D Image Projections and Viewing

Abstract

Shaped glasses have curved surface lenses with spectrally complementary filters disposed thereon. The filters curved surface lenses are configured to compensate for wavelength shifts occurring due to viewing angles and other sources. Complementary images are projected for viewing through projection filters having passbands that pre-shift to compensate for subsequent wavelength shifts. At least one filter may have more than 3 primary passbands. For example, two filters include a first filter having passbands of low blue, high blue, low green, high green, and red, and a second filter having passbands of blue, green, and red. The additional passbands may be utilized to more closely match a color space and white point of a projector in which the filters are used. The shaped glasses and projection filters together may be utilized as a system for projecting and viewing 3D images.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method, comprising the steps of:
 projecting first and second images, each image comprising a plurality of discrete lightbands spectrally separated from lightbands of the other image, onto a screen;   viewing the projected images through a pair of glasses having a first lens having a first spectral filter having passbands configured to pass the lightbands the first image and a second lens having a second spectral filter having passbands configured to pass the lightbands of the second image;   wherein the first and second spectral filter passbands exhibit an amount of spectral response shift depending upon an incident angle of light to the lenses which is compensated, at least in-part, by spectral characteristics of the passbands that are inversely shifted relative to the spectral response shift and shifted relative to the lightband or lightbands the passband is configured to pass.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the spectral properties of the passbands vary at different parts of the lenses. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the passbands comprise layers of material and wherein the layers are not uniform across the lenses. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the passbands are constructed via interference filters. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the lenses comprise a dichroic glass. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the spectral filters comprise a plurality of guard bands each separating a different set of adjacent spectrums in the first and second filters; and a bandwidth of each guard band is a function of a crossover wavelength of the adjacent spectrums and a viewing angle to an edge of the display screen. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the first spectral filter comprises at least one of a blue/green pass filter, and a green/red pass filter. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the pass filters are characterized by steep walls wherein more than 80% of light is passed within less than 5% of the wavelengths for each pass filter. 
     
     
         10 . 3D glasses comprising:
 a first lens filter and a second lens filter each having a plurality of passbands comprising a set of passbands mutually exclusive to the set of passbands of the other filter;   the first and second lens filters respectively configured to pass spectral components of first and second spectrally separated images;   wherein:   each passband is configured and intended to pass at least one of the spectral components;   the spectral properties of the passbands are offset relative to the spectral components intended to be passed by the passbands when the spectral components are incident to a corresponding lens at a normal angle.   
     
     
         11 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 10 , wherein when the spectral components are incident to the corresponding lens at an off normal angle, the spectral properties of the passbands shift such that the spectral components are passed closer to a long wavelength end of the passbands relative to when they are normally incident to the lens filters. 
     
     
         12 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 11 , wherein the lens filters comprise a curvature and are constructed from a plurality of layers of material that are not uniformly distributed across the lenses. 
     
     
         13 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 10 , wherein the lens filters are curved and comprise dielectric interference filters. 
     
     
         14 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 13 , wherein at least one of the passbands in at least one of the lens filters is configured to pass two primary colors comprising one of blue and green and green and red. 
     
     
         15 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 10 , wherein the spectral properties of the passbands vary from one location to another of the lens filters, the lens filters are curved, and a construction of the filters comprises a series of dielectric layers that are not uniform across an entire lens filter. 
     
     
         16 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 15 , wherein the lens filters comprise a plurality of guard bands each separating a different set of wavelength adjacent passbands, each set of wavelength adjacent passbands comprising a passband in the first lens filter and a passband in the second lens filter; and
 a bandwidth of each guard band comprises a function of a crossover wavelength between the adjacent passbands.   
     
     
         17 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 16 , wherein a the function comprises more than  2 % of the crossover wavelength. 
     
     
         18 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 10 , wherein the offset comprises a red shift in pass areas of the passbands. 
     
     
         19 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 10 , wherein passbands of the lens filters are configured to pass wavelengths longer than wavelengths of the projected images intended to be passed by the passbands. 
     
     
         20 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 19 , wherein the offset places the spectral components of the images closer to shorter wavelength ends of the passbands when normally incident to the lens filters compared to other angles of incidence and wherein the spectral components are passed through the passbands throughout a range of incident angles that typically occur in a movie theater or other venue displaying the images, and wherein the spectral components are passed throughout the range of incident angles due to a combination of techniques including the passband offset noted in  claim 10 , a curvature of the lens filters, and a construction of the filter passbands. 
     
     
         21 . The 3D glasses according to  claim 10 , wherein the spectral properties of the lens filters are different at areas closer to an edge of the lens filter compared to more central areas of the lenses. 
     
     
         22 . 3D viewing glasses, comprising:
 a first filter comprising a curved shape and comprising a first set of primary passbands each configured to pass at least one wavelength of a first set of at least three light wavelengths comprising blue, green, and red wavelengths corresponding to a first channel of 3D image;   a second filter comprising a curved shape and comprising a second set of primary passbands each configured to pass at least one wavelength of a second set of a least three light wavelengths comprising blue, green, and red wavelengths corresponding to a second channel of the 3D image and complimentary to the first set of wavelengths;   wherein the first set of primary passbands are spectrally distinct from the second set of primary passbands, and wherein the primary passbands of each filter are shifted toward longer wavelengths relative to wavelengths intended to be passed by the primary passbands when viewed at a normal angle of incidence through the filter;   wherein properties of the filters vary according to location on the filters, the filters are constructed from dielectric layers comprising a structure that changes from one portion of a filter to another portion of the filter, the shift toward longer wavelengths comprises a wavelength shift of greater than 0.6%, wherein the filters comprise a plurality of guard bands each separating a different set of passbands that are adjacent across the first and second lens filters; and a bandwidth of each guard band corresponds to a function of a crossover wavelength of the adjacent passbands.