Three dimensional glasses free light field display using eye location

Abstract

In some examples, a three dimensional display system includes a display (for example, a display screen or a display panel), a micro lens array, and an eye tracker to track one or more eyes of a person and to provide eye location information. The display system also includes a rendering processor to render or capture color plus depth images (for example, RGB-D images) or light field images. The display system also includes a light field processor to use the eye location information to convert the rendered color plus depth images or light field images to display images to be provided to the display.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A three dimensional display apparatus comprising:
 a display;   a micro lens array;   an eye tracker to track a plurality of eyes, and to provide eye location information corresponding to the tracking;   a rendering processor to render or capture color plus depth images or light field images; and   a light field processor to use the eye location information to convert the rendered or captured color plus depth images or light field images to display images to be provided to the display.   
     
     
         2 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , the rendering processor to render light field images based on the eye location information, and the light field processor to synthesize rendered or captured color, light field or multi view images to the required light field image for the display. 
     
     
         3 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , comprising a display backlight to steer backlight based on the eye location information. 
     
     
         4 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the display is a high pixel density display having a pixel density higher than 250 pixels per inch. 
     
     
         5 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the micro lens array is a long focal length micro lens array with an F number larger than 8. 
     
     
         6 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the eye tracker is a pupil tracker to track one or more pupils, and wherein the eye location information is pupil location information. 
     
     
         7 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the eye tracker is a three dimensional eye tracker and the eye location information is three dimensional eye location information. 
     
     
         8 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the rendering processor comprises a graphics engine. 
     
     
         9 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the light field processor is to convert the rendered or captured color plus depth images or light field images to stereo integral images to be provided to the display. 
     
     
         10 . The three dimensional display of apparatus  1 , wherein the rendering processor is to render each color plus depth image or light field image according to the tracked location of one or more of the eyes. 
     
     
         11 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the rendering processor is to render the color plus depth images or light field images based on the eye location information. 
     
     
         12 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the light field processor is to use the eye location information to calculate an optimal eye box size and to offset displayed images to align a center of an eye box with eye location of the person. 
     
     
         13 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the light field processor is to convert the rendered or captured color plus depth images or light field images to display images using one or more post-processing technique. 
     
     
         14 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the one or more post processing technique includes screen-space ray tracing. 
     
     
         15 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the light field processor is to provide the display images to the display. 
     
     
         16 . The three dimensional display apparatus of  claim 1 , comprising a display backlight to steer light alternating between a left and right eye based on the tracked eye location information at a refresh rate that is higher than a human perceivable refresh rate. 
     
     
         17 . A three dimensional display light field image method comprising:
 tracking one or more eyes viewing a micro lens array and a display screen to provide eye location information;   rendering or capturing color plus depth images or light field images; and   using the eye location information to convert the rendered or captured color plus depth images or light field images to display images to be provided to the display.   
     
     
         18 . The three dimensional display light field image method of  claim 17 , comprising:
 rendering light field images based on the eye location information; and   synthesizing captured color, light field or multi view images to the required light field image for the display.   
     
     
         19 . The three dimensional display light field image method of  claim 17 , comprising tracking one or more pupils viewing the micro lens array and the display screen to provide pupil location information, wherein the eye location information is pupil location information. 
     
     
         20 . The three dimensional display light field image method of  claim 17 , comprising steering light alternating between a left and right eye based on the tracked eye location information at a refresh rate that is higher than a human perceivable refresh rate. 
     
     
         21 . One or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
 track one or more eyes viewing a micro lens array and a display screen to provide eye location information;   render or capture color plus depth images or light field images; and   use the eye location information to convert the rendered or captured color plus depth images or light field images to display images to be provided to the display.   
     
     
         22 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of  claim 21 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
 render light field images based on the eye location information; and   synthesize captured color, light field or multi view images to the required light field image for the display.   
     
     
         23 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of  claim 21 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to track one or more pupils viewing the micro lens array and the display screen to provide pupil location information, wherein the eye location information is pupil location information. 
     
     
         24 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of  claim 21 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to render the color plus depth images based on the eye location information. 
     
     
         25 . The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine readable media of  claim 21 , comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to steer light alternating between a left and right eye based on the tracked eye location information at a refresh rate that is higher than a human perceivable refresh rate.