The present disclosure generally relates to the display technologies and, more particularly, to a holographic display device and a method for operating the holographic display device.
Holographic display technology is a display technology that uses interference and diffraction to record and reproduce three-dimensional images of an actual object, and displays information of the object from various angles. Holographic display technology is one solution to realize three-dimensional display.
One aspect of present disclosure provides a holographic display device. The holographic display device includes a light source device including a plurality of light sources; and an imager including a plurality of imaging regions each corresponding to one light source. The imager includes at least one spatial light modulator configured to receive light from the plurality of light sources to form a plurality of holographic images.
Optionally, the imaging unit includes a spatial light modulator, and a display of the spatial light modulator is divided into the plurality of imaging regions.
Optionally, the imager includes a plurality of spatial light modulators, a display of each of the spatial light modulators being one of the imaging regions.
Optionally, the spatial light modulator includes a liquid crystal display spatial light modulator.
Optionally, a light-exiting surface of the imager includes a curved surface.
Optionally, the plurality of imaging regions each has a curved surface and the curved surfaces of the imaging regions are arranged tightly to form the light-exiting surface of the imager.
Optionally, the curved surface includes a concave-shaped surface.
Optionally, a light-exiting surface of the imager includes a discrete-bent surface.
Optionally, the plurality of imaging regions each has a flat surface and the flat surfaces of the imaging regions are arranged tightly to form the light-exiting surface of the imager.
Optionally, the holographic display device further includes an eye tracker configured to determine an orientation of a user eye at an observing position. The eye tracker includes one or more of a camera, an eye motion tracker, or an infrared sensor.
Optionally, the holographic display device further includes a controller configured to control one of the light sources and one of the imaging regions that correspond to one holographic image observed by a user eye.
Optionally, the holographic display device further includes an adjuster between the light source device and the imager, and configured to adjust light emitted by the light source device.
Optionally, the adjuster is configured to collimate the light emitted by the light source device and the adjuster includes a plurality of lenses or lens sets.
Optionally, the adjuster is configured to expand and collimate the light emitted the light source device.
Optionally, the adjuster includes a plurality of expanding-collimating lens sets
Optionally, each of the expanding-collimating lens sets includes two lenses having different focal lengths.
Optionally, each of the light sources includes one or more light sources emitting light of at least one color.
Optionally, each of the light sources includes: light sources emitting light of different colors and a semi-reflective minor configured to reflect or transmit light from one of the light sources.
Optionally, the one or more light sources include one or more light-emitting diodes or one or more lasers.
Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for operating the disclosed holographic display device, including: determining the orientation of the user eye; and controlling one of the light sources and one of the imaging regions corresponding to the orientation of the user eye to display the holographic image.
The following drawings are merely examples for illustrative purposes according to various disclosed embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of some embodiments are presented herein for purposes of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limiting.
The present disclosure provides a holographic display device, including an imager, a light source device, an eye tracker, and a controller.
The imager may be divided into a plurality of imaging regions. An imaging region may independently form a holographic image.
The light source device may include at least one light source. For example, the light source device may include a plurality of light sources. A light source may correspond to and provide light for an imaging region. The light emitted by the light sources may point to a same observing position after passing through the corresponding imaging regions.
The eye tracker may determine an orientation of a human eye, e.g., a user's eye. The eye tracker may also be referred to as a human eye tracker. The user's eye may be located at the observing position.
The controller may control the light sources and the imaging regions to display a holographic image based on the orientation of the human eye.
In the disclosed holographic display device, the imager may be divided into a plurality of imaging regions. An imaging region may independently form a holographic image, and different imaging, regions may face different directions or have different orientations. Accordingly, light emitted by the light sources, after passing through the corresponding imaging regions, may point to the same observing position, instead of propagating in parallel. Thus, when a user is observing from the observing position, the user may see the holographic images formed by different imaging regions from different directions. Thus, after the eye tracker determines the orientation of the user's eye, the controller may control the light source and the imaging region that correspond to the orientation of the user's eye to display a holographic image. Thus, when the orientation of the user's eye changes in a certain range, the user may still be able to see the holographic image without interruption. The viewing angle range of observation may be expanded and the observation may have a higher degree of freedom.
In some embodiments, a light-exiting surface of the imager 1, i.e., the surface of the imager 1 that faces away from the light source device, may be a curved surface. In some embodiments, the light-exiting surface of the imager 1 may be a concave-shaped surface. In some embodiments, the light-exiting surface of the imager 1 may be a smooth and continuous curved surface.
The light-exiting surface of the imager 1 is divided into a plurality of imaging regions 11. Each of the imaging regions 11 can project a holographic image 9. By changing the shape or curvature of the light-exiting surface, the light-exiting directions of the light emitted from the imaging regions 11 can be changed. To ensure the light emitted by different imaging regions 11 points to the same observing position, the light-exiting surface can be, for example, a concave-shaped curved surface, such as a part of a sphere surface. Accordingly, the observing position may be located at a concave side of the curved surface. For example, the observing position may be located at, or substantially at, a sphere center corresponding to the sphere surface.
The light-exiting surface of the imager 1 may be divided into the imaging regions 11 in many different ways. For example, the light-exiting surface may be divided into a plurality of blocks in a grid, as shown in
In some embodiments, as shown in
The imager 1 is not limited to that shown in
In some embodiments, the SLMs have curved surfaces and are arranged together tightly such that no space is formed between adjacent SLMs. The curved surfaces of the SLMs together form a curved surface as the light-exiting surface of the imager 1, as shown in
In various embodiments of the present disclosure, the SLMs may also have other shapes and may be arranged in other different ways. The different arrangement of the SLMs may also enable the light to be emitted from the imaging regions 11 and point to the same observing position. For example,
In a holographic display device having multiple SLMs in the imager 1, such as the holographic display device 200 or the holographic display device 300 described above, the SLMs can be arranged together tightly without space between neighboring SLMs, as shown in
In some embodiments, the SLMs described above may be liquid crystal display SLMs (LCD-SLMs).
In some embodiments, the holographic display device consistent with the disclosure, such as one of the exemplary holographic display devices 100, 200, and 300 described above, further includes an adjuster 5 arranged between the light source device 2 and the imager 1, as shown in
The light-adjusting module 51 can include any suitable optical device that can adjust the light emitted by the corresponding light source 21 as needed. For example, the imager 1, formed by, e.g., one or more SLMs, may require collimated light to realize holographic display. Thus, the light-adjusting module 51 can include a lens, such as a convex lens, or a lens set including a plurality of lenses, for collimating the light emitted by the corresponding light source 21. In some other embodiments, the light-adjusting module 51 can include an expanding-collimating lens set for expanding and collimating the light emitted by the corresponding light source 21.
In the examples shown in
According to the disclosure, the light source 21 may include one or more light sources. For example, the light source 21 may include one or more light sources of the same color to form single-color holographic images 9. As another example, the light source 21 may include a plurality of light sources of different colors to form multi-color holographic images 9. Each light source can be, for example, a light emitting diode (LED) or a laser.
For example, as shown in
In some other embodiments, the light source 21 may have a different structure. For example, the number of light sources 211 that emit light of the same color may be more than one. In another example, the light source 21 may not include the semi-reflective mirror 212, and the plurality of light sources 211, such as light sources 211 emitting light of different colors, may be arranged close to each other, so that light from different light sources 211 can be emitted by the light source 21 from a same position or close positions.
Referring again to any one of
As shown in
The present disclosure also provides a method to display or operate a holographic display device. The holographic display device may be a holographic display device consistent with the disclosure, such as one of the above-described exemplary holographic display devices. The method to display a holographic display device may include determining the orientation of the user's eye through an eye tracker. The method may further include controlling, through a controller, light sources and imaging regions facing the user's eye to display holographic images.
That is, when using the disclose holographic display device to display holographic images, the eye tracker may be used to keep tracking the orientation of the user's eye, and the controller may be used to control the light sources and imaging regions facing the user's eye to display holographic images. Thus, when the orientation of the user's eye changes within a certain range, the user may still be able to see the holographic images. The viewing angle range of observation may be expanded, and the observation may have a higher degree of freedom.
The imager of the disclosed holographic display device can be divided into a plurality of imaging regions each of which can independently form holographic images. The light emitted by the light sources may point to the observing position after passing through the corresponding imaging regions. Thus, at the observing position, the user may see holographic images formed by different imaging regions, along different directions.
The controller 900 may receive, process, and execute commands from the holographic display device. The controller 900 may include any appropriately configured computer system. As shown in
The processor 902 may include any appropriate type of general purpose microprocessor, digital signal processor or microcontroller, and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The processor 902 may execute sequences of computer program instructions to perform various processes associated with the controller 900. Computer program instructions may be loaded into the RAM 904 for execution by the processor 902 from the read-only memory 906, or from the storage 908. The storage 908 may include any appropriate type of mass storage provided to store any type of information that the processor 902 may need to perform the processes. For example, the storage 908 may include one or more hard disk devices, optical disk devices, flash disks, or other storage devices to provide storage space.
The display 910 may provide information to a user or users of the controller 900. The display 910 may include any appropriate type of computer display device or electronic device display (e.g., CRT or LCD based devices). The input/output interface 912 may be provided for users to input information into the controller 900 or for the users to receive information from the controller 900. For example, the input/output interface 912 may include any appropriate input device, such as a keyboard, a mouse, an electronic tablet, voice communication devices, touch screens, or any other optical or wireless input devices. Further, the input/output interface 912 may receive from and/or send to other external devices.
Further, the database 914 may include any type of commercial or customized database, and may also include analysis tools for analyzing the information in the databases. The database 914 may be used for storing data for image processing and calculation. The communication interface 916 may provide communication connections such that the controller 900 may be accessed remotely and/or communicate with other systems through computer networks or other communication networks via various communication protocols, such as transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.
In some embodiments, the controller 900 may receive data from the eye tracker 3 and perform certain calculation to determine the orientation of the user's eye. Such calculation may include, e.g., image recognition and/or target tracking, and the related parameters and data may be stored in the storage 908 and/or the database 914. Based on the orientation of the user's eye, the controller 900 may control the light sources and the imaging regions corresponding to the orientation of the user's eye to display holographic images such that the user may see holographic images from a desired direction. In some embodiments, the user may control and monitor the display of holographic images through the display 910. For example, the display 910 may show the number and/or location of the imaging regions that are displaying the holographic images. The user may also be able to select desired light sources and imaging regions to display from the input/output interface 912.
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise form or to exemplary embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, the foregoing description should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to persons skilled in this art. The embodiments are chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the technology, with various modifications suitable to the particular use or implementation contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. Therefore, the term “the disclosure”, “the present disclosure” or the like does not necessarily limit the claim scope to a specific embodiment, and the reference to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure does not imply a limitation. In the invention, and no such limitation is to be inferred. Moreover, the claims may refer to “first”, “second”, etc. followed by a noun or element. Such terms should be understood as a nomenclature and should not be construed as giving the limitation on the number of the elements modified by such nomenclature unless specific number has been given. Any advantages and benefits described may or may not apply to all embodiments of the disclosure. It should be appreciated that variations may be made to the embodiments described by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, no element or component in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element or component is explicitly recited in the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201610802283.0 | Sep 2016 | CN | national |
This PCT patent application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201610802283.0, filed on Sep. 5, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2017/087998 | 6/13/2017 | WO | 00 |