Microsoft's glasses-free 3D display technology

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The popularity of the film 3-D TV and 3-D bubble-capable of leading our family room, but almost every technology ready for 3-D still requires that you are not a set of special glasses. Microsoft has developed a lens that can help change all that. With the ability to track the viewer's position and send images directly to each eye separately, a new prototype display eliminates the need for 3-D glasses.

Many technology companies 3-D trend surfing and researching ways to better provide stereoscopic images without the need for users to wear goggles. Sharp, for example, has conducted field research since 2002 and Nintendo (with the new 3DS) and Fujifilm (with a Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D display W1) has entered the world of 3D glasses-free.

However innovative, one of the limitations (and Sharp other companies') approach is that users need to stand in the right place in relation to the screen to experience stereoscopic vision. Microsoft Applied Research Group, however, went a step further: the system uses cameras to track the movement of each viewer and then sends the light in the right direction, directly into their eyes, and even allows for two separate users to experience 3-D vision simultaneously.

The key to Microsoft's experimental system is a strange lens that projects light towards the viewer by switching on and off the light Emitting Diodes are placed along the lower edge of it. Thanks to the trick of optics, light entering through the lower edge of the lens and then refracts within the lens itself to achieve the desired angle, and then finally sent to the viewer. This method also means that unlike traditional projectors, the structure - including the lens itself - is thin and can be inserted into a standard LCD screen without too much fuss.

The number of viewers that the system can track simultaneously screen refresh rate is limited to that: so, while the standard 240Hz LCD can track two users (four 60Hz channels, one for each eye) much faster refresh rate will allow for more users to share experiences 3 - D is the same at the same time. Another limitation of the viewing angle is small - currently at only 20 degrees, although the researchers hope to increase this amount up to 40 degrees with the lens design tweaking.

Microsoft also saw other possibilities for using 3-D lenses. Once integrated into the laptop, one application could be to allow only one user at a time to view the monitor, blocking off prying eyes and ensure privacy in public places. Users can then switch back to mode "standard view of public" where light is scattered in all directions in order to share the screen with more people.

Resource:
http://www.gizmag.com/microsoft-glasses-free-3d-display/15462/