Display apparatus and method of displaying

A display apparatus comprising:

• means for detecting a gaze direction of a user with respect to an image plane;
• a processor coupled to said means, wherein the processor or an image source communicably coupled to the processor is configured to process an input image, based upon the detected gaze direction, to generate a first image and a second image;
• a first image renderer per eye, the first image renderer being employed to render the first image;
• a second image renderer per eye, the second image renderer being employed to render the second image;
• an optical combiner;
• a first array of micro-prisms arranged in a proximity of an image rendering surface of the second image renderer, wherein the micro-prisms of the first array split light emanating from pixels of the second image renderer into a plurality of directions to produce a plurality of projections of the second image, and wherein each micro-prism of the first array splits light emanating from at least one corresponding pixel into said plurality of directions;
• an optical element arranged on an optical path between the first array of micro-prisms and the optical combiner, the optical element being employed to direct the plurality of projections of the second image towards the optical combiner;
• and
• an optical shutter arranged on said optical path, between the optical element and the optical combiner, wherein the optical shutter selectively allows a given portion of the plurality of projections of the second image to pass through towards the optical combiner, whilst blocking a remaining portion of the plurality of projections of the second image,
• wherein the optical combiner optically combines a projection of the first image with the given portion of the plurality of projections of the second image, to produce on the image plane an output image having a spatially-variable angular resolution,
• further wherein the processor controls the optical shutter based upon the detected gaze direction, whilst the first image and the second image are being rendered;
• wherein the processor is further configured to:
• detect whether or not the gaze direction of the user corresponds exactly to a region of the image plane whereat any one of the plurality of projections of the second image would be incident;
• render the second image via the second image renderer, when the gaze direction of the user corresponds exactly to said region;
• and
• further process the second image prior to rendering, when the gaze direction of the user does not correspond exactly to said region;
• wherein when further processing the second image, the processor is configured to:
• divide the second image into two portions when the gaze direction corresponds to a region of the image plane whereat two of the plurality of projections of the second image would be incident, and swap positions of the two portions;
• or
• divide the second image into four portions when the gaze direction of the user corresponds to a region of the image plane whereat four of the plurality of projections of the second image would be incident, and diagonally swap positions of the four portions.