Method and apparatus for remapping pixel locations

A method for optically remapping projected pixel locations, comprising:

• defining a design eye point (DEP), a field of view corresponding to the DEP, and an image resolution for a plurality of portions of the field of view when viewing a projected image;
• generating a set of viewing vectors from the DEP representative of a projection of the field of view onto an image formation surface, whereby the viewing vectors intersect a curved screen whereupon the projected image will be filmed;
• determining, for each of the plurality of portions of the field of view, screen intersection locations to which projector pixels will be substantially mapped;
• determining an optimal density of pixels within each of the plurality of portions of field of view based on the image resolution for a given portion of the field of view;
• interposing an optical device within an optical path between an image source formation point within a projector and a projected image formation point upon the curved screen, wherein
• the optical device includes at least a refractive element and a reflective element positioned in optical subsequence, where focal surfaces of the refractive and reflective elements each have a longest dimension, and said focal surface longest dimensions are oriented substantially orthogonal one with respect to the other;
• refracting and reflecting the projected image with the optical device;
• adjusting the optical effect of the optical device in order to support one or more of various projectors, various projector configurations, various display systems, various display system configurations, variations in display system components, variation in observer location, variation in field of view, and variation in image resolution;
• and
• astigmatizing the projected image's focus by way of refracting with the refractive element of the optical device and reflecting the astigmatized refracted image with the reflective element of the optical device to supplementally optically redirect light from the astigmatized refracted image to the screen intersection locations with optimal pixel density, whereby, the optical device thereby optimizes the utilization of the projector's pixels by satisfying the image resolution for the given portion of the field of view with a minimum of projector pixels.