Pseudo-holographic display using collimated backlight and dynamic beam steering

A system comprising:

• a liquid crystal display (LCD) device comprising a backlight unit that is configured to produce collimated light rays;
• an active optical element arranged on an optical path of the backlight unit;
• and
• at least one processor configured to:
• for a given region of the LCD device and a given viewing direction, determine colour values of an imaginary light ray that originates from at least one virtual object along the given viewing direction and that is to be presented by the given region of the LCD device, based on a three-dimensional (3D) model of the at least one virtual object;
• generate a drive signal to control the given region of the LCD device to emit light rays for respective ones of different viewing directions sequentially, having the colour values of said imaginary light ray;
• send the drive signal to the LCD device;
• and
• control a corresponding portion of the active optical element, to direct the light rays having the colour values of said imaginary light ray along the given viewing direction,
• wherein the step of determining colour values of imaginary light rays, the step of generating drive signals, the step of sending the drive signals and the step of controlling corresponding portions of the active optical element are repeated for the respective ones of different viewing directions, by employing temporal multiplexing.