# US 7,411,636 B2 · Stereoscopic liquid crystal display (LCD) with polarization method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 7,411,636 B2 - Document ID: US7411636B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 10/997,728 - Filed: 2004-11-23 - Published: 2006-10-19 - Granted: 2008-08-12 - Earliest claimed: 2004-11-23 - Assignees: Fergason Patent Properties, LLC - Inventors: Adiel Abileah - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7411636B2 ## CPC - H04N 13/337: using polarisation multiplexing - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract A display system for stereoscopic displaying of images includes a pair of wide viewing angle displays arranged at an angle to each other, each display providing respective images formed by plane polarized light. A beam combiner is located between the displays such that the beam combiner transmits light from one display and reflects light from the other display, whereby the transmitted and reflected light are provided via the beam combiner in substantially the same direction. One of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially vertical polarization and the other of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially horizontal polarization. The display system provides for stereoscopic display of high-resolution images with wide horizontal and vertical viewing angles. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A display system, comprising: a pair of wide viewing angle active matrix liquid crystal displays arranged at an angle to each other, each display providing respective images formed by plane polarized light, wherein both displays have horizontal and vertical viewing angles of at least 160 degrees; a beam combiner located between the displays such that the beam combiner transmits light from one display and reflects light from the other display, whereby the transmitted and reflected light are provided via the beam combiner in substantially the same direction; and wherein one of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially vertical polarization and the other of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially horizontal polarization. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the displays are substantially identical and each display has associated therewith a pair of polarizers and an optically active material therebetween, the optically active material being operable to change or not to change the polarization direction of light transmitted therein. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The display system of claim 2, wherein the polarizers of one display are rotated by 90 degrees relative to the corresponding polarizers of the other display. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The display system of claim 2, wherein the polarizers of one display are in a 90 degrees relation to the corresponding polarizers of the other display. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The display system of claim 2, wherein the polarizers are plane polarizers. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The display system of claim 3, wherein the displays have the same width-to-height aspect ratio. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The display system of claim 6, wherein polarizers are used to separate images from the displays for right and left eye viewing. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The display system of claim 7, wherein the polarizers are polarized lenses in eyeglass frames. ### Claim 9 (depends on 3) The display system of claim 3, wherein the displays have the same width and the displays have the same height, and as viewed via the beam combiner the respective widths and the respective heights are substantially congruent. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein each display has a viewing angle of at least 170 degrees. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein each display is a multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) LCD. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein each display is an axial symmetric vertical-alignment (ASV) LCD. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein each display maintains a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 over a viewing angle of at least 80 degrees in the vertical direction off a normal viewing direction. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The display system of claim 13, wherein each display maintains a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 over a viewing angle of at least 80 degrees in the horizontal direction off a normal viewing angle. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein one of the displays maintains a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 over a viewing angle of at least 80 degrees in the vertical direction off a normal viewing angle. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The display system of claim 15, wherein one of the displays maintains a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 over a viewing angle of at least 80 degrees in the horizontal direction off a normal viewing angle. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The display system of claim 16, wherein the other display maintains a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 over a viewing angle of at least 80 degrees in the vertical direction off a normal viewing angle. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The display system of claim 17, wherein the other display maintains a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 over a viewing angle of at least 80 degrees in the horizontal direction off a normal viewing angle. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner combines images from both displays to provide viewable overlapping images that respectively have crossed polarization. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the displays are disposed at an angle of about 90 degrees to about 120 degrees relative to one another. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the displays are disposed at an angle of about 60 degrees to about 140 degrees. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the displays are disposed approximately orthogonal to one another. ### Claim 23 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner is positioned relative to the two displays at approximately the bisectrix of the angle between the displays. ### Claim 24 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the displays are generally planar and are positioned relative to each other such that the planar extents thereof intersect along a linear axis and the beam combiner is generally planar and the planar extent thereof is parallel to such linear axis. ### Claim 25 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, further comprising a mount to position the displays in planes at an angle of about 60 degrees to about 140 degrees relative to each other. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The display system of claim 25, wherein the mount includes a mount for the beam combiner. ### Claim 27 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, further comprising a package for containing the displays and the beam combiner. ### Claim 28 (depends on 27) The display system of claim 27, wherein the package includes cover portions coupled by a hinge and movable to contain in protected relation the displays and beam combiner, and operable to provide access to and use of the displays and beam combiner. ### Claim 29 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, further comprising a data processing system for obtaining and organizing image data and presenting the image data for display. ### Claim 30 (depends on 29) The display system of claim 29, the data processing system including a processor, memory and connections to the respective displays. ### Claim 31 (depends on 30) The display system of claim 30, further comprising operating software to invert data for presentation to one of the displays for displaying the data in inverted relation to the data displayed by the other display. ### Claim 32 (depends on 31) The display system of claim 31, wherein the data processing system includes brightness compensation means. ### Claim 33 (depends on 32) The display system of claim 32, wherein the brightness compensation means compensate for brightness variations in the vertically polarized image. ### Claim 34 (depends on 32) The display system of claim 32, wherein the brightness compensation means compensates for brightness variations in the vertically polarized image viewed from an average viewing angle. ### Claim 35 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner is a 50/50 beam splitter. ### Claim 36 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner includes multi-layer thin depositions. ### Claim 37 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner is a polarizing beam splitter. ### Claim 38 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner preferentially transmits light having a polarization along a first direction and preferentially reflects light having a polarization along a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction. ### Claim 39 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the beam combiner transmits light having a polarization along a vertical direction and reflects light having a polarization along a horizontal direction. ### Claim 40 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein each display has a resolution of greater than 1.5 mega-pixels. ### Claim 41 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the displays do not exhibit inversion of gray levels within a vertical viewing angle range of about 160 degrees. ### Claim 42 (depends on 41) The display system of claim 41, wherein the displays do not exhibit inversion of gray levels within a horizontal viewing angle range of about 160 degrees. ### Claim 43 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein the displays maintain gray level separation within a vertical viewing angle range of about 160 degrees. ### Claim 44 (depends on 43) The display system of claim 43, wherein the displays maintain gray level separation within a horizontal viewing angle range of about 160 degrees. ### Claim 45 (depends on 1) The display system of claim 1, wherein both displays are rectangular with a shorter dimension and a longer dimension, the displays being oriented such that both displays have their shorter dimension or longer dimension oriented parallel to a common linear axis, one of the displays having a polarization direction parallel to the linear axis and the other of the displays having a polarization direction orthogonal to the linear axis. ### Claim 46 A display system comprising: a pair of wide viewing angle displays arranged at an angle to each other, each display providing respective images formed by plane polarized light, wherein each display is an in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal display (LCD); a beam combiner located between the displays such that the beam combiner transmits light from one display and reflects light from the other display, whereby the transmitted and reflected light are provided via the beam combiner in substantially the same direction; and wherein one of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially vertical polarization and the other of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially horizontal polarization. ### Claim 47 A display system comprising: a pair of wide viewing angle displays arranged at an angle to each other, each display providing respective images formed by plane polarized light, wherein each display has a horizontal viewing angle of at least 160 degrees; a beam combiner located between the displays such that the beam combiner transmits light from one display and reflects light from the other display, whereby the transmitted and reflected light are provided via the beam combiner in substantially the same direction; and wherein one of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially vertical polarization and the other of the wide viewing angle displays has a substantially horizontal polarization, and both displays are rectangular with a shorter dimension and a longer dimension, the displays being oriented such that both displays have their shorter dimension or longer dimension oriented parallel to a common linear axis, one of the displays having a polarization direction parallel to the linear axis and the other of the displays having a polarization direction orthogonal to the linear axis. ### Claim 48 (depends on 47) The display system of claim 47, wherein each display has a vertical viewing angle of at least 160 degrees. ### Claim 49 A display system comprising: a pair of active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) arranged at an angle to each other, the AMLCDs having the same relative orientation and producing images having orthogonal polarization, wherein both AMLCDs have horizontal and vertical viewing angles of at least 160 degrees; and a beam combiner disposed between the AMLCDs such that the beam combiner transmits light from one AMLCD and reflects light from the other AMLCD. ### Claim 50 (depends on 49) The display system of claim 49, wherein both AMLCDs maintain a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 over horizontal and vertical viewing angles of at least 160 degrees. ### Claim 51 (depends on 49) The display system of claim 49, wherein each AMLCD includes: a front polarizer and a rear polarizer, the front and rear polarizers having orthogonal polarizations; and a dual brightness enhancement film (DBEF), the DBEF matching the orientation of the rear polarizer. ### Claim 52 (depends on 49) The display system of claim 49, wherein both AMLCDs are rectangular with a shorter dimension and a longer dimension, the AMLCDs being oriented such that both AMLCDs have their shorter dimension or longer dimension oriented parallel to a common linear axis, one of the AMLCDs having a polarization direction parallel to the linear axis and the other of the AMLCDs having a polarization direction orthogonal to the linear axis. ### Claim 53 A display system comprising: a pair of active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) arranged at an angle to each other, the AMLCDs having the same relative orientation and producing images having orthogonal polarization, wherein each AMLCD has a horizontal viewing angle of at least 160 degrees; and a beam combiner disposed between the AMLCDs such that the beam combiner transmits light from one AMLCD and reflects light from the other AMLCD.