Materials and methods for simulating focal shifts in viewers using large depth of focus displays

A system for more accurately conveying depth in an image, comprising:

• (a) a large depth of focus display;
• (b) an image source that cooperates with the large depth of focus display to produce an image that can be viewed;
• (c) a device that monitors at least one eye of a viewer to produce a signal indicative of an accommodation of said at least one eye;
• and
• (d) a computing device coupled to the image source and to the device, said computing device carrying out a plurality of functions, including:
• (i) displaying the image to a viewer on the large depth of focus display wherein all elements in the image are initially displayed at an optical focus level that is substantially the same for all elements, thereby simulating an unnatural or artificial viewing condition, since elements viewed at different distances from the viewer would naturally appear at different focus levels;
• (ii) determining an accommodation for an eye of a viewer who is watching the image on the large depth of focus display as a gaze of the viewer is directed toward an element in the image;
• and
• (iii) displaying an image having an apparent focus plane that tracks the accommodation of the viewer, so that as the accommodation of the viewer by adding blurring to other elements in the image in proportion to their distance in depth from the viewpoint of the viewer, so that as the accommodation of the viewer watching the large depth of focus display changes, to focus the eye of the viewer at a different viewing distance, the image that is displayed is changed to more accurately visually convey depth in the image that is displayed, based on the accommodation that was determined, thereby simulating a natural viewing condition.

A method for more accurately conveying depth in an image, comprising the steps of:

• (a) displaying a 2½-dimensional image comprising visual depth information to a viewer on a large depth of focus display;
• (b) determining an accommodation for an eye of the viewer who is watching the 2½-dimensional image on the large depth of focus display;
• (c) preparing a plurality of images arranged in a multidimensional array and having a range of different apparent focus planes, at least one axis of the multi-dimensional array corresponding to a disposition of the apparent focus plane in the plurality of images;
• (d) selecting the image having the apparent focus plane that tracks the accommodation of the viewer from the plurality of images that were pre-prepared, said image being a 2-dimensional image;
• and
• (e) as the accommodation of the viewer watching the large depth of focus display changes, using the depth information of the 2½-dimensional image to display the 2-dimensional image, in order to more accurately visually convey depth, said use of depth information thereby reducing a computational overhead because the 2½-dimensional image does not have to be re-rendered.

A method for more accurately conveying depth in an image, comprising the steps of:

• (a) displaying a 2½-dimensional image comprising visual depth information to a viewer on a large depth of focus display;
• (b) determining an accommodation for an eye of the viewer who is watching the 2½-dimensional image on the large depth of focus display;
• (c) preparing a plurality of images arranged in a multidimensional array and having a range of different apparent focus planes, at least one axis of the multi-dimensional array corresponding to a disposition of the apparent focus plane in the plurality of images;
• (d) selecting the image having the apparent focus plane that tracks the accommodation of the viewer from the plurality of images that were pre-prepared, said image being a 2½-dimensional image;
• and
• (e) as the accommodation of the viewer watching the large depth of focus display moves within a scene or the viewer views an object that is moving in the scene, displaying the 2½-dimensional image having the apparent focus plane that tracks the accommodation of the viewer, in order to more accurately visually convey depth, based on the accommodation that was determined.