WO1998057215A1

WO1998057215A1 - Optical adaptor couplable to any diffusing screen pertaining to a single conventional reproduction device, capable of producing tridimensional effects

Info

Publication number: WO1998057215A1
Application number: PCT/ES1997/000148
Authority: WO
Inventors: Juan Dominguez-Montes
Original assignee: Dominguez Montes Juan
Priority date: 1997-06-09
Filing date: 1997-06-09
Publication date: 1998-12-17
Also published as: AU3033897A

Abstract

The optical adaptor is comprised of a semi-transparent sheet of glass or plastic material (5), a planar mirror of total reflexion (6) and a spherical convergent mirror (3). Said adaptor can be coupled to any image reproduction screen such as a T.V. or computer cathode ray tube (7) or a film, T.V. or computer back projecting device, whether it is based on liquid crystal or any other type of support; on such screen two images are reproduced (1.4 and 2.4), one next to the other, and the optical adaptor of this invention produces the resultant optical effect that one of the images which is reproduced on such screen is viewed really where it is (1.4) and the other one is formed in front of the device, at a distance therefrom and floating in the air (4.4). Although the images are only in two differents planes, the observer has the impression that he sees a tridimensional complete scene between both images.

Description

OPTICAL ADAPTER COUPLABLE TO ANY DISPLAY

DIFFUSER BELONGING TO A SINGLE DEVICE

CONVENTIONAL REPRODUCTION, ABLE TO PRODUCE EFFECTS

THREE DIMENSIONALS

D E S C R I P C I Ó N

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is about the reproduction of two images separated from each other in space. A first one will be formed in the air in front of the device and separated from it and the second one inside the device itself.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mixing two different three-dimensional scenarios with the help of a semi-transparent sheet of glass or plastic is a technique known for years.

The application of this technique to reproduce two flat images, separated from each other in space, has also been carried out modernly.

Dolfoff and Tullo describe in the Laser Focus World magazine of March 1997 a device capable of mixing the two images generated on the same diffusing surface of a single reproduction device. The resulting optical effect is that both images are formed apart from each other in front of each other and the two inside the playback device.

The use of converging lenses or mirrors for the generation of images in space is also a formerly known technique.

Taking advantage of this property, Summer and others in EP-0739497 describe a device in which, starting from two images, each one generated on a different screen belonging to a different reproductive device, forms as a final result two images one in front of the other separated from each other. in the space. It differs from that described by Dolfoff and Tullo in that one of the images is formed in the air, in front of and separated from the reproductive device.

The system described in this invention also differs from that described by Dolfoff and Tullo because one of the images is formed outside the device as in the system described by Summer.

The system described here differs from the one described by Summer because, in the first place, both images are generated in a single reproductive device, secondly, the optical device is simpler since it uses a single converging mirror and thirdly it is cheaper since using a single player device does not need additional synchronization elements between player devices.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is based on two long-known physical phenomena; the ability of a simple mirror or converging lens to generate three-dimensional images in space and the possibility of a semi-transparent sheet to mix two three-dimensional images together. In this invention, the mirror in front of the lens has been selected for its construction because it lacks chromatic aberration, its construction is simple, has a better light transfer coefficient and can have a larger size compared to its focal length, which allows reproductions with greater vision angle.

Here a single convergent mirror is used to generate three-dimensional images in real space with the rays, reflected on it, coming from a real object.

In this invention, the light rays from an image generated on a diffusing surface, located at an optical distance equal to twice its focal length of this converging mirror, after being reflected, form an image in space, separated from the mirror the same distance. anterior optic, that is, twice the focal length and will be the same size as that image.

The semi-transparent sheet is used in this invention to mix the image produced in space by the converging mirror with another image also generated on the anterior diffusing surface but elsewhere in it.

To achieve this effect, two images are generated on top of the diffuser surface of a conventional image player. If it is decided that the image that is furthest from the observer is superior, the semi-transparent sheet will be placed in front of said image, covering it completely and forming 45 ° with it. Since said sheet is semi-transparent, the observer will see said image for transparency and in the place where it is actually.

The second image will be generated at the bottom of the diffuser surface. This image will undergo three reflections along the optical path that will make it arrive from the place where it is actually located, to the place where it will be formed again after crossing the optical system.

The first reflection is produced in a flat rectangular mirror located in front of the second image, covering it completely, and forming 45 ° with it and 90 ° with the semi-transparent sheet.

The lower image formed on the diffuser surface acts as an object for this flat mirror. The image of this object formed by this flat mirror is perpendicular to the diffusing surface that generated it.

The second reflection is produced in a convergent mirror, perpendicular to the diffuser surface of the player and therefore parallel to the image generated after the first reflection, placed on top of the reproduction diffuser surface.

The optical distance from the converging mirror to its object is twice the focal length of said mirror.

The rays that go from the object before reaching the convergent mirror will pass through the semi-transparent sheet without any deformation. After reflected in the converging mirror, the light rays will stumble again with the semi-transparent sheet where they will suffer a third reflection.

As a result of this third reflection, an image will definitely form in space, floating in front of the optical device and away from the converging mirror an optical path equal to twice the focal length of the latter.

The resulting effect is that the observer in front of the device sees a first image, floating in the space between it and the reproductive device identical to that reproduced in the lower part of the diffuser surface. Away from it and from the previous one you will see a second image corresponding to the one reproduced in the upper part of the diffuser screen.

If the observer is in a brightly lit space, the light rays from this space can be reflected first in the semi-transparent sheet; secondly in the convergent mirror and return through a third reflection in the eyes of the observer, producing very annoying reflections.

To avoid this inconvenience, a semi-transparent sheet capable of circularly polarizing the light can be used. This sheet will polarize, for example, the light that goes through it levógiramente (dextrógiramente) and the light that reflects dextrógiramente (levógiramente).

In this way the ambient light after being reflected for the first time on the semi-transparent sheet is polarized, for example, dextrotically (or levógiramente) in the total reflection in the convergent mirror rotates its polarization that is to say it leaves polarized levógiramente (or dextrógicamente) and cannot be reflected again in the semitransparent sheet because this one polarizes the light dextrógicamente (or levógiramente). In this way the reflection of the ambient light in the optical device is eliminated.

The device object of this invention can also place the image that will be seen farther away, in the lower part of the reproduction diffusing surface. It will also be necessary to invert the placement of the semi-transparent sheet with that of the flat mirror, and place the convergent mirror in the lower part of said diffuser surface.

Similarly images can be placed left and right instead of above and below.

In short, the device object of this invention is an optical adapter that can be attached to any diffuser screen belonging to a single ordinary reproduction device, such as a cathode ray tube, a rear projection device, a liquid crystal or any other type of screen on that two images are generated next to each other in such a way that when coupling the adapter on the screen produces the optical effect that these images are seen one in front of the other, being the closest to the observer floating in the air and separate from the reproductive device, characterized by:

. a single reproduction device whose diffusing reproduction surface will generate two different images, . a semi-transparent sheet located in front of one of the images and forming 45 ° with it, this image will be seen by the observer in the same place where it is generated through this semi-transparent sheet, and of

. a first flat mirror located in front of the second image forming 45 ° with it and 90 ° with the previous semi-transparent sheet that will send the rays coming from the second image through the semi-transparent sheet to

. a second converging mirror, perpendicular to the diffusing reproduction surface and located on the side of the diffusing screen opposite to the first flat mirror, which acts so that the light rays reflected in this second converging mirror after being reflected in the semi-transparent sheet will form an image in the air, located between the reproduction device and the observer that will be an exact replica of the second image generated on the diffuser surface.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

To complement the description that is being made and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, a set of drawings is attached hereto as an integral part thereof, with an illustrative and non-limiting character , the following has been represented:

Figure 1.- Schematically represents the formation of an image by a converging mirror. Figure 2. - Represents the behavior of a semi-transparent sheet.

Figure 3. - Schematically represents the behavior of a semi-transparent sheet together with a converging mirror.

Figure 4. - Schematically shows the device object of this invention composed of a single reproductive device capable of generating on its diffusing surface two different images, a flat mirror in front of one of these images forming 45 ° with it, a semi-transparent sheet in front of the other image forming 45 ° with it and 90 ° with the anterior flat mirror, and a convergent mirror perpendicular to the diffusing surface.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 schematically shows the formation in the air of image 2.1, produced by converging mirror 3, with the light rays generated by object 1.1

When used for this purpose, the distance at which the object of the converging mirror is normally located is twice its focal length. Being at this distance the object of the mirror, Gauss's formula tells us that the distance of the mirror at which the image will be formed will be the same, that is also twice the focal length. In spherical mirrors this distance coincides for paraxial rays with their radius of curvature. In other words, the object is located in the vicinity of the center of curvature of the spherical mirror and the image will be formed in the vicinity of it center. In these circumstances the sizes of the object and the image will be approximately equal and the deformations, consequence of the optical aberrations of the mirror, will be minimized. The observer 0 is usually placed in front of the image 2.1 and the object 1.1 can be hidden from his eyes by a box-shaped baffle 4. Said observer 0 will see the image 2.1 floating in the space and separated from the mirror a distance approximately equal to the radius of curvature

Figure 2 schematically shows the behavior of a semi-transparent sheet 5. A first object 1.2 is placed in front of the observer 0 which it can see directly through the semi-transparent sheet. Perpendicular to said object 1.2 is located another object 2.2 at a distance from the semitransparent sheet 5 different, in this case superior, at the distance at which object 1.2 of the same sheet is located.

The semi-transparent sheet 5 forms 45 ° with each of the objects 1.2 and 2.2.

The rays from object 2.2 reach the observer 0 after being deflected by the semi-transparent sheet 5 which this time acts as a mirror. Observer 0 will see image 3.2 of object 2.2 formed by mirror 5 behind 1.2.

As a final result the observer will see images 1.2 and 3.2 one in front of the other with a distance between them that will depend on the difference in distances of objects 1.2 and 2.2 to the semi-transparent sheet 5.

Figure 3 shows the schematic behavior of an optical system composed of a converging mirror that works in the manner described in Figure 1 and a semi-transparent sheet that works in the manner described in Figure 2.

In this figure 3, in front of the converging mirror 3, the object 2.3 is located near its center of curvature, that is, at a distance approximately equal to twice its focal length. The light rays that start from the object 2.3 and are directed to the converging mirror 3 pass through the semi-transparent sheet 5 since this, acting by transparency, allows its passage without modifying its trajectory. After reflected in the converging mirror 3, the light rays form the image 3.3 at an approximate optical distance equal to twice the focal length. In their optical path, these light rays find again the semi-transparent sheet 5 which this time acts as a mirror. The end result is that the observer 0 sees the image 3.3 of the object 2.3 in front of the reproductive device, separated from it and floating in space.

Separated from this image, the observer 0 will also see the object 1.3 since the sheet 5 can also act for transparency as explained in Figure 2.

As explained above, environmental reflections can be eliminated if the semi-transparent sheet 5 is a sheet capable of circularly polarizing the light.

Figure 4 schematically shows the device object of this invention. This figure 4 is the result of adding a new optical element, a mirror plane, 6, to the system shown in figure 3. In this figure 3 the objects from which the rays start are called 1.3 and 2.3 that are in planes perpendicular to each other which prevents both of them from being generated on the diffuser surface in a single playback device To avoid this difficulty, a new flat mirror 6 of total reflection that forms 90 ° with the semi-transparent sheet is added. The objects 1.4 and 2.4 are formed on the same diffusing surface of a single reproduction device 7. The flat mirror 6 forms the image 3.4 of the object 2.4 in the same place as the one occupied in Figure 3 the object 2.3. The rest of the operation is analogous to that explained for figure 3.

As a final result the observer 0 sees two images, the first 4.4 in front of the device at an intermediate distance between the reproductive device and the observer and floating in the air, and the second 1.4 separated from the previous one and inside the device.

Image 4.4 corresponds to size and color with object 2.4. Both object 1.4 and 2.4 are generated on the diffuser surface of a single ordinary image player; cathode ray tube screen, computer monitor or TV or cinema overhead projector.

Claims

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N E S

I ^a .- Optical adapter attachable to any diffuser screen belonging to a single conventional reproduction device, capable of producing three-dimensional effects, such as a cathode ray tube, a rear projection device, a liquid crystal or any other type of screen on the that two images are generated next to each other in such a way that by attaching the adapter on the screen it produces the optical effect that these images are seen one in front of the other, being the closest to the observer floating in the air and separate from the reproductive device, characterized in that it is composed of:

. a single reproduction device whose diffusing reproduction surface generates two different images,

. a semi-transparent sheet located in front of one of the images and forming 45 ° with it, this image will be seen by the observer in the same place where it is generated through this semi-transparent sheet, and of

. a second converging mirror, perpendicular to the diffusing reproduction surface and located on the side of the diffusing screen opposite that of the first flat mirror, which acts so that the Light rays reflected in this second converging mirror after being reflected in the semi-transparent sheet will form an image in the air, located between the reproducing device and the observer that will be an exact replica of the second image generated on the diffuser surface.

2 .- optical adapter attachable to any diffusing screen belonging to a single conventional reproducing device, capable of producing three - dimensional effects, according ^to claim I, wherein the two generated images on the diffusing surface is on top of the other.

3 .- optical adapter attachable to any diffusing screen belonging to a single conventional reproducing device, capable of producing three - dimensional effects, according ^to claim I, wherein the two generated images on the diffusing surface is one on the left of the other.

4 .- optical adapter attachable to any diffusing screen belonging to a single conventional reproducing device, capable of producing three - dimensional effects, according to previous claims, characterized in that the semitransparent film operates unpolarized light.

5 .- optical adapter attachable to any diffusing screen belonging to a single conventional reproducing device, capable of producing three - dimensional effects, according ^to claims I to 3, wherein the semitransparent film polarizes light circulates rmente.