Distant Binocular Filters for Full-Resolution Autostereoscopic Viewing and for Single-Aperture Stereo Glasses

Various physical and technical restrictions prevent realization of the perfect autostereoscopic (glasses-free or naked-eye) displays. For example, autostereoscopic displays, providing freedom of movement of a viewer, have reduced spatial resolution of 3D image and usually do not compatible with 2D imaging. Autostereoscopic displays with full-screen spatial resolution, as a rule, do not provide the native (without use of tracking) freedom of movement of the viewer. Many advanced expensive autostereoscopic displays have complex optics and bulky packaging. This paper describes the concept of distant binocular filter (DBF) for full-screen resolution autostereoscopic viewing using off-the-shelf stereoscopic displays originally designed to use with stereo glasses (active or passive ones). The DBF has a single aperture with two adjacent (side-by-side) continuous viewing areas with complementary optical properties of work medium. Separation of two views is reached by placing the DBF at the certain distances from a face of the viewer and from a display screen. A single-aperture shutter for stereo glasses is described as a particular case of DBF.