R&D Spirits
Creating New Markets with a New 3-D Display
SystemShigenobu Sakai
Project Manager
Information Devices ProjectNTT-IT Corporation

The first new stereoscopic system in several decades is now being readied for the market. How
does this system, which is based on a phenomenon discovered at NTT Laboratories, differ frompast 3-D displays? Does it have the potential to change the way we communicate? Shigenobu
Sakai, Project Manager at NTT-IT Corporation (NTT-IT), has been involved in the developmentof 3-D display equipment since his days at NTT Laboratories. We sat down with him to get hisanswers to these and other questions about this system and to hear about another interesting project that he is involved in.

New 3-D display system: revolutionizing
the way we display images—Could you explain the first project for us? What
exactly is this new 3-D display equipment?

—Mr. Sakai, could you give us a brief description of
NTT-IT and the R&D themes that you are currently
involved with?

It is basically a liquid crystal display (LCD) thatcan present 3-D images without producing unnatural
psychological effects and without the user having towear polarizing glasses as in the past (Fig. 1). Longterm viewing with this equipment does not cause
fatigue. In addition, the amount of data used for presenting these 3-D images is only about 1.3 times thatfor 2-D images. This means that transferring such 3D data over a network will not create an excessive
load. The hardware consists basically of two overlaid
LCD panels, resulting in a very compact configuration (see Selected Papers in this issue, “A Compact
Depth-fused 3-D Display Using a Stack of TwoLCDs,” pp. 35-40).

The mission of NTT-IT is to introduce technologydeveloped by NTT Laboratories to the outside world
through the combined power of the NTT Group.
While there are other companies in the NTT Group
with similar missions, NTT-IT is known for its focus
on human interfaces for communication purposes. To
give you some examples, we are developing a worldclass multipoint IP videoconferencing system, avoice portal system and associated services based on
speech synthesis and recognition technology for theJapanese language, and a health-management support
system using AI technology. I myself am working on
the business development of new 3-D display equipment and a general-purpose communications adaptor.
The former is a joint project with NTT Laboratories
that just began this spring. The latter is a collaborative
project with NTT DoCoMo that got under way lastyear.

6—How would the widespread use of this equipmentchange society?
The traditional mission of telecommunications is toovercome the obstacles of distance and time. Thisincludes high-reality communications that enables
people at remote locations to speak to each other in aface-to-face manner. A 3-D display is one way ofachieving high-reality communications.
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R&D Spirits

Fig. 1. 3-D display equipment.

As you know, 3-D display systems using polarized
glasses are already being used for amusement andentertainment purposes. No doubt our 3-D display
equipment could be introduced to the outside world
through such applications. In contrast, the use of 3-D
images in the business world is almost nonexistent.
One reason given for this is that 3-D viewing is verytiring, making it unacceptable for long-term tasks. To
put it another way, 3-D displays based on conventional systems make use of polarized glasses or othermeans to “trick” the brain into seeing stereoscopic
images even though the eyes are viewing a 2-Dscreen. What the eyes see is therefore different fromwhat the brain perceives, and it is this contradictionthat can be very stressful to the viewer. Our new system does not induce fatigue even during long-termviewing. This property should help high-reality 3-D
displays find widespread use in both business anddaily life.
—What is the advantage of using 3-D displays inbusiness?
Many of our customers ask the same thing. They
wonder what kind of benefits could be obtained fromusing 3-D displays for work. While they agree thatviewing a 3-D display can be interesting and fun, they
don’t see any particular advantages. I beg to differ,Vol. 2 No. 8 Aug. 2004

however. Taking TV broadcasts as an example, thechange from black-and-white to color displays madebright, colorful broadcasts possible, significantlyincreasing the amount of information received byviewers. This system migration also made the reception of information more efficient. It is our belief thatthe addition of depth to an image should have a similar effect and that 3-D displays should make it easierfor human beings to interact with machines.
—What are some of the features of this 3-D display
equipment?
The most outstanding feature is the mechanism for
3-D viewing, which is based on a principle discovered by NTT Laboratories. Specifically, when thesame image is presented on two transparent displayswith different brightnesses and these displays arestacked one on top of the other, the image will appear
to float between the two displays. The image can bemade to move forward or backward by simply changing brightness levels. Wondering whether this phenomenon could be used to achieve stereoscopic viewing without the need for polarized glasses, theresearchers in charge performed a variety of trials andwere surprised to find that a mechanism for implementing this principle was actually quite simple.
Why, they asked, was this mechanism not previously
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R&D Spirits

known? This prompted a news release announcing
the discovery of the first new stereoscopic viewing
system in several decades. The researchers who discovered this phenomenon finally received an IEICEBest Paper Award last year.
From a technological perspective, we encounteredno particularly difficult problems because much of
the equipment consisted of combinations of technically mature devices such as LCDs. However, as ouroverall objective is to incorporate the system in ordinary personal computers, we are finding that preparing images for such an implementation and developing a signal interface are somewhat difficult.
—What issues arise in applying this 3-D display
equipment to business?
A major issue is cost. Anyone that watches ourdemonstration expresses lots of interest at first, butafter realizing that our equipment uses twice as many
LCD panels as conventional systems, they inevitably
ask whether it is twice as expensive. For our part, wewould prefer to at least double the price for equipment that delivers this amount of added value. But if
we put ourselves in our customers’ shoes, we mightsee more parts but still only one display, and from thispoint of view, perhaps their response is only natural.
In short, establishing a market for 3-D display equipment in business depends on whether costs can belowered. NTT-IT, though, possesses no manufacturing capabilities, and for this reason, we are forming
an alliance with a manufacturer and working with itto bring costs down.
Another issue is reflected by the question, “Whatwill we use 3-D display equipment for?” Even if costs
can be lowered, the price of this equipment will beconsiderably more than before, and for the user, thatextra cost must correspond to added value. Making
proposals for what this equipment can be used for isalso an important aspect of our work.
—Are there other R&D efforts in 3-D display equipment in Japan and overseas?
Because NTT holds a patent for this new system,
there is really no competition in terms of our 3-D display equipment. That is not to say that there are notother systems, but they have not penetrated the market. On the other hand, the absence of competition
may give our research a chance at becoming a world
standard. While we are not yet sure whether our 3-D
display equipment will eventually provide genuine
8high-reality communications, we would be delighted
to see it become the first step to an entire new way ofusing displays.

General-purpose communications adaptor
for environmental applications—Could you tell us about the DTU, your other project?
The data transfer unit (DTU) is something that I am
working on in collaboration with NTT DoCoMo. It isa general-purpose communications adaptor for monitoring and controlling sensors and measuring
devices installed at remote locations (Fig. 2). As you
know, DoCoMo has extensive experience with datatransmission technologies in wireless communications. This product is an enhancement of a previous
product developed for collecting data on inventory
and change in automatic vending machines. It isbeing developed jointly because of the need for new
hardware to eliminate some of the weak points in theprevious product. This DTU represents an “all-inone” package that compensates for lost transmission
data due to congestion or cutoffs on the wireless section while also performing various communication
functions, protocol conversion, and data logging. It isa product with very high added value that we expect
to be useful in a wide range of applications. NTT-IT
has received approval from DoCoMo to act as a vendor of the DTU, and we are currently in the processof making business proposals. While this is quite adifferent field from that of the 3-D display equipment
we were just talking about, they both involve hardware for an information device, so in this sense, I
don’t see them as so dissimilar.
—What results have you obtained so far with theDTU?
Although this business venture began only last year,
several system proposals have already been adopted.
For example, the water department of Kawasaki cityin Kanagawa prefecture is using the DTU for transmitting data for water-quality surveys. This water
department performs daily inspections of water quality at terminals in its waterworks. In the past, this wasaccomplished by sending out personnel daily to locations where water-quality meters are installed andhaving them collect and analyze water samples. The
use of DTUs not only automates this process but alsoenables centralized monitoring and remote control on
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Type A

Type B

Fig. 2. Data transfer unit.

a 24-hour, realtime basis.
—What issues must be faced for future DTU business?
We must gain more experience and know-how inthis field, and to this end, we must make effective
application proposals. A DTU, which collects twodimensional data from many sensors installed at key
locations and transfers that data to centers via wired
and wireless networks, is a very good example of an
NTT product. We feel that we can expand business byproposing a broad range of applications that exploit
this capability of collecting and processing data on a24-hour system without additional labor. I cannot go
into detail about these proposals, but I can tell youthat we are concentrating on environmental applications. The DTU is an ideal device for measuring andprocessing environmental data such as for NOx(nitrous oxides) emissions. Some trials have alreadybegun, and I believe this type of work is going to bearound for a long time.

Aiming to create useful equipment for society—What R&D activities have you been involved withup to now?
Well, at first, from the time that I entered NTT Laboratories in 1973 up until 1978, I was involved in theresearch of charge coupled devices (CCDs). The proVol. 2 No. 8 Aug. 2004

totype for CCDs now widely used as image sensors indigital cameras was developed at Bell Laboratories in1970. At that time, various applications for CCDs
were being researched at NTT Laboratories, and on
entering the Memory Components Research Laboratory, I found that an investigation of CCDs as memory devices had begun half a year earlier. Starting witha general study of semiconductors, I eventuallybecame involved in the design and fabrication ofCCDs as well. During these five years, I was basically a researcher and developer, and I successfully fabricated a 64-kb memory on a somewhat large chip.
Unfortunately, that device was never commercialized.
Next, I took up the development of read-only memory (ROM) for kanji, or Chinese characters. In thepast, the character patterns needed for Japanese-language displays were stored in the form of 24 × 24dots. There are about 7000 characters making up theLevel 1 and Level 2 kanji prescribed by the JapaneseIndustrial Standard (JIS), and it was thought that thetechnology and know-how developed with CCDs
could be put to use here. Just the characters for Level1, however, required about 1 million bits, and achieving a 1-Mb memory at a time when 64-kb dynamic
random access memory (DRAM) didn’t even existyet was a formidable problem. Under these circumstances, I proposed a high-density ROM with a newstructure. This ROM came to be incorporated first in
an NTT portable kanji printer, the first of its kind inJapan, and then in some personal computers and cathode ray tubes (CRTs). This was my first research
9R&D Spirits

achievement that came to be used in the real world.
Then, after performing some management-related
work at NTT R&D Headquarters, I was transferredback to the Electronic Equipment Research Division
where I undertook the development of LCDs. Fromthat time on, display technology has been a major
theme in my research. As with CCDs, this technology was still in its infancy. We started with an A5-size
monochrome display and eventually worked up to a2000 × 4000 pixel, 200-inch-diagonal display. Next,from 1996 on, I became involved in the research of
high-reality communications as the Executive Manager of the Laboratory, and finally came to NTT-IT
continuing in that role. In short, I have been involved
with only hardware up to now. A researcher of thistype is perhaps rare at NTT.
—What has been your goal in R&D up to now?
Throughout the various research themes that I havebeen involved with, I have always wanted to create
hardware that could help society evolve. For example, during the time that sufficient memory was lacking, my goal was to develop memory that could truly
be used as a social asset. Now, after moving to display
development, my goal is to create high-reality communication tools so that remotely located people will
be able to communicate in a face-to-face manner via
the network. And although I did not touch upon thiswhen talking about the R&D themes that I have been
involved with, I have also worked on “five-sensescommunication,” and the communication of smell inparticular, as the ultimate form of high-reality communications that goes beyond sight and hearing. Butsmell has no formative base like the three primarycolors used to form other colors, so its synthesis isdifficult even if the result is detectable. For reasons
like this, I was not successful in communicating thesense of smell. Nevertheless, I have always thoughtthat there is something useful for society in any
research theme and in this frame of mind, I havealways enjoyed my work.
—How do you view the issues that you now facebased on past issues?
During my days at NTT Laboratories, I felt thattalking about one’s dream and determining how toachieve that dream was the stuff of research. That is
how I approached my work. Now, however, my work
is to create business, and I can’t do that just ondreams. The manufacture of hardware is not what the10

NTT Group specializes in, and it cannot be denied
that that is one aspect that makes business difficult.
There are also not a few difficulties here that differ
from those of pure technology. These present a newchallenge for me.

Acting as a bridge between NTT
Laboratories and the real world—What are your aspirations for the future?
Well, to begin with, I want to commercialize ournew 3-D display system and create new businesses
based on it. It’s been four or five years since the discovery of this new 3-D display system, and we havefinally arrived at the point where we can put this system to work. I also hope to see this system installed incellular-handset and personal-computer displays, butthat is still many years away. For this to happen, however, there must be real benefits to using 3-D images.
By this I mean more than just something that is interesting or amusing to watch. Three-dimensional
images must provide tangible advantages such as
making a Web browser or search engine easier to use.
Since 3-D displays have never been used to any large
extent, this is essentially new territory—coming up
with new ideas for their use is not simple. Nevertheless, I am convinced that there must be advantages to3-D displays, and finding them is my current mission.
From a somewhat broader perspective, I would like totransform as many future-oriented research resultsfrom NTT Laboratories as possible into a form thatcan be used by many people in services and products.
In short, I would like to act as a bridge between NTT
Laboratories and the real world.
—What is it like working with NTT Laboratories?
Well, I do of course receive technical support for
my work in promoting business, but what really surprises me is that the human network that I cultivatedduring my time at NTT Laboratories is still verymuch alive. It is not unusual for me to unexpectedly
meet someone that I had associated with maybe tenyears earlier in R&D activities or at academic societies and to then start up a new relationship with that
person as a business partner. I appreciate this kind of
human network very much and I think it is a very
important asset of NTT.

NTT Technical Review

R&D Spirits—Could you leave us with a message for young
researchers?
I’d be happy to. In recent years, the mission of NTT
Laboratories has become much more pragmatic than
before with an emphasis on business. While there’s
nothing wrong with this approach, I still think themain mission of NTT Laboratories is to discuss
dreams and find ways of making them real. Manytechnologies now in use in society have come into
existence simply because many of your senior colleagues talked to each other about their dreams. Theremay be some people who are out of touch with thepractical world, but a place like NTT Laboratories
would cease to exist if there were no talk about
dreams. By all means, talk about your dreams andwork hard to make them happen. Members of theNTT Group like NTT-IT will be there to take yourtechnology, the stuff of your dreams, into the outside
world. To fulfill this mission in the best possibleways, I would like to see even closer ties and cooperation between NTT Laboratories and members of theNTT Group.

Vol. 2 No. 8 Aug. 2004

Interviewee profile■ Career highlights
Shigenobu Sakai graduated from Tokai University,
Department of Electronic Engineering in 1973 andentered Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation. In 1984, he moved to the Function Design
Laboratory, Electronic Equipment Research Division.
He researched and developed LCD equipment. He
moved to Input/Output Device Research Group, Electronic Equipment Research Division, ElectronicApplications Research Laboratories and became thegroup leader in 1989. In 1996, he became the executive manager of the Information Equipment ResearchDivision, Input/Output Systems Laboratories. He
researched and developed high-reality communications systems and large-density, large-capacity storagesystems. In 2001, he moved to NTT-IT and developed
business for file/image storage equipment. Since
2003, he has been developing business for 3-D display
equipment requiring no glasses and for a general-purpose communications adaptor.

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