Patent ID: 7839549

Claim:
An autostereoscopic three-dimensional display comprising of the following elements optically coupled and arranged in series on the optical path in the following order starting from the light incidence side: (a) A two-dimensional pixelated display, (b) A set of spatially sampled first Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) or of Diffractive Optical Elements (DOEs) wherein each member of said set performs steering of light to its corresponding virtual viewing slit, wherein said HOEs or said DOEs have their corresponding focal planes, such that the two-dimensional pixelated display is integrated with said spatially sampled first HOEs or DOEs which are combined with said two-dimensional arrays of subpixels within each pixel of the display, wherein each said corresponding pixel of the display is divided into an array of said corresponding subpixels, and each said corresponding subpixel is covered with said spatial sample of said first Holographic Optical Elements or of said first Diffractive Optical Elements, to direct light to the centers of corresponding said virtual viewing slits when activated, (c) A spatial filtering means for cutting out the light beam, that is comprised of a selecting screen with Time-Variable Window (TVW), located at the focal planes or near focal planes of the corresponding spatially sampled first HOEs or DOEs, having an aperture that determines what is the maximum possible size of the light beam in said virtual viewing slits, providing depth resolution and image resolution equal to the maximum visible by a human viewer, (d) An array of second Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) or of Diffractive Optical Elements (DOEs) (with the total number of said second HOEs or said DOEs in the array being equal to the number of said virtual viewing slits, and with diameter of each of the second HOEs or DOEs in the array equal to the size of the virtual viewing slit), that is located behind the spatial filtering means with the Time-Variable Window (TVW) which selects said second HOEs or DOEs in the array to be transparent to define an aperture in the optical light path with equal size to the size of the virtual viewing slit to allow the light from the subpixels of the display through the spatial filtering means, the array of said second HOEs or DOEs and a common third holographic optical element (HOE) or diffractive optical element (DOE) to the corresponding virtual viewing slit, wherein each of said second HOEs or DOEs change directions of the light beams toward their corresponding said virtual viewing slits, to focus the light beams at the centers of the corresponding virtual viewing slits with negligible aberrations, (e) The common third holographic optical element (HOE) or diffractive optical element (DOE) located on the optical path behind the selecting screen and the array of the second HOEs or DOEs to function as a spherical lens for directing the light from the array of second HOEs or DOEs to the corresponding virtual viewing slits.