Patent ID: 7796318

Claim:
A directional display apparatus comprising: a spatial light modulator comprising an array of pixels; and a lens array having a structure which repeats substantially at a predetermined pitch, wherein the lens array is arranged such that each respective section of the lens array at said pitch is formed to provide: a plurality of first lens facets operable for directing first light beams from at least one pixel aligned with the respective section into at least one nominal viewing window; and a plurality of second lens facets operable for directing second light beams from at least one adjacent pixel aligned with a section adjacent the respective section into the same at least one nominal viewing window, wherein each of the first lens facets is arranged alternately with each of the second lens facets to form a continuous lens surface, the first and second lens facets are all of no vertical facets, wherein all the light beams outputted from all the lens facets are substantially in parallel with one another.