Patent ID: 6940646

Claim:
A stereoscopic image displaying apparatus for guiding image light onto a predetermined observing plane so as to make an observer capable of observing a stereoscopic image, said apparatus comprising: an image display element for displaying a synthesized parallax image which is obtained by alternately and vertically arranging and synthesizing a plurality of strip images for a left eye each of which is elongated in a horizontal direction and is obtained by dividing a parallax image for the left eye, and a plurality of strip images for a right eye each of which is elongated in a horizontal direction and is obtained by dividing a parallax image for the right eye; a mask member having an aperture section and a light shielding section; a first optical system for converging on the predetermined observing plane light beams emerging from the mask member; and a second optical system for guiding light beams emerging from the image display element onto the mask member, said second optical system including from the image display element sequentially a first lens array in which a plurality of first micro lenses are periodically arranged in a vertical direction and a second lens array in which a plurality of second micro lenses are periodically arranged in a horizontal direction, an optical characteristic in the vertical direction of the first lens array being different from an optical characteristic in the horizontal direction of the second lens array, wherein the image display element switches between a first synthesized parallax image obtained by alternately arranging with a first order the stripe image for the left eye and the stripe image for the right eye, and a second synthesized parallax image obtained by alternately arranging with a second order which is opposite to the first order the stripe image for the left eye and the stripe image for the right eye, and displays the first synthesized parallax image and the second synthesized parallax image, and wherein the aperture section and the light shielding section of the mask member are changed therebetween in synchronization with the switchover operation between the first synthesized parallax image and the second synthesized parallax image.