Microsoft is developing a glasses-free 3D display

Microsoft Applied Sciences Group developed a new autostereoscopic 3D display. It uses a viewer-tracking system (with a camera that track viewer eyes) and lens that steers light directly into the viewers’ eyes by switching LEDs along its bottom edge on and off.

The key to the lens design is enabling it to control light in a specific way. The lens is tapered, with an 11-mm thickness at the top and a 6-mm thickness at the bottom. The LEDs shine light into the back of the lens at a certain position and angle, and the lens determines how the light bounces around and where and at what angle it escapes the lens. By replacing the traditional backlight in an LCD TV, the thin lens can turn a 2D display into a 3D display.

The display currently uses a 240Hz LCD, and this can only project four 60Hz views - and so only support two viewers. Microsoft are pushing display makers to make faster LCDs, which could support more users. OLEDs, which have a very fast refresh rate, might prove a better screen technology.

Microsoft's display has another interesting feature: it can project different images for different viewers. Microsoft is investigating how to integrate the lens into the backlight of a laptop, where it could project a private view to the person sitting directly in front of it, and a completely different public view in all other directions.

via Physorg (and here's a video from Technology Review)