<title>Large-screen electro-stereoscopic displays</title>

Abstract

In the last two or three years electro-stereoscopic display systems using large liquid crystal panels have become commonplace. These devices change the polarization characteristics of the light emitted by the display at video field rate so that passive eyewear employing polarizers may be used. The size of such displays is limited because liquid crystal factories aren't set up to handle panels larger than 19 inches in diagonal. In addition, the present product is costly to manufacture and larger panels would be even more costly. The new battery powered CrystalEyesTM product uses wireless eyewear with active liquid crystal lenses, having a fiftieth of the area of the larger panels. The eyewear receives information from an infrared emitter, allowing the lenses to occlude in synchronization with the field rate. There is no size limitation with regard to the display screen, and the clumsy tethering cable of prior active eyewear has been eliminated. Moreover, the cost of the new product is considerably lower than that of the large liquid crystal panels, and the performance is superior.