Matthew Hirsch

Tensor displays: compressive light field synthesis using multilayer displays with directional backlighting

We introduce tensor displays: a family of compressive light field displays comprising all architectures employing a stack of time-multiplexed, light-attenuating layers illuminated by uniform or directional backlighting (i.e., any low-resolution light field emitter). We show that the light field emitted by an N-layer, M-frame tensor display can be represented by an Nth-order, rank-M tensor. Using this representation we introduce a unified optimization framework, based on nonnegative tensor factorization (NTF), encompassing all tensor display architectures. This framework is the first to allow joint multilayer, multiframe light field decompositions, significantly reducing artifacts observed with prior multilayer-only and multiframe-only decompositions; it is also the first optimization method for designs combining multiple layers with directional backlighting. We verify the benefits and limitations of tensor displays by constructing a prototype using modified LCD panels and a custom integral imaging backlight. Our efficient, GPU-based NTF implementation enables interactive applications. Through simulations and experiments we show that tensor displays reveal practical architectures with greater depths of field, wider fields of view, and thinner form factors, compared to prior automultiscopic displays.

BiDi screen: a thin, depth-sensing LCD for 3D interaction using light fields

We transform an LCD into a display that supports both 2D multi-touch and unencumbered 3D gestures. Our BiDirectional (BiDi) screen, capable of both image capture and display, is inspired by emerging LCDs that use embedded optical sensors to detect multiple points of contact. Our key contribution is to exploit the spatial light modulation capability of LCDs to allow lensless imaging without interfering with display functionality. We switch between a display mode showing traditional graphics and a capture mode in which the backlight is disabled and the LCD displays a pinhole array or an equivalent tiled-broadband code. A large-format image sensor is placed slightly behind the liquid crystal layer. Together, the image sensor and LCD form a mask-based light field camera, capturing an array of images equivalent to that produced by a camera array spanning the display surface. The recovered multi-view orthographic imagery is used to passively estimate the depth of scene points. Two motivating applications are described: a hybrid touch plus gesture interaction and a light-gun mode for interacting with external light-emitting widgets. We show a working prototype that simulates the image sensor with a camera and diffuser, allowing interaction up to 50 cm in front of a modified 20.1 inch LCD.

Content-adaptive parallax barriers: optimizing dual-layer 3D displays using low-rank light field factorization

We optimize automultiscopic displays built by stacking a pair of modified LCD panels. To date, such dual-stacked LCDs have used heuristic parallax barriers for view-dependent imagery: the front LCD shows a fixed array of slits or pinholes, independent of the multi-view content. While prior works adapt the spacing between slits or pinholes, depending on viewer position, we show both layers can also be adapted to the multi-view content, increasing brightness and refresh rate. Unlike conventional barriers, both masks are allowed to exhibit non-binary opacities. It is shown that any 4D light field emitted by a dual-stacked LCD is the tensor product of two 2D masks. Thus, any pair of 1D masks only achieves a rank-1 approximation of a 2D light field. Temporal multiplexing of masks is shown to achieve higher-rank approximations. Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) minimizes the weighted Euclidean distance between a target light field and that emitted by the display. Simulations and experiments characterize the resulting content-adaptive parallax barriers for low-rank light field approximation.

Polarization fields: dynamic light field display using multi-layer LCDs

We introduce polarization field displays as an optically-efficient design for dynamic light field display using multi-layered LCDs. Such displays consist of a stacked set of liquid crystal panels with a single pair of crossed linear polarizers. Each layer is modeled as a spatially-controllable polarization rotator, as opposed to a conventional spatial light modulator that directly attenuates light. Color display is achieved using field sequential color illumination with monochromatic LCDs, mitigating severe attenuation and moiré occurring with layered color filter arrays. We demonstrate such displays can be controlled, at interactive refresh rates, by adopting the SART algorithm to tomographically solve for the optimal spatially-varying polarization state rotations applied by each layer. We validate our design by constructing a prototype using modified off-the-shelf panels. We demonstrate interactive display using a GPU-based SART implementation supporting both polarization-based and attenuation-based architectures. Experiments characterize the accuracy of our image formation model, verifying polarization field displays achieve increased brightness, higher resolution, and extended depth of field, as compared to existing automultiscopic display methods for dual-layer and multi-layer LCDs.

Focus 3D: Compressive accommodation display

We present a glasses-free 3D display design with the potential to provide viewers with nearly correct accommodative depth cues, as well as motion parallax and binocular cues. Building on multilayer attenuator and directional backlight architectures, the proposed design achieves the high angular resolution needed for accommodation by placing spatial light modulators about a large lens: one conjugate to the viewers eye, and one or more near the plane of the lens. Nonnegative tensor factorization is used to compress a high angular resolution light field into a set of masks that can be displayed on a pair of commodity LCD panels. By constraining the tensor factorization to preserve only those light rays seen by the viewer, we effectively steer narrow high-resolution viewing cones into the users eyes, allowing binocular disparity, motion parallax, and the potential for nearly correct accommodation over a wide field of view. We verify the design experimentally by focusing a camera at different depths about a prototype display, establish formal upper bounds on the designs accommodation range and diffraction-limited performance, and discuss practical limitations that must be overcome to allow the device to be used with human observers.

Content-adaptive parallax barriers for automultiscopic 3D display

We optimize the performance of automultiscopic barrier-based displays, constructed by stacking a pair of LCD panels. To date, such displays have conventionally employed heuristically-determined parallax barriers, containing a fixed array of slits or pinholes, to provide view-dependent imagery. While recent methods adapt barriers to one or more viewers, we show that both layers can be adapted to the multi-view content as well. The resulting content-adaptive parallax barriers increase display brightness and frame rate. We prove that any 4D light field created by dual-stacked LCDs is the tensor product of two 2D mask functions. Thus, a pair of 1D masks only achieves a rank-1 approximation of a 2D light field. We demonstrate higher-rank approximations using temporal multiplexing.

Compressive Light Field Displays

Light fields are the multiview extension of stereo image pairs: a collection of images showing a 3D scene from slightly different perspectives. Depicting high-resolution light fields usually requires an excessively large display bandwidth; compressive light field displays are enabled by the codesign of optical elements and computational-processing algorithms. Rather than pursuing a direct “optical” solution (for example, adding one more pixel to support the emission of one additional light ray), compressive displays aim to create flexible optical systems that can synthesize a compressed target light field. In effect, each pixel emits a superposition of light rays. Through compression and tailored optical designs, fewer display pixels are necessary to emit a given light field than a direct optical solution would require.

A switchable light field camera architecture with Angle Sensitive Pixels and dictionary-based sparse coding

We propose a flexible light field camera architecture that is at the convergence of optics, sensor electronics, and applied mathematics. Through the co-design of a sensor that comprises tailored, Angle Sensitive Pixels and advanced reconstruction algorithms, we show that-contrary to light field cameras today-our system can use the same measurements captured in a single sensor image to recover either a high-resolution 2D image, a low-resolution 4D light field using fast, linear processing, or a high-resolution light field using sparsity-constrained optimization.

Tensor displays

We introduce tensor displays: a family of light field displays comprising all stacked display architectures employing light-attenuating layers illuminated by uniform or directional backlighting (i.e., any low-resolution light field emitter). Tensor displays include the capability to time-multiplex content across frames on each of the layers to improve image quality. We show that the light field emitted by an N-layer, M-frame tensor display can be represented by an Nth-order, rank-M tensor. In a related technical paper submission, we use this representation to introduce a unified optimization framework, based on nonnegative tensor factorization (NTF), encompassing all tensor display architectures (see supplementary supporting document). In this emerging technologies demonstration, we show both static, printed tensor displays, and dynamic LCD-based systems, providing wide field-of-view, bright, high-resolution, glasses-free 3D display.

Computational displays: combining optical fabrication, computational processing, and perceptual tricks to build the displays of the future

This course provides the first comprehensive overview of computational displays for the graphics community. These display architectures employ co-design of optical elements, efficient computational processing, computationally tractable models for human perception, and advanced mathematical analysis. The course reviews all aspects of computational displays in detail, from concept introduction to a variety of example displays that exploit joint design of optical components and computational processing for applications such as high-dynamic-range and wide-color-gamut display, extended depth-of-field projection, and high-dimensional information display for computer-vision applications. In particular, the course focuses on how high-speed displays, multiple stacked LCDs, and directional backlighting combined with advanced mathematical analysis and efficient computational processing provide the foundations of 3D displays of the future. It also reviews psycho-physiological aspects that are of importance for display design and demonstrates how perceptually driven computational displays can enhance the capability of current technology.