Paul Armistead Hoover

Augmented reality, surface style: extending displays through fiber optics

Most displays can show information only on a planar surface. In some cases it is advantageous to extend the display into the third dimension or inside objects on the surface. For instance, a person on one side of an interactive table might want to read a message displayed privately to themselves. This paper describes a novel use of fiber optics to take the light from a planar surface and extend it to display into the third dimension, both vertically and in any direction that the fiber optic is bent.