HxDP, a New Technology for Multiview Displays
NLT Technologies (Kawasaki, Japan) was formerly know as NEC LCD Japan. The renamed comapny developed a new glasses-free 3D LCD display that uses their new HxDP (Horizontal x times-Density Pixels, an enhancement to existing HDDP, or Horizontal Double-Density Pixels technology) - to create mutiple viewpoints and allow 2D and 3D images on the same screen at the same time.
The company produced a prototype 3.1" panel with 427x240 pixels.
Autostereoscopic Displays are Better than ever
The narrow viewing angle of even the smallest autostereoscopic (no glasses) displays is still a problem. The issue is solved partially by HDDP (Horizontal Double-Density Pixels technology), but now with the shape of the pixels becoming very narrow vertical rectangles, creating more than two views with a good resolution starts to be possible.
Tech details
For traditional LCD displays, three (red, green and blue) sub-pixels arranged in a stripe pattern constitute one pixel. To display a 3D image on such a display, it is necessary to use at least two pixels for displaying one pixel of the 3D image, reducing resolution by half or more.
For the HDDP, two horizontally-arranged sets of red green and blue (RGB) sub-pixels constitute one pixel. So, the density of horizontally-arranged pixels is twice as high as that of vertically-arranged pixels. As a result, it becomes possible to display a 3D image having the same resolution as that of a 2D image.
While the HDDP displays a 3D image with two viewpoints, the HxDP displays a 3D image with two or more viewpoints by using as many sub-pixel sets as the number of viewpoints for each pixel. In other words, the density of sub-pixels triples for three viewpoints and increases six times for six viewpoints.
Furthermore, for its LCD display module supporting the HxDP, NLT Technologies used kinematic parallax because data to be viewed is different depending on the angle from which a 3D image is viewed. As a result, the stereoscopic effect of 3D images was increased, the company said.It seems that NLT technologies mastered the technology and has prototyped a 3.1-inch 3D LCD display that not only matches 2D resolution in 3D but also offers up to six viewing angles.
How to see it
Look at this animated presentation on NLT's web site.
NLT Technologies will exhibit the prototyped display at SID Display Week 2012, which will take place from June 5 to 7, 2012, in Boston, MA, USA. The company plans to have sales negotiations with clients by showing the display at the show, aiming to commercialize it in or after 2013. The company expects that the display will be employed for high-end industrial instruments.
