Toshiba Offers Revolutionary Flat 3-D Screens: Without The Goggles

TECH SPACE

(Above) Display viewed from left; (Below) Display viewed from right. The can with the orange and yellow cap, on the bottom right, is real, the other object are generated by the display.

Tokyo (AFP) Apr 15, 2005
Toshiba said Friday it had found a way for a flat screen to show three-dimensional images, opening up the prospect of arcade games, next-generation TVs and even restaurant menus that can zoom out at a viewer even without the use of 3-D glasses.

The Japanese electronics giant said it had improved on standard 3-D technology -- which uses specially shaped screens that must be watched from a fixed point -- by using microlenses that control light emission and special software.

Toshiba demonstrated the invention by showing a flat screen which appeared to have bottles and cans sticking out several centimeters (inches) in the air.

The company set a goal of first using the technology in 2006 in arcade games.

By 2007, Toshiba hopes to be able to develop 3-D menus -- which would come in handy in Japan, where restaurants often show pictures of what's on offer.

Japan's electronics giant Toshiba researcher Rieko Fukushima displays a prototype model of the new flatbed type three-dimensional (3D) LCD display without special glasses, which enables to show 16 different angles 3D images with a technology of integral imaging system employing semicylindrical micro-lenses on its surface at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, 15 April 2005. Toshiba is expected to put it on the market at the end of 2006. AFP Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno
Toshiba plans to use the 3-D screens in home video games in 2008 and bring the technology into portable games a year later. By 2010, it wants to use the invention for a next-generation 3-D televison.

"Mainstream 3-D technology is limited in terms of the viewing angle at which it can display 3-D images and the images are also tiring to view," a Toshiba statement said.

"Toshiba's new displays employ an integral imaging system that reproduces light beams similar to those produced by a real object, not its visual representation. This overcomes the main problem with a flatbed display: distance," it said.

The software which supports the effect uses 10 or more images of the same object, which can be put to use to develop broader angles. The 3-D effect works for viewers 30 centimeters (12 inches) or more away.

All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

TECH SPACE

Japanese Firm Develops Dome-Shaped Screen For 3D Viewing

Tokyo (AFP) Mar 03, 2005
Major Japanese electronics firm Mitsubishi Electric has developed a dome-shaped screen which is billed as offering viewers a wider, three-dimensional images.