High‐quality direct‐view display combining multiple integral 3D images

This paper proposes a method for combining multiple integral three‐dimensional (3D) images using direct‐view displays to obtain high‐quality results. A multi‐image combining optical system (MICOS) is used to enlarge and combine multiple integral 3D images without gaps. An optical design with a simple lens configuration that does not require a diffuser plate prevents the deterioration in resolution resulting from lens arrangement errors and the diffuser plate. An experiment was performed to compare a previously developed method with the proposed method, and the latter showed a significant improvement in image quality. A method for expanding the effective viewing angle of the proposed optical design was also developed, and its effectiveness was confirmed experimentally. A prototype device of the proposed optical design was constructed using a high‐density organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) panel with 8K resolution and 1058 ppi pixel density to achieve 311 (H) × 175 (V) elemental images, a viewing angle of 20.6° in both the horizontal and vertical directions, and a display size of 9.1 in. In addition, the proposed optical design enabled making device considerably thinner, ie, with a thickness of only 47 mm.