Tensor Displays: Compressive Light-Field Synthesis Using Multilayer Displays With Directional Backlighting

Introducing a family of compressive light-field displays that employ a stack of time-multiplexed, light-attenuating layers illuminated by uniform or directional backlighting (any low-resolution light-field emitter). This project shows that the light field emitted by an N-layer, M-frame tensor display can be represented by an Nth-order, rank-M tensor. With this representation, it introduces 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, which significantly reduces 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.

The prototype presented at SIGGRAPH 2012 demonstrates the benefits and limitations of tensor displays by using modified LCD panels and a custom integral imaging backlight. This efficient, GPU-based NTF implementation enables interactive applications. Simulations and experiments 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.