CALIBRATION OF A LIGHT-FIELD GENERATION DEVICE

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for calibrating a light field generating device, which has a display unit with pixels for generating light and a lens field unit with optical lenses for deflecting the light generated by the display unit, and a control unit for controlling the display unit, each lens of the lens field unit being assigned a plurality of pixels of the display unit. Also disclosed are a light field generating device based on the above method and an illumination device having the disclosed light field generation device.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A method for calibrating a light field generating device, which has a display unit with pixels for generating light and a lens field unit with optical lenses for deflecting the light generated by the display unit, and a control unit for controlling the display unit, each lens of the lens field unit being assigned a plurality of pixels of the display unit, the method having the following steps: a) generating light through one or more pixels of the display unit according to a predetermined calibration pattern; b) detecting the light generated according to the calibration pattern by a measuring unit of a calibration device which is arranged in a predetermined spatial relation to the light field generating device; c) respectively calculating a deflection angle of the lens field unit for the pixel or pixels which have generated light according to the calibration pattern, on the basis of the detected light by a calculation unit of the calibration device in dependence on the predetermined calibration pattern and the predetermined spatial relation; and d) calibrating the light field generating device by utilizing at least one calculated deflection angle with an assignment of respective deflection angles of the lens field unit to at least a majority of the pixels of the display unit in the control unit of the light field generating device.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the calibration according to method step d) comprises or is an optical calibration or opto-electronic calibration in the control unit.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the majority of the pixels of the display unit to which the deflection angles of the lens field unit is assigned also comprises pixels which have not generated light according to the calibration pattern.

19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the calibration of the light field generating device according to method step d) is carried out using at least one calculated deflection angle and a predetermined calculation model of the light field generating device.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein a number of optical lenses of the lens field unit and/or a description of a geometrical arrangement of the optical lenses of the lens field unit and/or one or more properties of respective optical lenses of the lens field unit is quantified by the predetermined calculation model, wherein the property comprises a respective size and/or a respective focal length and/or a respective chromatic aberration and/or a respective spherical aberration and/or a respective distortion and/or a respective coma and/or a respective axial astigmatism.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein the calculation model is specified by the calculation unit using calculated deflection angles.

22. The method according to claim 16, wherein the calibration pattern is a time-varying calibration pattern and/or the calibration pattern is a spectrally varying calibration pattern.

23. The method according to claim 16, wherein the detection of the light generated according to the calibration pattern by the measuring unit according to step b) takes place in exactly one predetermined spatial relation.

24. A light field generating device comprising a display unit having pixels for generating light and a lens field unit having optical lenses for deflecting the light generated by the display unit, and a control unit for controlling the display unit, wherein each lens of the lens field unit is associated with a plurality of pixels of the display unit, wherein the light field generating device is calibrated by the method according to claim 16.

25. The light field generating device according to claim 24, wherein each optical lens is assigned at least 9 pixels.

26. The light field generating device according to claim 24, wherein optical lenses with different properties are part of the lens field unit.

27. The light field generating device according to claim 24, wherein the optical lenses are optically shielded from pixels not assigned to them by a respective shielding unit.

28. The light field generating device according to claim 24, wherein the pixels of the display unit are designed to generate a light with wavelengths in the ultraviolet spectral range and/or with wavelengths in the visible spectral range and/or with wavelengths in the infrared spectral range.

29. The light field generating device according to claim 24, wherein the lens field unit is designed to deflect the light generated by the display unit in two different spatial planes.

30. A visual inspection device for optically inspecting a sample, or illumination device for illuminating an interior space and/or an exterior space, or notification device for displaying safety or warning or rescue notifications, or advertising device for displaying advertising notices, or window device for simulating a window in a building or a vehicle, or camouflage device for camouflaging an object or a person in one or more spectral ranges, having a light field generation device of claim 24.

Description

[0052] The subject according to the invention is to be explained in more detail with the aid of the schematic drawings shown in the following figures, without wishing to restrict it to the specific embodiments shown here.

[0053] Shown are:

[0054] FIG. 1 an exemplary embodiment of a light field generation device;

[0055] FIG. 2 an exemplary application of a light field generation device as a notification device for the direction-dependent display of a safety indication.

[0056] Identical or functionally identical features are provided with the same reference signs in the figures.

[0057] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a light field generation device. The light field generation device 1 has a display unit 2 with pixels 3 for generating light 4. The light field generating device 1 also has a lens field unit 5 with optical lenses 6 for deflecting the light 4 generated by the display unit 2. The lens field unit 5 is arranged parallel to the flat display unit 2 at a distance d, which corresponds to the focal length of the optical lenses 6. The display unit 2 and the lens field unit 5 thus have parallel main extension planes, which both run in the xy-plane. Here, the light field generating device 1 also has a control unit 7 for controlling the display unit 2. Each lens 6 of the lens field unit 5 is assigned several pixels 3, in this case 44=16 pixels 3, of the display unit 2. The light 4 of the pixels 3 assigned to a lens 6 is deflected as a parallel beam in 16 different spatial directions. By coordinated activation of the pixels 3, an image 8 can thus be displayed with the light field generation device, which looks different from here 16 different viewing directions.

[0058] Here, the light field generation device 1 was calibrated by a) generating the light 4 by the pixel(s) 3 of the display unit 2 according to a predetermined calibration pattern, b) detecting the light 4 generated according to the calibration pattern by a measuring unit of a calibration device which is arranged in a predetermined spatial relation to the light field generating device 1, c) respectively calculating a deflection angle of the lens field unit 5 for the pixel or pixels 3 which have generated light according to the calibration pattern, based on the detected light 4 by a calculation unit of the calibration device depending on the predetermined calibration pattern and the predetermined spatial relation, d) calibrating the light field generating device 1 using at least one calculated deflection angle with an assignment of respective deflection angles of the lens field unit 1 to at least a majority of the pixels 3 of the display unit 2 in the control unit 7 of the light field generating device 1. As a result, sharp three-dimensional images 8 with a large number of different viewing directions and large deflection and thus viewing angles are achievable here even with large mounting tolerances of the position of the lens field unit 5 relative to the display unit 2, i.e., for example, with the lens field unit 5 twisted or displaced in the xy-plane, even for large-area light field generating devices 1.

[0059] An example is shown here in FIG. 2, where the light field generating device 1 is a central display panel in a stadium 9. Here, the image 8 comprises two partial images 8, 8, which indicate the respective path to the next emergency exit for viewers who are located in the direction assigned to the corresponding image 8, 8 relative to the light field generation device 1 designed as an notification device.