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First Shareable Interactive Display
Jeremy Newton writes "I want to share with you a new device that allows multiple moving images to be displayed to several users from the same screen at the same time. The project is called a "Shift in Time," my thesis project for NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. The driving goal of this project was to end fighting over the remote control, the gamepad, or the keyboard. It also makes room for new applications in marketing, games, and education. Recently it's gotten some buzz on Engadget.com."
This is great; Now, if only someone makes multiple streams of sound riding on the same speaker...
How about using it in the bank industry? The bank equips the ATM's with this, makes sure that the user is informed that he should sit strictly in front. Then the ATM displays "bait" information on all sides except the front side.
Or, use the Imax like glasses, and flick between images on the screen every refresh, and have the glasses blackout for every other image, so you again only see the images you want.
Oh, and to top it off, you set up your speakers really carefully so that there's interference, and a node (no sound) from one source for person A, and a node from the other source for person B!
Then again, it's probably easier just to use two screens and two headphones :)
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
I could see a use for this around a gaming console for multiplayer games where each person would get a private, full scree pov. Individual headphones and you are all set.
...But I digress. TREMBLE PUNY HUMANS!ONE DAY MY SPECIES WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!
Well, as for practical applications, I can see 2:
since this lens would be very cheap to produce, it might be interesting to see a lens packaged with a video game to allow head-to-head play on the same TV without traditional split-screen. (the TV would need to be high-definition to achieve any sort of usable resolution, and the game could present an interface to calibrate the image interlacing granularity and alignment so that the lens could be used on different sized displays.)
The second practical use is a stereoscopic display without the need for red/blue, polarized, or shutter glasses. I think there is already a company that produces these, at some ungodly price...
I know a company that provides a comprehensive
screen-sharing solution for local and remote
cooperation during business conferences.
All participants can use their own laptop and
its screen real-estate to do their own private
thing, but can drag applications, video, etc.,
to a central shared (typically large plasma)
screen. Everyone's mouse/cursor can co-exist
on the shared screen, manipulate the shared
application windows, etc. Very nice, useful,
not a toy. Born from a Stanford project.
Check out: http://www.tidebreak.com/
Very useful.
Not only has it been done, it's already commercialized.
i ndex.html
http://www.opticalitycorporation.com/pclicensing/
Applications include encumbrance (e.g. shutter glasses) free auto-stereo.
This reminds me of a display at SIGGRAPH last year. It used 1000Hz DLP projector. The projector shined on 20 slices (parallel to the "screen", at increasing distance from the viewer), one at a time, so each slice was updated at 50Hz. Each slice was translucent, so the result was a convincing 3D image. Of course, you need a real 3D datasource, and the range of motion that it looks convincing is limited, but very cool. More info at Lightspacetech
From their FAQ:
How does the DepthCube z1024 3D Display work?
The DepthCube z1024 3D Display is a rear-projection volumetric display in which a high-speed DLP(TM) video projector sends a series of 3D image slices into a 3D projection volume. The projection volume is composed of a physically deep stack of 20 electrically-switchable liquid crystal scattering shutters. At any instant in time 19 of scattering shutters are transparent and only one is in a white scattering state. We switch a single shutter into the scattering state and project onto it the appropriate image slice corresponding to its physical depth. Since each image slice is stopped in the projection volume at the correct depth, the DepthCube produces a 3D image that is truly deep.
A patented 3D anti-aliasing hardware algorithm virtually eliminates the visual discontinuities between layers so that the 3D image appears to be completely smooth and continuous.
With the high speed projector sending out 1000 image slices per second, the whole volume is refreshed 50 times a second. This is comparable to field refresh rate of NTSC video in the US and PAL video in Europe (although the actual frame refresh rate of these is 30 Hz and 25 Hz respectively). Due to the high speed digital interface between the computer and DepthCube Z1024 3D Display, a completely new 3D image can be written to the display nearly 20 times each second.
Although not quite fast enough for Virtual Reality, this update rate is fast enough for real-time user interaction with the 3D image. We've even played video games on it.