Holographic display system and method

Abstract

There is provided a system and technique for generating holograms using standard image processing hardware with reduce computational complexity. In one aspect, there is provided a holographic image display system comprising a processor receiving image data at an input and producing output hologram data based on the image data, wherein the image data comprises three-dimensional image data that is separable into a plurality of two-dimensional image layers at different image planes, and wherein the processor is configured to: a) perform a space-frequency transform, such as a Fourier transform on each image layer to provide a transformed image layer, b) apply a focus factor to each transformed image layer, c) apply a pseudo-random phase factor to each transformed image layer, and d) sum the transformed image layers to form a holographic sub-frame, e) repeat steps (c) and (d) for a plurality of iterations, applying a different pseudo-random phase factor to the transformed image layers in each iteration to form a plurality of holographic sub-frames, the output hologram data comprising the plurality of holographic sub-frames; and f) drive a spatial light modulator with the holographic sub-frames in rapid temporal succession to generate a holographic image. By applying a pseudo-random phase factor to each image layer after it has been transformed, a large number of holographic sub-frames can be generated without the need to perform a Fourier transform for each sub-frame.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to the field of digital computer generated holography. In particular, the invention relates to generating diffractive holographic patterns displayed on spatial light modulators in a manner that reduces computational load. Background technique [0002] The capture and display of digital image data will continue to become more complex. Real-time video data capture, transmission and display is now commonplace, and services such as Skype and Facetime are available over mobile data networks. Rendering of highly realistic images in online computer games is also now common. [0003] The generation of 3D images is now becoming more common as well. The mathematics and techniques required to display diffractive holographic images based on digital image data are well known. But the amount of data that needs to be processed, especially for moving image holograms, can be massive and computationally demanding. For this reason, holo...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the number of subframes required to perceive a high-quality image is still relatively large, and for each subframe, multiple Fast Fourier Transform operations need to be performed

This requires fast and high-bandwidth memory as well as massive computing resources and makes practical implementation difficult

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