A Hybrid Multi-view and Eye-tracked Transparent Autostereoscopic Display for Augmented Reality

We put forward the use of transparent 3D displays for augmented reality. For a glasses-free experience with autostereoscopy and a large viewing area, we study the use of a recent transparent display with multiple discrete and horizontally adjacent viewing zones. Although promising, this display cannot directly be used for augmented reality due to inconsistencies within and between the discrete viewing zones. In this work, we propose to overcome this limitation by tracking the user’s eyes for ensuring continuous transitions, thus making the display feasible for augmented reality. In particular, we compensate the intensity variations, we ensure a consistent horizontal parallax within and between the adjacent viewing zones, and we add vertical parallax. In this way, the display becomes a transparent augmented window that can be used for various augmented reality applications. We present results on a display with 5 viewing zones for three different use cases, evaluate the appropriateness, discuss the limitations, and show future directions.