Time-multiplexed method for expanding the view window of head-mounted light field displays

Integral imaging-based head-mounted light field display (InI-LF-HMD) systems offer the ability to render a 3D scene with accommodation cues to alleviate vergence-accommodation conflicts. Conventional methods for designing InI-LF-HMD systems, however, are subject to several key challenges, one of which is the limited size and location of the view window where the eye of an observer can be placed to view crosstalk-free light field rendering. In this work, we characterized the analytical relationships between the size and location of the view window and the optical parameters of the system design. Based on the analytical tradeoffs, we proposed a time-multiplexed method for view window expansion by utilizing a digitally programmable shutter array. A time-multiplexed InI-based display prototype was built, through which we experimentally demonstrated that a four-phase time multiplexing enabled the expansion of the view window four times compared to a conventional rendering without compromising optical resolution and view density.