360°-viewable cylindrical integral imaging system using a 3-D/2-D switchable and flexible backlight

Abstract? A 360°-viewable cylindrical three-dimensional (3-D) display system based on integral imaging has been implemented. The proposed system is composed of a cylindrically arranged electroluminescent (EL) pinhole film, an EL film backlight, a barrier structure, and a transmission-type flexible display panel. The cylindrically arranged point-light-source array, which is generated by the EL pinhole film reconstructs 360°-viewable virtual 3-D images at the center of the cylinder. In addition, the proposed system provides 3-D/2-D convertibility using the switching of EL pinhole film from a point light source to a surface light source. In this paper, the principle of operation, analysis of the viewing parameters, and the experimental results are presented.