Abstract: In order to provide a micro-lens sheet in which unit lenses are disposed in highly accurate pitch so as to control the light diffusing characteristics of the light emission direction not only in a horizontal direction but also over 360 degrees by using the lens function of one piece of lens sheet, a micro-lens sheet has a micro-lens array section in which unit lenses are disposed in approximate matrix in a second dimensional manner on at least one surface of a base board, and the micro-lens array section is formed on only one surface of the base board, the micro-lens array section includes the unit lens having an aspherical shape, and disposition pitch of neighboring unit lenses is 200 ?m or shorter.

Abstract: A microlens array having a resin layer forming convex lenses, wherein the resin layer comprises a cured product of a polycarbodiimide resin represented by formula: wherein R represents a diisocyanate residue; R1 represents a monoisocyanate residue; and n represents an integer of 1 to 100.

Abstract: A container for producing a graphical image within the container. The container includes a container wall with a front portion and a rear portion. A label is included that extends about the circumference of the container with an inner surface contacting an exterior surface of the rear portion of the container wall and contacting an exterior surface of the front portion of the container wall. The label includes a lenticular lens array integral with the label to include a plurality of lenses formed, such as through embossing, on the outer surface of the label. The lenses have a focal point on or about the rear portion of the container wall with the lenticular lens array positioned near the front portion of the container wall. A printed image is provided and positioned proximal to the focal point on the inner surface of the label.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for a lens or microlens array or non-spherical lens with or without an integrated sensor unit. A dielectric between a substrate and a lens material has curved recesses, which are filled in by the lens material. Light enters the lens material layer and is focused by the curved recess portions.

Abstract: A system for projecting images on an object with a reflective surface. A plurality of image projectors are spaced around the object and synchronized such that each projector projects an individual image whose union on the surface of the object forms a composite image. The composite image displayed totally covers the surface. The object may represent the Earth with the projected images representing topographical features of the Earth. If environmental satellite data, such as data from a Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite System is used, real time weather conditions may be displayed on this Earth representation.

Abstract: The present invention provides an optical system that includes an array of opto-electronic devices, an array of micro lenses, and a fore optic. The array of opto-electronic devices lie substantially along a plane, but the fore optic has a non-planar focal field. To compensate for the non-planar focal field of the fore optic, each opto-electronic device has a corresponding micro lens. Each micro lens has a focal length and/or separation distance between it and it respective opto-electronic device, which compensates for the non-planar focal field of the fore optic. The focal lengths of these lenses may differ relative to one another. As a result, light that is provided by the fore optic is reconfigured by the micro lenses having various focal lengths to be substantially focused along the plane of the array of opto-electronic devices.

Abstract: A projection screen includes a plurality of convex portions serving as a light diffusion control portion, on the surface of a substrate. An optical thin film overlies the substrate and has convex portions having the same shape as that of the convex portions of the substrate. When external light enters the optical thin film with light in three primary color wavelength bands, the optical thin film reflects only the light in the three color wavelength bands and absorbs at least visible light of the external light. When light in the three primary color wavelength bands perpendicularly enters the optical thin film, the rays of the light have incident angles at the convex portions of the optical thin film and diffuse-reflected at angles twice the incident angles. Thus, a predetermined percentage of the light is diffused to increase the viewing angle of the screen.

Abstract: In a lens sheet, a lens portion (3) made of activation energy curing resin such as ultraviolet curing resin has a plurality of lens units, the lens portion (3) is disposed on at least one side of a transparent substrate (2) such as plastic sheet, a relaxation layer (1) is disposed between the transparent substrate (2) and the lens portion (3), and the thickness of the relaxation layer (1) is within a range of 1% to 30% of the height (H) of the lens units. The relaxation layer (1) is made of activation energy curing resin and formed integrally with the lens portion (3). The refractive index of the transparent substrate (2) is lower than that of the lens portion (3). The lens units are elongated prisms each having a substantially triangular cross section. The thickness of the relaxation layer is within a range of 1 ?m to 10 ?m, for example. The prisms have the vertical angle of 50° to 75° and are arranged with a pitch of 10 ?m to 150 ?m.

Abstract: Disclosed is a transparent polymeric film having a top and bottom surface comprising a plurality of complex lenses on at least one surface thereof and containing as its primary ingredient a polymer sufficient to impart to the film a light transmission of at least 92% based on a film thickness of 125 micrometers.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of producing a transmissive screen having a structure including light-absorption-material patterns that are formed on locations corresponding to locations of lens members, which are provided side by side on a light-transmissive substrate, and to locations of boundary portions between the corresponding lens members. In this method, lens compositions are discharged onto and are caused to land on the light transmissive substrate, and, by drops of the lens compositions, very small lens members or precursors thereof are formed. It is possible to provide a method of producing a transmissive screen, which makes it possible to realize, at a low cost, a bright transmissive screen which has high contrast ratio and which can display a high-quality image having reduced or no moiré and reduced or no speckles.

Abstract: The invention concerns a rear projection screen, comprising a support (22) with focusing elements such as microlenses (26) or lenticular elements, a holographic diffuser, and an opaque layer (36) with apertures (38) for allowing through the light focused by the microlenses. The light projected from the rear of the screen is concentrated by the microlenses (26) and passes through the opaque layer by the apertures (38). The holographic diffuser controls the directivity of the light. The incident light on the screen is absorbed by the opaque layer, such that the layer provides good transmittivity, high contrast, and controlled directivity owing to the holographic diffuser. The invention also concerns a method for making such a rear projection screen whereby the apertures in the opaque layer are formed by irradiating said layer or a preparatory material through the microlenses.

Abstract: A light-transmission screen includes a diffusing element formed from a micro-lens array for projecting images in a viewing space. The screen generates images of improved quality by varying structural features of one or more lenses in the array so that light is directed in different directions and/or with different optical properties compared with other lenses in the array. The structural features which are varied include any one or more of size, shape, curvature, or spacing of the lenses in the array. As a result of these variations, the screen achieves wider viewing angles, improved screen resolution and gain, and a greater ability to reduce or eliminate aliasing or other artifacts in the generated images compared with conventional screens. A method for making a light-transmission screen of this type preferably forms the micro-lens array using a stamping operation based on a master.

Abstract: The reflection type screen comprises a reflection layer which is disposed on the opposite side to the projected light incident side of the screen, a horizontal view angle increasing layer which is disposed on the light incident side of the reflection layer, and a diffusion layer which is disposed on the light incident side of the horizontal view angle increasing layer. The horizontal view angle increasing layer has an array of convex ridges which are raised in a rear direction of the screen. Since the longitudinal direction of the ridges is aligned with the vertical direction of the screen, the view angle characteristics of the screen in a horizontal direction are improved and the diffusion characteristics of the screen in a vertical direction can be suppressed for preventing external disturbing light from an upper illumination light from being reflected toward the observers.

Abstract: A light guiding plate is manufactured with accuracy and at low cost. This invention comprises a cylindrical roller, which has a heater built-in, rotating while fixing a stamper having a dot pattern formed on its surface, substrate fixing means for reciprocating along a lower portion of the cylindrical roller in accordance with rotation of the cylindrical roller as fixing a resin substrate, and pressing means for pressing the stamper, which is fixed to the cylindrical roller, onto a surface of the resin substrate, which is fixed to the substrate fixing means, with a constant pressure.

Abstract: A screen having a wide viewing angle and a projection television including the screen are provided. The screen includes a Fresnel lens sheet for converting incident light into near-parallel light, a lenticular lens sheet including a horizontal array of vertical cylindrical lenses for horizontally emitting light, in which vertical black stripes are formed in parallel on connection portions for the cylindrical lenses, and a light diffusion film including a vertical array of horizontal cylindrical lenses for vertically emitting light, in which horizontal black stripes are formed in parallel on connection portions for the cylindrical lenses. In particular, the screen has a wide vertical viewing angle and a high contrast ratio, thereby providing a high definition image.

Abstract: A lenticular lens sheet having (1) a light-transmitting lens sheet body with a lenticular lens group formed of multiple lenticular lenses placed on a surface of the body and a silver salt emulsion light-shielding layer laminated to the other surface of the light-transmitting lens sheet body. Light-transmitting areas in the light-shielding layer correspond to light-converging parts of the lenticular lenses on the body. The positions of the light-shielding areas correspond to non-light-converging parts of the lenticular lenses. The light-shielding characteristics result from the darkened silver dispersed in the silver salt emulsion. A method for making the lenticular lens sheet is disclosed also.

Abstract: An optical projection display member includes an optical focusing structure, an optical panel, and a light-absorbing layer. The optical focusing structure has a plurality of micro-optical focusing components. The light-absorbing layer is located between the optical focusing structure and the optics panel. The light-absorbing layer has a plurality of optical transmitting windows corresponding with the micro-optical focusing components. The optical transmitting windows are formed by an optical exposure-developing step.

Abstract: An optical sheet to be used as a screen on which an image is projected from an image projector is provided. The optical sheet is produced by joining a plurality of optical sheet members with end surfaces thereof meeting each other as joint surfaces. The optical sheet members are realized with lenticular lens sheets. Each lenticular lens sheet has lenses, which are elongated in a second direction, juxtaposed in a first direction orthogonal to the second direction. The optical properties of the optical sheet members that are slightly undulated vary cyclically in the first direction. And the optical sheet members to be joined are a selected pair of optical sheet members whose undulations are substantially identical to each other or symmetrical to each other with respect to the joint surfaces.

Abstract: A resin erecting lens array is fabricated by forming a coating of silicon dioxide compound on the surface of each of molded resin lens plates, forming an aperture stop for each micro-lens on the surface of each resin lens plate, applying an adhesive on end portions of each resin lens plate, spreading out the adhesive into the space between the resin lens plates being placed on top of one another, aligning an optical axis of each micro-lens on the resin lens plates, inserting heat-melting resin pins into the pin-insert holes of the resin lens plate, and melting at least one end of each resin pin to secure the resin lens plates together.

Abstract: There is provided a screen, which, with a simple configuration, is capable of effectively utilizing light projected thereon and realizing an even luminance distribution on the screen. This screen has a diffusion layer whose diffusion characteristic expressed as a luminance distribution with respect to a scattering angle of incident light incident at an angle of 0° is varied such that the peak position of the luminance distribution is shifted towards a greater value of scattering angle in the direction of the central portion of the screen the greater the distance from the central portion of the screen is. The present invention also provides an optical film suitable for use in such a screen, and a manufacturing method therefor.

Abstract: An optical structure and method for forming same includes a plurality of first cured portions and a plurality of second cured portions that are formed from a same light-curable material. The first plurality of cured portions is cured to a first amount. The plurality of second cured portions is cured to a second amount. The first amount is sufficiently different than the second amount to result with discontinuities on the surface of the structure. The lenticular layer can include a prism layer having random discontinuities on the peaks. The discontinuities can also be formed on a window side of the prisms.

Abstract: The invention relates to a lens sheet applicable to a screen for a pixel type projection TV characterized in high quality and definition and a simple producing method thereof. The inventive lens sheet has a shielding layer without any axial misalignment at front and rear sides. The lens sheet comprises a lens portion with a plurality of lens elements arranged in at least one side and a shielding layer provided in a non-transmitting portion of a light radiation plane, in which the shielding layer is provided on a layer made of a cured photo-curing composition (A). The photo-curing composition (A) is composed of 100 weight parts of photo-curing resin composition (a) having a surface free energy of 30 mN/m or more and 0.01 to 10 weight parts of compound (b) having a surface free energy of 25 mN/m or less.

Abstract: A rear-projection screen 3, including at least a lenticular lens sheet 32 and a Fresnel lens sheet 31, is configured so that the lenticular lens sheet 32 contains, in a base material thereof made of a resin, light diffusing microparticles made of a resin having a refractive index different from a refractive index of the base material, and the light diffusing microparticles satisfy 0.5 &mgr;m≦&Dgr;N1×d1≦0.9 &mgr;m, where &Dgr;N1 represents a difference between a refractive index of the light diffusing microparticles and a refractive index of the base material of the lenticular lens sheet, and d1 represents an average particle diameter of the light diffusing microparticles. With this, a rear-projection screen with small wavelength dependency of diffusion characteristics can be provided utilizing only resins with general properties.

Abstract: A method for generating printed images of a graphic pattern of a movie picture to be displayed for moving observers using a long display panel composed of the graphic pattern and a plate made up of a plurality of cylinder converging lenses arranged parallel to each other with a common focal plane.

Abstract: A container for producing a graphical image within the container. A container wall is provided with a front portion and a rear portion. A lenticular lens array is provided integral with the front portion of the container wall with a first optic surface, e.g., a plurality of parallel lens or ribs providing lenticules, contiguous with an exterior surface of the container wall and a second optic surface contiguous with an interior surface of the container wall. The array has a focal point on the rear portion of the container wall. A printed image is positioned near the focal point on the rear portion of the container wall to be registered to the lenticules of the array and may be printed directly on the exterior surface on the rear portion of the container wall or printed on a label that is attached to the exterior surface of the container wall.

Abstract: A screen for a projector includes a Fresnel lens which concentrates incident light, a lenticular lens arranged on a front surface of the Fresnel lens and which forms an image by focusing light passing through the Fresnel lens, a protective panel installed on a front surface of the lenticular lens and which protects the lenticular lens, and a reflection reducing portion formed on one surface of the protective panel, wherein the reflection reducing portion reduces reflection of light by diffusely reflecting the light, and wherein the reflection reducing portion includes a core member capable of being emitted externally.

Abstract: The present invention provides a lens sheet capable of preventing reflection of extraneous light without decreasing extraneous light absorption, having extraneous light absorbers that can be readily formed by printing and are scarcely stained. The present invention also provides a rear projection screen including such a lens sheet. A rear projection screen 10 is composed of a Fresnel lens sheet 11 and a lenticular lens sheet 12 placed on the viewing side of the Fresnel lens sheet 11. The lenticular lens sheet 12 has lenses 121 formed on those portions of the light-emergent-side surface of the sheet-shaped substrate part 12a through which light converged by lenses 125 pass, and extraneous light absorbers 122 formed on those portions of the light-emergent-side surface of the sheet-shaped substrate part 12a through which light converged by lenses 125 does not pass.

Abstract: A compound lens arrangement for use in an array of such lens arrangements comprising at least two lens elements including a front lens element having a front lens surface which is the largest diameter lens surface in the compound lens arrangement, wherein the exit pupil of the compound lens is bounded by and lies in the plane of the edge of said front lens surface. This enables the compound lens arrangements in an array to abut. The invention particularly relates to compound lens arrangements for use in projectors which projectors are used in an array in an autostereo projection system and allows adjacent projectors to abut.

Abstract: This invention relates to light transmitting filters comprising: (a) a light absorbing layer of material having a front surface and a back surface, (b) transparent microspheres embedded in the light absorbing layer and contacting the front surface of the light absorbing layer with portions of the microspheres protruding through the back surface of the light absorbing layer for transmitting light through the light absorbing layer, and (c) a conformed layer of optically clear material having a front surface and a back surface wherein the front surface of the conformed layer is in contact with and conforming in shape with the protruding portions of the microspheres, and wherein the back surface of the conformed layer has a textured finish. The invention also relates to methods of making these light transmitting filters.

Abstract: In a lens sheet, a lens portion (3) made of activation energy curing resin such as ultraviolet curing resin has a plurality of lens units, the lens portion (3) is disposed on at least one side of a transparent substrate (2) such as plastic sheet, a relaxation layer (1) is disposed between the transparent substrate (2) and the lens portion (3), and the thickness of the relaxation layer (1) is within a range of 1% to 30% of the height (H) of the lens units. The relaxation layer (1) is made of activation energy curing resin and formed integrally with the lens portion (3). The refractive index of the transparent substrate (2) is lower than that of the lens portion (3). The lens units are elongated prisms each having a substantially triangular cross section. The thickness of the relaxation layer is within a range of 1 &mgr;m to 10 &mgr;m, for example. The prisms have the vertical angle of 50° to 75° and are arranged with a pitch of 10 &mgr;m to 150 &mgr;m.

Abstract: A projection screen comprising; a substrate having a generally flat forward surface; a diffusion layer formed of a plurality of generally equally spaced apart concave features forming micro lenses; a layer of reflective material deposited on a rearward facing surface of the diffusion layer; the diffusion layer laminated to the forward facing surface of the substrate so that the layer of reflective material is sandwiched therebetween.

Abstract: There is disclosed a partially transparent, directional viewing sheet formed of plastic material with convex and concave lenses, preferably lenticular lenses, formed respectively on the front and back surfaces of the sheet, there being intervening spaces with flat or convex arcuate surfaces between the concave lenses which spaces are not transparent to images and may be imprinted with an image that is viewable through the sheet from some directions. Preferably the concave lens focal length is typically about one-half of the focal length of the convex lens. Elliptical cross-section of the lenses may minimize spherical aberration and sharpen the focus. The thickness of the sheet causes focal points of the lenses to substantially coincide.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for reducing the moiré effect in rear-projection displays by rotating the dark-stripe structure (711, 712) in the screen (71) 45±15 degrees relative to the displayed pixel structure. By rotating the dark-stripes (711) relative to the displayed pixels, the spatial frequency at which the moiré effect sets in can be improved by 15% to 41%.

Abstract: Disclosed are a lens sheet wherein when molding a resin no damage is caused to a mold to there by enable the optical function of light diffusion agent particles to be enhanced, a projection screen, and a method of manufacturing the lens sheet. In a lens sheet having a base material sheet that has a lens formed on at least one surface thereof using an ionizing radiation curable resin, light diffusion agent particles are mixed into the base material sheet and have a mass average particle diameter of 3 to 25 &mgr;m and, when d represents the mass average particle diameter of the light diffusion agent particle and h represents the interval between the trough of the lens configuration of the lens and the surface on the lens-formation surface side of the base sheet material, there hold true the inequality: h>d/3.

Abstract: Screens for use with image-forming illumination (53,54) are provided, as well as methods for producing such screens. The screens include an array of lenses (51), a substrate, and a layer of light-absorbing material (55) in which apertures are formed using aperture-forming illumination (52) which passes through the lenses (51). The optical properties of the lenses (51) and the thickness of the substrate are selected so as to maximize the light-blocking area of the layer of light-absorbing material (55) while allowing long-wavelength image-forming illumination (54) to pass through the apertures substantially unimpeded. The array of lenses can be an array of randomized, anamorphic microlenses.

Abstract: The present invention employs a beam dividing prism corresponding to a size of a single pixel on a screen in order to create a plurality of viewing zones for multi-viewer, in which a prism panel having an 1-dimensional or 2-dimensional arrangement of a prism cell for dispersing beam in various directions is coupled to the 3-dimensional image projection screen in order to increase the number of the viewing zones, and in which the number and position of the available viewing zones are determined by the number and a relative position of disperse surfaces in the prism cell. By using the present invention, the desired number of the viewing zones can be created by selectively adopting the prism cells, so realizing the 3-dimensional image display system for multi-viewer.

Abstract: Provided is a lenticular lens sheet the contrast of that is high and that can improve the brightness of an image and the angle of visibility. The width A, in a corss section perpendicular to a lens element 3, of a portion 8 of connection that is created between the lens elements 3 on a light-emission side and a side wall 6 of a black stripe portion 4 is made to be 15 &mgr;m or less. When it is assumed that P represents the pitch of the lens element 3 and H represents the width of the black stripe portion 4 as viewed in a cross section perpendicular to the lens element 3, the difference F in height between the black stripe portion 4 and the lens element 3 is set to have a range that is expressed by the inequality: 0.098 P≦−F≦(P−H)/2 tan (&pgr;/3). Simultaneously, the width B as measured from an apex portion 5 of the black stripe portion 4 in regard to a colored portion 7 on a side wall 6 of the black stripe portion 4 is set to have a range that is expressed by the inequality: 0.

Abstract: A rear-projection screen 3, including at least a lenticular lens sheet 32 and a Fresnel lens sheet 31, is configured so that the lenticular lens sheet 32 contains, in a base material thereof made of a resin, light diffusing microparticles made of a resin having a refractive index different from a refractive index of the base material, and the light diffusing microparticles satisfy 0.5 &mgr;m≦&Dgr;N1×d1≦0.9 &mgr;m, where &Dgr;N1 represents a difference between a refractive index of the light diffusing microparticles and a refractive index of the base material of the lenticular lens sheet, and d1 represents an average particle diameter of the light diffusing microparticles. With this, a rear-projection screen with small wavelength dependency of diffusion characteristics can be provided utilizing only resins with general properties.

Abstract: A light-transmission screen includes a diffusing element formed from a micro-lens array for projecting images in a viewing space. The screen generates images of improved quality by varying structural features of one or more lenses in the array so that light is directed in different directions and/or with different optical properties compared with other lenses in the array. The structural features which are varied include any one or more of size, shape, curvature, or spacing of the lenses in the array. As a result of these variations, the screen achieves wider viewing angles, improved screen resolution and gain, and a greater ability to reduce or eliminate aliasing or other artifacts in the generated images compared with conventional screens. A method for making a light-transmission screen of this type preferably forms the micro-lens array using a stamping operation based on a master.

Abstract: A projection television receiver having red, green and blue image projectors for respective images of different colors and a high gain projection screen formed by at least one hologram disposed on a substrate superimposed on at least one light transmissive panel. The high gain holographic screen provides increased horizontal viewing performance over lenticular (e.g., fresnel) screens without reliance on screens having wide horizontal half viewing angles.

Abstract: Disclosed is a diffusion film comprising a transparent polymeric film base bearing a plurality of integral contiguous layers, each layer having a pattern of complex lenses on a surface thereof, at least two such contiguous layers comprising material having an index of refraction differing by at least 0.1.

Abstract: In a lens sheet, a lens portion made if activation energy curing resin such as ultraviolet curing resin has a plurality of lens units, the lens portion is disposed on at least one side of a transparent substrate such as plastic sheet, a relaxation layer is disposed between the transparent substrate and the lens portion, and the thickness of the relaxation layer is within a range of 1% to 30% of the height of the lens units. The relaxation layer is made of activation energy curing resin and formed integrally with the lens portion. The refractive index of the transparent substrate is lower than that of the lens portion. The lens units are elongated prisms each having a substantially triangular cross section.

Abstract: A method of producing a transmissive screen having a structure including light-absorption-material patterns formed on locations corresponding to locations of lens members, which are provided side by side on a light-transmissive substrate, and to locations of boundary portions between the corresponding lens members. In the method, lens compositions are discharged onto and are caused to land on the light transmissive substrate, and, by drops of the lens compositions, very small lens members or precursors thereof are formed. It is possible to provide a method of producing a transmissive screen, which makes it possible to realize at a low cost a bright transmissive screen which has high contrast ratio and which can display a high-quality image having no moiré and no speckles.

Abstract: A reflective projection screen has in a first aspect a plurality of reflective elements. The upper surface of the reflective elements is either coated or textured to interfere with reflection of light from the upper surface to an adjacent reflective element. In a second aspect of the invention, a screen is provided that reflects light in the vertical direction like a plane surface, while reflecting light in the horizontal direction back toward the light source. In a third aspect of the invention, a projection system projects a three-dimensional image.

Abstract: A front projection screen (S) has a front shading sheet (5) facing a viewing side (A), and formed of a transparent material. The front shading sheet (5) has a front surface facing the viewing side (A), provided with a plurality of horizontal, parallel, minute ridges (8) having a triangular cross section and each having an upper side surface coated with a shading layer (9). A transparent filler layer (13) of a material having a refractive index nearly equal to that of the transparent material of the front shading sheet (5) is formed on the rear surface (4) of the front shading sheet (5), transparent glass beads (12) are embedded uniformly in a plane in the rear surface of the transparent filler layer (13), the rear surface of the transparent filler layer (13) is coated with a white, reflecting adhesive layer (11), and an opaque film (10) impermeable to light is applied to the rear surface of the reflecting adhesive layer (11).

Abstract: This invention relates to light transmitting filters comprising: (a) a light absorbing layer of material having a front surface and a back surface, (b) transparent microspheres embedded in the light absorbing layer and contacting the front surface of the light absorbing layer with portions of the microspheres protruding through the back surface of the light absorbing layer for transmitting light through the light absorbing layer, and (c) a conformed layer of optically clear material having a front surface and a back surface wherein the front surface of the conformed layer is in contact with and conforming in shape with the protruding portions of the microspheres, and wherein the back surface of the conformed layer has a textured finish. The invention also relates to methods of making these light transmitting filters.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a microlens array including the steps of forming a reflecting layer as a mark composed of at least one of a raised part and a recessed part in a first light-transmitting layer having a plurality of lenses and the mark, the reflecting layer having a higher reflectance than that of the first light-transmitting layer; and forming a second light-transmitting layer so as to cover at least the lenses.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a microlens array requires at least two fiducial marks formed on a surface of a transparent medium opposite the microlens array. Additional optical features formed on the transparent medium adjacent the microlens array enables precise locationing of fiducial marks on an opposing surface when such surface is exposed to a collimated beam of light. The location of fiducial marks using the method of the invention is about 1 micron or less.

Abstract: A method of fabricating maps and other objects presenting multiple sets of spatially related information. Spatial alignment data, such as geographical boundaries is selected. First and second images are created by aligning or mapping first and second sets of information to the spatial alignment data. A lens sheet or lenticular material is fabricated, and based on the lens sheet configuration, the first and second images are combined to create an interlaced image including alternating strips from the first and second images. The interlaced image is printed on a substrate or the reverse side of the lens sheet, and the substrate is bonded to the lens sheet such that the interlaced image is sandwiched between the lens sheet and substrate. The first image is visible when the map or object is in a first position and the second image when the map or object is rotated to a second position.

Abstract: A light collimating film has a sheeting having a first side and a second side, wherein the first side includes a series of linear optical elements having a primary axis running the length of the optical elements, and the second side includes a plurality of subwavelength optical microstructures being oriented at about 90 degrees relative to the primary axis of the linear optical elements. Another embodiment includes a back lighting display device having a lighting device, a display panel, and a sheeting having a first side and a second side, wherein the first side includes a series of linear prisms having peaks, and the second side includes a plurality of subwavelength optical microstructures being oriented at about 90 degrees relative to the peaks of the linear prisms.