VISIDEP (TM): Visual Image Depth Enhancement By Parallax Induction

The usual descriptions of depth perception have traditionally required the simultaneous presentation of disparate views presented to separate eyes with the concomitant demand that the resulting binocular parallax be horizontally aligned. Our work suggests that the visual input information is compared in a short-term memory buffer which permits the brain to compute depth as it is normally perceived. However, the mechanism utilized is also capable of receiving and processing the stereographic information even when it is received monocularly or when identical inputs are simultaneously fed to both eyes. We have also found that the restriction to horizontally displaced images is not a necessary requirement and that improvement in image acceptability is achieved by the use of vertical parallax. Use of these ideas permit the presentation of three-dimensional scenes on flat screens in full color without the encumbrance of glasses or other viewing aids.