Communication infrastructure including simultaneous video pathways for multi-viewer support

Abstract

A communication system is described that allows co-located viewers to simultaneously consume different media content, such as different video content, via the same display screen, wherein video content delivered to at least one co-located viewer is not visible to the other co-located viewer(s). The communication system comprises an infrastructure that includes multiple pathways for delivering media content from one or more media sources to the eyes of each of the co-located viewers, wherein each pathway passes through the pixels of a pixel array included in the shared display screen. The pathways also include distributed or non-distributed processing circuitry that manages certain resources that are shared among the multiple pathways, wherein such shared resources may include shared display resources (e.g., pixels of the pixel array and light generated thereby) and shared data communication resources (e.g., bandwidth on data communication links and processing resources of nodes located on such links).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A communication infrastructure used to support visual presentations based on media content observable by a first viewer and a second viewer, the communication infrastructure comprising:
 a shared display screen having a pixel array;   one or more media sources that store the media content, the media source(s) being external to the shared display screen;   processing circuitry;   a first pathway from the one or more media sources and through both the processing circuitry and the shared display screen, the first pathway supporting delivery of a first visual experience, the first visual experience being based on at least a first part of the media content, and at least a portion of the first visual experience being observable by the first viewer but not by the second viewer;   a second pathway from the one or more media sources and through both the processing circuitry and the shared display screen, the second pathway supporting delivery of a second visual experience, the second visual experience being based on at least a second part of the media content, and at least a portion of the second visual experience being observable by the second viewer, the first pathway and the second pathway operating to simultaneously deliver via the shared display screen both the first visual experience and the second visual experience; and   the processing circuitry at least assists in managing at least one shared display resource that is shared between the first pathway and the second pathway.   
     
     
         2 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry at least assists in the managing the at least one shared display resource prior to beginning the simultaneous delivery of the first visual experience and the second visual experience. 
     
     
         3 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry changes the allocation of the at least one shared display resource during the simultaneous delivery of the first visual experience and the second visual experience. 
     
     
         4 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry at least assists in managing the at least one shared display resource by at least assisting in gathering a pathway characteristic. 
     
     
         5 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 1 , wherein the first pathway and the second pathway are both adaptive pathways and wherein the processing circuitry adapts the first pathway and the second pathway based on at least one pathway performance characteristic. 
     
     
         6 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry at least assists in managing the at least one shared display resource that is shared between the first pathway and the second pathway by modifying a number of pixels of the pixel array that are allocated to at least one of supporting delivery of the first visual experience and supporting delivery of the second visual experience. 
     
     
         7 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry at least assists in managing the at least one shared display resource that is shared between the first pathway and the second pathway by modifying a frequency at which at least one of frames of the at least first part of the media content and frames of the at least second part of the media content are displayed via the pixels of the pixel array. 
     
     
         8 . A method for operating a communication system, comprising:
 utilizing a first pathway from one or more media sources and through both processing circuitry and a shared display screen to deliver a first visual experience, the media source(s) being external to the shared display screen, the first visual experience being based on at least a first part of media content obtained from the media source(s) and at least a portion of the first visual experience being observable by a first viewer but not a second viewer;   utilizing a second pathway from the media source(s) and through both the processing circuitry and the shared display screen to deliver a second visual experience simultaneously with the delivery of the first visual experience, the second visual experience being observable by the second viewer and being based on at least a second part of the media content obtained from the media source(s); and   at least assisting in managing at least one shared display resource that is shared between the first pathway and the second pathway.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the at least assisting in the managing of the at least one shared display resource comprises:
 at least assisting in managing the at least one shared display resource prior to beginning the simultaneous delivery of the first visual experience and the second visual experience.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the at least assisting in the managing of the at least one shared display resource comprises:
 changing an allocation of the at least one shared display resource during the simultaneous delivery of the first visual experience and the second visual experience.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the at least assisting in the managing of the at least one shared display resource comprises:
 at least assisting in gathering a pathway characteristic.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first pathway and the second pathway are both adaptive pathways and wherein at least assisting in the managing of the at least one shared display resource comprises:
 adapting the first pathway and the second pathway based on at least one pathway performance characteristic.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein at least assisting in gathering the pathway characteristic includes at least one of:
 receiving feedback from a device carried or worn by the first viewer or the second viewer, and   receiving user input from the first viewer or the second viewer.   
     
     
         14 . A communication infrastructure, comprising:
 a first pathway that delivers via a screen assembly first video content from one or more media sources external to the screen assembly, the first video content being observable by a first viewer but not a second viewer, and the screen assembly comprising a pixel array;   a second pathway that simultaneously delivers via the screen assembly second video content from the media source(s), the second video content being observable by the second viewer but not the first viewer, and the first pathway and the second pathway sharing one or more shared display resources including at least one of pixels of the pixel array and light transmitted therefrom; and   processing circuitry connected to the screen assembly that at least assists in allocating at least one of the one or more shared display resources between the first pathway and the second pathway responsive to ascertaining at least one characteristic of the first pathway or the second pathway.   
     
     
         15 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 14 , wherein the screen assembly further comprises an adaptable light manipulator and wherein the processing circuitry allocates the at least one of the one or more shared display resources between the first pathway and the second pathway by modifying the configuration of the adaptable light manipulator to spatially filter the light transmitted from the pixels of the pixel array such that a first portion of the spatially-filtered light is observable by the first viewer and a second portion of the spatially-filtered light is observable by the second viewer. 
     
     
         16 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 14 , wherein the processing circuitry allocates the at least one of the one or more shared display resources between the first pathway and the second pathway by modifying a frequency at which at least one of frames of the first video content and frames of the second video content are displayed via the pixels of the pixel array. 
     
     
         17 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 14 , wherein the processing circuitry allocates the at least one of the one or more shared display resources between the first pathway and the second pathway by modifying a number of pixels of the pixel array that are allocated to at least one of delivering the first video content and delivering the second video content. 
     
     
         18 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one ascertained characteristic of the first pathway or the second pathway comprises one or more of:
 a location of the first viewer or the second viewer with respect to the screen assembly;   a head orientation of the first viewer or the second viewer; and   a point of gaze of the first viewer or the second viewer.   
     
     
         19 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one ascertained characteristic of the first pathway or the second pathway is determined based on feedback received from a device carried or worn by the first viewer or the second viewer. 
     
     
         20 . The communication infrastructure of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one ascertained characteristic of the first pathway or the second pathway is determined based on user input received from the first viewer or the second viewer.