Abstract

An inexpensive surround display system. In most general terms, the invention (10) includes a projector arrangement (12, 14, 16) for providing at least one beam of energy representative of an image. A beamsplitter arrangement (18, 20, 22) splits the beam into a first beam and a second beam. A screen (24) is provided for displaying a first image in response to the first beam and for displaying a second image in response to the second beam. More particularly, the method of the invention may be described as: a) determining a viewing angle of a viewer; b) determining whether an image or the mirror image thereof should be projected within the field-of-view of the viewer based on the viewing angle of the viewer; c) providing first, second and third beams of energy representative of a first, second and third images or the mirror images thereof based on step b); d) splitting the first beam to provide a first image and a diametrically opposed second image; e) splitting the second beam to provide a third image and a diametrically opposed fourth image; f) splitting the third beam to provide a fifth image and a diametrically opposed sixth image; and g) simultaneously displaying the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth images.