Enhancing display resolution through virtual pixel creation: a software-based approach for existing displays

Enhancing display resolution through virtual pixel creation: a software-based approach for existing displays | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Enhancing display resolution through virtual pixel creation: a software-based approach for existing displays David Carmona-Ballester, Sergio Bonaque-González, Juan M. Trujillo-Sevilla, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3163645/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Virtual Reality → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The increasing demand for high-resolution displays has spurred advancements in pixel density; however, certain applications, such as head-mounted displays (HMDs) and image projectors, still suffer from noticeable pixel structures that degrade user experience. Conventional methods of resolution enhancement are often complex and costly, limiting their practicality. To address this, we propose a software-based methodology for improving screen resolution through controlled optical defocus. This method introduces a blur into the system, generating overlapping virtual pixels in the image space. The original image is pre-compensated, considering the altered intensity distribution caused by these virtual pixels. Consequently, the displayed image is perceived as having higher resolution than the native display. We present the mathematical foundations of this methodology, which were validated through computational analysis and real-world implementations on HMDs and projectors. The proposed approach distinguishes itself from previous works on overlapping sub-frames by requiring only a single display and a single optical element, offering a simpler and more cost-effective solution. Experimental results demonstrate a significant reduction in the screen-door effect for HMDs and an enhanced resolution for projectors, with minimal loss of quality, particularly in contrast. The findings highlight the potential of our approach to open new avenues for the development of these technologies. By providing a practical and effective means of resolution improvement, our methodology holds promise for addressing the challenges associated with pixel structures in various display applications. virtual reality superresolution head-mounted display screen-door effect Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Virtual Reality → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3163645","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":218162864,"identity":"46790fdf-f0ad-405d-a690-933eea3dc858","order_by":0,"name":"David Carmona-Ballester","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"David","middleName":"","lastName":"Carmona-Ballester","suffix":""},{"id":218162866,"identity":"f2e180df-bcde-4221-99b9-7902dd8894a8","order_by":1,"name":"Sergio Bonaque-González","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA7klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBDACAxsekrWkEamFAaHlMGGl8u29j188qGDI45dufnibp+K8DH/7AcaHP/BoMThz3Mwi4QxDseScY8bWPGdu80icSWA2xuc8A4k0NoPENobEDTcSzKR5227zMNxgYJPG67D5z2Ba0r9J8/47xyN/g4H9Jz6HMdxgY34A0ZIDtKXhAI8B0BYGvA47k8bGkHBGolhyRk6x5ZxjyTyGZxKbpfFpkW8/xvzxR4VNHr9E+sYbb2rs7OWOHz74Ea/DGBjYJBgYJMAsCMnA2IBfAwMD8wcYS4KQ0lEwCkbBKBiZAAC4EkkajbqpJQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sergio","middleName":"","lastName":"Bonaque-González","suffix":""},{"id":218162868,"identity":"66e485be-74f1-4aef-aea5-d56e5821dafd","order_by":2,"name":"Juan M. Trujillo-Sevilla","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Wooptix S.L","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Juan","middleName":"M.","lastName":"Trujillo-Sevilla","suffix":""},{"id":218162870,"identity":"d5da2a68-ba2f-40c5-9be6-ba9f0a172694","order_by":3,"name":"Sabato Ceruso","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CLAAS E-Systems","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sabato","middleName":"","lastName":"Ceruso","suffix":""},{"id":218162872,"identity":"3a036111-a7ae-42e0-92b6-6d127164ff88","order_by":4,"name":"José M. Rodríguez-Ramos","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Wooptix S.L","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"José","middleName":"M.","lastName":"Rodríguez-Ramos","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2023-07-12 11:59:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3163645/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3163645/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-024-01091-z","type":"published","date":"2025-02-08T15:57:53+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":75930470,"identity":"2fc8db45-4635-4f91-839d-15fc0ac36147","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-10 16:12:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1169314,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3163645/v1_covered_a9ae8ee8-adda-4e6a-8359-f421062c2c52.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Enhancing display resolution through virtual pixel creation: a software-based approach for existing displays","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"virtual reality, superresolution, head-mounted display, screen-door effect","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3163645/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3163645/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe increasing demand for high-resolution displays has spurred advancements in pixel density; however, certain applications, such as head-mounted displays (HMDs) and image projectors, still suffer from noticeable pixel structures that degrade user experience. Conventional methods of resolution enhancement are often complex and costly, limiting their practicality. To address this, we propose a software-based methodology for improving screen resolution through controlled optical defocus. This method introduces a blur into the system, generating overlapping virtual pixels in the image space. The original image is pre-compensated, considering the altered intensity distribution caused by these virtual pixels. Consequently, the displayed image is perceived as having higher resolution than the native display.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe present the mathematical foundations of this methodology, which were validated through computational analysis and real-world implementations on HMDs and projectors. The proposed approach distinguishes itself from previous works on overlapping sub-frames by requiring only a single display and a single optical element, offering a simpler and more cost-effective solution. Experimental results demonstrate a significant reduction in the screen-door effect for HMDs and an enhanced resolution for projectors, with minimal loss of quality, particularly in contrast.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe findings highlight the potential of our approach to open new avenues for the development of these technologies. By providing a practical and effective means of resolution improvement, our methodology holds promise for addressing the challenges associated with pixel structures in various display applications.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Enhancing display resolution through virtual pixel creation: a software-based approach for existing displays","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2023-07-17 18:35:25","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3163645/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4c95b21e-dd09-4439-b830-0012eccf25f5","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 17th, 2023","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-02-10T16:03:25+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-3163645","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-024-01091-z","journal":{"identity":"virtual-reality","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Virtual Reality"},"publishedOn":"2025-02-08 15:57:53","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 8th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2023-07-17 18:35:25","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s10055-024-01091-z","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-024-01091-z","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-3163645","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-3163645","identity":"rs-3163645","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"WrCJVZZCHTDjtuVLN7oU0","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}