RealD Patent Shows Plan for Theaters to Reuse or Recycle 3D Glasses

A proposal for recycling or sanitary re-use of 3D eyewear by public venues was among a trove of patent applications we found from 3D developer RealD. Its U.S. patent filing 2008/0151370 describes the difficulties of cleaning or recycling eyewear among theater operators, as well as the potential health hazards when patrons wear glasses previously used by others. Instead, RealD’s application proposes sending previously-worn specs to a central facility to be cleaned for re-use, or recycled if they're damaged or otherwise deemed unreclaimable.

"The 3-D eyewear or glasses currently provided by movie theaters are considered ’single-use-only'items,” RealD said. At the end of a 3D presentation, audience members usually either take the specs home as souvenirs or place them in a trash bin at the venue. “Glasses deposited in bins are sometimes then taken from the exit of the theater to the entrance of the theater where they are distributed to new incoming audience members with minimal or no cleaning supervision. As may be appreciated, such a procedure can be unsanitary,” RealD said. Additionally, “broken or damaged eyewear remains in circulation, and patrons depositing other materials into the bins can either damage the glasses or create a generally unpleasant condition when the new viewers obtain their eyewear,” the company said.

Although some theater operators have installed secure collection-bins for the 3-D specs, followup procedures “remain problematic because they require installation and operation of an on-premise 3D eyewear cleaning system,” RealD said. “Movie theater operators who wish to provide an on-premise 3-D eyewear recycling practice must fund the cost of purchasing, installing and maintaining the equipment, and need to train personnel to operate the eyewear cleaning equipment. As a result, today’s on-premise designs may be implemented, for example, using an existing household or industrial dishwasher to clean the eyewear."

Such washing equipment isn’t ideal for eyewear, RealD said. That’s either because there might be contaminants in dishwashers, like food-residue, that compromises their ability to make the eyewear optically sanitary. Additionally, temperature and other conditions within general-use cleaning appliances might damage the 3D specs, RealD said.

"Operators that share a dishwasher in this manner generally cannot provide suitable sanitary conditions required for cleaning 3-D eyewear,” RealD said. “For example, the venue operator employee responsible for removing the cleaned eyewear from the dishwasher and returning the eyewear to the venue distribution point for reuse may not have properly cleaned food or other particulate matter from the dishwasher. The presence of other particulate matter may expose the eyewear to undesirable contaminants and lead to unsanitary eyewear being distributed to patrons."

Of more alarming concern, “employees stationed at the venue eyewear distribution points may not be free from bacteria or other issues, and may at times have been exposed, knowingly or unknowingly, to an illness,” RealD said. “Bacteria and germs may be encountered during the eyewear distribution process, and such undesirable conditions may pass to the cleaned eyewear stored at the various distribution points."

To remedy these conditions and concerns, RealD’s patent filing recommends that used 3D-eyewear be sent to central facilities that are qualified for the work. Those facilities would sort the specs according to those eligible for cleaning and re-use, or for refurbishment then cleaning and re-distribution, or for disposal through responsible materials-recyclers. In all cases, specs returned to theaters should be enclosed in sanitary packaging, RealD said. Those wrappers could contain advertising or other promotional messages to defray the cost of cleaning and re-use. Its patent application didn’t mention specific cleaning facilities, or criteria for their certification, or costs associated with cleaning, re-use and recycling compared with junking the used eyewear.