JP3420060B2 - Horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image display system for displaying binocular parallax images with a plurality of cameras and displaying an image having a stereoscopic effect, and particularly when the image display surface is installed horizontally. The present invention relates to a horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system capable of displaying an appropriate stereoscopic image regardless of the user's observation position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Images corresponding to each of the left and right eyes of a human being are photographed by two cameras arranged in parallel with a distance about the distance between the human eyes, and the images are alternately displayed on an image display device. By synchronizing with that, the right eye or the left eye is blocked by the liquid crystal shutter attached to the glasses, so that only the images corresponding to the left eye and the right eye are shown,
There is a time-division stereoscopic image display system that displays stereoscopic images.

Since such a time-division stereoscopic image display system is designed on the assumption that the display surface is placed upright, the user sees the top of the screen as the top and the right of the screen as the right. It was always kept right.

[0004]

However, in order to observe an object placed on a horizontal plane in a natural positional relationship, the image display surface of such a time-division stereoscopic image display system is used by embedding it in a horizontal plane such as a table. When doing so, the user may look at the top of the screen in a direction other than the top.
For example, the direction in which the right side of the screen is down (the left side of the screen is up,
When viewed from the direction in which the lower side is the left side and the upper side is the right side), the binocular parallax stereoscopic image taken from the position shifted in the left-right direction is displayed as an image with a vertical shift, Even if you look at, you cannot see stereoscopically.

As described above, the conventional time-division stereoscopic image display system has a problem that the stereoscopic image cannot be correctly displayed depending on the user's observation position when the image display surface is placed horizontally.

The present invention solves the above problems, and in a stereoscopic image display system having a horizontally installed image display surface, the user can view an appropriate stereoscopic image from any direction regardless of the observation position. The purpose is to be able to.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a device for displaying a stereoscopic image by binocular parallax images on a horizontally installed image display surface, in which three or more video cameras are arranged. However, by selecting the camera for the left eye and the camera for the right eye according to the change of the observation position of the user, an appropriate stereoscopic image can be displayed regardless of the observation position of the user.

That is, the horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system of the present invention is arranged at a position where the optical axis directions are parallel to each other.
More than one video camera, a position sensor for measuring the position of the user, and one of the output image signals of the video camera based on the output of the position sensor as the image signal for the left eye, and the output image signal of the video camera And an image selection device for selecting and outputting the other one as the image signal for the right eye, and the time-sharing that alternately outputs the image signal for the left eye and the image signal for the right eye, and generates liquid crystal glasses synchronization signal in synchronization with them. A stereoscopic image synthesizing device, an image display device on which a display surface for displaying an image signal output from the time-division stereoscopic image synthesizing device is placed horizontally or at an angle close to horizontal, and the user's left eye or right eye according to the liquid crystal glasses synchronizing signal. It is composed of liquid crystal glasses that shield the field of view.

For example, four video cameras are used at each vertex of a quadrangle. Alternatively, three or five or more video cameras arranged evenly on the circumference of the same plane may be used to obtain binocular parallax images in a plurality of directions.

The operation of the present invention when four video cameras are used is as follows. Since the four video cameras capture images with parallax vertically and horizontally, for example, when observing with the lower side of the screen facing down, the left eye observes the image of the lower left camera and the image of the lower right camera. If the right eye observes the image, stereoscopic viewing can be performed so that the parallax images of the left and right eyes can be observed. Also, when observing with the upper side of the screen facing down, if the left eye observes the lower right or upper right camera image and the left lower or upper left camera image observes the left and right eyes. The parallax image can be observed and stereoscopic viewing can be performed. When observing the screen diagonally, for example, when observing the lower right of the screen as the bottom and the upper left as the top, the left eye observes the image of the lower left camera and the right eye observes the image of the upper right camera. For example, the parallax images of the left and right eyes can be observed and stereoscopic viewing can be performed.

In the present invention, the position of the user is measured by the position sensor, and the direction from the position to the center of the image display device is the observation direction. Based on this observation direction, two of the images taken by the four video cameras are
The image selected for the left eye and the image selected for the right eye are selected by selecting them as the image to be displayed on the right eye and displaying them in synchronization with the alternate occlusion of the left and right eyes of the liquid crystal glasses by the time-division stereoscopic image synthesizer. Is presented to the right eye. In this way, by selecting and displaying images for the left and right eyes from the images captured by the four cameras according to the position of the user, a binocular parallax stereoscopic image having a correct parallax can be obtained from any direction. Can be observed.

In addition, even when the number of video cameras is other than four, it is possible to arrange them evenly on the circumference and select the most suitable combination to obtain the binocular parallax image from each direction. Even when viewed, it is possible to observe a binocular parallax stereoscopic image having a correct parallax.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an example of an image capturing section of a horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system according to the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a square camera fixing frame for fixing four video cameras,
Reference numeral 11 is a first video camera, 12 is a second video camera, 13 is a third video camera, and 14 is a fourth video camera. Reference numeral 15 is a subject placed under the image capturing device. Reference numeral 16 is an arrow indicating the top of the camera, that is, the top of the image.

Four video cameras 11, 12, 13, 1
4, the optical axes are parallel, and the direction of arrow 16 is on the top of each camera, that is, on the image to be captured, and each camera is installed so as to contact the apex of the square of camera fixing frame 10.

FIG. 2 is a use state diagram showing an image display unit of the horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system of the present invention, an apparatus associated therewith, a user and liquid crystal glasses worn by the user.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the user's head in FIG.

In the figure, 21 is an image display device such as a CRT display for displaying an image, 22 is an image display surface of the image display device 21, 23 is a position sensor transmitter for measuring the position of the user, and 24 is the user's position. A liquid crystal glasses sync signal transmitter for controlling the liquid crystal glasses to be worn, 25 is a user who views an image, 26 is a liquid crystal glasses which the user wears and blocks the visual field of the left eye, the right eye or both eyes according to the liquid crystal glasses sync signal,
27 is a position sensor receiver for measuring the position of the user,
Reference numeral 28 denotes a liquid crystal glasses sync signal receiver for receiving the liquid crystal glasses sync signal. Reference numeral 29 is an arrow indicating the top of the display image, that is, the top when the photographed image is displayed.

In FIG. 2, the user is observing the display surface 22 from the upper side of the screen. In this case, the upper part of the screen is observed as the lower part of the user's visual field. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 correspond to those shown in FIGS. Reference numeral 41 is a magnetic position sensor that detects the position of the user by magnetism, and 42 is user viewpoint position information output by the magnetic position sensor 41. Reference numeral 43 is an image selection device that selects two from four video cameras 11 to 14 and outputs them as a left-eye image and a right-eye image, and 44 and 45 are left-eye image signals selected and output by the image selection device 43. And the image signal for the right eye. Reference numeral 46 is a time-division stereoscopic image synthesizing device which inputs the left-eye image signal 44 and the right-eye image signal 45, alternately outputs them for each video frame, and at the same time controls the liquid crystal glasses sync signal transmitter 24. Is a display image signal output by the time-division stereoscopic image synthesizing device 46.

Reference numeral 48 is a liquid crystal glasses sync signal transmitted from the liquid crystal glasses sync signal transmitter 24. The liquid crystal glasses sync signal transmitter 24 is controlled by the time-division stereoscopic image synthesizing device 46, and while the left eye image is being output, the left eye of the liquid crystal glasses is in the transparent state and the right eye is in the closed state, and the right eye image is output. The liquid crystal glasses synchronizing signal 48 is generated so that the right eye of the liquid crystal glasses 26 is in the transmitting state and the left eye of the liquid crystal glasses 26 is in the blocking state during the period of time.

The image display device 21 inputs and displays the display image signal 47. The liquid crystal glasses 26 are glasses that can make the left eye or the right eye in a transparent state or a closed state according to the liquid crystal glasses synchronization signal 48, and a liquid crystal glasses synchronization signal receiver 28 that receives the liquid crystal glasses synchronization signal 48 is attached. .

In this way, by controlling the image selection / display and the transmission / shielding state of the left and right eyes of the liquid crystal glasses 26 in synchronization, the left-eye image can be seen only by the left eye, and the right-eye image can be seen only by the right eye. Therefore, the user can perform stereoscopic viewing by inputting the images for the left and right eyes for stereoscopic viewing.

Next, the operation of this system will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a diagram that defines the viewing line-of-sight direction of the user based on the orientation of the image display device 21, and is a diagram of the image display device 21 viewed from above.

The image display device 21 displays an image so that the top of the camera, that is, the top of the image indicated by the arrow 16 in FIG. 1 is in the direction of the arrow 29 indicating the top of the display image. To do.

Reference numeral 51 indicates the line-of-sight direction 1. Gaze direction 1 is
This is the viewing direction of a general stereoscopic image in the direction facing the screen. Reference numeral 52 denotes a line-of-sight direction that is inclined from the line-of-sight direction 1 by 45 degrees toward the center of the image display device 21, and is referred to as line-of-sight direction 2. 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 and 58 are similarly 90 degrees, 135 degrees and 180 degrees from the line-of-sight direction 1 respectively.
, 225 degrees, 270 degrees, and 315 degrees, which are the line-of-sight directions toward the center of the image display device 21 in the directions rotated, respectively. 7 and the line-of-sight direction 8. The user 25 shown in FIG. 2 is observing the display image from the line-of-sight direction 5.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the correspondence between the line-of-sight direction in which the user observes the image display device 21 and the images selected as the left-eye image and the right-eye image. The numbers in the table in FIG. 6 represent the numbers of cameras that capture images to be displayed.

An image selection method will be described with an example. <Example 1 of image selection method> When the user observes the image display device 21 from the line-of-sight direction 1, the image captured by the first video camera 11 is displayed on the left eye and the image is captured on the right eye based on the table of FIG. Displays an image captured by the second video camera 12. In the photographing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, since the second video camera 12 is located on the right of the first video camera 11, if these are displayed on the left eye and the right eye, respectively, the first video camera 11 and the second video camera 11 are displayed. Binocular parallax images are displayed at intervals of the video camera 12, and the user can perform stereoscopic viewing.

<Example 2 of Image Selection Method> A case where the user observes the image display device 21 from the line-of-sight direction 5 will be described. In this case, based on the table of FIG. 6, the image captured by the fourth video camera 14 is displayed on the left eye,
An image captured by the third video camera 13 is displayed on the right eye.

No matter which direction the user observes the image display device 21, the image is displayed so that the direction of the arrow 16 indicating the top of the image and the direction of the arrow 29 indicating the top of the display image are the same. Since the line-of-sight direction 5 is the direction of observing from above the image display device 21, the user views the displayed image upside down. That is, the user observes the image with the top of the display image as the bottom of the field of view. In FIG. 1, when four cameras are viewed from the direction in which the upper part of the image is located below the field of view, that is, the direction opposite to the direction of the arrow 16 indicating the upper part of the image, the third camera is displayed to the right of the fourth video camera 14. Since the video cameras 13 are located in the left eye and the right eye, respectively, a binocular parallax image having a parallax of the distance between the fourth video camera 14 and the third video camera 13 is displayed. , The user can perform stereoscopic viewing.

<Example 3 of Image Selection Method> A case where the user observes the image display device 21 from the line-of-sight direction 3 will be described. In this case, based on the table of FIG. 6, the image captured by the second video camera 12 is displayed on the left eye, and the image captured by the fourth video camera 14 is displayed on the right eye.

No matter which direction the user observes the image display device 21, the image is displayed so that the direction of the arrow 16 indicating the top of the image and the direction of the arrow 29 indicating the top of the display image are the same. Since the line-of-sight direction 3 is the direction of observing from the right side of the image display device 21, the user observes the image with the direction of the arrow 16 indicating the top of the image as the right side of the visual field. In FIG. 1, when the four cameras are viewed from the direction in which the image is on the right side of the field of view, that is, the direction of the arrow 16 indicating the image is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise,
To the right of the second video camera 12, a fourth video camera 14
Are located, and if these are displayed in the left eye and the right eye, respectively, the second video camera 12 and the fourth video camera 1
A binocular parallax image having a parallax of 4 intervals is displayed, and the user can perform stereoscopic vision.

<Example 4 of Image Selection Method> A case where the user observes the image display device 21 from the line-of-sight direction 2 will be described. In this case, based on the table of FIG. 6, the image captured by the first video camera 11 is displayed on the left eye, and the image captured by the fourth video camera 14 is displayed on the right eye.

No matter which direction the user observes the image display device 21, the image is displayed so that the direction of the arrow 16 indicating the top of the image and the direction of the arrow 29 indicating the top of the display image are the same. Since the line-of-sight direction 2 is the direction of observing from the lower right direction of the image display device 21, the user observes the image with the direction of the arrow 16 pointing above the image as the upper right of the visual field. In FIG. 1, when the four cameras are viewed from the direction in which the image is on the upper right of the field of view, that is, the direction of arrow 16 indicating the image is rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise, the first video camera Since the fourth video camera 14 is located on the right side of 11, the binocular parallax image having the parallax of the distance between the first video camera 11 and the fourth video camera 14 can be displayed by displaying these on the left eye and the right eye, respectively. Is displayed, and the user can perform stereoscopic viewing.

Similarly, when observing from a line-of-sight direction 4, a line-of-sight direction 6, a line-of-sight direction 7 and a line-of-sight direction 8 other than the above, FIG.
As shown in the table, if an image is selected so that it can be observed by the left and right eyes, stereoscopic vision can be performed by binocular parallax.

In actual use, the line-of-sight direction of the user does not necessarily coincide with the line-of-sight directions 1 to 8, so that the closest line-of-sight direction is approximately used to determine the display image.

[Second Embodiment] The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
An embodiment of is shown. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an arrangement of cameras and a user's viewing line-of-sight direction according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In the second embodiment, six cameras are arranged at equal intervals on the same circumference. In FIG.
Reference numeral 17 is an arrow indicating the top of the camera, that is, the top of the image.
Reference numeral 18 denotes a camera fixing frame for fixing the camera. 71 is a first video camera, 72 is a second video camera, 73 is a third video camera, 74 is a fourth video camera, 75
Is a fifth video camera, and 76 is a sixth video camera.

Further, 711, 712, 713, 714
Reference numerals 715 and 716 are line-of-sight directions when the user observes the image displayed on the image display device 21. Even when the number of cameras is 6, as in the case of the first embodiment, stereoscopic viewing by binocular parallax is achieved by selecting and displaying images for the left eye and images for the right eye from the images captured by the plurality of cameras. It can be performed.

An image selection method will be described with reference to an example. For example, when observing an image from the viewing direction 1 (711) shown in FIG. 7, the image captured by the sixth video camera 76 is viewed by the left eye and the image captured by the second video camera 72 is viewed by the right eye. Select to display. Thus, for the same reason as described in the first embodiment, the second video camera 72 is located to the right of the sixth video camera 76 when viewed from the direction of the line-of-sight direction 1. When these are displayed on the left eye and the right eye, respectively, a binocular parallax image with a space between the sixth video camera 76 and the second video camera 72 is displayed, and the user can perform stereoscopic vision. .

As in the case of the first embodiment, in the actual use, the line-of-sight direction of the user does not necessarily coincide with the line-of-sight directions 1 to 6, so that the closest line-of-sight direction is approximated. Use to determine the display image.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when the display surface of the time-division stereoscopic image display device is placed horizontally,
By selecting and displaying images for the left and right eyes from images captured by a plurality of video cameras according to the user's viewing position, it is possible to display a stereoscopic image having an appropriate binocular parallax.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an image capturing unit of a horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a use state diagram showing an image display unit of a horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system of the present invention, an apparatus associated therewith, a user, and liquid crystal glasses worn by the user.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the user's head in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for defining an observation line-of-sight direction of a user based on the orientation of the image display device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing correspondence between a user's line-of-sight direction and images selected as left-eye images and right-eye images.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an arrangement of cameras according to a second embodiment of the present invention and an observation line-of-sight direction of a user.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Camera fixed frame 11 First video camera 12 second video camera 13 Third video camera 14th video camera 15 subject 16 Arrows pointing above the camera or image 21 Image display device 22 Display surface 23 Position sensor transmitter 24 LCD glasses synchronization signal transmitter 25 users 26 LCD glasses 27 Position sensor receiver 28 LCD glasses synchronization signal receiver 29 Arrow pointing above the displayed image 41 Magnetic position sensor 42 User viewpoint position information 43 Image Selector 44 Left eye image signal 45 Right eye image signal 46 Time-division stereoscopic image synthesizer 47 Display image signal 48 LCD glasses sync signal

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Shimada 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Inside Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Susumu Ichinose 3-19-3 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo No. 2 Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (56) References JP 10-56654 (JP, A) JP 7-261118 (JP, A) JP 9-507620 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 13/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An output image of the video camera based on an output of the position sensor, a position sensor for measuring a position of a user, and three or more video cameras arranged at positions where optical axis directions are parallel to each other. An image selection device that selects and outputs one of the signals as the left-eye image signal and another one of the output image signals of the video camera as the right-eye image signal, and the left-eye image signal and the right-eye image signal Are output alternately,
A time-division stereoscopic image synthesizing device for generating a liquid crystal glasses synchronizing signal in synchronization with it, and an image display device in which a display surface for displaying an image signal output from the time-division stereoscopic image synthesizing device is horizontal or nearly horizontal. And a horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system configured by liquid crystal glasses that shield the visual field of the user's left eye or right eye according to the liquid crystal glasses synchronization signal. 2. The horizontally arranged stereoscopic image display system according to claim 1, wherein the three or more video cameras are arranged at equal intervals on the circumference of the same plane. system.