JP3425416B2 - Apparatus and method for displaying stereoscopic image - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for displaying a stereoscopic image that does not require wearing of stereoscopic eyewear.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a known stereoscopic display using a stereoscopic eyeglass device 30. In the case of this device, an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye are alternately displayed, and the displayed image has polarization planes orthogonal to each other by the polarization filter 10 that is in close contact with the display screen 11. The image viewer 3 of the image can see independent images for the left and right eyes by observing with glasses having polarization selectivity. By using this characteristic, a stereoscopic video is displayed by presenting an image with parallax. When displaying a distant view on this display device, the focus position of the eyes of the image viewer is on the display screen, but even when displaying the view at hand, the focus position of the eyes of the image viewer is displayed. Since it is on the screen, there is a contradiction between the parallax and the focus of the image viewer. The arrow 40 in FIG. 2 indicates the distance corresponding to the parallax when the nearest image is displayed, and the arrow 41 indicates the difference between the position of the image corresponding to the parallax and the corresponding position of the eye focus. The magnitude of this difference is a contradiction between the parallax and the focus of the image viewer 3.

In the case of a stereoscopic display using the image forming system shown in FIG. 3, a lens system 6 is provided between the image viewer and the display screen in addition to the structure shown in FIG.
Between the image viewer 3 and the image viewer 3
It is made in. In this configuration, the contradiction between the parallax and the focus of the image viewer still remains, but the contradiction is alleviated as compared with the stereoscopic display having the configuration in FIG. This relaxation is because the position of the real image is in the presentation area of the stereoscopic image as shown in FIG.

There are two types of three-dimensional displays that do not require the wearing of three-dimensional eyeglass devices, one that reproduces the light itself generated from a three-dimensional body and one that incorporates a mechanism for presenting separate images to both eyes. The former includes holograms and volume displays, but these methods have a problem that a mechanism for processing an enormous amount of image data and a complicated device for displaying the image data are required. Therefore, application of high-resolution image display, real-time display of moving images, etc. is difficult at present. On the other hand, in the latter, there is a method of using a lenticular lens, an image splitter, or a backlight that selectively emits light.

In the case of a stereoscopic display that presents binocular parallax images, in order to work interactively with the stereoscopic images,
The coordinate system of visual information and the coordinate system of physical information must match for an arbitrary viewpoint. This is realized by measuring the three-dimensional position of the viewer's eyes and presenting the image according to the viewpoint. However, with this method,
Since the eyes of the image viewer are focused on the screen of the image display device, there is a problem in that it is difficult to bring the stereoscopic image closer to a point that is larger than the image display device and protrudes toward you. This is due to the physiological characteristic that the eye focus information is considered as important information as parallax in the perception of an object at a short distance from the eye. Because of this physiological characteristic,
Even if an image is displayed in the hand of the viewer of the image using an image with too large parallax, it results in extreme eye strain, motion sickness, and impossibility of being perceived as a stereoscopic image. Further, in an application in which the viewer of the image works directly and interactively using a part of his / her body, it is necessary to present the stereoscopic image within this short range, and at the same time, the image display device is used for the motion of the viewer. However, since it is also necessary to arrange them so as not to become a physical obstacle, it is not possible to solve the problem by bringing the video display device itself close. As described above, the conventional stereoscopic display utilizing binocular parallax cannot be sufficiently applied to such an application.

According to the present invention, an image separating device and an image forming system are arranged between the image display device and the image viewer.
As a conventional example having an arrangement similar to this, JP-A-8-30
There is a projection type stereoscopic image display device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7907. Here, the disclosed configuration projects the image light for the left eye and the image light for the right eye on the diffuser plate with different polarization angles, and images on the left eye and the right eye are projected on the diffuser plate, respectively. Image display means for displaying, and respective image lights based on the left-eye and right-eye images displayed on the image display means are transmitted so as to pass through respective areas on the two-dimensional plane that do not overlap each other. An optical path selecting means for selecting an optical path,
A polarization angle displacement means for making the polarization angles of the left-eye and right-eye image lights before or after passing through the respective regions the same, and by the optical path selection means and the polarization angle displacement means, respectively. A condensing system that condenses the left-eye and right-eye image lights that are transmitted through the respective regions and have the same polarization angle to the positions of the left eye and the right eye, respectively, and the left eye and the right eye. A half-face detecting means for detecting the position of, and a transmissive area control means for controlling the areas through which the left-eye and right-eye image light of the optical path selecting means respectively pass based on the detection result by the half-face detecting means. It is characterized by having. This projection type stereoscopic image display device is intended only to present different images to both eyes without using stereoscopic eyeglass devices, and has a device for identifying the right half and the left half of the face for separating light. , Does not have a system for measuring the three-dimensional position of both eyes.

Therefore, it does not have a mechanism for changing the image according to the viewpoint position, and cannot accurately grasp the three-dimensional position of a stereoscopic image, so that it cannot be used for the purpose of interactively working with a stereoscopic image by a video viewer. . Furthermore, in this optical system, the real image plane of the image display surface is generated between the image viewer and the lens, and there is a problem that the real image plane is deformed by the three-dimensional position of the observation point. The original position cannot be identified, and no countermeasure can be taken for this problem. Therefore, even when used as a normal 3D display, in addition to the discomfort in general 3D displays that do not update the image according to the viewpoint position, there is also discomfort due to the deformation of the screen itself due to the deformation of the real image plane. Will be synergistic.

However, in the present invention, the image displayed on the image display device by forming a real image between the condensing system and the image viewer is
It is different from the above-mentioned invention in that it is corrected by the position information of both eyes of the image viewer.

[0009]

In a conventional method and apparatus for displaying a stereoscopic image which does not require the wearing of stereoscopic eyeglass devices, a huge amount of image data is processed in the case of reproducing the light itself generated from a stereoscopic body. It has problems such as the need for a mechanism and a complicated device for displaying it, and in the case of incorporating a mechanism for presenting separate images to both eyes, a stereoscopic image appears at a point that is larger than the screen and is in front of you. Is difficult to perceive.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an apparatus and method for displaying a stereoscopic image that allows a viewer to perceive a stereoscopic image at hand while avoiding an increase in size of the apparatus without wearing an eyeglass device. The purpose is to provide.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a device for displaying a stereoscopic image according to claim 1 is a first device.
Image display device including a single image plane or a plurality of image planes for displaying the first image and the second image, a condensing system, an image separating device for separating the first image and the second image, and an image forming system. And a position detection unit capable of acquiring position information of the eyeball of the image viewer, and in the optical path where the light information emitted from the image display device reaches the image viewer, the image display device, the light collecting system, The image separation device and the imaging system are arranged in this order, and the real image of the pixel of the video display device is formed between the imaging system and the video viewer, and both the left and right sides of the video viewer. And a configuration for changing display contents of the image display device according to eye position information.

Further, the apparatus for displaying a stereoscopic image according to claim 2 displays the first image having the first display cycle so that the stereoscopic image can be displayed by one video display apparatus. A single screen or a plurality of screens including a screen and a screen displaying a second image having a second display cycle equal to the first display cycle, and displaying the first image and the second image at a predetermined cycle. An image display device with a screen of
The light emitted from the image display device is provided with an image separation device for separating the first image and the second image, an imaging system, and position detection means capable of acquiring position information of the eyeball of the image viewer. The image display device, the condensing system, the image separating device, and the image forming system are arranged in this order in the optical path where information reaches the image viewer, and the real image of the pixel of the image displaying device is the image forming system. And a configuration connected between the image viewer and the viewer, and a configuration in which the display content of the image display device is changed according to the position information of the left and right eyes of the viewer.

Further, the device for displaying a stereoscopic image according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2 described above so that the stereoscopic image can be viewed even if the viewer moves. In addition to the above configuration, the image separation device is characterized in that it has a configuration for selecting an optical path in conjunction with the movement of the position of the eyeball of the video viewer.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for displaying a stereoscopic image, comprising a video display device having a single image plane or a plurality of image planes for displaying the first image and the second image. The image display includes a condensing system, an image separation device that separates the first image and the second image, an image forming system, and position detection means that can acquire the position information of the eyeball of the image viewer. The optical image emitted from the device is arranged in the order of the image display device, the condensing system, the image separation device, and the image forming system in the optical path where the image information reaches the image viewer, and a real image of a pixel of the image display device. Is connected between the imaging system and the viewer of the image,
In a device for displaying a stereoscopic image, characterized in that the display content of the image display device is changed according to the position information of the left and right eyes of the image viewer, the device presented to the right eye of the image viewer. The image on the video display device is composed of each pixel x included in the set X of pixels on the presented three-dimensional video.
For εX, a line segment x- that connects x and the three-dimensional position e _{r of the} right eye
The image presented to the left eye of the image viewer by being drawn at a point corresponding to a point where an optical path including e _r crosses the display surface of the image display device in advance with a luminance value corresponding to the pixel x. The image on the display is a set X of points on the presented 3D image.
For each pixel x ∈ X included in, the optical path including the line segment x-e _l connecting x and the three-dimensional position e _{1 of the} left eye is associated with the point intersecting the display surface of the image display device in advance. It is characterized in that the pixel is drawn at a brightness value corresponding to the pixel x.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, the outline of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
Will be explained. The apparatus shown in FIG. 3 includes a video display device 12 that displays two types of images having parallax, an image separation device 9 that selectively transmits the two types of images, and an optical device 6 of an image forming system arranged in that order. , And a configuration in which the device 2 for detecting the positions of the left and right eyes of the image viewer 3 is combined,
The display image of the video display device 12 is changed according to the movement of the positions of the left and right eyes of the video viewer 3, and the selective transmission device of the image is controlled so that the left and right eyes of the video viewer 3 have parallax. In addition to presenting different images including the image, a three-dimensional image having a depth is presented to the image viewer 3 by generating a real image on the real image plane 14 at the image viewer's hand by using an image forming system. is there.

A drawback of the stereoscopic display shown in FIG. 3 is that the size of the display screen 11 needs to be increased correspondingly in order to increase the movable range of the image viewer.

Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, a light-collecting system 17 is inserted between the image selecting section 9 for the left eye 8 and the right eye 7 and the image display device 12, and the image display device 12 is provided. This is to prevent the required size from increasing. Here, in the image presentation on the video display device, as shown in FIG. 5, an arbitrary point of the presented three-dimensional image connects the point on the three-dimensional image and the left or right eyeball of the video viewer. It is controlled by the video distribution and control computer so that the optical path including the sagittal segment is roughly drawn at a point intersecting the display surface of the video display device.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows a sectional view (a) and a front view (b) of a side surface of a device for displaying a portable stereoscopic image. In the configuration of the device shown in FIG. 1, the light generated from the display device 10 that alternately displays the first image and the second image is generated by the polarizing screen 11 and the first reflection that reflects the image on the display device 10. The plate 15, the Fresnel lens as the first condensing system 17, the image separation device 9 installed on the XY table whose position can be adjusted according to the position of the image viewer 3, and the second reflector 16 And a pair of Fresnel lenses as the first image forming system 6 are presented to the image viewer 3.

The display device 10 in FIG. 1 is a CRT display, and the size is a rectangle of length: width = 3: 4, and the diagonal is about 50 cm. The video display device 10 presents two types of images. The two types of images are separated by a polarizing screen into right eye-like and left eye applications. For example, vertical polarization is used for the first image and horizontal polarization for the second image. An image for the left eye and an image for the right eye are alternately displayed on the same display device, and two types of images are presented by the video display device 12 displaying as images displayed at 120 Hz for each 60 Hz. is there. The polarizing screen 10 operates in synchronization with the image on the video display device 12. Further, the first reflection plate 15 is for changing the optical path and is for reducing the size of the entire apparatus, and a configuration without this reflection plate is also possible. In this case, the CRT display is used. When using, the volume size is about 20% larger.
The light condensing system 17 is for effectively enlarging the image display surface and using it to improve the degree of freedom regarding the position of the image viewer. As the condensing system 17, a Fresnel lens having a length × width = 55 cm × 65 cm and a focal length = 80 cm is used. The image separation device 9 includes a polarization filter that transmits only one of the two types of change characteristics and a polarization filter that transmits only the other. It is installed in a place where the optical paths connecting the image display device and the image viewer are aggregated, and it is necessary to control the position according to the position of the viewpoint of the image viewer. For that purpose, the position of the viewpoint is tracked by measuring the position and posture of the head, and the image separation device 9 is caused to follow the position corresponding to the viewpoint. This tracking mechanism is a well-known method used in an XY recorder or the like, which uses a servo motor. With this, it is possible to always project different images to both eyes of the image viewer. This image separation device can be replaced with a liquid crystal shutter device having a plurality of pixels of 2 to 5 layers, and in that case, physical driving is not necessary. Further, the second reflector 1
Reference numeral 6 is for changing the optical path, and is for reducing the size of the entire apparatus. Further, the image forming system 6 is for presenting a real image in front of the viewer of the image, and the length × width =
Two Fresnel lenses having a size of 55 cm × 65 cm and a focal length of 80 cm are used so that their flat sides face each other. Here, there is no particular reason to limit to a Fresnel lens, and an ordinary spherical lens or aspherical lens can also be used. The distance between the image forming system 6 and the image viewer 3 is variable and is 80 to 14
It is 0 cm.

The method of measuring the position of the viewpoint of the image viewer 3 is a well-known method in which the gradient magnetic field and the magnetic sensor 2 are combined. With this measuring method, since position information and orientation information are obtained, position information of both eyes is substantially obtained.

The image displayed on the display device 12 is such that the image obtained when the three-dimensional space is observed from the position of each eye is displayed on the real image plane based on the position information of both eyes of the image viewer 3. It is an image created by calculation. Specifically, this calculation can be performed as follows. First, the image on the display device 12 to be presented to the right eye of the image viewer 3 is all the pixels x included in the set X of pixels on the presented three-dimensional image.
For εX, a line segment x- that connects x and the three-dimensional position e _{r of the} right eye
Drawing is performed with a luminance value corresponding to the pixel x at a point where the optical path including e _r substantially intersects the display surface 11 of the display device. The image on the display device 12 presented to the left eye of the video viewer 3 includes all pixels x∈X included in the set X of points on the presented 3D video.
For x, the line segment x-e _l that connects x and the three-dimensional position e _{l of the} left eye
Drawing is performed with a luminance value corresponding to the pixel x at a point where the optical path including the line substantially intersects the display surface 11 of the display device. Here, the calculation of the optical path can be performed by a well-known method of obtaining it by using a trigonometric function based on the curvature and the refractive index of the lens.

A concrete example of the above calculation is shown in FIG. For example, three points on the three-dimensional space alpha, beta, when drawing a gamma, _{segment, α-e r, β-} e r, a point which intersects the display surface 11 of the optical path is a display device including a gamma-e _r a _r, b _r, the point in c _r α, β, performs drawing of the image for the right eye luminance value corresponding to the _{γ, α-e r, β} -e r, the optical path view containing gamma-e _r point intersects the display surface 11 of the device a _r, b _r, the point in c _r α, β,
An image for the right eye is drawn with a brightness value corresponding to γ.

From the coordinate vector x of the point x in the three-dimensional space, the point x and the eye position e (coordinate vector e = (e _r ,
Since the mapping y = f (x, e) for obtaining the coordinate y of the point y at which the optical path including the line segment connecting (e _l )) intersects with the display device 12 is generally nonlinear, this mapping should be executed in real time. However, if the parameters of the optical system are properly selected, the mapping f can be approximated by a combination of linear mapping and orthographic projection. Can be easily drawn.

[0024]

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned structure,
The effects described below can be achieved.

In the invention described in claim 1, the device for displaying a stereoscopic image can be integrated into a small size, which is convenient for carrying.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since only one video display device is required, the device for displaying a stereoscopic image can be made lightweight.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 3, in addition to the effect according to the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the stereoscopic image can be viewed even when the video viewer moves.

Further, in the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the image is not distorted even when the image viewer moves.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a stereoscopic display using a stereoscopic spectacle device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a stereoscopic display using an imaging system.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a device configuration for displaying a stereoscopic image according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an image presentation method on a video display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Video Distribution and Control Computer 2 Magnetic Sensor 3 Video Viewer 4 Right Eye 5 Left Eye 6 Imaging System 7 Left Image Separator 8 Right Eye Image Separator 9 Image Separator 10 Polarizing Filter 11 Image Display Surface 12 Image Display Device 13 Control wiring system 14 Real image planes 15 and 16 Reflector 17 Condensing system 30 Stereoscopic spectacle device 40 Distance 41 corresponding to the parallax when displaying the closest image 41 Position of the image corresponding to the parallax and eye focus Corresponding position difference of

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-8-307907 (JP, A) JP-A-2000-105351 (JP, A) JP-A-8-76057 (JP, A) JP-A-2001-218231 (JP, A) ) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 13/00 G02B 27/22

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A video display device comprising a single image plane or a plurality of image planes for displaying a first image and a second image, a condensing system, and an image for separating the first image and the second image. A separation device, an imaging system, and position detection means capable of acquiring position information of the eyeballs of the image viewer, and the image display in the optical path where the optical information emitted from the image display device reaches the image viewer. A device, the condensing system, the image separation device, and the image forming system, which are arranged in this order, and a real image of a pixel of the image display device is formed between the image forming system and the image viewer. A device for displaying a stereoscopic image, characterized in that the display content of the image display device is changed according to the position information of the left and right eyes of the image viewer. 2. A screen including a screen for displaying a first image having a first display cycle and a screen for displaying a second image having a second display cycle equal to the first display cycle. A video display device having a single screen or a plurality of screens for displaying an image and a second image at a predetermined cycle; a condensing system;
Image separation device for separating the second image and the second image, an image forming system, and position detection means capable of acquiring position information of the eyeball of the image viewer, and the optical information emitted from the image display device is In the optical path reaching the image viewer, the image display device,
A configuration in which the condensing system, the image separation device, and the image forming system are arranged in this order, and a real image of a pixel of the image display device is formed between the image forming system and the image viewer. A device for displaying a stereoscopic image, characterized in that the display content of the image display device is changed according to the position information of the left and right eyes of the viewer. 3. The apparatus for displaying a stereoscopic image according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the image separation apparatus has a configuration for selecting an optical path in conjunction with movement of the position of the eyeball of the video viewer. A device for displaying stereoscopic images. 4. An image display device comprising a single image plane or a plurality of image planes for displaying the first image and the second image, a condensing system, and an image for separating the first image and the second image. A separation device, an imaging system, and position detection means capable of acquiring position information of the eyeballs of the image viewer, and the image display in the optical path where the optical information emitted from the image display device reaches the image viewer. A device, the condensing system, the image separation device, and the image forming system, which are arranged in this order, and a real image of a pixel of the image display device is formed between the image forming system and the image viewer. A configuration for changing the display content of the image display device according to the position information of the left and right eyes of the image viewer, which is presented to the right eye of the image viewer in a device for displaying a stereoscopic image. The image on the video display is a set X of pixels on the presented 3D video. Murrell For each pixel X∈X, was previously correlated to the point where the optical path including the line x-e _r connecting the three-dimensional position e _r x and the right eye intersects the display surface of the video display device At the pixel x
The image on the video display device, which is drawn with the brightness value corresponding to, and is presented to the left eye of the video viewer, is the pixel x ∈ X included in the set X of points on the presented three-dimensional video image. for, in that optical path including a line segment x-e _l connecting the three-dimensional position e _l x and the left eye is associated in advance to a point which intersects the display surface of the video display device, corresponding to the pixel x A method for displaying a stereoscopic image characterized by being drawn with a luminance value.