JPH0787601B2 - 3D image display device - 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 device, and more particularly to a stereoscopic image display device capable of displaying a stereoscopic image suitable for the movement of an observer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Fields in which it is desired to display stereoscopic images include fields such as stereoscopic television, stereoscopic video, stereoscopic videophone, and conference. That is, the display of a stereoscopic image has been widely desired since it can give the observer a greater sense of reality.

As a method of displaying a stereoscopic image, a method using a lenticular lens sheet has been conventionally known (for example, Takanori Ogoshi "3D Image Engineering"; Industrial Books). In this method, special glasses such as polarized glasses and liquid crystal shutter glasses are not required, and therefore stereoscopic images can be displayed without causing discomfort to the observer.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional stereoscopic image display system. The system shown in FIG. 5 is disclosed in the aforementioned book. With reference to FIG. 5, this stereoscopic image display system includes four cameras 41 to 44 for photographing a subject from four different directions, and image light for image display according to the photographed image signals. Four projectors 21 to 24 for projecting toward the screen 7
Including and The stereoscopic image display screen 7 includes lenticular lens sheets 1a and 1b provided with the transmissive diffusion layer 5 interposed therebetween. The transmissive diffusion layer 5 is formed substantially at the focal plane of the lenticular lens sheets 1a and 1b. The observer 3 is located on the opposite side of the projectors 21 to 24 with the stereoscopic image display screen 7 interposed therebetween.

FIG. 6 is a principle view of image display in the stereoscopic image display system shown in FIG. The four projectors 21 to 24 project image light in different directions toward the lenticular lens sheet 1 a of the screen 7. The stereoscopic image display screen 7 has a feature that an image projected at the same distance as the projection distance with respect to the screen 7 can be reproduced. Therefore, since the projectors 21 to 24 are placed at the distance between the eyes, the reproduced images 61 to 64 are reproduced on the reproduction surface 6.
Reproduced above the binocular distance. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the observer 3 is looking at the redevelopments 62 and 63, and therefore is looking at the image formed by the image light emitted from the projectors 22 and 23. Redevelopment 62
Since the image parallaxes are included in and 63, the observer 3 can stereoscopically view the image.

[0006]

With reference to FIG. 6, the stereoscopic region in which the observer 3 can see a proper stereoscopic image is limited to the region of redevelopment 61 to 64 on the reproduction surface 6. There is. That is, when the observer 3 moves, no redevelopment suitable for the position is observed in the other areas on the reproduction surface 6 except this area. The range of the stereoscopic region is calculated by (human eye distance) × (number of directions-1). The number of directions here corresponds to the number of cameras. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 6, since the number of directions, that is, four cameras, the range of the stereoscopic viewing area is about 19.5 cm (= about 6.5 cm × 3), and the observer 3 moves. In this case, a sufficient range of the stereoscopic viewing area cannot be obtained.

If a large number of people try to view the image, the redevelopment on the reproduction surface 6 can be seen at a cycle of about 19.5 cm, but the observer 3 located in the central portion of the reproduction surface 6 and the peripheral portion thereof. The observer located at the same position sees almost the same image, which gives the observer a very unnatural feeling.
Therefore, in the case of assuming a conference with a sense of presence, this method can never see a stereoscopic image from an oblique direction when the screen 7 is viewed from an oblique direction.

In the stereoscopic image display system shown in FIG. 5, in order to view a stereoscopic image corresponding to the direction of the observer's viewpoint, a large number of cameras and a large number of projectors are required for image capturing, and the image input device and the image display are required. The size of the device becomes large and the cost also increases. Furthermore, in such a system, the stereoscopic viewing area in the left-right direction can be expanded, but the stereoscopic viewing area in the depth direction cannot be expanded.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and is a stereoscopic image display capable of displaying a stereoscopic image suitable for a moving observer without increasing the scale of the apparatus. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0010]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a three-dimensional image display device, wherein at least one of a focal length and a lens pitch is different, and the first and second ones are formed so as to sandwich a focal plane. Of the lenticular lens sheet, the pair of first and second projectors that respectively emit the image light for the left eye and the image light for the right eye to the first lenticular lens sheet, and the observation on the side of the second lenticular lens sheet. An observer position detecting means for detecting the position of the person with respect to the focal plane, and depending on the detected position of the observer,
Projector pair moving means for moving the projector pair according to a predetermined arithmetic expression. In the second aspect, the projector pair moving means of the first aspect moves the projector pair in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the first lenticular lens sheet according to the difference in focal length. In the third aspect, the projector moving means of the first aspect moves the projector pair in a direction parallel to the surface of the first lenticular lens sheet according to the difference in the lens pitch.

[0011]

In the three-dimensional image display device according to the present invention, the position of the observer is detected and the projector pair is moved according to a predetermined arithmetic expression, so that it is suitable for a moving observer without increasing the scale of the device. 3D images can be displayed.

[0012]

1 is a conceptual diagram of a stereoscopic image display device showing an embodiment of the present invention. The example shown in FIG. 1 shows a configuration capable of displaying a stereoscopic image to each of the four observers 101 to 104 who move independently.

Referring to FIG. 1, the stereoscopic image display screen 8 includes lenticular lens sheets 81 and 82 formed with the focal plane in between. The lenticular lens sheets 81 and 82 have different focal lengths and lens pitches. That is, the lenticular lens sheet 81 has the focal length f1.
And a lens pitch p1. On the other hand, the lenticular lens sheet 82 has a focal length f2 and a lens pitch p2. The transmission type diffusion layer 8 is provided at a position substantially on the focal plane of the lenticular lens sheets 81 and 82.
3 is formed.

Corresponding to each observer 101 to 104,
Projector pairs 91 to 94 for projecting image light
Is provided on the side of the lenticular lens sheet 81. Each projector pair 91 to 94 includes two projectors for emitting image light for the left eye and the image light for the right eye. For example, the projector pair 91 includes a projector 91L that emits image light for the left eye and a projector 91R that emits image light for the right eye. Each projector pair 91 to 94 projects the image light for the corresponding observers 101 to 104 toward the lenticular lens sheet 81.

The position detecting device 51 detects the positions of the observers 101 to 104 as needed. The detected position data PS is given to the arithmetic processing unit 52, and the positions of the projector pairs 91 to 94 are determined by the arithmetic processing described later. The determined position data MV of each projector pair 91 to 94 is given to the mobile device 53.
The mobile device 53, according to the given position data MV,
The position of each projector pair 91 to 94 is changed.

For example, when the observer 101 moves to the right, the projector pair 91 moves to the right, and vice versa.
When the observer 101 moves to the left, the projector pair 9
1 is moved to the left. Further, when the observer 101 approaches the screen 8 side, the projector pair 91 is moved to the screen 8 side, and conversely, when the observer 101 moves away from the screen 8, the projector pair 91 moves to the screen 8 side.
Be kept away from. The relationship in motion between the other observers 102-104 and the corresponding projector pairs 92-94 is similar.

As a method for detecting the position of each of the observers 101 to 104 by the position detecting device 51, various conventionally known methods can be used. For example, a method using a three-dimensional magnetic sensor (IEEE Trans. Aerosp & Ele
ctron. Syst., Vol. AES-15, No.5 1979) and image processing method using facial feature points (Television Technical Report, Vol.1)
4, No. 36, pp. 19-24, 1990) or a method of measuring the position of the observer by using two PSDs for detecting distance using infrared rays.

FIG. 2 is a principle diagram for obtaining the positional relationship between the observer and the projector pair in the stereoscopic image display device shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, the X axis indicates the distance in the vertical direction with respect to the lenticular lens sheets 81 and 82, and the Y axis indicates the lenticular lens sheet 8.
The distances along 1 and 82 are shown. The projector pair 91 is placed on the side of the lenticular lens sheet 81, and the observer 101 is on the side of the lenticular lens sheet 82. Y
The position of the axis is the lenticular lens sheets 81 and 8
2 corresponds to the position of the focal plane, and therefore the transmissive diffusion layer 83 is formed at this position. Each lens forming the lenticular lens sheet 81 has a focal length f1 and a lens pitch p. Each lens forming the lenticular lens sheet 82 has a focal length f.
2 and a lens pitch αp. Where α is
This corresponds to the ratio of the lens pitch of the lenticular lens sheet 82 to the lens pitch of the lenticular lens sheet 81.

The point of intersection of the X and Y axes is the origin (0,0),
The position of the observer 101 is set to (Vx, Vy) projector pair 9
When the position of 1 is (Px, Py), the positional relationship between the observer 101 and the projector pair 91 is expressed by the following equation.

Vx = −f2 · Px / {α · f1 + Px · (α−1)} (1) Vy = α · Py · f1 / {α · f1 + Px · (α−1)}… (2) Formula (2) As can be seen from 1) and 2), when the lens pitches of the lenticular lens sheets 81 and 82 are equal to each other (α = 1), the movement amount of the projector pair 91 in the depth direction (X axis direction) is f2 / It changes with the ratio of f1. Therefore, in this case, the observer 101 is directed toward the screen 8 in the front-back direction (that is, the X-axis direction).
Has moved the moving distance D, the projector pair 91 is moved by a distance of about D × (f1 / f2). For example, if f1 = 10 mm and f2 = 50 mm, the observer 101 moves 1 in the front-back direction with respect to the screen 8.
When moved by m, the projector pair 91 will be moved by 20 cm. Here, in the case of α = 1, it is pointed out that the movement ratio of the projector pair can be changed in the front-back direction, but the movement amount of the projector pair does not change in the left-right direction (that is, in the Y-axis direction).

In order to change the amount of change in the left-right direction, two lenticular lens sheets 81 and 8 are used.
2 different lens pitches (ie, α ≠
1) is set. FIG. 2 shows a case where such α is set, and A ′, B ′ and C ′ are the observer 1
01 indicates the position, and A, B and C indicate the position of the projector pair 91. Therefore, it can be seen that the distance by which the projector pair 91 should be moved is far smaller than the movement distance of the observer 101.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the moving distance of the observer and the moving magnification of the projector pair. In FIG. 4, an example of f1 = f2 = 4 mm is shown. For example, in the case of α = 1.002, when the observer moves by 1.5 m, the moving ratio of the projector pair in the Y-axis direction is about 4.0. In other words, in this case, the moving distance of the projector pair is 1 / the moving distance of the observer.
4 will be enough. If the distance between the left-eye projector and the right-eye projector that make up the projector pair is larger than the binocular distance, by setting α <1,
The projector interval can be made smaller.

The flow chart shown in FIG. 4 will be described as a summary of the operation of the stereoscopic image display apparatus shown in FIG. First, in step 201, the position of each of the observers 101 to 104 is detected by the position detecting device 51. The detected position data PS is given to the arithmetic processing unit 52.

In step 202, the processor 5
2, the positions of the projection projector pairs 91 to 94 are calculated. This calculation is performed using the position data PS according to the above equations (1) and (2). As a result, the positions to be moved of the projector pairs 91 to 94 are determined according to the positions of the observers 101 to 104.

In step 203, the position of each projector pair 91 to 94 is moved under the control of the moving device 53. Therefore, each observer 101 to 104
Can be viewed relative to the screen 8, that is, even if the relative positional relationship between the focal plane and each observer changes, a stereoscopic image suitable for that position can be viewed.

The above steps 201 to 203 are repeated until a signal instructing the end of the stereoscopic image display is given (step 204).

As described above, since the stereoscopic image display device shown in FIG. 1 is provided with the projector pair which is moved in response to the movement of a plurality of observers, the position of each observer can be adjusted regardless of the position. You can see the proper 3D image according to the position. In particular, by making the focal lengths and lens pitches of the lenticular lens sheets 81 and 82 different, the moving distance of the projector pair can be made shorter than the moving distance of the observer in the front, rear, left, and right. Can be prevented from increasing.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, a lenticular lens sheet having at least one of a focal length and a lens pitch different from each other is used, and a projector for moving a projector pair according to the position of an observer. Since the pair moving means is provided, a stereoscopic image display device capable of displaying a stereoscopic image suitable for a moving observer can be obtained without increasing the device scale.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a stereoscopic image display device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle diagram for obtaining a positional relationship between an observer and a projector pair in the stereoscopic image display device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a relationship between a moving distance of an observer and a moving magnification of a projector pair.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the stereoscopic image display device shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional stereoscopic image display system.

6 is a principle diagram of image display in the stereoscopic image display system shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8 3D image display screen 51 Position detection device 52 Arithmetic processing device 53 Moving device 81,82 Lenticular lens sheet 83 Translucent diffusion layer 91-94 Projector pair 101-104 Observer

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-1-107247 (JP, A) JP-A-56-161788 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first lenticular lens sheet and a second lenticular lens sheet having different focal lengths and / or lens pitches, each of which is formed with a focal plane in between, and left-eye image light and right-eye image light. First and second projector pairs respectively emitted toward the first lenticular lens sheet, and observer position detection means for detecting a position of the observer on the side of the second lenticular lens sheet with respect to the focal plane. And a projector pair moving means for moving the projector pair according to a predetermined arithmetic expression according to the position of the observer detected by the viewer position detecting means. 2. The projector pair moving means moves the projector pair in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the first lenticular lens sheet according to the difference in the focal length. The stereoscopic image display device according to claim 1. 3. The projector pair moving means moves the projector pair in a direction parallel to the surface of the first lenticular lens sheet according to the difference in the lens pitch. The stereoscopic image display device according to claim 1.