JP2012083573A - Stereoscopic video processor and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that when OSD for image quality adjustment is superimposed on stereoscopic video and an operator changes an image quality adjustment area on stereoscopic video, depth of the area will change and the depth of the OSD changes correspondingly.SOLUTION: A pair of right and left OSD image containing predetermined parallax is overwritten on an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye, respectively, and the OSD is superimposed on stereoscopic video. When an area that performs predetermined image processing is selected from the displayed stereoscopic video, parallax of the selected area between the image for left eyes and the image for right eyes is calculated. A parallax adjustment part shifts the image for left eyes and the image for right eyes relatively so that the calculated parallax matches with the predetermined parallax.

Description

  The present invention relates to a stereoscopic video processing apparatus that enables stereoscopic viewing and a control method thereof.

  In recent years, stereoscopic video display devices capable of stereoscopic viewing have become widespread. These stereoscopic image display devices are configured to be able to present different images (stereoscopic images) corresponding to both eyes independently to the viewer's eyes. The stereoscopic video (three-dimensional video) is expressed so that the subject has parallax, and the observer can stereoscopically view the subject.

  Various concrete methods for realizing stereoscopic vision are known. For example, there is a method (polarization method) in which a plurality of images are superimposed and displayed with different polarization directions, and the images are observed through polarized glasses that selectively transmit light in each polarization direction with the right eye and the left eye. Further, there is a method (field sequential method) in which images at the same time are sequentially displayed in a time-sharing manner and observed through shutter glasses that selectively transmits light incident on the right eye and the left eye in synchronization with the display timing. . In addition, as a method capable of stereoscopic viewing with the naked eye, a method of displaying a plurality of images on a stereoscopic display monitor capable of stereoscopic viewing, such as a parallax barrier method and a lenticular method, is also known.

  The stereoscopic video displayed on the stereoscopic video display device is usually acquired by photographing the same subject from different positions using a plurality of cameras. An OSD (On Screen Display) may be superimposed and displayed during display of such a stereoscopic image. For example, during preview display at the time of shooting, it is required to OSD display parameters and icons for various shooting conditions such as an aperture value. Further, when observing an image, it is required to display an image quality adjustment menu for suitable image quality adjustment by the observer by OSD display.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a method of generating a menu screen having a parallax and a size corresponding to a subject distance, and displaying the stereoscopic image on a monitor by superimposing each of the binocular images in the stereoscopic image. According to the method described in Patent Document 1, a menu is three-dimensionally displayed so as to have a stereoscopic effect according to the distance of the subject together with the stereoscopic image, and can be stereoscopically viewed in the same way as a stereoscopic image without a sense of incongruity.

  In Patent Document 2, a parallax amount Δx of a main subject included in a binocular image in a three-dimensional display image is calculated, an object is created such that the parallax amount of the object becomes the parallax amount Δx, and the three-dimensional display image A method of displaying an object in an overlapping manner is disclosed. According to the method described in Patent Document 2, since an object can be stereoscopically viewed together with an image, the object can be recognized without interfering with the stereoscopic vision of the image.

JP 2009-210840 A JP 2010-056737 A

  During the display of a stereoscopic video, the image quality of a specific area of the stereoscopic video may be adjusted. If the techniques disclosed in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 are applied, the parallax of the image quality adjustment menu OSD can be determined according to the distance and parallax of the specific area, and can be displayed in a superimposed manner. However, this specific area is not always at the same position. For example, the position of the specific area may change, such as when an operator performs an operation for selecting an image quality adjustment area, and the depth of the specific area also changes accordingly. In this case, when the techniques disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are applied, the depth of the OSD is linked according to the changing depth. As described above, when the depth of the OSD focused by the observer changes every moment according to the change in the position of the specific area, the observer must link the convergence angles of both eyes. As a result, there is a problem that it leads to eye strain of the observer.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a stereoscopic image processing apparatus and a control method thereof that can reduce eye strain of an observer during display of a stereoscopic image. To do.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stereoscopic video processing apparatus that displays a stereoscopic video by displaying a left-eye video and a right-eye video having binocular parallax at a predetermined display timing. OSD superimposing means for superimposing and displaying the OSD on the stereoscopic video by overwriting the left-eye video and the right-eye video respectively with a pair of left and right OSD (On Screen Display) images, and the displayed stereoscopic video Selection means for selecting an area for performing predetermined image processing, parallax calculation means for calculating a parallax of the selected area between the left-eye video and the right-eye video, and the calculated There is provided a stereoscopic video processing apparatus comprising: a parallax adjusting unit that relatively shifts the left-eye video and the right-eye video so that the parallax of the region matches the predetermined parallax. The

  According to the present invention, even when the position of the specific region changes, the depth of the selected region in the stereoscopic video is constant, and the observer does not need to change the convergence angle. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce eye strain of an observer.

The figure which shows the structural example of the stereo image processing system which concerns on embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the display timing of a three-dimensional video. The block diagram of the 3D display in embodiment. The figure for demonstrating calculation of parallax. The state transition diagram of 3D display in an embodiment. The figure explaining parallax adjustment of the stereoscopic image in an embodiment. The figure explaining parallax adjustment of the stereoscopic image in an embodiment. The figure explaining the relationship between parallax and depth. The block diagram of the portable display device in an embodiment. The state transition diagram of the portable display device in an embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment, It shows only the specific example advantageous for implementation of this invention. Moreover, not all combinations of features described in the following embodiments are indispensable for solving the problems of the present invention.

[Embodiment 1]
In the present embodiment, a 3D display using a field sequential method will be described.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a stereoscopic video processing system according to the present embodiment.
Reference numeral 100 denotes a 3D display as a stereoscopic video processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. Reference numeral 101 denotes an infrared LED that emits light to indicate which of the eyes is being displayed. Reference numeral 102 denotes a video player that outputs a stereoscopic video (3D video). A video cable 103 transmits a video signal from the video player 102 to the 3D display 100. Reference numeral 104 denotes shutter glasses that selectively transmit either one of both eyes according to the infrared light emitted from the infrared LED 101. Reference numeral 105 denotes an infrared light receiving element. Reference numeral 106 denotes a remote controller for performing a user operation on the 3D display 100. The remote control 106 has a POWER button for instructing power on or off, and a MENU button for instructing on or off of menu display described later. The remote control 106 also has an UP button for instructing the cursor to move up, down, left, and right with respect to the menu, a DOWN button, a LEFT button, a RIGHT button, an OK button for instructing determination on the menu, and a CANCEL button for instructing cancellation. The instruction from the remote controller 106 is transmitted based on a wireless communication method such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). The instruction is received by the 3D display 100, and processing according to the instruction is executed.

  Next, the field sequential stereoscopic vision with this configuration will be described with reference to FIG. A stereoscopic video signal is input from the video player 102 to the 3D display 100 and is sequentially displayed on the 3D display 100 as a right-eye video and a left-eye video. This is shown in FIG. In this way, the left-eye video and the right-eye video that are paired at a certain time (for example, t = n) are displayed so as to switch every 1/120 second, and each time the time passes, (For example, t = n + 1, n + 2,...) Are sequentially displayed. Note that the present invention is not limited to the type of input stereoscopic video signal. For example, the present invention can be implemented using a video signal defined by HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) version 1.4a.

  The pattern of switching between the right-eye video and the left-eye video is indicated by light emission by the infrared LED 101 as shown in FIG. This pattern is received by the infrared light receiving element 105, and is used for selecting the right eye and the left eye of the shutter glasses 104 as shown in FIGS. 2 (c) and 2 (d). In this way, the right-eye video is presented only to the viewer's right eye, and the left-eye video is presented only to the viewer's left eye, thereby enabling stereoscopic viewing by the viewer wearing the shutter glasses 104. It has become.

Next, a detailed configuration of the 3D display 100 will be described with reference to FIG.
The video receiving unit 300 is composed of an HDMI or DVI receiver or the like, receives a 60 Hz stereoscopic video signal from the video player 102, and outputs it by separating it into videos for the left eye and the right eye. The video processing unit 301 receives the binocular video signal from the video receiving unit 300, and performs video processing on each according to an instruction from a CPU 308 as a control unit described later. The left and right video signals output from the video processing unit 301 are input to the parallax adjustment unit 302. In accordance with an instruction from the CPU 308, the parallax adjustment unit 302 relatively shifts the left-eye video and the right-eye video having binocular parallax in the horizontal direction to change the parallax of the entire screen. By this processing, the depth of the stereoscopic image can be changed in the front direction or the back direction as a whole.

The relationship between the parallax and the depth will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8A is a view of the geometrical arrangement when observing a stereoscopic image as viewed from above. The horizontal axis indicates the physical horizontal direction, and the vertical axis indicates the depth. VL and VR represent left and right viewpoints (both eyes of the observer), respectively. b indicates the distance between the viewpoints. SCR indicates the display surface of the 3D display 100, and D indicates the distance between the viewpoint and the SCR. IL and IR represent left and right images of a certain object O, respectively, and p represents an interval between them, that is, parallax. θ _A is an angle formed by VL and VR in the object O, and is a convergence angle. According to such an arrangement, the observer can see the object O at a position with a depth d behind the SCR. Due to the geometric relationship,
d / b = (d−D) / p Equation 1
The following relational expression holds. Therefore, the depth d is
d = Db / (b−p) Equation 2
Thus, d and p are in an inversely proportional relationship. Since D and b are constant at the time of observation, if the parallax p is determined, the depth d is uniquely determined.
Further, when there is a reverse parallax between IL and IR as shown in FIG. 8B, the observer can see the object O at a position of a depth d in front of the SCR. θ _B is the convergence angle in this case. If the parallax p in (a) is positive and the parallax p in (b) is negative,
d / b = (D−d) / − p = (d−D) / p Equation 3
The same relational expression as Expression 1 holds. That is, regardless of the depth and near side of the SCR, the object O appears to have a deeper depth as the parallax p is smaller, and to a deeper depth as the parallax p is larger (below b).

  Thus, an object having a positive parallax appears to jump out to the near side of the display, and an object having a negative parallax appears to be retracted to the back side of the display. Because of such a relationship between parallax and depth, if the pair of left and right video signals are relatively shifted in the horizontal direction, the depth of the stereoscopic video can be changed to the front side or back side as a whole. it can.

  Returning to FIG. The video signal output from the parallax adjustment unit 302 is input to the OSD superimposing unit 303 and superimposed on an OSD image described later. Thereafter, the left and right images are displayed at a predetermined display timing. Specifically, the double speed unit 304 converts the left and right videos input in parallel at 60 Hz into 120 Hz sequential videos and outputs them. The 120 Hz video signal is input to the panel driving unit 305 and converted into a signal suitable for driving the display panel 306. The signal is input to the display panel 306 and displayed in the pattern shown in FIG. In addition, the double speed unit 304 transmits a signal notifying the field corresponding to the right eye to the infrared LED 101. The infrared LED 101 receives this signal, and emits the infrared light having the pattern shown in FIG.

The left and right video signals output from the video receiver 300 are input to the parallax calculator 307. The parallax calculation unit 307 calculates the parallax between the left and right video signals for the video signal area instructed by the CPU 308 to be described later. This calculation will be described with reference to FIG. The parallax calculation unit 307 receives, from the CPU 308, four parameters including coordinates (xL, y), height indicating the height of the rectangle with the coordinates at the upper left, and width indicating the width. receive. In addition, this area | region shows the area | region in the image | video for left eyes made into the reference | standard. FIG. 4A shows an image for the left eye, a large frame surrounded by a solid line indicates the entire screen, and a rectangle indicated by diagonal lines indicates an area IL indicated by these four parameters. The upper left corner of the screen is the origin (0, 0). The parallax calculation unit 307 calculates the similarity to the region IL while swinging x for the region IX having the coordinates (x, y), height height, and width width in the image for the right eye. For the calculation of the similarity, a known stereo matching method can be used. For example, it is possible to use an SSD (Sum of Squared Difference) that calculates the correlation between left and right blocks using light / dark information and then adds the square of the difference. Instead, SAD (Sum of Absolute Difference) that adds the absolute value of the difference after obtaining the correlation between blocks may be used. Alternatively, NCC (Normalized Cross Coefficient) using a correlation between pixels can be used. FIG. 4B shows a right-eye image, and a region IX in the right-eye image is indicated by a hatched portion. An example of the relationship between x and similarity is shown in FIG. If x where the degree of similarity is the maximum is xR, the parallax p in the indicated area is obtained by the following equation.
p = xL−xR Equation 4
The value of the parallax p obtained in this way is transmitted to the CPU 308.

  The CPU 308 serving as a control unit controls each unit of the 3D display 100. A detailed control flow will be described later.

  Reference numeral 309 denotes a remote control receiving unit that receives a signal from the remote control 106. The received instruction from the remote control 106 is sent to the CPU 308 for interpretation and execution. The OSD generation unit 310 generates an OSD (On Screen Display) image representing a menu image or the like according to an instruction from the CPU 308. The OSD image generated by the OSD generation unit 310 is input to the parallax adjustment unit 311. The parallax adjustment unit 311 generates a pair of left and right OSD images by shifting the OSD image in the horizontal direction by the amount of parallax instructed by the CPU 308. The pair of left and right OSD images are input to the OSD superimposing unit 303. The OSD superimposing unit 303 performs processing of overwriting the left and right OSD image signals input from the parallax adjustment unit 311 on the left-eye video and the right-eye video input from the parallax adjustment unit 302, respectively.

Here, the control by the CPU 308 will be described using the state transition diagram of the 3D display 100 of FIG.
When AC power is turned on, the state transitions to state 500 as an initial state. In this state, the CPU 308 is activated, activates the remote control receiving unit 309, and monitors pressing of the POWER button by the remote control 106. When the POWER button is pressed, the state transitions to state 501.

  In the state 501, the CPU 308 activates each unit in the 3D display 100. For example, power is turned on, register initialization for displaying, and the like are performed. When the activation ends, the state transitions to state 502.

  A state 502 is a state in which the video signal input to the 3D display 100 is displayed. In this state, when the CPU 308 detects pressing of the POWER button by the remote controller 106, the state transitions to a state 503 described later. The state 502 is further divided into the following three states as child states.

  First, the initial state in state 502 is state 504. A state 504 is a state where the display is performed on the display panel 306 but the OSD is not displayed. In the state 504, the CPU 308 instructs the OSD generation unit 310 not to perform OSD generation. 6 and 7 show examples of stereoscopic images displayed in this state. FIG. 6A shows an example in which a stereoscopic image is displayed as 2D. obj1 to obj4 indicate objects existing in the stereoscopic video. FIG. 7A is a diagram for explaining the parallax (depth) of each object of the stereoscopic video. The vertical axis represents the parallax. p0 indicates the parallax of the background portion. p1 to p4 indicate parallaxes of obj1 to obj4, respectively. Each solid line represents each object. In the state 504, when the CPU 308 detects pressing of the MENU button by the remote controller 106, the state transitions to the state 505.

  In the state 505, a menu is displayed on the OSD, and as an example, a menu for selecting a target area for image quality adjustment in a stereoscopic video is displayed. FIGS. 6B and 7B show examples of stereoscopic images displayed in this state. FIG. 6B shows an example in which a stereoscopic video is displayed as 2D. obj1 to obj4 are as described above. The selection menu 600 is an OSD that prompts the user to select a target area for image quality adjustment. A cursor 601 is a cursor for selecting a target area for image quality adjustment. In this state, when the CPU 308 detects pressing of the UP button, DOWN button, LEFT button, or RIGHT button by the remote controller 106, the position of the cursor 601 is changed accordingly.

  In this state, the parallax of the stereoscopic video is adjusted by the CPU 308. FIG. 7A shows the parallax of the stereoscopic video before adjustment. The horizontal axis indicates the horizontal direction of the video, and the vertical axis indicates the parallax. The parallax of the selection menu 600 and the cursor 601 is indicated by p_osd. Note that the value of p_osd may be provided by a non-volatile memory (not shown) included in the 3D display 100 or may be input by a user. The parallax adjustment procedure by the CPU 308 will be described below.

  First, the CPU 308 calculates the parallax p_cursor of the stereoscopic video at the position of the cursor 601. Specifically, the CPU 308 requests the parallax calculation unit 307 to obtain parallax information at the position of the cursor 601. As described above, the parallax calculation unit 307 calculates the parallax at the position and transmits it to the CPU 308. Note that the depth is uniquely determined if the parallax is determined as described above. Therefore, even if depth is used instead of parallax, the same processing can be performed and the present invention can be implemented.

In this example, since the cursor 601 exists at the position of obj3, p_curror = p3 is obtained. Next, the CPU 308 instructs the parallax adjustment unit 302 to change the parallax so that the parallax p_osd of the OSD matches the parallax p_cursor of the stereoscopic video at the position of the cursor 601. At this time, the instructed change amount of parallax is expressed as p_curror-p_osd. Therefore, the parallax px_b after the change of the parallax px is (0 ≦ x ≦ 4),
px_b = px− (p_curror−p_osd) Equation 5
It becomes. In this example, p_cursor = p3, and p3_b is equal to p_osd.

  If the CPU 308 detects that the CANCEL button is pressed on the remote controller 106, the CPU 308 restores the parallax change, erases the OSD, and returns to the state 504. In state 505, when the CPU 308 detects that the remote control 106 has pressed the OK button, the state transitions to state 506.

  The state 506 is a state in which a menu is displayed on the OSD. As an example, it is assumed that a menu for adjusting the image quality of the target region selected in the state 505 is displayed. FIG. 6C and FIG. 7B show examples of stereoscopic images displayed in this state. FIG. 6C shows an example in which a stereoscopic video is displayed as 2D. obj1 to obj4 are as described above. The adjustment menu 602 is an OSD that allows the user to change image quality adjustment parameters. In the adjustment menu 602, there are four choices of “hue”, “saturation”, “brightness”, and “complete”, and the user presses the UP button and the DOWN button of the remote controller 106 to select these. Can be selected. In a state where “hue”, “saturation”, and “lightness” are selected, the user can instruct the CPU 308 to increase or decrease each parameter by pressing the LEFT button and the RIGHT button on the remote controller 106. it can. The value of each parameter is indicated to the user by the length of the rectangular indicator on the adjustment menu 602. Specifically, the change processing of each parameter is executed by the video processing unit 301 when the CPU 308 issues an area designation instruction and parameter change instruction to the video processing unit 301. If the user presses the OK button on the remote control 106 while the “Done” line of the adjustment menu 602 is selected, the parallax change is restored and the OSD is erased and the state 504 is restored. . When CPU 308 detects pressing of the CANCEL button on remote controller 106, it returns to state 505.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, an OSD having a predetermined parallax that is displayed so as to be superimposed on a stereoscopic video is generated, and a region in the stereoscopic video to be subjected to image processing is selected. Next, the parallax adjustment unit 302 relatively shifts the left-eye video and the right-eye video so that the parallax of the selected region matches the OSD parallax. Thus, the overall depth of the stereoscopic video is changed. In the above-described example, the user selects the image quality adjustment target region from the stereoscopic video and matches the parallax of the region with the OSD parallax. However, the method of determining the target region is not limited thereto. For example, a modification is also conceivable in which the user selects an arbitrary chromaticity, an area having the selected chromaticity is detected from the stereoscopic video, and is used as the target area.

  A state 503 is a state in which the termination process of the 3D display 100 is performed. In the state 503, the CPU 308 shuts down each unit in the 3D display 100. For example, power-off processing is performed. When these processes are completed, the state 500 is restored.

  Even when the image quality adjustment region is selected and the image quality adjustment is performed on the image quality adjustment region by the configuration and control as described above, the user does not need to change the convergence angle of both eyes. Specifically, when determining the image quality adjustment area when viewing the video around the cursor while moving the cursor, or when changing the parameter and viewing the video around the cursor to determine the image adjustment parameter is there. In such a case, the depth of the OSD and the depth of the area designated by the cursor are always the same, and there is no need to change the convergence angle. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce a user's eye strain.

[Embodiment 2]
In the first embodiment, the method of making the OSD parallax the same as the parallax of the area specified by the cursor has been described. Even if it is a case where it changes to the method of making those parallax comparatively close with respect to Embodiment 1, this invention can be implemented. Specifically, the following modifications are made to the first embodiment.

  In the state transition diagram of FIG. 5, the state 505 is modified as follows. As a premise, a predetermined parallax threshold p_sh is determined. As will be described later, the value of p_sh is determined in advance so as not to be displayed too far, and may be provided by a non-volatile memory (not shown) included in the 3D display 100 or input by the user. You may let them. At the time of transition to the state 505, first, the CPU 308 calculates the parallax of the object with the closest depth, that is, the object with the smallest parallax, from one surface of the stereoscopic video, and obtains the parallax p_front. Specifically, the CPU 308 divides one surface into a plurality of blocks to the parallax calculation unit 307, inquires about the parallax of all the blocks, and searches for the smallest block among the obtained parallaxes. In the example of FIG. 7A, the parallax of obj2 is minimum (the depth of obj2 is closest), and p_front = p2 is obtained. Next, the stereoscopic image parallax p_cursor at the cursor position is acquired as in the first embodiment. This is p3. Here, “a parallax shift amount (p_front−p_sh) for adjusting the minimum parallax p_front to p_sh” is set as the first parallax shift amount. Also, “a parallax shift amount (p_curr−p_osd) for adjusting the parallax p_cursor of the stereoscopic image at the cursor position to the parallax p_osd of the OSD” is set as the second parallax shift amount. The CPU 308 compares the first parallax shift amount with the second parallax shift amount. Note that these parallax shift amounts are positive in the direction in which the depth can be seen forward (the direction in which the parallax decreases). The CPU 308 adopts the smaller one of these to instruct the parallax adjustment unit 302 to perform parallax shift. If the latter, that is, the second parallax shift amount is small, it is the same as in the first embodiment. FIG. 7C shows an example of the former case, that is, a case where the first parallax shift amount is small, and details will be described below.

In other words, if the parallax of the stereoscopic video at the cursor position is matched with the parallax of the OSD, this means that the parallax of the foremost object in the stereoscopic video after the shift is smaller than the predetermined parallax p_sh. Generally, it is said that if the parallax is excessively small (negatively large), the difference between the eye focus adjustment and the convergence adjustment becomes large, and stereoscopic vision is not established. Therefore, in this example, a certain lower limit parallax is set in advance in p_sh, and the parallax of the foremost object is adjusted within a range that does not become smaller than p_sh. In this case, the CPU 308 instructs the parallax adjustment unit 302 to change the parallax so that the predetermined threshold p_sh matches the forefront parallax in the image. At this time, the instructed change amount of the parallax is expressed as p_front-p_sh, and thus the parallax px_c after the change of the parallax px in this example is (0 ≦ x ≦ 4),
px_c = px− (p_front−p_sh) Equation 6
It becomes. In this example, p_front = p2, and p2_c is equal to p_sh. Other configurations and controls are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  According to the processing as described above, the second parallax shift amount in which the parallax of the foremost object becomes a predetermined parallax is calculated, and the smaller one of the first parallax shift amount and the second parallax shift amount is calculated. The overall parallax of the stereoscopic video is changed. Thereby, as a result of the parallax adjustment, a region that is too close to the front is generated, and a case in which eye strain occurs due to a large difference between the focus adjustment of the eye and the convergence adjustment can be prevented.

  Even when the image quality adjustment area is selected and the image quality adjustment is performed on the image quality adjustment area by the configuration and control as described above, the user can reduce the amount of change in the convergence angle of both eyes. Specifically, when determining the image quality adjustment area when viewing the video around the cursor while moving the cursor, or when changing the parameter and viewing the video around the cursor to determine the image adjustment parameter is there. In such a case, the depth of the cursor (OSD) and the depth of the area designated by the cursor are always the same, and the amount by which the convergence angle is changed is reduced. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce a user's eye strain.

  In the above description, the lower limit of parallax has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a method of setting the upper limit of parallax. In general, it is said that when the parallax is larger than the interpupillary distance, stereoscopic vision is not established. Accordingly, when setting the parallax upper limit, the parallax p_back representing the innermost depth is calculated, and the upper limit parallax p_sh ′ (for example, the interpupillary distance) is set in the same manner as described above. It is only necessary that p_back does not exceed p_sh ′.

[Embodiment 3]
The present invention can be applied even when the following modifications are made to the first embodiment.
In the state transition diagram of FIG. 5, the state 505 is modified as follows. As a premise, a predetermined parallax threshold p_sh is determined. As will be described later, the value of p_sh is determined in advance so as not to be displayed too far, and may be provided by a non-volatile memory (not shown) included in the 3D display 100 or input by the user. You may let them. At the time of transition to the state 505, the CPU 308 first measures the parallax distribution of one surface of the stereoscopic video. Specifically, the CPU 308 divides one surface into a plurality of blocks to the parallax calculation unit 307, inquires about the parallax of all the blocks, and stores the obtained parallax in a memory (not shown). Next, the parallax is shifted as in the first embodiment. After that, the CPU 308 detects an area that comes before the parallax p_sh when the shift is performed by the shift amount. An example of this is shown in FIG. The original parallax p2 of obj2 becomes p2_b by the shift operation, which is in front of p_sh. For such an area, the CPU 308 causes the OSD generation unit 310 to generate a mask OSD image, and causes the parallax adjustment unit 311 to set the parallax so that the parallax of the mask OSD becomes p_osd. An example of the obtained image is shown in FIG. Reference numeral 603 denotes a mask OSD.

  In this case, even when a region that is too near is generated as a result of parallax adjustment, it can be overwritten with a mask having OSD parallax. As a result, it is possible to prevent a case in which eye strain occurs due to a large difference between the eye focus adjustment and the convergence adjustment.

  Even when the image quality adjustment region is selected and the image quality adjustment is performed on the image quality adjustment region by the configuration and control as described above, the user does not need to change the convergence angle of both eyes. Specifically, when determining the image quality adjustment area when viewing the video around the cursor while moving the cursor, or when changing the parameter and viewing the video around the cursor to determine the image adjustment parameter is there. In such a case, the depth of the cursor (OSD) and the depth of the area specified by the cursor are always the same, and there is no need to change the convergence angle. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce a user's eye strain.

  In the above description, the lower limit of parallax has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a method of setting the upper limit of parallax. In general, it is said that when the parallax is larger than the interpupillary distance, stereoscopic vision is not established. Therefore, when setting the parallax upper limit, a region exceeding the preset upper parallax p_sh ′ (for example, the interpupillary distance) may be masked with the parallax of p_osd.

[Embodiment 4]
The invention can also be implemented on other devices. This example will be described with reference to FIG. A portable display device 900 as a stereoscopic image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a display panel 901 using a parallax barrier liquid crystal panel, and enables stereoscopic viewing with the naked eye. In addition, since the touch sensor 902 using a capacitance method or the like is provided, the user can perform an operation by touching the display panel 901 with a finger 903. Specifically, the touched coordinates on the display panel 901 are detected by the touch sensor 902, transmitted to the CPU 904, and processed by the CPU 904, which is a control unit.

  The CPU 904 controls the portable display device 900 as a whole. Details will be described later. The power button 905 is a switch and accepts an instruction to turn on / off the power of the portable display device 900. Menu button 906 is a switch, and accepts an instruction to display / hide menu OSD to CPU 904. These will be described in detail later.

  Reference numeral 907 denotes a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory in which stereoscopic image data expressed in a predetermined format is stored. The CPU 904 reads image data from the nonvolatile memory 907 and transmits it to the image generation unit 908. The image generation unit 908 is, for example, a JPEG decoder, and expands the stereoscopic image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 907 into a displayable image. The developed stereoscopic image is transmitted to the image processing unit 909. The image processing unit 909 is a circuit that can adjust image quality parameters such as hue, saturation, and brightness of a designated area in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 904. The adjusted stereoscopic image is transmitted to the parallax adjustment unit 910.

  The parallax adjustment unit 910, the OSD generation unit 911, the parallax adjustment unit 912, and the OSD superimposition unit 913 are the same as the parallax adjustment unit 302, the OSD generation unit 310, the parallax adjustment unit 311, and the OSD superposition unit 303 of the first embodiment, respectively. The OSD superimposing unit 913 transmits the stereoscopic image on which the OSD is superimposed to the panel driving unit 914. The panel drive unit 914 converts the stereoscopic image into a signal suitable for the display panel 901 and transmits it. The display panel 901 displays the received stereoscopic image in 3D using a parallax barrier method.

  Next, control by the CPU 308 will be described using a state transition diagram of the portable display device 900 of FIG. When AC power is turned on, the state transitions to state 1000 as an initial state. In this state, the CPU 904 is activated and monitors pressing of the power button 905. When the power button 905 is pressed, the state 1001 is transitioned to.

  In the state 1001, the CPU 904 activates each unit in the portable display device 900. For example, power is turned on, register initialization for displaying, and the like are performed. When the activation ends, the state transitions to the state 1002.

  A state 1002 is a state in which stereoscopic image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 907 in the portable display device 900 is displayed. In this state, when the CPU 904 detects pressing of the power button 905, the CPU 904 transitions to a state 1003 described later. The state 1002 is further divided into the following two states as child states.

  First, the initial state in state 1002 is state 1004. A state 1004 is a state in which the display panel 901 is displayed but the OSD is not displayed. In the state 1004, the CPU 904 instructs the OSD generation unit 911 not to perform OSD generation. Similar to the state 504 of the first embodiment, the stereoscopic video displayed in this state is as shown in FIGS. 6A and 7A. The description of these figures is the same as that of the first embodiment, and will be omitted. When the CPU 904 detects that the menu button 906 is pressed in the state 1004, the state transitions to the state 1005.

  In the state 1005, as shown in FIG. 6C, the adjustment menu 602 and the cursor 601 are displayed as in the state 505 of the first embodiment. As an initial state, the cursor 601 is displayed at a predetermined position. Further, by touching an arbitrary place on the display panel 901 with the finger 903, the cursor 601 moves to that position. Specific processing for changing the position of the cursor 601 will be described as follows with reference to FIG. First, the touch sensor 902 detects the contact position of the finger 903 with respect to the display panel 901 and transmits it to the CPU 904 as two-dimensional coordinate data on the display panel 901. Next, the OSD generation unit 911 is instructed to generate the OSD so that the CPU 904 generates the cursor 601 at that position. In response to the instruction, the OSD generation unit 911 generates the cursor 601 at the new position.

  In the state 1005, the parallax p_cursor of the stereoscopic video on which the cursor 601 exists is measured by the same processing as in the state 505 of the first embodiment, and the parallax of the entire stereoscopic video is adjusted so that it matches the parallax p_osd of the OSD. shift. For example, when the cursor 601 is at the position obj3 as shown in FIG. 6C, the parallax is shifted as shown in FIG. 7B. Since this shifting method is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  In the state 1005, each parameter of the area indicated by the cursor 601 is adjusted by bringing the finger 903 into contact with the indicator of any one of “hue”, “saturation”, and “lightness” in the adjustment menu 602 and sliding it left and right. Can be performed. Specifically, the touch position can be realized by detecting the contact position and the sliding motion by the touch sensor 902, the CPU 904 receiving the information, and instructing the image processing unit 909 to increase or decrease the corresponding parameter.

  In the state 1005, the CPU 904 detects whether the menu button 906 is pressed or detects the touch of the “complete” on the adjustment menu 602 with the finger 903, so that the state transitions to the state 1004. At this time, the OSD is erased and the parallax shift is canceled.

  The state 1003 is the same as the state 503 in the first embodiment.

  When image quality adjustment is performed by the configuration and control as described above, the user need not change the convergence angle of both eyes. Specifically, to determine the image quality adjustment area, when viewing the video around the cursor while moving the cursor with your finger, or to change the parameters to determine the image adjustment parameters Is the case. In such a case, the depth of the cursor (OSD) and the depth of the area specified by the cursor are always the same, and there is no need to change the convergence angle. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce a user's eye strain.

[Embodiment 5]
The first embodiment may be modified as follows to use a method of compressing the depth.
First, the parallax adjustment unit 302 can change not only the parallax shift but also the parallax dynamic range of the stereoscopic image so that it falls within the lower limit and the upper limit of the parallax. In this way, changing the dynamic range of depth can be realized by generating an intermediate image from left and right images. For example, a known technique as described in JP-A-9-27969 can be used.

  In the state transition diagram of FIG. 5, the state 505 is modified as follows. As a premise, a predetermined parallax threshold p_sh is determined. As will be described later, the value of p_sh is determined in advance so as not to be displayed too far, and may be provided by a non-volatile memory (not shown) included in the 3D display 100 or input by the user. You may let them. At the time of transition to the state 505, first, the CPU 308 searches for a region having the smallest parallax, that is, the depth closest to the front, from one surface of the stereoscopic image, and obtains the parallax p_front. Specifically, the CPU 308 divides one surface into a plurality of blocks to the parallax calculation unit 307, inquires about the parallax of all the blocks, and searches for the smallest block among the obtained parallaxes. In the example of FIG. 7A, the parallax p2 of obj2 is the minimum (the depth of obj2 is closest), and p_front = p2 is obtained. Next, the stereoscopic image parallax p_cursor at the cursor position is acquired as in the first embodiment. This is p3. Here, “a parallax shift amount (p_front−p_sh) for adjusting the minimum parallax p_front to p_sh” is set as the first parallax shift amount. Also, “a parallax shift amount p_curror-p_osd for adjusting the parallax p_cursor of the stereoscopic video at the cursor position to the parallax p_osd of the OSD” is set as the second parallax shift amount. The CPU 308 compares the first parallax shift amount with the second parallax shift amount. Note that these parallax shift amounts are positive in the direction in which the depth can be seen forward (the direction in which the parallax decreases). The CPU 308 adopts the smaller one of these to instruct the parallax adjustment unit 302 to perform parallax shift. If the latter is small, it is the same as in the first embodiment. An example in which the former is small is shown in FIG. 7D, and details will be described below.

  In other words, this means that when the parallax at the cursor position is matched with the parallax of the OSD, the minimum parallax p_front in the image is smaller than the predetermined parallax p_sh. Generally, it is said that if the parallax is excessively small (negatively large), the difference between the eye focus adjustment and the convergence adjustment becomes large, and stereoscopic vision is not established. Therefore, in this example, a certain lower limit parallax is set to p_sh, and the dynamic range of the parallax is compressed so that the forefront parallax does not become smaller than p_sh. For example, the parallax adjustment unit 302 changes the parallax and changes the dynamic range of the parallax so that the parallax p_cursor of the stereoscopic video at the cursor 601 position matches the parallax p_osd of the OSD, and the parallax p_front of the foremost object matches the predetermined parallax p_sh. To do. These changes are performed by the parallax adjustment unit 302 in response to an instruction from the CPU 308. An example of this instruction content is shown in the following equation. This is a relational expression between the parallax px and the changed parallax px_d. (0 ≦ x ≦ 4)

      px_d = p_osd− (p_cursor−px) * (p_osd−p_sh) / (p_curror−p_front) Equation 7

  In this example, p_front = p2 and p_curror = p3, and the parallax p3_d of the stereoscopic video at the position of the OSD is equal to p_osd, and the parallax p2_d of the foremost object is equal to p_sh.

  Other processes in the state 505 and other configurations / controls are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In this case, as a result of the parallax adjustment, an area that is too close to the front is generated, and the difference between the focus adjustment of the eye and the convergence adjustment is increased, thereby preventing a case where eye strain occurs.

  Even when the image quality adjustment region is selected and the image quality adjustment is performed on the image quality adjustment region by the configuration and control as described above, the user does not need to change the convergence angle of both eyes. Specifically, when determining the image quality adjustment area when viewing the video around the cursor while moving the cursor, or when changing the parameter and viewing the video around the cursor to determine the image adjustment parameter is there. In such a case, the depth of the cursor (OSD) and the depth of the area specified by the cursor are always the same, and there is no need to change the convergence angle. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce a user's eye strain.

  In the above description, the lower limit of parallax has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a method of setting the upper limit of parallax. In general, it is said that when the parallax is larger than the interpupillary distance, stereoscopic vision is not established. Therefore, when setting the parallax upper limit, the parallax p_back of the innermost object is calculated, and the upper limit parallax p_sh ′ (for example, the interpupillary distance) is used to set the p_back as described above. May not exceed p_sh ′.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed. In this case, the program and the storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

Claims (6)

A stereoscopic video processing apparatus that displays a stereoscopic video by displaying a left-eye video and a right-eye video having binocular parallax at a predetermined display timing,
OSD superimposing means for superimposing and displaying the OSD on the stereoscopic video by overwriting the left-eye video and the right-eye video respectively with a pair of left and right OSD (On Screen Display) images having a predetermined parallax;
Selection means for selecting a region for performing predetermined image processing among the displayed stereoscopic video;
Parallax calculation means for calculating parallax of the selected area between the left-eye video and the right-eye video;
Parallax adjusting means for relatively shifting the left-eye video and the right-eye video so that the calculated parallax of the region matches the predetermined parallax;
A stereoscopic video processing apparatus comprising:   The parallax adjusting means is a range in which the parallax of the object with the smallest parallax among the stereoscopic video between the left-eye video and the right-eye video is not smaller than a preset lower limit parallax, and The parallax of the region calculated by the parallax calculation means approaches the predetermined parallax in a range where the parallax of the object having the largest parallax among the stereoscopic images does not become larger than a predetermined upper limit parallax. The stereoscopic video processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the left-eye video and the right-eye video are relatively shifted. Detecting means for detecting a region where the parallax is smaller than a preset lower-limit parallax or a region where the parallax is larger than a preset upper-limit parallax among the stereoscopic images adjusted by the parallax adjusting unit;
Masking means for overwriting the detected region of the left-eye video and the right-eye video with the pair of left and right mask OSD images having the predetermined parallax;
The stereoscopic image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:   The parallax adjustment unit has a preset lower-limit parallax among the stereoscopic images adjusted by the parallax adjustment unit when the parallax of the region calculated by the parallax calculation unit coincides with the predetermined parallax If there is a region with a smaller parallax or a region with a larger parallax than the preset upper-limit parallax, the dynamic range of the parallax of the stereoscopic image may fall between the lower-limit parallax and the upper-limit parallax. The stereoscopic video processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a compressing unit that compresses the video into a 3D image. A control method for a stereoscopic image processing apparatus for displaying a stereoscopic image by displaying a left-eye image and a right-eye image having binocular parallax at a predetermined display timing,
A step in which the OSD superimposing unit superimposes and displays the OSD on the stereoscopic video by overwriting the left-eye video and the right-eye video with a pair of left and right OSD (On Screen Display) images having a predetermined parallax. When,
A step of selecting a region for performing predetermined image processing from the displayed stereoscopic video;
A step of calculating a parallax of the selected region between the left-eye video and the right-eye video;
A step of relatively shifting the video for the left eye and the video for the right eye so that the parallax adjustment means matches the parallax of the calculated region with the predetermined parallax;
A control method for a stereoscopic video processing apparatus, comprising:   The program for functioning a computer as each means which the three-dimensional video processing apparatus of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4 has.

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