JP2975880B2 - 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 three-dimensional image display device equipped with a specular reflection type optical modulator, and more particularly to a three-dimensional image display device capable of displaying a high-luminance three-dimensional image, reducing the number of parts and simplifying the structure. The present invention relates to a three-dimensional image display device that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a stereoscopic image display device, as shown in FIG. 11, for example, light emitted from a light source 1 is made incident on a polarizing beam splitter 2 to be split into two lights of P-wave light and S-wave light. Then, the P-wave light passes through, for example, the liquid crystal panel 18 forming the image for the right eye and is incident on the projection lens 4,
Another liquid crystal panel for projecting from the projection lens 4 to the right-eye pixel R of the screen 5 and rotating the S-wave light to P-wave light by, for example, rotating the phase difference film 19 by 90 ° to form a left-eye image, for example 20 and is incident on the projection lens 21, from the projection lens 21 to the left-eye pixel L of the screen 5.
Is being projected.

When a lenticular lens 22, a parallax barrier, or the like is disposed before, after, or before or after the screen 5 on which images projected from the projection lenses 4 and 21 are connected, the lenticular lens 22, parallax, etc. The left-eye image and the right-eye image are separated by a barrier or the like, and the observer can view the stereoscopic image by viewing the corresponding images with the left and right eyes.

[0004] Further, the retardation film 19 is omitted,
A left-eye image composed of P-wave light and a right-eye image composed of S-wave light are formed on the screen 5, and an observer views the corresponding images with left and right eyes while wearing polarized glasses to view a stereoscopic image. Some have made it possible.

Recently, a large number of minute mirrors are arranged in a matrix on one plane, and by changing the direction of the mirrors, a mirror surface for turning on / off light reflected in a predetermined direction is provided. Reflective light modulators have been developed.

Further, the specular reflection type light modulator is irradiated with incident lights of two or more colors from different incident angles, and the tilt direction of a mirror constituting each pixel of the specular reflection type light modulator is controlled by time division. A projector device (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-209621) that reflects two or more colors of incident light in the same direction, thereby enabling color synthesis of each pixel, and three specular reflection type light modulators are used. A projector device in which a red image, a green image or a blue image formed by each specular reflection type optical modulator is synthesized by a prism and a color image is projected through a projection lens (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-36012).
Reference) has been proposed.

However, a stereoscopic image display device using the specular reflection type optical modulator has not been found so far.

[0008]

According to the above-mentioned stereoscopic image display apparatus using a liquid crystal panel, there is a problem that a large amount of light is lost in the liquid crystal panel and the screen looks dark. or,
Since two liquid crystal panels are used, two systems of image forming means including a liquid crystal panel and a means for controlling the liquid crystal panel are required, and the number of parts is large, and the configuration tends to be complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a three-dimensional image display device equipped with a specular reflection type optical modulator having small light loss.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stereoscopic image display device equipped with a first specular reflection type optical modulator, wherein the reflection angle of the reflection surface is three or more. A mirror-reflective optical modulator that includes a number of micromirror elements having states and is modulated in a time-division manner according to two or more systems of video data, and illumination light is incident on the specular-reflective optical modulator from a fixed direction. A light source, and two or more projection optical systems that project video data reflected at different angles from the specular reflection type light modulator to the illumination light onto a screen,
Two or more systems of video data projected on the screen via the two or more projection optical systems are combined on the screen to display a stereoscopic video.

The light source is reflected by, for example, a polarizing beam splitter and made incident on a specular reflection type optical modulator so as not to overlap with the projection optical system. Light incident on the specular reflection type optical modulator is reflected by each microscopic mirror element, and two or more projection optical systems are formed that transmit through the polarizing beam splitter at different angles corresponding to the tilt angles of each microscopic mirror element. .

The light transmitted through the polarizing beam splitter from the light source is provided with a polarizing beam splitter and a reflecting mirror facing the light source in a direction opposite to the light source of the polarizing beam splitter, and reflected by the reflecting mirror. The light is reflected on the light source side, is further reflected on the light source, and is emitted in the direction of the polarizing beam splitter, so that it can be reused.

Further, another specular reflection type optical modulator is disposed in the direction opposite to the light source of the polarization beam splitter, and the light transmitted through the polarization beam splitter from the light source is used. Are time-modulated in accordance with two or more systems of video data, and two or more projection optics irradiate the screen with video data reflected at different angles from the specular reflection type light modulator with respect to the illumination light. A system can be formed. In this case, since two specular reflection type optical modulators are used, the number of pixels is doubled, the density of video data projected on the screen is increased, and the resolution of video can be increased.

Further, the light from the light source is made incident on the first polarizing beam splitter, reflected in a direction perpendicular to the incident direction, and then made incident on the second polarizing beam splitter and the third polarizing beam splitter and transmitted therethrough. A first specular reflection type optical modulator corresponding to the reflected light, a second specular reflection type optical modulator corresponding to the light reflected by the second polarization beam splitter, and reflected by the third polarization beam splitter. And a third specular reflection type light modulator corresponding to the reflected light, whereby the density of video data projected on the screen can be further increased, and the resolution of the video can be further increased.

For the display of a stereoscopic image, the direction of polarization of the image projected on the screen via each projection optical system may be changed so that the observer can observe the stereoscopic image by wearing polarized glasses. Pixels of an image projected on a screen via a system may be alternately arranged on the left and right sides, and separated left and right using a lenticular lens or a parallax barrier so that a stereoscopic image can be observed without glasses.

In the stereoscopic image display apparatus using the second specular reflection type optical modulator according to the present invention, a large number of microscopic mirror elements having a stable state in which the reflection surface has two tilt angles correspond to two or more systems of image data. A specular reflection type optical modulator modulated by time division is used. In this case as well, the same incident illumination light may be applied in two directions according to two inclination angles from the specular reflection type optical modulator.
Although two projection optical systems are formed, these two projection optical systems are selectively turned on and off in order to prevent video data of the two projection optical systems from being superimposed.

This selective ON-0FF is realized, for example, by interposing an optical element having a shutter function in each projection optical system.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in the principle diagram of FIG. 1, a stereoscopic image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention has a light source 1 comprising a lamp and a reflector, and a light emitted from the light source 1 having a wavelength of λ /
4 The light is incident through the retardation film 2, a part of the light is transmitted, and the other part is 90 ° with respect to the incident direction.
A polarizing beam splitter 3 that reflects light in different directions, another λ / 4 retardation film 4 that transmits light reflected by the polarizing beam splitter 3, and a specular reflection on which light transmitted through the retardation film 4 is incident. Light modulator 5.

The three-dimensional image display device further comprises a reflecting mirror 6 for reflecting the light transmitted through the polarizing beam splitter 3, and the light reflected by the reflecting mirror 6 is transmitted again through the polarizing beam splitter 3, and the λ / The light enters the light source 1 through the four phase difference film 2 and is reflected again by the reflector of the light source so as to increase the light utilization rate.

The specular reflection type optical modulator 5 includes, for example, 67
As shown in FIG. 2, the micromirror element 7 is reflected by the polarization beam splitter 3 and has a number corresponding to 5 pixels × 576 lines.
A flat state in which the light i is incident at right angles to the light i, a first tilt state inclining from the flat state to the lower left in the figure, and a second tilt state inclining from the flat state to the lower right in the figure. Is controlled so as to be stable in the following three conditions.

The control means 8 for controlling the specular reflection type optical modulator 5 is arranged such that the specular reflection type optical modulator 5 performs time division in accordance with two image data of a right eye image and a left eye image. An A / D conversion circuit 81 for converting an analog video signal into a digital video signal as shown in FIG. 3, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a gamma correction circuit for performing gamma correction on the digital video signal 82, a frame memory 83 for storing the γ-corrected digital video signal, and data read from the frame memory 83 at the timing generated by the timing controller 84 based on the clock signal supplied from the clock circuit 84.
The state of the micromirror element 7 is controlled to one of the three states shown in FIG.

For example, the micro-mirror element 7 of the pixel for the left eye that forms the image for the left eye is in a flat state in which the reflection surface faces front when the image for the left eye is 0FF, and when the image for the left eye is turned on, the first mirror element is the first. The light enters an inclined state, and reflects the incident light in a first predetermined direction that is inclined counterclockwise from the incident optical axis. That is, when the image for the left eye is turned on, the microscopic mirror element 7 (L-0) of the pixel for the left eye corresponding to the white point of the image for the left eye
N) enters the first inclined state, and reflects the incident light in a first predetermined inclined direction, while the microscopic mirror element 7 (0FF) of the pixel for the left eye corresponding to the black point of the image for the left eye is turned on. By becoming flat and reflecting the incident light as invalid light in the incident direction, an image for the left eye emitted in the first predetermined direction is formed.

The right-eye pixel R is in a flat state when the right-eye image is turned off, and is in a second inclined state when the right-eye image is turned on. The light is reflected in a second predetermined direction that is inclined clockwise. That is, when the right-eye image is turned on, the microscopic mirror element 7 (RO) of the right-eye pixel corresponding to the white point of the right-eye image
N) is in the first tilt state, and reflects the incident light in the second predetermined tilt direction, while the micro-mirror element 7 (OFF) of the right-eye pixel corresponding to the black point of the right-eye image is turned off. By becoming flat and reflecting the incident light as invalid light in the incident direction, an image for the right eye emitted in the second predetermined direction is formed.

The light incident on the flat mirror element 7 (OFF) of the left-eye pixel and the light incident on the flat mirror element 7 (OFF) of the right-eye pixel are either the first or second. Since the light is reflected in a direction reverse to the incident direction different from the predetermined direction, there is no possibility that the data of the right-eye image and the data of the left-eye image are mixed to lower the resolution of the image.

When the specular reflection type optical modulator 5 is used, it is possible to form a left-eye image and a right-eye image at the same time, but the spatial stereoscopic resolution is increased by increasing the number of pixels of each image. In order to enhance the left eye and right eye split in half,
It is preferable to alternate the left-eye image and the right-eye image alternately, or to alternately form the left-eye image and the right-eye image with all the pixels, for example, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, +1 indicates the time when the left-eye image is formed, and -1 indicates the time when the right-eye image is formed.

The three-dimensional image display apparatus further includes the first
In order to project the left-eye image data emitted in the predetermined direction and the right-eye image data emitted in the second predetermined direction onto a screen, for example, a pair of right and left mirrors 9 is projected.
A projection optical system including L.9R and a pair of left and right projection lenses 10L and 10R is provided.
, A left-eye image and a right-eye image are respectively enlarged and projected on a screen, and the two images are combined on a screen (not shown) so that stereoscopic viewing is possible.

When one of the left-eye image and the right-eye image formed on the screen is formed by P-wave light and the other is formed by S-wave light, the observer wears polarized glasses. A stereoscopic image can be observed from the left-eye image and the right-eye image formed on the screen, and the pixels of the left-eye image and the right-eye image formed on the screen can be horizontally shifted. By arranging them alternately and providing a lenticular lens or a parallax barrier, a stereoscopic image can be observed without glasses from the left-eye image and the right-eye image formed on the screen.

What is important here is that a liquid crystal panel having a large light loss is not used in the optical system from the light source 1 to the projection lenses 10L and 10R, and a stereoscopic image is displayed using the liquid crystal panel. That is, an image with much higher brightness can be obtained as compared with the conventional example. Further, since only one specular reflection type optical modulator 5 is used, the number of components can be reduced as compared with the conventional example using two liquid crystal panels for forming an image, and the control means 8 can be used. Can be simplified.

In the above embodiment, each microscopic mirror element 7 of the specular reflection type optical modulator 2 is configured to be stable at three positions. In another embodiment of the present invention, for example, FIG. As shown in (1), each microscopic mirror element 7 of the specular reflection type optical modulator 2 is configured to be stable at two positions, that is, the first inclined state and the second inclined state in the previous example.

In this case, the light from the micro-mirror element 7 which becomes a black point and which is a white point of the right-eye image or left-eye image on the opposite side to the left-eye image or right-eye image micro-mirror element 7 Is reflected, and the image may be disturbed.

Therefore, in this case, as shown by broken lines in FIG. 1, shutters 11L and 11R are disposed immediately before the projection lenses 10L and 10R, and as shown in FIGS. By alternately turning on and off in synchronization with the driving of the modulation device 2, the left and right video data are prevented from being mixed.

In FIG. 8, +1 indicates the time when the left-eye image is formed, and -1 indicates the time when the right-eye image is formed. In FIG. 7, the time when the left-eye image L is formed when the specular reflection type optical modulator is “H” is “
L "indicates the time when the image for the right eye is formed,
SHUTTER L of the shutter 11 for the left eye image is "
It indicates that the shutter is closed when it becomes “H” and is opened when it becomes “L”, or shutter 1 for the right eye image.
1 indicates that SHUTTER R is closed when it becomes “H” and opened when it becomes “L”.

The other structure, operation and effect of this embodiment are the same as those of the above-described embodiment, and therefore, description thereof will be omitted to avoid duplication.

In another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
In the previous example, instead of the reflecting mirror 6, another λ / 4 retardation film 1 was used.
2 and a specular reflection type optical modulator 13 are arranged so that different image data can be superimposed on the two projection optical systems and output using the light transmitted through the polarization beam splitter 3. The driving of the two specular reflection type optical modulators 5 and 13 may be synchronized with each other or may be alternately driven in a time-division manner.

As described above, the two specular reflection type optical modulators 5.
If 13 is used, the number of pixels of the left-eye image and the right-eye image can be increased to make the image high definition, and the luminance of the image can be further increased.

The other structure, operation and effect of this embodiment are the same as those of the above-described embodiment, and therefore, description thereof will be omitted to avoid duplication.

In still another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 10, the light reflected by the polarizing beam splitter 3 is separated into three directions by a dichroic prism 15, and each of the separated lights is specular reflection type. Optical modulator 5
14 and 17 are opposed to each other. Each specular reflection type optical modulator 5
14 and 17 form an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye of the three primary colors of R, G or B, and output them to the two projection optical systems described above.

Incidentally, between the dichroic prism 15 and each of the specular reflection type optical modulators 5, 14, and 17, color filters corresponding to the λ / 4 retardation films 4, 13, and 16 are arranged.

As in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a λ / 4 phase film 2 is provided between the polarizing beam splitter 3 and the light source.
Are arranged, and a reflecting mirror 6 for reflecting the light transmitted through the polarizing beam splitter 3 is arranged to enhance the light use efficiency.

According to this embodiment, by driving each of the specular reflection type optical modulators 5, 14, 17 synchronously or in a time-division manner, the left-eye and right-eye color images are displayed on the screen. The stereoscopic color image can be viewed using polarized glasses or using a lenticular lens or a parallax barrier.

Other configurations, operations and effects of this embodiment are the same as those of the above-described embodiment, and therefore, description thereof will be omitted to avoid duplication.

[0043]

As described above, the present invention includes a large number of microscopic mirror elements having a stable state in which the reflection surface has three or more inclination angles, and is provided in a time-division manner according to two or more systems of video data. A specular reflection light modulator to be modulated; a light source that emits illumination light to the specular reflection light modulator from a certain direction; and the illumination light is reflected from the specular reflection light modulator at different angles. Two or more projection optical systems for irradiating the screen with video data to be projected, and combining two or more video data illuminated on the screen via the two or more projection optical systems on the screen to form a stereoscopic image. Because it is displayed
Compared to the conventional example in which a liquid crystal panel having a large light loss is interposed between the light source and the projection lens, the light loss is small and a high-luminance image can be observed.

Further, since the left-eye image and the right-eye image can be formed by using one specular reflection type optical modulator,
Compared to the conventional example in which a left-eye image and a right-eye image are formed using two liquid crystal panels, the number of parts can be reduced and the size can be reduced. The configuration can be simplified, including the control means for the control.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle diagram showing an operation of the specular reflection type optical modulator of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of a control circuit of the specular reflection type optical modulator of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a principle diagram showing an operation of another specular reflection type optical modulator of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a principle diagram showing an operation when displaying a left-eye image according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a principle diagram showing an operation at the time of displaying a right-eye image according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a control timing chart of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a control timing chart of one embodiment of the present invention and another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a principle view of still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a principle diagram of still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light source 3 Polarization beam splitter 5 Specular reflection type light modulator 9L, 9R Reflector 10L, 10R Projection lens

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A specular reflection type optical modulator comprising: a plurality of micromirror elements having a stable state in which a tilt angle of a reflection surface is three or more, and a time-divisionally modulated light modulator according to two or more systems of video data; A light source for inputting illumination light to the specular reflection light modulator from a fixed direction, and two or more light sources for irradiating the screen with image data reflected from the specular reflection light modulator at different angles with respect to the illumination light And a projection optical system of
A stereoscopic video display apparatus, wherein two or more video data illuminated on a screen via one or more projection optical systems are combined on a screen to display a stereoscopic video. 2. A mirror-reflection type optical modulator in which a large number of micro-mirror elements having two stable tilt angles of a reflection surface are modulated in a time-division manner according to two or more systems of video data, and the same incident illumination. There are provided two projection optical systems that are selectively turned on and off in response to two angles of inclination from the specular reflection type light modulator with respect to light, and are projected onto a screen via the two projection optical systems. A three-dimensional image display device, which combines three or more types of video data on a screen to display a three-dimensional image.