JP5839808B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for projecting a plurality of images side by side from a plurality of projectors.

  Conventionally, a multi-projection display that forms a single video by arranging or stacking a plurality of partial videos projected by a plurality of projectors in a tile shape is known. In particular, when projecting in a tiled manner, it is common to partially overlap image areas projected from each projector in order to make the boundary generated on the screen inconspicuous. In this overlapping region (hereinafter referred to as a superimposing region), since the luminance is usually higher than that in a region other than the superimposing region and problems such as blurring due to geometric distortion occur, the overlapping region Various techniques for improving the image quality have been proposed.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for compensating for the luminance characteristic of a projector that the luminance of the peripheral portion is lower than that of the central portion by overlapping the images of the two projectors while being shifted from each other, and uniformizing the overall luminance. ing.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technology for supplying video data to each projector so that the number of overlapping images in the overlapping region is at most smaller than the number of projectors in order to obtain a high-quality image that is inconspicuous due to position errors. It is disclosed.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for cutting out video data supplied to a projector for each partial video area that each projector is responsible for.

JP-A-6-217241 JP 2001-238152 A JP 2005-6574 A

  However, when performing color correction, image gain correction, black level correction, gamma correction, and the like of a video projected by each of a plurality of projectors by a conventional method, complicated processing is required for the video data. Further, each projector has individual differences in environmental adaptation characteristics such as ambient temperature, and individual differences with time. Therefore, there is a problem that a discontinuous boundary, that is, a pseudo contour, is visually recognized particularly in an overlapping area boundary in an image composed of a plurality of projectors.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to reduce the influence of pseudo contours that can be formed on a screen.

The information processing apparatus of the present invention, a first image projected from the first projector, and setting means for setting a superimposition region is a region which overlaps with the second image to be projected from the second projector, the in the overlapping region, for the first direction of line the second image is aligned to the image, a predetermined number from the higher contrast between the first image data pixel corresponding to the first image detection means for detecting a plurality of positions, among a plurality of positions detected by said detecting means, for said second image are aligned direction of the line with respect to the first image, of the second image selection means for selecting a position closest to the area not overlapped with the first image, and determining means for the position selected by the selecting means, for determining as the boundary of the effective display area in the first image data From the boundary determined by the determination means, and having a mask means for masking the area on the said second image are aligned direction first image.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the influence of a pseudo contour that can be formed on a screen.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the projector in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows roughly the structure of the tiling projection system by a multi projector. It is a figure which shows the effective image | video area | region of the video frame handled with a projector. It is a figure for demonstrating evaluation of the contrast between pixels of a horizontal direction. It is a figure which shows the structure of the table used in the case of evaluation of the contrast between pixels in the scanning line of a horizontal direction. It is a figure which shows the structure of the table used in the case of evaluation of the contrast between pixels in the scanning line of a perpendicular direction. It is a figure for demonstrating the image | video projected with a multi projector. It is a figure which shows the structure of the tiling projection system by the multi projector which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments to which the invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  First, a tiling projection system using a multi-projector will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a tiling projection system using a multi-projector.

  FIG. 2A shows a state in which a single image 205 is projected on the screen using two projectors 200 and 201. Here, an overlapping area is defined as an overlapping area 202 in the projection range of the two projectors 200 and 201, and an overlapping display area 203 is an area that is actually displayed overlappingly with the two projectors. Reference numeral 204 denotes an overlap display area boundary. In the example of FIG. 2, the boundary between an area projected by two projectors and an area projected by one projector is shown. The overlapping display area 203 is defined as an area included in the overlapping area 202. In general, the overlap display area 203 coincides with the overlap area 202, but in the present embodiment, the overlap display area 203 can be positioned differently from the overlap area 202. FIG. 2B shows images actually projected by the projectors 200 and 201. A portion indicated by oblique lines is a region where an image is projected with respect to the projectable region 206 of the projector, and a boundary thereof becomes an overlapping display region boundary 204 on the screen. The area other than the hatched line in the projectable area 206 of the projector that does not project an image is the image non-display area of each projector, and is generally realized by the projector projecting a black image. Note that the projectors 200 and 201 have configurations that are application examples of the first projector and the second projector, respectively.

  Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a projector 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The projector 100 inputs video data from the outside with the video input unit 101. The input video data is subjected to video processing by the video processing unit 102, partially masked by the video masking unit 103, and then projected through the video output unit 104. In the present embodiment, the video processing performed by the video processing unit 102 is arbitrary, but for example, processing such as color conversion and geometric deformation is performed. Further, color processing called edge blend processing may be performed on the overlapping display area 203. The projector 100 has a configuration as an application example of the information processing apparatus.

  The superimposing area setting unit 106 sets the superimposing area 202 displayed so as to overlap with video data projected from another projector during operation as a multi-projector. That is, the overlapping area setting unit 106 sets the coordinates of the overlapping area 202 on the screen, and outputs the overlapping area coordinate information 109 indicating the coordinates to the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105.

Here, an example of setting the coordinates of the overlapping area in the overlapping area setting unit 106 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows an effective video area of a video frame handled by the projector 100, which is indicated by a coordinate system from (0, 0) to (Xmax, Ymax). In FIG. 3, a hatched portion is an image area projected from only the projector 100, and a boundary indicated by a dotted line in FIG. The boundary of the overlapping area 202 is specified by horizontal and vertical coordinates, respectively. That is, the overlapping area setting unit 106 sets the following four coordinates.
Xbnd_L: left end horizontal overlap region boundary 301
Xbnd_R: right end horizontal overlap region boundary 302
Ybnd_U: Upper end vertical overlap region boundary 303
Ybnd_B: bottom vertical overlap region boundary 304

  When the overlapping area 202 exists, at least one of horizontal and vertical coordinates is set as the boundary of the overlapping area 202. When the overlapping area 202 exists on the left side of the video frame like the projector 201 on the right side in FIG. 2, the horizontal coordinate of the boundary of the overlapping area 202 is set to Xbnd_L. In addition, as in the case of the projector 200 on the left side of FIG. 2, when there is no overlapping area on the left side of the video frame, 0, which is the coordinate of the left end in the horizontal direction of the video frame, is set for Xbnd_L.

  When the overlapping area 202 exists on the right side of the video frame as in the projector 200 on the left side of FIG. 2, the horizontal coordinate of the boundary of the overlapping area 202 is set to Xbnd_R. Further, as in the case of the projector 201 on the right side of FIG. 2, when there is no overlapping region on the right side, Xmax, which is the coordinate of the right end in the horizontal direction of the video frame, is set for Xbnd_R.

  When the overlapping area 202 exists above the video frame, the vertical coordinate of the boundary of the overlapping area 202 is set to Ybnd_U. When the boundary of the overlapping area 202 does not exist on the upper side of the video frame, 0 that is the coordinate of the upper end in the vertical direction of the video frame is set for Ybnd_U.

  When the overlapping area 202 exists below the video frame, the vertical coordinate of the boundary of the overlapping area 202 is set to Ybnd_B. When the boundary of the overlapping region 202 does not exist below the video frame, Ymax, which is the coordinate of the lower end in the vertical direction of the video frame, is set for Ybnd_B. By setting the above four coordinates, the coordinates of the overlapping region 202 can be determined in an arbitrary multi-projector configuration.

  The inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 inputs video data and superimposition area coordinate information 109. The inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 extracts the overlapping area set by the overlapping area coordinate information 109 from the video data. Next, the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 evaluates the contrast between the pixels in the horizontal direction (inter-pixel contrast) and the contrast between the pixels in the vertical direction within the extracted overlapping region. Next, the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 detects, as the high-contrast coordinate information 111, the coordinate at which the horizontal inter-pixel contrast is maximized and the second largest coordinate. Further, the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 detects, as the high-contrast coordinate information 111, the coordinate at which the vertical inter-pixel contrast is the maximum and the second largest coordinate. In this embodiment, two coordinates are detected as the high-contrast coordinate information 111 in each of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, but an arbitrary number of coordinates from the one having the higher inter-pixel contrast as the high-contrast coordinate information 111. It may be detected. The inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 outputs the high contrast coordinate information 111 to the projection area determination unit 108.

  The inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 performs the evaluation of the inter-pixel contrast in the horizontal and vertical directions for regions other than the shaded region in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the evaluation of contrast between pixels in the horizontal direction. The inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 performs the scanning from the left end 0 to the coordinate specified by Xbnd_L and the coordinate specified by Xbnd_R to Xmax for each horizontal scanning line to be evaluated in the input video data. Evaluate between. That is, the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 scans the above-described section, and calculates a difference between pixel values of the pixel 401 and the pixel 402 scanned immediately before as an evaluation value for all scanned pixels. The method for calculating the difference between the pixel values is arbitrary. For example, a method of taking the sum of the absolute values of the differences between the RGB pixel values can be considered. In this way, the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 calculates the difference between the pixel values for each pixel for each scanning line within the range of the overlapping region, and secondly the coordinate of the maximum evaluation value for each scanning line. The coordinates of the large evaluation value are stored in a table.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a table used in evaluating the inter-pixel contrast in the horizontal scanning line. In FIG. 5, “Line Y0”, “Line Y1”,..., “Line Ymax” indicate horizontal scanning lines. “Contrast large 1” and “Contrast large 2” in “superimposition area left” and “superimposition area right” are the maximum evaluation value and the second largest evaluation value in the left superimposition area and right superimposition area, respectively. Indicates. That is, FIG. 5 shows a table holding the coordinates of the maximum evaluation value and the coordinates of the second largest evaluation value in each scanning line for each of the left overlapping area and the right overlapping area.

  Although the method for evaluating the contrast between pixels in the horizontal scanning line has been described above, the evaluation of the contrast between pixels in the scanning line in the vertical direction can be performed by the same method. In other words, the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 105 performs the operation from the upper end 0 to the coordinates specified by Ybnd_U with respect to the vertical scanning lines of the upper overlapping area and the lower overlapping area in the input video data. The inter-pixel contrast may be evaluated between the coordinates designated by Ybnd_B and the lower end Ymax.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a table used when evaluating the contrast between pixels in the scanning line in the vertical direction. In FIG. 6, “Line X0”, “Line X1”,..., “Line Xmax” indicate each scanning line in the vertical direction. “High Contrast 1” and “High Contrast 2” in the “overlapping area” and “under the overlapping area” are the highest evaluation value and the second largest evaluation value in the upper overlapping area and the lower overlapping area. It shows. That is, FIG. 6 shows a table that holds the coordinates of the maximum evaluation value and the coordinates of the second largest evaluation value in each scanning line for each of the upper overlapping area and the lower overlapping area. .

  Also, in the case of flat video data such as SolidColor, or gradation video data that changes with a fixed value for each pixel, such as Ramp image data, the evaluation values of the inter-pixel contrast in the superimposed region are all uniform. . In such a case, it is assumed that the end point of the overlapping area is held. Also, the immediately preceding frame value may be used instead of the end point.

  The projection position information setting unit 107 sets the position where the superimposed region 202 exists based on which position on the screen the image projected by the projector 100 is projected. In the example of FIG. 2, it is set as the projection position information 110 that the overlapping area 202 exists on the right side for the projector 200 arranged on the left side of FIG. Further, the projector 201 is set as the projection position information 110 that the overlapping area 202 exists on the left side. The projection position information setting unit 107 outputs the set projection position information 110 to the projection area determination unit 108. Based on the projection position information 110, the projection area determination unit 110 includes “superimposition area left”, “superimposition area right”, “superimposition area upper”, and “superimposition area lower” in the tables shown in FIGS. Determine which is valid. For example, when it is set in the projection position information 110 that the overlapping region 202 exists on the right side, the projection region determining unit 110 determines that “superimposing region right” is valid.

  The projection area determination unit 108 receives the high contrast coordinate information 111 and the projection position information 110 and determines the projection area. That is, the projection area determination unit 108 determines where the superimposed area 202 exists in the video based on the projection position information 110. This determination is performed by determining which one of “superimposed area left”, “superimposed area right”, “over superimposed area”, and “under superimposed area” is valid in the tables shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. It is synonymous. The projection area determination unit 108 displays the high-contrast coordinate information 111 corresponding to what is determined to be valid from among the “superimposition area left”, “superimposition area right”, “superimposition area top”, and “superimposition area bottom”. 6 is obtained from the table shown in FIG.

  In the case of the projector 200 on the left side in FIG. 2, the projection position information setting unit 107 sets that the overlapping area 202 exists on the right side of the video. Accordingly, it is set in the projection position information 110 that the overlapping region exists on the right side of the video. Therefore, the projection area determination unit 108 acquires the high contrast coordinate information 111 managed by “superimposition area right” in the table shown in FIG. 5, and the rightmost high contrast coordinate information 111 for each horizontal scanning line. Is determined as the overlap display area boundary 204. In this embodiment, since only two high contrast coordinate information 111 is held for each horizontal scanning line, the right high contrast coordinate information 111 of the two high contrast coordinate information 111 is used as the overlapping display region boundary 204. It is determined. However, when three or more pieces of high contrast coordinate information 111 are held, the rightmost high contrast coordinate information 111 among them is determined as the overlapping display region boundary 204.

  The projection area determination unit 108 outputs the determined overlapping display area boundary 204 as the effective display area information 112 to the video mask unit 103. In the case of the projector 201 on the right side of FIG. 2, the projection position information setting unit 107 sets that the overlapping region 202 exists on the left side of the video. Accordingly, it is set in the projection position information 110 that the overlapping region exists on the left side of the video. Therefore, the projection area determination unit 108 acquires the high contrast coordinate information 111 managed in the “superimposition area left” in the table shown in FIG. 5, and the leftmost high contrast coordinate information 111 for each horizontal scanning line. The overlapping display area boundary 204 is determined. The projection area determination unit 108 outputs the determined overlapping display area boundary 204 as the effective display area information 112 to the video mask unit 103.

  The video mask unit 103 masks the video data (changes the video data to black) for the area outside the effective display area based on the input effective display area information 112 and outputs it to the video output unit 104. To do.

  Next, an image projected in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7A shows an image to be displayed by a multi-projector. FIG. 7B shows that the image shown in FIG. 7A is being obtained by superimposing and displaying the images from the plurality of projectors 200 and 201 constituting the multi-projector. FIG. 7C shows an image projected by the left projector 200, and FIG. 7D shows an image projected by the right projector 201. The hatched area in FIGS. 7C and 7D is an area where the video data is masked (an area where the video data is changed to black).

  The left projector 200 evaluates the inter-pixel contrast in the overlap region, and selects the right coordinate from the coordinates having a large difference in inter-pixel contrast on the basis of the projection position information 110, so that FIG. The image shown is obtained. On the other hand, the right projector 201 evaluates the inter-pixel contrast in the superimposition region, and selects the left coordinate out of the coordinates having a large difference in inter-pixel contrast based on the projection position information 110, thereby FIG. ) Is obtained. In this way, by performing the same pixel contrast evaluation and coordinate selection between the projectors 200 and 201 based on the projection position information 110, it is possible to easily perform overlapping display without mutual communication between the projectors 200 and 201. Video display including the area 203 is possible. Note that the video shown in FIG. 7C is an application example of the first image, and the video data corresponding to the video shown in FIG. 7C is an application example of the first image data. Further, the video shown in FIG. 7D is a second image, and the video data corresponding to the video shown in FIG. 7D is an application example of the second image data.

  So far, the case where the images are displayed side by side in the horizontal direction (left and right) has been described, but the same applies to the case where the images are displayed side by side in the vertical direction (up and down). In the case of the projector 100 in which the superimposed region 202 exists on the upper side of the video, the projection region determination unit 108 overlaps the uppermost high-contrast coordinate information 111 among the high-contrast coordinate information 111 of each vertical scanning line. 204 is determined. On the other hand, in the case of the projector 100 in which the superimposed region 202 exists on the lower side of the image, the projection region determination unit 108 selects the lowermost high-contrast coordinate information 111 among the high-contrast coordinate information 111 of each vertical scanning line. Is determined as the overlap display boundary 204. When a plurality of overlapping areas 202 are overlapped by four projectors, the projection area determining unit 108 determines the horizontal direction and the vertical direction independently, and determines the overlapping display boundary 204 based on the AND condition.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to suppress the influence of the occurrence of the pseudo contour by setting the effective display area boundary displayed by the projector to coordinates having a large contrast in the overlapping area.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a tiling projection system using a multi-projector according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, the projector 100 determines the effective display area boundary for the video data input to the projector 100. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, the video output device 800 divides and supplies video data to a plurality of projectors 807 to generate video data including the overlapping region 202 and the video output device 800 displays the effective data. An area boundary is determined and notified to the projector 807. Note that the flow of video processing in the projector 807 is the same as that in the first embodiment. That is, the video data input by the video input unit 101 is subjected to video processing by the video processing unit 102, partially masked by the video mask unit 103, and then projected through the video output unit 104. At this time, the video masking unit 103 in the present embodiment masks video data for an area outside the effective display area based on the effective display area boundary notified from the video output device 800.

  Hereinafter, the video output device 800 in the present embodiment will be described. The video output device 800 inputs video data to be displayed through the video input unit 801. The video data input to the video input unit 801 is output to the video dividing unit 802 and the inter-pixel contrast detection unit 805. Superimposition region setting unit 806 sets superimposition region coordinate information based on the arrangement state of the plurality of projectors 807. The video dividing unit 802 generates video data including a superimposing area to be supplied to each projector 807 based on the superimposing area coordinate information set by the superimposing area setting unit 806. The generated video data is output to each projector 807 via the video output unit 803.

  The inter-pixel contrast detection unit 805 detects the coordinates of a pixel having a large inter-pixel contrast in the superposition region 202 based on the superposition region coordinate information, and outputs the coordinate information to the projection region determination unit 804 as high contrast coordinate information. To do. The projection area determination unit 804 determines an effective display area boundary based on the high-contrast coordinate information and information (projection position information and the like) regarding the projector 807 to be output, and outputs the boundary to the projector 807 together with the video data.

  Each projector 807 can realize video display similar to that of the first embodiment by masking video data based on the effective display area boundary. In the present embodiment, the case where an image is projected by two projectors has been described, but the number of projectors is not limited. In other words, the video output device 800 divides the video data according to the number of projectors, so that it is possible to cope with any number of projectors.

  In the embodiment described above, the overlapping display area boundary 204 is determined at coordinates where the inter-pixel contrast difference of the video data in the overlapping area 202 is high, and the video data is masked based on the overlapping display area boundary 204. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the influence of the pseudo contour that can be formed on the screen, and to provide a multi-projection system that suppresses the influence of the image quality deterioration of the superimposed region 202 caused by the tiling projection for the image viewer. it can.

  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, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

  100: projector, 101: video input unit, 102: video processing unit, 103: video mask unit, 104: video output unit, 105: inter-pixel contrast detection unit, 106: superposition region setting unit, 107: projection position information setting unit 108: Projection area determination unit 109: Superimposition area coordinate information 110: Projection position information 111: High contrast coordinate information 112: Effective display area information

Claims (9)

Setting means for setting a superimposition region, which is a region where the first image projected from the first projector is superimposed on the second image projected from the second projector;
In the overlapping region, for the first said relative image of the second image are aligned direction of the line, a predetermined number from the higher contrast between the first image data pixel corresponding to the first image Detecting means for detecting a plurality of positions ;
Of the plurality of positions detected by the detecting means, the line in the direction in which the second image is aligned with the first image is the most in the region of the second image that does not overlap the first image. A selection means for selecting a close position ;
Determining means for determining a position selected by the selecting means as a boundary of an effective display area in the first image data;
An information processing apparatus comprising: masking means for masking an area on the first image in a direction in which the second images are arranged from the boundary determined by the determining means.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects a contrast between at least one of pixels in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction in a region corresponding to the overlapping region. Generating the first image data corresponding to the first image projected from the first projector and the second image data corresponding to the second image projected from the second projector; Generating means for
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising output means for outputting the first image data to the first projector and outputting the second image data to the second projector. Information processing apparatus according to. An information processing method executed by an information processing apparatus,
A setting step of setting a superimposition region, which is a region where the first image projected from the first projector is superimposed on the second image projected from the second projector;
In the overlapping region, for the first said relative image of the second image are aligned direction of the line, a predetermined number from the higher contrast between the first image data pixel corresponding to the first image A detecting step for detecting a plurality of positions ;
Of the plurality of positions detected in the detection step, the line in the direction in which the second image is aligned with the first image is the most in the region of the second image that does not overlap the first image. A selection step to select a close position ;
A determination step of determining the position selected in the selection step as a boundary of an effective display area in the first image data;
And a masking step of masking a region on the first image in the direction in which the second images are arranged from the boundary determined in the determining step.   5. The information processing method according to claim 4, wherein the detecting step detects a contrast between at least one of pixels in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction in a region corresponding to the overlapping region. Generating the first image data corresponding to the first image projected from the first projector and the second image data corresponding to the second image projected from the second projector; Generating step to
5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising an output step of outputting the first image data to the first projector and outputting the second image data to the second projector. Information processing method described in 1. A setting step of setting a superimposition region, which is a region where the first image projected from the first projector is superimposed on the second image projected from the second projector;
In the overlapping region, for the first said relative image of the second image are aligned direction of the line, a predetermined number from the higher contrast between the first image data pixel corresponding to the first image A detecting step for detecting a plurality of positions ;
Of the plurality of positions detected in the detection step, the line in the direction in which the second image is aligned with the first image is the most in the region of the second image that does not overlap the first image. A selection step to select a close position ;
A determination step of determining the position selected in the selection step as a boundary of an effective display area in the first image data;
A program for causing a computer to execute a masking step of masking an area on the first image in a direction in which the second images are arranged from the boundary determined in the determining step.   The program according to claim 7, wherein in the detection step, the computer is caused to execute a process of detecting a contrast between at least one pixel in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction in an area corresponding to the overlapping area. Generating the first image data corresponding to the first image projected from the first projector and the second image data corresponding to the second image projected from the second projector; Generating step to
8. The computer for causing the computer to execute an output step of outputting the first image data to the first projector and outputting the second image data to the second projector. The program described in.

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