JPH0434543A - Stereoscopic video producing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To produce a stereoscopic video by rotating plural light emitting means which form display surfaces axially and radially at specific intervals around a specific axis, storing plural image data generated by matching the display surfaces at intervals of a specific angle of rotation, and emitting light according to image data which are called in order. CONSTITUTION:A rotary screen 3 is constituted in the double structure of a display panel 15 where light emitting elements are arranged in matrix and a circuit part 16 provided on its reverse side. The circuit part 16 is equipped with a data storage device 17 stored with stereoscopic image data, a display driving circuit 18 which turns on or off the individual light emitting elements constituting the display panel 15 according to the image data, a display signal generator 19, and a microcomputer 20 which makes a communication with an external computer 24 through a communication circuit 23. Then while the rotary screen 3 is rotated, the individual light emitting elements which constitute the display panel 15 are turned on or off according to the image data. Consequently, the stereoscoipic video based upon the after-image effect of the human eyes can be produced in the rotational track of the rotary screen 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image generation device that generates stereoscopic (three-dimensional) images, and in particular, is capable of generating a complete three-dimensional image in space. .

[Conventional technology]

As a conventional technique for generating stereoscopic images, for example, rPIXEL published by Image Processing Information Center.

February 1988 issue (No. 65), 124-134
A wide variety of types are known, as described on page 1.

In many of these conventional techniques, an effect similar to that of a three-dimensional image is obtained by viewing a two-dimensional image projected on a two-dimensional screen using special glasses or the like.

Typical methods include viewing red and blue color-coded images while wearing glasses made of red and blue filters, and using a projector with polarized lenses and glasses made of polarized filters. etc.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, with such technology, the viewer has to wear special glasses, and the method that uses red and blue color coding makes it difficult to display color, and the method that uses polarizing filters makes it difficult for the viewer to see the face even slightly. If you tilt it, the 3D effect disappears, making it unsuitable for long-term observation.

Note that technology to generate 3D images without using special glasses has been proposed (see the above document), but it is not practical or does not provide sufficient effects (only very simple line drawings can be drawn, color images cannot be used). It has the disadvantage that it cannot be generated, etc.).

Therefore, the present invention was made by focusing on the unresolved problems in the conventional technology as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional image generation device that does not require the use of special glasses or the like and is sufficiently practical. With the goal.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the three-dimensional image generation device according to the invention as claimed in claim (1) includes a plurality of light emitting means forming a display surface extending at predetermined intervals in the axial and radial directions around a predetermined axis. , a rotation driving means for rotating these light emitting means with the axis as a rotation axis, an image data storage means for storing a plurality of sets of image data created in accordance with the display surface at each predetermined rotation angle, and this image data storage. The apparatus further includes a light emission control means for sequentially recalling a plurality of sets of image data stored in the means and causing the light emitting means to emit light based on the recalled image data.

Further, the invention as claimed in claim (2) is the invention as stated in claim (1) above, in which at least one of the rotational speed of the light emitting means and the control period of the light emission control means is made variable.

[Effect]

In the invention described in claim (1), when the rotation drive means rotates the plurality of light emitting means, the plurality of light emitting means form a display surface extending at predetermined intervals in the axial and radial directions around the axis. Therefore, the trajectory of the light emitting means forms a three-dimensional space.

Then, the light emission control means sequentially calls out a plurality of sets of image data stored in the image data storage means, and causes the plurality of light emitting means to emit light based on the called out image data.

Then, since the plurality of sets of image data stored in the image data storage means are created in accordance with the display surface for each predetermined rotation angle, these sets are sequentially recalled and based on the recalled image data. When the plurality of light emitting means constituting the display surface emit light, a three-dimensional image is generated in the three-dimensional space due to the afterimage effect of the human eye.

Furthermore, if the light emitting control means makes one round of the plurality of sets of image data stored in the image data storage means during one rotation of the plurality of light emitting means (that is, the display surface),
A stereoscopic image in a stationary state is generated in the three-dimensional space, and if a shift occurs between them, a rotating three-dimensional image is generated in the three-dimensional space.

Therefore, as in the invention described in claim (2), if either the rotational speed of the light emitting means or the control period of the light emitting control means is variable, by changing it appropriately, the light emitting device can be kept stationary. A 3D image of the state or a 3D image of the rotating state is generated.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

First, to explain the configuration, as shown in Figure 1, the stereoscopic image generation device 1 includes a housing 2, a rotating screen 3 rotatably installed in the housing 2, and a rotating screen 3 that is driven to rotate. It has a rotation drive device 4.

The upper part of the housing 2 that covers the rotating screen 3 is a transparent wall 2A made of, for example, hard glass.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotating screen 3 has a rectangular thin plate shape that stands upright in a horizontally long state, and its longitudinal centerline and the central axis of the disk 5 are aligned. They are fixed to the upper surface of the disc 5 so as to match.

Further, on the lower surface of the disc 5, a plurality of rollers 5a are disposed on a ring-shaped track surface 2a installed in the housing 2.
is provided, and a rotating shaft 6 that coincides with the central axis of the disc 5 is provided in a protruding manner.

The rotating shaft 6 is rotatably supported by a bearing 7 provided on a mounting base 2b inside the housing 2, and receives the rotational force of a boo IJ 8a integrally provided in the rotational direction at its tip and an electric motor 9. A pulley 8b, which is integrally provided in the rotational direction with the output shaft 10a of the transmission 10 to which the power is transmitted, is connected to the output shaft 10a of the transmission 10 via an endless belt 11 so that the power can be transmitted.

Note that the transmission 10 is provided with a speed adjustment knob 10b that adjusts its gear ratio.

Here, in this embodiment, the pulleys 8a, 8b, the electric motor 9. Transmission 10. The endless belt 11 constitutes a rotation drive device 4 as rotation drive means.

Furthermore, inside the housing 2, there is a main body 12a installed below the rotating shaft 6, a light transmitter/receiver 12b provided on the upper surface of the main body 12a, and a light transmitter/receiver 12b installed on the rotary shaft 6 opposite to the light transmitter/receiver 12b. An optical communication device 12 consisting of a light transmitter/receiver 12c provided on the tip surface is provided, and this optical communication device 12
Data communication between circuits inside and outside the rotating screen 3 is possible via the rotary screen 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, which is a partially enlarged view of the side surface of the rotating screen 3, the rotating screen 3 has a display panel 15 as a display surface on which light emitting elements such as LEDs (light emitting diodes) are arranged in a matrix. It has a double structure with a circuit section 16 provided on the back side of the circuit section 15.

As shown in FIG. 4, the circuit unit 16 includes a data storage device f17 as an image data storage means for storing the 3D image data generated by the 3D image generation device 1;
A display drive circuit 18 turns on or off the individual light emitting elements constituting the display panel 15 based on the image data stored in the data storage device 17, and a display clock signal φ of a predetermined frequency is supplied to the data storage device 17. a display signal generator 19 for creating or changing image data in the data storage device 17 according to a program stored in the replaceable memory 2I, and a communication circuit 22. It includes an optical communication device 12 and a microcomputer 20 that can communicate with an external computer 24 via a communication circuit 23 provided outside the rotating screen 3.

As shown in FIG. 5, the data storage device 17 includes a storage section 17A made up of a RAM or the like, and a switch 17B made up of a multiplexer or the like.

Here, this three-dimensional image generation device 1 includes a rotating screen 3
This is a device that generates a three-dimensional image within the rotation locus of the rotating screen 3 by the afterimage effect of the human eye by turning on or off the individual light emitting elements constituting the display panel 15 based on image data while rotating the screen. .

Therefore, the storage section 17A of the data storage device 17 that stores image data has a memory structure that corresponds to the rotation locus of the display panel 15.

In reality, a memory structure including a plurality of frame memories 17a of the same format as the matrix format of the light emitting elements constituting the display panel 15 is used.

For example, in addition to providing 256 light emitting elements in the display panel 15 in the horizontal direction and 128 in the height direction, the display panel 15
When the rotation locus of is divided into 2048 parts in the circumferential direction, the total storage capacity of the storage unit 17A is 256X128X204B=6
This is 7108864 bits (approximately 67 megabits).

Then, in synchronization with the display clock signal φ supplied from the display signal generator 19, the switch 17B transfers the frame memory 17a of the storage section 17A to the display drive circuit 18 one by one in the order of the rotation angle of the display panel 15. Connect to.

Specifically, as shown in FIG.
A switch 17b and a display drive circuit lea are provided for each switch 17b, and each switch 17b is connected to a display signal generator 19.
In synchronization with the display clock signal φ supplied from the light emitting element 15a, among the bit information in each frame memory 17a,
If the frame memory 17a is constructed in the order of the rotation angles of the display panel 15 (in the order of the rotation angles), the address information corresponding to the position in the display panel 15 is stored in the frame memory 17a.
The bits are supplied to the display drive circuit 18a one by one in the order of numbers 0-N of a.

Returning to FIG. 1, a slip ring 26 for power supply is provided between the installation base 2b and the flange portion 6a that rotates together with the rotating shaft 6.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the power supplied from the DC power supply 27 installed in the housing 2 is supplied to the circuit section 16 of the rotating screen 3 via the slip ring 16, and is then supplied to the circuit section 16 of the rotating screen 3 through the slip ring 16. After electrical stabilization,
It is supplied to the storage battery 29 and the voltage adjustment circuit 30.

Then, the voltage adjustment circuit 30 adjusts the voltage of the supplied power for the light emitting element 15a and each circuit in the circuit section 16, and then supplies it to the light emitting element 158 and the like. Further, the voltage adjustment circuit 30 is also connected to a storage battery 29 so that the necessary power can be secured even if a momentary contact failure or the like occurs in the slimp ring 26.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The rotational force generated by the electric motor 9 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 6 via the transmission 10° pulley 8b, the endless bell 1-11, and the pulley 8a, and the disc 5 and the rotating shaft 6 are integrated in the rotational direction. The rotating screen 3 rotates, and the rotation locus of the rotating screen 3 forms a cylindrical three-dimensional space, as shown in FIG.

In the circuit section 16 of the rotating screen 3, the image data stored in each frame memory 17a in the data storage device 17 is sequentially called out by the switch 17B in synchronization with the display clock signal φ. Based on the image data in the frame memory 17a, the display drive circuit 18 turns on or off the light emitting elements 15a of the display panel 15.

Then, if the frequency of the display clock signal φ is an integral multiple of the number of rotations of the rotating screen 3, and if the frame memory 17a of the storage unit 17A makes one round while the rotating screen 3 rotates once, the human eye can Due to the afterimage effect of
A static stereoscopic image is generated in the three-dimensional space, and by operating the speed adjustment knob 10b of the transmission 10 to change the rotation speed of the rotating screen 3, or by changing the frequency of the display clock signal φ. If a difference is given between the rotation period of the rotating screen 3 and the period required for the frame memory 17a to complete one round, a stereoscopic image rotated around the rotation axis is generated in the three-dimensional space.

Note that the image data stored in the data storage device 17 is
Assuming that a solid body to be generated as an image is placed in the cylindrical three-dimensional space shown in Fig. 2, the lines or surfaces of the solid body,
Find the intersection with the display panel 15 at every predetermined rotation angle (every 360/2048 degrees if the circumferential direction is divided into 2048 as described above), and set bit information in the frame memory 17a to which the intersection corresponds to a logical value, for example. It is sufficient to set the bit information to 1, and construct the other bit information as the logical value "0".

Furthermore, the image data stored in the data storage device 17 is
The microcomputer 20 is created and modified according to the information stored in the replaceable memory 21, and the method for doing so is to convert the information stored in the replaceable memory 21 into LINE, BOX, etc.

The microcomputer 20 performs predetermined arithmetic processing according to the macro code format such as BOWL to create/change image data in the data storage device 17, and the exchangeable memory 21 stores bit information related to the solid. The microcomputer 20 creates image data 17 in the data storage device according to the bit information.
One possible method is to change it.

The former has the advantage that the storage capacity of the replaceable memory 21 is small and can therefore store a large amount of information at a time; This has the advantage that the time required to create and change image data within the device 17 is shortened.

Note that the replaceable memory 21 may be a card RAM, a card ROM, a bubble memory, a laser card, etc., but any of them can be replaced while the rotation of the rotating screen 3 is stopped.

Here, in the above embodiment, the light emitting element 15a corresponds to the light emitting means, the display panel 15 corresponds to the display surface, and the switch 17
B. The display drive circuit 18 and the display signal generator 19 correspond to light emission control means.

Since the 3D image generated by the 3D image generation device 1 of this embodiment is drawn in an actual three-dimensional space, visual disharmony caused by parallax and differences in focal length occurs as in conventional 3D viewing. It can be viewed from any direction, and there is no need for special glasses, so it does not cause any trouble to the viewer.

In addition, the 3D image generation device 1 described above can generate any 3D image, so it is suitable as an entertainment facility, and the large 3D image generation device 1 can be used as a background set for plays, etc. It can also be used for other purposes such as
It can also be applied to analysis devices for various phenomena in engineering and medicine, models of structures, 3D radar, etc.

Furthermore, if the 3D image generation device 1 is used in place of a large exhibit such as a house or a car, by operating the external computer 24 and sending commands to the microcomputer 20, it is possible to instantly create an exhibit with changed colors, etc. By operating the speed adjustment knob 10b of the transmission 10 so that the 3D image is depicted in a slowly rotating state, it will attract the attention of viewers and make the exhibit even more effective. Demonstrated.

Furthermore, in order to draw a moving image, if the data stored in the data storage device 17 is changed at predetermined intervals, a three-dimensional moving image can be created.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, images are generated by blinking light-emitting elements such as LEDs, so monochromatic images are generated. If color information is also stored in the storage device 17, color stereoscopic images can also be generated.

According to experiments conducted by the present inventors, the display panel 15 is constructed by arranging 256 conventional LEDs in the horizontal direction and 128 in the height direction, and includes 2048 frame memories 17a, and a rotating screen. It has been confirmed that a sufficiently practical 3D image can be generated by rotating the rotating screen 3 8 times per second.
The thickness of the film can be set to about 1 to 2 cm, so
There will be no large blind spots in the three-dimensional space and no parts of the three-dimensional image will be cut off.

Note that if the display panel 15 is provided on both sides of the rotating screen 3, a clearer three-dimensional image can be drawn, and the shape of the display panel 15 is not limited to the above embodiment. As shown in Figure (a), it may be a polygonal type with a plurality of planes combined, or as shown in Figure 8 (b).
), the curved surface type changes from the highest position to the lowest position in a 1/2 turn, and the curved surface type changes from the highest position to the lowest position in a 1/4 turn, as shown in Figure 8 (C). In short, any surface that spans predetermined intervals in the axial and radial directions (that is, a surface whose locus of rotation forms a three-dimensional space) is sufficient.

Further, in the above embodiment, communication between the inside and outside of the rotating screen 3 is performed via the optical communication device 12, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, a communication device using radio waves, magnetic fields, etc. may also be used. Alternatively, communication may be performed via a slip ring. Similarly, the power supply is not limited to the type using the slip ring 26 as in the above embodiment, but may be other types.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to generate a complete stereoscopic image in real space, so there is no visual disharmony caused by parallax or difference in focal length as in conventional stereoscopic viewing. , it can be viewed from any direction, does not require special glasses, etc., and does not cause trouble to the viewer (furthermore, it has the effect that color images and moving images can be easily generated).

Furthermore, since the invention described in claim (2) can draw images in a stationary state and images in a rotated state, it attracts the attention of viewers and further improves the effect when applied to exhibits, etc. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway front view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the rotating screen, Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the rotating screen, and Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration. , FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a data storage device and its surroundings, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the relationship between the light emitting element and the storage section, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the power supply section. , FIGS. 8(a) to 8(C) are diagrams showing other examples of the display panel.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of light emitting means forming display surfaces extending at predetermined intervals in the axial and radial directions around a predetermined axis, a rotation drive means for rotating these light emitting means with the axis as a rotation axis, and a predetermined rotation Image data storage means for storing a plurality of sets of image data created in accordance with the display surface for each corner, and sequentially calling the plurality of sets of image data stored in the image data storage means and the called image data. A three-dimensional image generation device comprising: a light emission control means for causing the light emission means to emit light based on the following. (2) The three-dimensional image generating device according to claim (1), wherein at least one of the rotational speed of the light emitting means and the control period of the light emitting control means is variable.