JPH05168046A - Stereoscopic video display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a bright stereoscopic image by using a polarized beam splitter as a means to synthesize a video beam for left eye and a video beam for right eye. CONSTITUTION:A video signal from a camera 1 for left eye and a video signal from a camera 2 for right eye are simultaneously outputted, and the video beams for left eye and right eye are formed by respectively driving transmissive liquid crystal panels 3 and 4. Then, an S wave polarizing component is extracted from the video beam for left eye by an S wave polarizing board 5, and the polarized beam splitter 7 is irradiated with this component to reflect the S wave polarizing component and to transmit a P wave polarizing component. On the other hand, the P wave polarizing component is extracted from the video beam for right eye by a P wave polarizing board 6, and the polarized beam splitter 7 is irradiated with this component. Then, the video beams are formed by synthesizing the S wave polarizing component and the P wave polarizing component on the polarized beam splitter 7 and projected on a screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image display device for stereoscopically displaying a desired image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a stereoscopic image display apparatus in which image light for the left eye and image light for the right eye are simultaneously displayed on different surfaces to obtain a stereoscopic image with polarizing glasses. In this conventional stereoscopic image display device, a first liquid crystal panel is driven by a video signal for the left eye, and a second liquid crystal panel is driven by a video signal for the right eye. As a result, the image light for the left eye is formed by the first liquid crystal panel, and the image light for the right eye is formed by the second liquid crystal panel. The image light for the left eye is polarized into an S wave by, for example, an S wave polarizing plate, and the half mirror is irradiated with the S wave. Also, the image light for the right eye is P
Is polarized into a P wave orthogonal to the S wave by the wave polarization plate,
The half mirror is irradiated.

The half mirror synthesizes the left-eye image light polarized into the S-wave and the right-eye image light polarized into the P-wave, and projects it on a screen. The image light synthesized by the half mirror projected on this screen has a viewing portion corresponding to the left eye that is polarized so as to transmit only the S wave, and a right eye that is polarized so as to transmit only the P wave. And a looking-up portion corresponding to, for example, looking through polarized glasses.

As a result, of the image projected on the screen, the image light for the left eye is recognized only by the left eye, and the image light for the right eye is recognized only by the right eye.
The image projected on the screen can be recognized three-dimensionally.

[0005]

However, since the conventional stereoscopic image display device uses the half mirror as means for combining the image light for the left eye and the image light for the right eye, the amount of light is about half. The image projected on the screen was dark.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a stereoscopic image display device capable of obtaining a bright stereoscopic image.

[0007]

A stereoscopic image display device according to the present invention includes a left-eye image light forming means for forming left-eye image light by a left-eye image signal and a right-eye image light forming means for a right-eye image signal. Right eye image light forming means for forming image light,
The first polarization unit that polarizes the left-eye image light from the left-eye image light forming unit to extract a first polarization component, and the right-eye image light from the right-eye image light forming unit are polarized, A second polarization means for extracting a second polarization component orthogonal to the first polarization component, a first polarization component from the first polarization means and a second polarization component from the second polarization means A polarization beam splitter that combines the components to form image light; a first viewing portion that has been subjected to polarization processing so that only the first polarization component of the image light from the polarization beam splitter is transmitted; The above-mentioned problem is solved by having a polarizing means provided with a second viewing portion that has been subjected to polarization processing so that only the second polarized component is transmitted.

[0008]

In the stereoscopic image display device according to the present invention, the left-eye image light forming means forms the left-eye image light by the left-eye image signal, and the right-eye image light forming means forms the right-eye image light by the right-eye image signal. Image light is formed, the first polarizing means polarizes the left-eye image light from the left-eye image light forming means to take out a first polarization component, and the second polarizing means forms the right-eye image light. The right-eye image light from the means is polarized to take out a second polarization component orthogonal to the first polarization component, and a polarization beam splitter is used to extract the first polarization component from the first polarization means and the first polarization component. By combining the second polarization component from the two polarization means to form the image light, bright image light can be projected on the screen.

Then, the video image light projected on the screen is subjected to polarization processing so that only the first polarization component of the video image light projected on the screen is transmitted. Section and a second viewing portion through which polarization processing is performed so that only the second polarization component is transmitted, thereby providing a bright stereoscopic image. You can

[0010]

Embodiments of the stereoscopic image display device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, as shown in FIG. 1, a stereoscopic image display device according to the present invention forms a left-eye camera 1 that forms a left-eye image signal, a right-eye camera 2 that forms a right-eye image signal, and a synchronization signal. The light source section 8 for the left eye, which includes a synchronization signal generating circuit 12 for supplying the same to the left eye camera 1 and the right eye camera 2 and a halogen lamp 8a and a reflector 8b to emit parallel light.
And a left-eye light source unit 10 including a halogen lamp 10a and a reflector 10b for emitting parallel light; A first transmissive liquid crystal panel 3 which is a left-eye image light forming means for forming image light for a right eye, and a parallel signal from the right-eye light source unit 10 driven by the right-eye image signal from the right-eye camera 1. A second transmissive liquid crystal panel 4, which is a right-eye image light forming means for forming right-eye image light from the light, and, for example, a first polarization component from the left-eye image light from the first transmissive liquid crystal panel 3. The S-wave deflecting plate 5 which is the first polarization means for extracting the S-wave component and the second eye which is orthogonal to the S-wave component from the right-eye image light from the second transmissive liquid crystal panel 4. The P wave component which is the polarization component The P-wave polarization plate 6 serving as the second polarization means, the S-wave polarization component irradiated through the S-wave polarization plate 5, and the P-wave polarization component irradiated through the P-wave polarization plate 6 It has a polarization beam splitter 7 which combines and forms image light.

In the stereoscopic image display device, the left-eye peep portion 9a and the P-wave which are polarized so that only the S-wave polarization component of the image light from the polarization beam splitter 7 is transmitted. The polarizing glasses 9 are polarizing means provided with a right-eye viewing portion 9b that has been subjected to polarization processing so that only the polarized component is transmitted.

The polarization beam splitter 7 is, for example, 2
A dielectric multilayer film 7c having polarization dependency is inserted between the right-angled prisms 7a and 7b made of glass, and reflects the S-wave component and transmits the P-wave component. It should be noted that the polarization beam splitter is usually used to separate the light incident from one incident surface into an S wave component and a P wave component, and emit the S wave component and the P wave component from different emission surfaces. However, in the case of the present embodiment, the polarization beam splitter 7 has an emission surface for emitting the S-wave component, which is the S-wave polarization plate 5.
Is an incident surface of the S wave component from which the P wave component is emitted, and an emission surface of the P wave component from the P wave polarizing plate 6 is an incident surface, and the surface on which the light is incident is the S wave component and the P wave component. Are installed so as to serve as an emission surface from which the image light formed by combining is emitted.

Next, the operation of the stereoscopic image display apparatus according to this embodiment having such a configuration will be described. First, referring to FIG. 1, when the projection of a desired image is started, the stereoscopic image display apparatus according to the present embodiment causes the halogen lamps 8a, 1
0a are each driven to be turned on, and collimated light is emitted from each of the left-eye light source unit 8 and the right-eye light source unit 10.

The parallel light is applied to the first transmissive liquid crystal panel 3 and the second transmissive liquid crystal panel 4, respectively.

On the other hand, when the projection of a desired image is started,
The sync signal generation circuit 12 supplies sync signals to the left-eye camera 1 and the right-eye camera 2, respectively. As a result, the video signal of the subject (the video signal for the left eye) captured by the left-eye camera 1 with the human left eye, and the right-eye camera 2
Simultaneously output the video signals of the subject (video signals for the right eye) captured by the human right eye.

The left-eye video signal from the left-eye camera 1 is sent to the first transmissive liquid crystal panel 3, and the right-eye video signal from the right-eye camera 2 is sent to the second transmissive liquid crystal panel. 4 respectively.

The first transmissive liquid crystal panel 3 is driven according to the left-eye video signal, and the second transmissive liquid crystal panel 4 is driven according to the right-eye video signal.
As a result, the parallel light from the left-eye light source unit 8 that passes through the first transmissive liquid crystal panel 3 is converted into left-eye image light, and the S-wave polarizing plate 5 is irradiated with the parallel light. Further, the parallel light from the right-eye light source unit 10 that passes through the second transmissive liquid crystal panel 4 is made into image light for the right eye, and is radiated to the P-wave polarization plate 6.

Although a so-called CRT (cathode ray tube) can be used as a means for forming the left-eye image light and the right-eye image light, the left-eye image light can be obtained by using a transmissive liquid crystal panel. Also, the combination system of the right-eye image light can be made small, and the stereoscopic image display device can be downsized. Therefore, it is possible to broaden the application such as enabling the use of the stereoscopic image display device not only in a large venue but also in a small venue or a home, and it is possible to contribute to the spread to general homes. it can.

The S-wave polarization plate 5 extracts the S-wave component from the image light for the left eye and irradiates the polarization beam splitter 7 with the S-wave component. Further, the P-wave polarization plate 6 extracts a P-wave component from the image light for the right eye and irradiates the P-wave component on the polarization beam splitter 7.

As described above, since the dielectric multilayer film 7c that reflects the S wave component and transmits the P wave component is inserted in the polarization beam splitter 7, the S wave emitted from the S wave polarization plate 5 is irradiated. The wave polarization component is the polarization beam splitter 7
The P-wave polarization component that is reflected by the P-wave polarization plate 6 and is emitted from the P-wave polarization plate 6 passes through the polarization beam splitter 7.

Therefore, the S-wave polarization component corresponding to the left-eye image light and the P-wave polarization component corresponding to the right-eye image light are combined and projected from the polarization beam splitter 7 onto a screen (not shown). It will be.

Since the polarization beam splitter 7 has a high reflectance of the S-wave component and a high transmittance of the P-wave component, the light amount of the image light projected on the screen is approximately doubled as compared with the half mirror. Can be the amount of light. Therefore, it is possible to illuminate the screen with bright image light.

As described above, the left-eye viewing portion 9a of the polarized glasses 9 is polarized so that only the S-wave component is transmitted, and the right-eye viewing portion 9b is transmitted only the P-wave component. Since such polarization processing is performed, of the image light projected on the screen, the S-wave polarization component corresponding to the image light for the left eye is transmitted to the left eye and the right eye via the left eye peep portion 9a. The P-wave polarization component corresponding to the image light for use is recognized by the right eye through the right-eye looking portion 9b. Therefore, the image projected on the screen can be recognized three-dimensionally.

As is apparent from the above description, the stereoscopic image display apparatus according to this embodiment simultaneously outputs the left-eye image signal from the left-eye camera 1 and the right-eye image signal from the right-eye camera 2. , Driving the first transmissive liquid crystal panel 3 with the video signal for the left eye to form video light for the left eye, and driving the second transmissive liquid crystal panel 4 with the video signal for the right eye for the right eye Image light is formed, and the S-wave polarization plate 5 is used to
The S-wave polarization component is extracted from the image light for the left eye formed by the transmissive liquid crystal panel 3 and is radiated to the polarization beam splitter 7 that reflects the S-wave polarization component and transmits the P-wave polarization component. The wave polarization plate 6 extracts the P-wave polarization component from the right-eye image light formed by the second transmissive liquid crystal panel 4 and irradiates the polarization beam splitter 7 with the polarization beam splitter 7. And P-wave polarization components are combined to form image light, and this image light is projected on a screen, so that a half mirror is used as a combining means of the S-wave polarization component and the P-wave polarization component. It is possible to project almost twice as much image light as the image light on the screen.

Further, since the transmissive liquid crystal panel is used as a means for forming the image light for the left eye and the image light for the right eye, the combination system of the image light for the left eye and the image light for the right eye can be made small. Therefore, the stereoscopic image display device can be downsized. Therefore, it is possible to broaden the application such as enabling the use of the stereoscopic image display device not only in a large venue but also in a small venue or a home, and it is possible to contribute to the spread to general homes. it can.

Then, the image light projected on the screen is subjected to a polarization process so that only the S-wave polarization component corresponding to the image light for the left eye is transmitted, and the image light for the right eye and the image light for the right eye. By using the polarized glasses 9 having the right-eye looking-in portion 9b that has been subjected to the polarization processing so that only the P-wave polarization component corresponding to the image is viewed, the image projected on the screen is stereoscopically displayed. Can be recognized. As described above, the image projected on the screen has a light amount that is approximately twice as large as that when a half mirror is used as a combining means for the image light for the left eye and the image light for the right eye. It is possible to provide a stereoscopic image with double the brightness.

In the description of the above embodiment, the image light formed by the polarization beam splitter 7 is projected on the screen, and the image projected on the screen is viewed using the polarizing glasses 9. However, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, this corresponds to the left-eye peep portion 20a and the right-eye image light that have been subjected to polarization processing so that only the S-wave polarization component corresponding to the left-eye image light is transmitted. A viewing window 20 having a right-eye viewing portion 20b that is polarized so that only the P-wave polarization component is transmitted is integrally formed with the stereoscopic image display device, and the S-wave polarization component and the P-wave polarization component are viewed. With the configuration in which the projection is performed on the window 20, a stereoscopic image can be obtained without using the polarizing glasses 9.

The first and second transmissive liquid crystal panels 3 and 4 are used, which is a so-called CRT.
Even if a (cathode ray tube) is used, the polarization beam splitter 7 has a high reflectance of the S-wave component and a high transmittance of the P-wave component as described above, so that a bright stereoscopic image can be obtained.

The left-eye video signal and the right-eye video signal are output from the cameras 1 and 2, which are synchronized with each other, such as an optical disk player or a video tape recorder. It goes without saying that anything is possible as long as it can output the left-eye video signal and the right-eye video signal.

[0030]

In the three-dimensional image display device according to the present invention, the left-eye image light forming means forms the left-eye image light by the left-eye image signal, and the right-eye image light forming means forms the right-eye image signal. Image light for the right eye is formed, the first polarizing means polarizes the image light for the left eye from the image light forming means for the left eye to take out a first polarization component, and the second polarizing means makes the right eye image. The right-eye image light from the light forming means is polarized to take out a second polarized light component orthogonal to the first polarized light component, and the polarization beam splitter converts the second polarized light component from the first polarized light component into the first polarized light component. The polarization beam splitter is used as a means for combining the first polarization component and the second polarization component by combining the second polarization component from the second polarization means to form image light. The bright image light on the screen It is possible to copy.

Then, the video image projected on the screen is subjected to polarization processing so as to transmit only the first polarized component of the video image projected on the screen. Section and a second viewing portion through which polarization processing is performed so that only the second polarization component is transmitted, thereby providing a bright stereoscopic image. You can

As an effect of the embodiment, when the first polarization component and the second polarization component from the first polarization means are combined, the polarization beam splitter is used to combine the first polarization component and the second polarization component. It is possible to provide a bright stereoscopic image approximately twice as bright as when the first polarization component and the second polarization component are combined using the half mirror. Further, by using the transmissive liquid crystal panels as the left-eye image light forming means and the right-eye image light forming means, it is possible to reduce the formation system of the image light projected on the screen into a small size, thereby reducing the size of the stereoscopic image display device. Can be planned.

Since the above-mentioned miniaturization can be achieved, it can be used not only in a large hall but also in a small hall or at home, and the application can be expanded. Can contribute to the spread.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a stereoscopic image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a peep window provided in the peep part when the three-dimensional image display device of the above embodiment is integrally formed with the peep part.

[Explanation of reference symbols] 1 ... left camera 2 ... right eye camera 3 ... first transmissive liquid crystal Panel 4: Second transmissive liquid crystal panel 5: S-wave polarization plate 6: P-wave polarization plate 7・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Polarizing beam splitter 7a, 7b ・ ・ ・ ・ Glass 7c ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Dielectric multilayer film 8 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ For left eye Light source part 8a ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Halogen lamp 8b ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Reflector 9 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Polarizing glasses 9a ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ For left eye Peep part 9b ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Right eye peep part 10 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Right eye light source part 10a ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Halogen lamp 10b ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・Reflector 12 ...・ ・ ・ Synchronous signal generation circuit 20 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Peeping window 20a ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Left eye looking portion 20b ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Right eye looking portion

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A left-eye image light forming means for forming left-eye image light by a left-eye image signal, and a right-eye image light forming means for forming a right-eye image light by a right-eye image signal, A first polarizing unit that polarizes the left-eye image light from the left-eye image light forming unit to extract a first polarization component; and a right-eye image light from the right-eye image light forming unit that is polarized to obtain the first polarization component. A second polarization means for extracting a second polarization component orthogonal to the first polarization component; a first polarization component from the first polarization means; and a second polarization means.
A polarization beam splitter that combines the second polarization components from the polarization means to form image light, and a polarization process that allows only the first polarization component of the image light from the polarization beam splitter to pass through. A stereoscopic image display device, comprising: a first viewing portion that is provided and a polarization means that is provided with a second viewing portion that has been subjected to polarization processing so that only the second polarized component is transmitted. ..