JPH07239952A - Method for displaying stereoscopic image and device for displaying stereoscopic image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the processing time by using a distant-view image in common for images displayed respectively to the left and right eyes and composing the image each close-range view image so as to reduce the calculation quantity for generating the image. CONSTITUTION:A display data classification section 120 classifies display data by a close-range view boundary curved face based on a parallax angle. A distant view image generating section 130 generates image from the classified display data based on a midpoint between, e.g. left and right visual points and stores the image in a distant view image frame buffer 131. Furthermore, a close-range view image generating section 140 generates respectively an image based on each position of the left and right visual points from the display data and stores the image in close-range left right eye image frame buffers 141, 142. Then, left and right eye image composition sections 150, 151 compose respectively the distant view image stored in the frame buffer 131 with the left and right eye images stored in the frame buffers 141, 142 and gives the composite image to left and right eye image output sections 160, 161, in which the left and right eye images are displayed respectively to the left and right eyes to generate a stereoscopic image.

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 method and a stereoscopic image display device for displaying a stereoscopic image by utilizing parallax of both eyes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the display of a stereoscopic image using the parallax of both eyes has been performed in the following procedure.

First, object configuration data such as geometrical information and color information about an object group arranged in a three-dimensional space (hereinafter,
Display data). Next, image processing such as coordinate conversion, clipping, and hidden surface removal is performed on the obtained display data, and an image to be displayed for one eye is generated. Then, by the same process, an image to be displayed for the other eye is generated. Each generated image is temporarily stored in a memory called a frame buffer.

Next, the pixel data of each image stored in the frame buffer is read in synchronization with the synchronization timing of an output device such as a CRT display, and the left-eye and right-eye images are read based on the read pixel data. Each video signal is generated. A stereoscopic image is presented by displaying an image based on each of the generated video signals to the left and right eyes.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional display of a stereoscopic image, an image is generated for all the obtained display data, and two images for the left eye and the right eye are independently generated. Was being generated. In this case, the amount of calculation in image generation is about twice the amount of calculation in the case of monocular display, and the process requires a lot of time. Therefore, there is a problem that the display speed of the stereoscopic image becomes slow.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a stereoscopic image display device in which the time required for the processing is shortened by reducing the calculation amount in image generation and the display speed of the stereoscopic image is improved.

[0007]

A stereoscopic image display device of the present invention is a stereoscopic image display device for generating and displaying a stereoscopic image from display data relating to an object group arranged in a virtual three-dimensional space built in a computer. , A classification unit that classifies the object group into a distant view and a near view, a distant view image generation unit that generates a distant view image from the display data of the objects classified into the distant view by the classification unit, and a near view by the classification unit. A near-view image generating unit that generates a near-view left-eye image and a near-view right-eye image from display data of an object, a distant-view image generated by the distant-view image generating unit, and a near-view left-eye image generated by the near-view image generating unit. A left-eye image synthesizing unit for synthesizing a left-eye image and a distant-view image generated by the distant-view image generating unit and a near-view right-eye image generated by the near-view image generating unit for the right-eye image. Generate an image And having a right-eye image synthesis unit.

In the above stereoscopic image display device, the classification unit is characterized by classifying the object group into a distant view and a near view based on the parallax angle, with a predetermined parallax angle obtained from a predetermined viewpoint position as a reference.

Further, the classification unit is characterized by classifying the object group into a distant view and a near view based on the parallax angle at the representative point provided for each object.

Further, the classification unit is characterized in that the object is divided into a polyhedron shape and the object group is classified into a distant view and a near view based on a parallax angle at a representative point provided for each surface of the polyhedron. .

The stereoscopic image display method of the present invention is a stereoscopic image display method for generating and displaying a stereoscopic image from display data relating to an object group arranged in a virtual three-dimensional space constructed inside a computer, wherein each of the object groups is A first step of classifying into a distant view and a near view, a second step of generating a distant view image from display data of an object classified into the distant view in the first step, and a near view in the first step. A third step of generating a near-view left-eye image and a near-view right-eye image from display data of the object, a distant view image generated in the second step, and a near-view left-eye image generated in the third step. A fourth step of synthesizing to generate a left-eye image, a distant view image generated in the second step, and a near-view right-eye image generated in the third step are synthesized to generate a right-eye image. And a fifth step.

In the stereoscopic image display method, the first
The step (2) is characterized by classifying the object group into a distant view and a near view based on a predetermined parallax angle obtained from a predetermined viewpoint position.

The first step is characterized in that the object is classified into a distant view and a near view according to a parallax angle at a representative point provided for each object.

Further, the first step is characterized in that the object is divided into a polyhedron shape and classified into a distant view and a near view according to a parallax angle at a representative point provided for each surface of the polyhedron. .

[0015]

In the stereoscopic image display method and stereoscopic image display device of the present invention configured as described above, the display data is classified into a distant view and a near view. From the display data classified into the distant view, one distant view image common to the left and right eyes is generated,
From the display data classified into the close view, two independent close view images are generated for each of the left and right eyes.

Conventionally, the distant view and the near view are not classified,
While all the display data are handled separately for the left and right eyes, in the present invention, the images displayed for the left and right eyes are the near-view images and the near-view images using the distant view image in common. Since they are combined, the amount of calculation related to image generation in display data classified as distant view is reduced to half that of the conventional one.
Processing time is reduced.

In the object group arranged in the three-dimensional space, the parallax angle of each object is smaller in the distant view and larger in the near view. In the stereoscopic image display device of the present invention, the display data of each object is classified into a near view with a large parallax and a distant view with a small parallax with reference to a predetermined parallax angle, so that the distant view and the near view can be easily classified. it can.

If the distant view / near view of the display data is classified based on the parallax angle at the representative point provided for each object, the distant view / near view is classified for each object. The generated stereoscopic image becomes a good one according to each object.

Further, if the object is divided into polyhedrons and the distant view / near view is classified based on the parallax angle at the representative point provided for each surface of the divided polyhedron, the distant view / near view is classified. Is performed for each surface of each object, so it is possible to avoid problems that may occur when the representative point of the object belongs to the near view and a part of the display data of the object belongs to the distant view, and The stereoscopic image will be better.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a stereoscopic image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of display data obtained from objects arranged in a three-dimensional space.

The stereoscopic image display device of this embodiment classifies the display data obtained from the objects arranged in the three-dimensional space into the distant view and the near view, and the display data classified into the distant view is common to the left and right eyes. To generate one distant view image, generate two independent close view images for the left and right eyes from the display data classified into the close view, and use the above distant view image in common to synthesize each close view image. Is for displaying a stereoscopic image. The structure is as follows.

The stereoscopic image display device includes a classification part for classifying display data into a distant view and a near view and generating a distant view / near view image, and a storage part for storing the generated distant view / near view image.
The stereoscopic image is composed and displayed from the stored distant view and near view images. Hereinafter, the configuration of the stereoscopic image display device will be described in detail for each of these parts.

The classification portion is composed of a display data storage unit 110, a display data classification unit 120, a distant view image generation unit 130 and a near view image generation unit 140. As shown in FIG. 2, the display data storage unit 110, for each object, sets the coordinates of the apex row that forms each object in the displayed three-dimensional object (all vertices that make up the object are arranged in a predetermined order). Are grouped into and stored as display data, and the coordinates of points representing the object are set for each object. The display data classification unit 120 classifies the display data stored in the display data storage unit 110 into a distant view and a near view. The distant view image generation unit 130 generates a distant view image from the display data classified by the display data classification unit 120, and the near view image generation unit 140 calculates the near view for the right eye and the left eye from the display data classified by the display data classification unit 120. Generate an image.

The storage portion is composed of a distant view image frame buffer 131, a near view left eye image frame buffer 141, and a near view right eye image frame buffer 142. The distant view image frame buffer 131 stores the distant view image generated by the distant view image generation unit 130. The near-view left-eye image frame buffer 141 and the near-view right-eye image frame buffer 142 store the left-eye and right-eye near-view images generated by the near-view image generation unit 140, respectively.

The combining portion is composed of a left-eye image combining unit 150, a right-eye image combining unit 151, a left-eye image output unit 160, and a right-eye image output unit 161. The left-eye image combining unit 150 combines the left-eye image from the display data stored in the distant view image frame buffer 131 and the near view left-eye image frame buffer 141. The right-eye image synthesizing unit 151 synthesizes an image for the right eye from each display data stored in the distant view image frame buffer 131 and the near-view right eye image frame buffer 142. The left-eye image output unit 160 and the right-eye image output unit 161 display the images combined by the left-eye image combining unit 150 and the right-eye image combining unit 151 for the left and right eyes, respectively.

Next, the operation of the above-described stereoscopic image display device will be described.

Generally, in the case of stereoscopic parallax, the parallax angle is small when the object is a distant view, and the parallax angle is large when the object is a near view. In the stereoscopic image display device according to the present embodiment, a distant view and a near view are classified by setting a disparity angle smaller than a predetermined size as a distant view and a disparity angle larger than a predetermined size as a close view.
That is, the object is classified into the distant view and the near view according to the size of the angle formed by the line-of-sight directions of the left and right eyes when gazing at a certain object. The classification of the distant view and the near view will be specifically described below.

When the display data is classified into a distant view and a near view,
First, the display data classification unit 120 sets the distant view / near view boundary surface. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a distant view / near view boundary curved surface in the stereoscopic image display device of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, a point P on a certain target object and both viewpoints of each image pickup device (a right eye viewpoint 310 and a left eye viewpoint 32).
The angle formed by the line connecting with (0) is defined as a circumferential angle 330. A straight line passing through the respective points of the right-eye viewpoint 310 and the left-eye viewpoint 320 is defined as the rotation axis 350, and the midpoint of both viewpoints on the rotation axis 350 is defined as the viewpoint midpoint 315. The interval between the right eye viewpoint 310 and the left eye viewpoint 320 is always constant.

Similar to the parallax angle described above, the angle of the circumferential angle 330 is a small angle when the object is a distant view, and is a large angle when the object is a near view. As shown in FIG. 3, the angle of the circumference angle 330 is the threshold value a which is the boundary between the distant view and the near view.
, The display data is classified into distant view and near view.
The foreground boundary curved surface is a curved surface formed when a circle 340 passing through the right eye viewpoint 310, the left eye viewpoint 320, and the point P is rotated about the rotation axis 350.

In the display data classification unit 120, the distant view /
The display data is classified based on the near view boundary curved surface. At this time, the display data is classified for each object. That is, when the coordinates of the representative point (for example, one vertex or the center of gravity of the object) set for each object are on the far side from the distant view / near view boundary curved surface as viewed from the viewpoint side,
When it is on the front side, it is classified as a near view. When the representative point is classified into the distant view or the near view, the display data of the object is also classified into the distant view or the near view according to the classification of the representative point.

When the display data is classified into the distant view and the near view for each object as described above, the display data classification unit 120
Displays the display data classified into the distant view as the distant view image generation unit 130.
To the near view image generation unit 131.

The distant view image generation unit 130 generates an image based on the position of one point from the transmitted display data, for example, the viewpoint midpoint 315 which is the midpoint between the right eye viewpoint 310 and the left eye viewpoint 320, and the distant view. It is stored in the image frame buffer 131. The foreground image generation unit 140 respectively generates an image based on the position of the left-eye viewpoint 320 and an image based on the position of the right-eye viewpoint 310 from the transmitted display data, and outputs these images to the near-view left-eye image frame buffer. 141 and the near-view right-eye image frame buffer 142, respectively.

When the distant view image, the near view left-eye image and the near view right-eye image are stored in each frame buffer as described above, the left-eye image synthesizing section 150 causes the distant view image frame buffer 131 and the near-view left-eye image. Frame buffer 141
Generate the image for the left eye by combining the two images stored in
It is sent to the image output unit 160 for the left eye. Similarly, the right-eye image synthesis unit 151 uses the distant view image frame buffer 131.
And the two images stored in the near-view right-eye image frame buffer 142 are combined to generate a right-eye image, which is sent to the right-eye image output unit 161.

The left-eye image output unit 160 and the right-eye image output unit 161 display the left-eye image and the right-eye image respectively sent to the left and right eyes. As a result, a stereoscopic image is displayed.

In the embodiment described above, the distant view / near view is classified based on the distant view / near view boundary curved surface shown in FIG. 3, but the distant view is defined by defining a predetermined plane as the distant view / near view classification boundary. -It is also possible to classify the close view. Hereinafter, the classification of the distant view / near view by the distant view / near view boundary plane will be described.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a distant view / near view boundary plane in the stereoscopic image display device of the present invention.

The distant / near view boundary plane 430 shown in FIG.
Is a boundary plane for classifying the distant view / near view of the display data, like the distant view / near view boundary curved surface 360 of FIG.
This distant view / near view boundary plane 430 sets the right-eye viewpoint 410 and the left-eye viewpoint 420 as in the case of FIG. 3, and changes from the viewpoint midpoint 415, which is the midpoint of both viewpoints, to a predetermined point of the target image. It is a plane orthogonal to a straight line extending toward the straight line at a predetermined distance l from the midpoint 415 of the viewpoint.

In the above case, the display data is classified such that the representative point of each object is the above-mentioned distant view / near view boundary plane 4 when viewed from the viewpoint side.
It is classified according to whether it is on the front side or the back side of 30. The display data classified into the distant view / near view is sequentially processed as in the case of the distant view / near view boundary curved surface, and as a result, a stereoscopic image is presented to the left and right eyes. As described above, the classification of the display data by the distant view / near view boundary plane is simpler than that of the distant view / near view boundary curved surface.

In the embodiment described above, the display data is first classified about the representative points of each object, and the display data is classified according to the classification result of the representative points. The display data may be classified by dividing and dividing the distant view and the near view by providing a representative point for each plane of the polyhedron.

[0042]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, two images for the left eye and the right eye are generated assuming that the images generated from the display data classified into the distant view are common to the left and right, so that the distant view is generated. It is possible to reduce the amount of calculation related to image generation in the display data classified into, and shorten the processing time. Therefore, there is an effect that the speed of displaying a stereoscopic image can be increased.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the display data of each object is classified into a near view with a large parallax and a distant view with a small parallax, based on a predetermined parallax angle.
In addition to the above effects, there is an effect that the distant view and the near view can be easily classified.

According to the third aspect, in the distant view,
Since the close view is classified for each object, in addition to the above effects, there is an effect that a good stereoscopic image corresponding to each object can be displayed.

In the fourth aspect, the object is divided into polyhedrons, and the distant view and the near view are classified based on the parallax angle at the representative point provided for each surface of the divided polyhedron. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a better stereoscopic image.

In the fifth to eighth aspects, each of them has the respective effects described above.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of display data of an object placed in a virtual three-dimensional space constructed inside a computer.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a distant view / near view boundary curved surface in the stereoscopic image display device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a distant view / near view boundary plane in the stereoscopic image display device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

110 Display Data Storage Unit 120 Display Data Classification Unit 130 Far-View Image Generation Unit 131 Far-View Image Frame Buffer 140 Near-View Image Generation Unit 141 Near-View Left-eye Image Frame Buffer 142 Near-view Right-eye Image Frame Buffer 150 Left-eye Image Synthesis Unit 151 Image combining unit for right eye 160 Image output unit for left eye 161 Image output unit for right eye 310, 320 View point position 315 Midpoint position of both viewpoints 330 Parallax angle from both viewpoints 340 Circumference from both viewpoints 310, 320 A circle whose angle is a degree 350 A straight line passing through both viewpoints 310 and 320 360 A distant view / near view boundary surface 410, 420 A viewpoint position 415 A midpoint position between both viewpoints 430 A distant view / near view boundary plane

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A stereoscopic image display device for generating and displaying a stereoscopic image from display data relating to an object arranged in a virtual three-dimensional space constructed inside a computer, wherein the object group is classified into a distant view and a near view, respectively. Section, a distant view image generation section that generates a distant view image from display data of objects classified into the distant view in the classification section, and a near view left-eye image and a near view right eye from display data of objects classified into the near view in the classification section A near-view image generation unit that generates an image, a left-eye image that generates a left-eye image by combining the distant-view image generated by the distant-view image generation unit and the near-view left-eye image generated by the near-view image generation unit A synthesizing unit; and a right-eye image synthesizing unit that synthesizes the distant view image generated by the distant view image generation unit and the near-view right-eye image generated by the near-view image generation unit to generate a right-eye image. Characterized by Three-dimensional image display apparatus. 2. The stereoscopic image display device according to claim 1, wherein the classifying unit classifies the object group into a distant view and a near view based on the parallax angle with a predetermined parallax angle obtained from a predetermined viewpoint position as a reference. A stereoscopic image display device characterized by the above. 3. The stereoscopic image display device according to claim 2, wherein the classification unit classifies the object group into a distant view and a near view based on a parallax angle at a representative point provided for each object. Stereoscopic image display device. 4. The stereoscopic image display device according to claim 2, wherein the classification unit divides the object into a polyhedron shape, and the object group is distantly viewed based on a parallax angle at a representative point provided for each surface of the polyhedron. A stereoscopic image display device characterized by being classified into a close view and a close view. 5. A stereoscopic image display method for generating and displaying a stereoscopic image from display data relating to an object group arranged in a virtual three-dimensional space constructed inside a computer, wherein the object group is classified into a distant view and a near view, respectively. A first step, a second step of generating a distant view image from display data of an object classified as a distant view in the first step, and a near view from display data of an object classified as a close view in the first step A third step of generating a left-eye image and a near-view right-eye image; a distant view image generated in the second step and the near-view left-eye image generated in the third step are combined to form a left-eye image. A fourth step of generating, and a fifth step of synthesizing the distant view image generated in the second step and the near-view right-eye image generated in the third step to generate a right-eye image. A stereoscopic image display method characterized by the above. 6. The stereoscopic image display method according to claim 5, wherein in the first step, a predetermined parallax angle obtained from a predetermined viewpoint position is used as a reference, and the object group is divided into a distant view and a near view according to the parallax angle. A stereoscopic image display method characterized by classification. 7. The stereoscopic image display method according to claim 6, wherein the first step is to classify into a distant view and a near view according to a parallax angle at a representative point provided for each object. Image display method. 8. The stereoscopic image display method according to claim 6, wherein in the first step, the object is divided into polyhedrons, and a distant view is obtained according to a parallax angle at a representative point provided for each surface of the polyhedron. A stereoscopic image display method characterized by being classified into a close view.