JPH09230286A - Parallax barrier stereoscopic display system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable an observer to view normal stereoscopic images in any postures by detecting the positions of both eyes of the observer and rotationally controlling barrier gratings in such a manner that the barrier gratings are held always perpendicular to a line connecting both eyes. SOLUTION: A display device 100 is composed of a display section 140, a parallax barrier section 130 and an image processing section. The barrier section 130 is made rotationally controllable by a dynamic mechanism and the method for controlling the rotation thereof is executed by subjecting the visual line direction vector of the observer 150 to image processing computation by an IR generator 110 disposed in the upper part of the display device 100 and an IR, camera 120. The direction of the parallax barrier is rotationally controlled in such a manner that this direction is held always perpendicular to the segment direction (visual line direction vector) of both eyes of the observer 150 at this point. The stripe direction of the displayed image and the parallax direction of both eyes are controlled in compliance therewith, by which the observer is enable to observe always the normal stereoscopic images in any postures.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for stereoscopically displaying an image by utilizing binocular parallax of an observer, and more particularly to a stereoscopic display system for forming binocular parallax by a parallax barrier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are many documents regarding a parallax barrier stereoscopic display system. For example, “3D Image Engineering” written by Takataka Ogoshi, first edition July 10, 1991, published by Asakura Shoten, page 11 gives a detailed explanation.

FIG. 2 is a citation from this reference.
The positions on the display surface where the right eye and the left eye can see through the parallax barrier are different. The left-eye image and the right-eye image are displayed at the different positions. At that time, the observer has a binocular parallax between the right eye and the left eye, and the image looks stereoscopic. FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the upper surface of the device and the observer, but the actual parallax barrier is a grid-shaped stripe pattern, and the displayed image is also a plurality of plane images alternately superposed in stripes. It is a thing.

[0004]

In the prior art, there is a problem that the position of the viewpoint of the observer who can perform normal stereoscopic vision is fixed. This is because the line segment that connects the right eye and the left eye is always perpendicular to the parallax barrier so that the right eye image and the left eye image can be seen in the correct positions through the parallax barrier. It must be located in.

However, the observer is also required to observe a three-dimensional image in a free form, and it is impossible for the conventional technique to see a three-dimensional image correctly even in a recumbent state.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new parallax barrier stereoscopic display system in which an observer can see a normal stereoscopic image in any form.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned problems have been solved in a parallax barrier stereoscopic display system in which a barrier grid is provided on the display side of an image display device, and the image display device displays a plurality of planar images in a striped manner. The problem can be solved by detecting the positions of both eyes of the observer and controlling the rotation of the barrier-shaped grating so that the barrier-shaped grating is always perpendicular to the line connecting the two eyes.

The display of the image display device can also be solved by using a striped display that is always parallel to the direction of the barrier lattice.

Further, the depth information of the image is arithmetically calculated from a plurality of images having binocular parallax, the depth information of the image is converted into the parallax in the vertical direction of the barrier lattice, and a striped display is performed. Can be solved by

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, 4, and 5.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view for realizing the parallax barrier stereoscopic display system of the present invention. Display device 100
Includes a display unit 140, a parallax barrier unit 130, and an image processing unit (not shown). The rotation of the parallax barrier unit 130 can be controlled by a dynamic mechanism. The method of controlling the rotation of the parallax barrier unit 130 is performed by an observer 150 using an infrared generator 110 and an infrared camera 120 provided on the display device 100.
The line-of-sight direction vector is calculated by image processing. There, the direction of the parallax barrier is rotationally controlled so that it is always perpendicular to the line segment direction (line-of-sight direction vector) of both eyes of the observer 150.

Next, a method of detecting the line-of-sight direction vector of the observer will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A shows the face part of the observer. When this is irradiated with infrared rays from the infrared generator 110, the reflected infrared rays are the strongest in the eyes of the observer. By capturing the infrared reflected light of the observer's face with the infrared camera 120 and adjusting the sensitivity level thereof, it is possible to extract only the binocular part as shown in FIG. 3B. By connecting the imaged line segments of both eyes, the line-of-sight direction vector 3
00 can be obtained.

Next, a display control method of the image display section 140 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4A, it is assumed that the parallax barrier is inclined by an angle θ from the line-of-sight direction vector. At that time, as shown in FIG. 4B, the image display unit 140 displays the stripe directions of the images of both eyes at an angle θ that is the same as the tilt of the parallax barrier. Here, if the image display unit 140 is simply rotated by an angle of θ, the image itself tilts. Therefore, only the direction of the stripe of the image is tilted without tilting the image. For that purpose, the following image processing of the display image and calculation calculation are required.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a method of image processing and calculation of the display image. 5 (a-1) and 5 (a-2) show the case where the line-of-sight direction vectors of both eyes are in the horizontal direction as shown in (a-3). At this time, the parallax of both eyes is (a
-1) and (a-2), it is displayed as a difference in horizontal display position. Now, when the line-of-sight vector has an inclination as shown in (b-3), the parallax of both eyes is set in the direction of this line-of-sight vector. Therefore, (b-
As shown in 1) and (b-2), the images of the left and right eyes are converted into images having an oblique parallax and displayed. In the processing of this image, the area of the image is detected and the depth amount is calculated, or the depth amount is calculated for each pixel, and converted into the parallax amount in the direction of the line-of-sight vector and displayed.

[0015]

According to the present invention, in the parallax barrier stereoscopic display system, the line-of-sight direction vector of the observer is detected, and the parallax barrier is rotationally controlled accordingly, and the stripe direction of the display image and the binocular parallax direction are also combined. By controlling the, it is possible to always observe a normal stereoscopic image regardless of the posture of the observer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a parallax barrier stereoscopic display system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of a conventional parallax barrier stereoscopic display system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a method of detecting a line-of-sight direction vector.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of direction control of image stripes.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of conversion of an image parallax direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 100 ... Display device, 110 ... Infrared generator, 120 ... Infrared camera, 130 ... Paralux barrier, 140 ... Display unit, 150 ... Observer.

(72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Kaneko 1-280, Higashi Koigokubo, Kokubunji, Tokyo, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor, Kimio Tateno 1-280, Higashi Koikeku, Kokubunji, Tokyo Hitachi Central Research Co., Ltd. In-house (72) Inventor Koda ▲ Taku ▼ 1-280, Higashi-Kengokubo, Kokubunji, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Central Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Ken Shimano 1-280, Higashi-Kengokubo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Central Research Center

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A position of both eyes of an observer in a parallax barrier stereoscopic display system in which a barrier grid is provided on the display side of the image display device, and the image display device displays a plurality of planar images by overlapping them in stripes. Is detected, and the barrier lattice is rotationally controlled so that the barrier lattice is always perpendicular to the line connecting the two eyes. 2. The parallax barrier stereoscopic display system according to claim 1, wherein the display of the image display device is a striped display which is always parallel to the direction of the barrier lattice. 3. The depth information of an image is arithmetically calculated from a plurality of images having binocular parallax, and the depth information of the image is converted into vertical parallax of the barrier lattice, The parallax barrier stereoscopic display system that displays the above stripes.