JPH099294A - Stereoscopic image information comprising system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To remarkably reduce the quantity of information to express a stereoscopic image by regulating only the position information of a picture element corresponding to a main screen in the subscreen of the stereoscopic image formed with two right and left screens. CONSTITUTION: The stereoscopic image of a stereoscopic object is formed with the main screen 11 and the subscreen 12. The picture element in an oblique line part 1F that is a part corresponding to the main screen 11 in the subscreen 12 includes only distance information. Also, the picture element of the part of the subscreen 12 not corresponding to the main screen 11 i.e., an occluded part is included in a part 1J represented in oblique grid line in the subscreen 12 as subscreen occlusion image information as it is.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of constructing stereoscopic image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A stereoscopic image is usually composed of two left and right screens having parallax equivalent to the left and right eyes. Generally, an image requires a large amount of information even if it is a normal two-dimensional image,
In the case of a stereoscopic image, twice the image information corresponding to the left and right screens is further required, and the increase in the amount of this information is a major obstacle to the spread of the stereoscopic image. Already the conventional general 2
As for three-dimensional image information, measures such as image compression technology have been made to reduce the amount of information, but in order to realize the spread of stereoscopic images in the future as well, it will be an important issue to reduce the amount of information. .

[0003]

The present invention provides a stereoscopic image information structure that realizes a reduction in the amount of information regarding such a stereoscopic image that requires a huge amount of information, and at the same time, provides a stereoscopic distance information generation method used for this. To provide.

[0004]

According to the present invention, first, in the sub-screen, for pixels having correspondence with the main screen, the distance data at the position of each pixel is included, and the correspondence with the main screen is provided. For non-pixels, a sub-screen composed of a smaller amount of image information than the main screen was realized by the stereoscopic image information structure including sub-screen occlusion image data at the pixel position.

Further, according to the present invention, in the main screen, for a pixel corresponding to the sub-screen, the sub-screen pixel including the distance data at the position of the pixel in addition to the image information is not included. Is configured separately or by forming stereoscopic image information including sub-screen occlusion pixel information at a pixel position indicating a change point of distance information of pixels on the main screen, so that the main image including stereoscopic image information having a smaller image information amount than the stereoscopic two-screen image is formed. Realized the screen.

Further, according to the present invention, in both left and right screens for displaying a stereoscopic image, the screen position is shifted by a parallax corresponding to a certain distance on one screen, and a size corresponding to the viewing angle position in that case. We have realized a 3D distance information generation method that generates the pixel corresponding to the distance and the distance information by correcting the height and comparing it with the other screen.

[0007]

In general, the left and right screens forming a stereoscopic image are basically similar to each other and are displaced from each other by the parallax of the positions of the left and right eyes. In this stereoscopic image, for pixels having correspondence on both left and right screens, if the position on the screen and the distance for one pixel are defined, the position of the pixel on the other screen is uniquely defined. Therefore,
When one of the left and right screens (for example, the left screen) is the main screen and the other (for example, the right screen) is the sub-screen, the pixel information corresponding to the pixels on the left and right screens is By defining the distance information at that position,
It can be uniquely represented by the image information of the pixel on the main screen. That is, the image information of the pixels on the sub-screen can be represented by the distance information at the pixel position, which has a smaller information amount. At this time, since the corresponding pixels on both screens have different distances from the object depending on the viewing angle position and the size of the visible image is different, correction is added according to the difference in distance when actually converting and generating each pixel. . Also, since the distance information about the corresponding pixel may be either left or right, on the contrary, by adding the distance information at that position to the image information for the pixel having a correspondence with the sub-screen with respect to the main screen, only this main screen is applicable. The image information of the sub-screen can be included. Of course, since the objects on the screen generally have a certain size, the pixels in this group are almost the same distance and continuous, and the distance information of each pixel described above changes. The amount of information can be compressed by taking minutes or approximating with an approximate correlation formula, and further reducing the amount of information. Further, at this time, if the outline is trimmed by emphasizing the change of the screen, the object can be easily divided. Similarly, considering that the distance information is roughly better than the definition of the image, it is possible to compare the two screens with a small amount of information and a low definition when extracting the distance information.

[0008] In addition, in both stereoscopic screens, there is a case where a part called "occlusion" that is visible on one screen but becomes invisible on the other screen is included. For example, since a sub-screen occlusion image that can be seen only on the sub-screen does not have corresponding image information on the main screen, it is necessary to hold the pixel position and image information data on the sub-screen. However, in this case, in the screen which becomes occluded and becomes invisible, the invisible portion appears as a change point of the distance information in the peripheral pixels. That is, when there is a part of the main screen that becomes invisible due to occlusion due to occlusion, the position of the occlusion image on the sub screen corresponding to this is unique as the change point of the distance information in the pixels of the main screen. It is regulated by the law. In addition, this change point is that when it is invisible on the left screen due to occlusion, the distance from the left to the right discontinuously increases for each pixel row of the screen, and when it is the right screen, from the right to the left. It becomes a discontinuous point.

In consideration of the points described above, the present invention first has the distance information for the pixels corresponding to the main screen and the occlusion image information for the pixels not corresponding as the sub-screen information. By doing so, we realized a stereoscopic image information structure with a sub-screen with a small amount of information.
Further, according to the present invention, in addition to the image information as main screen information, distance information is included for pixels corresponding to the sub-screen, and for sub-screen occlusion image information only in the sub-screen, change in distance information in the main screen. By including this in the pixel position of the point, we realized a stereoscopic image information structure with a small amount of information including sub-screen information in the main screen. The present invention also provides
An operation to extract matching pixels by comparing the two stereoscopic screens with those that have been displaced by the parallax corresponding to a certain distance on one screen and have undergone size correction corresponding to this viewing angle position on the other screen. By changing the shift amount and performing it sequentially, the three-dimensional distance information generation method for generating the discontinuity point of the distance information including the corresponding pixel and the distance information thereof and the occlusion image information is realized. When a stereoscopic image is reproduced by the image information structure of the present invention, the main screen is used as one screen and the other screen is reproduced from the sub-screen image information composed of distance information and occlusion image information and the main screen image information. By configuring it, you can get both stereoscopic screens.

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. This is a three-dimensional image of the three-dimensional object shown in FIG. 4 to be described later, which is composed of a main screen 11 and a sub-screen 12 of the present invention. The left main screen 11 is the left screen of the original image, and its two-dimensional image. Is shown. On the other hand, the sub screen 12 is the right screen of the original image,
An image portion 1F indicated by diagonal lines in the drawing, which corresponds to the main screen, includes only distance information, and an occlusion portion that cannot be seen on the right screen is a portion 1J indicated by diagonal grid lines on the sub-screen 12. The sub-screen occlusion image information is included as it is.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention in which the above-mentioned stereoscopic image is constructed by including information of the sub-screen in the main screen 21 corresponding to the left screen. That is, for the image portion 2F indicated by the diagonal lines in the figure, which corresponds to the sub-screen on the main screen 21, the distance information as well as the image information is included in each pixel. On the other hand, the portion indicated by the thick line 2K in the figure is a portion where the distance information discontinues farther to the right side (sub-screen side) thereof, and this is an occlusion portion that is hidden and invisible on the main screen. Therefore, by including the image information corresponding to the sub-screen occlusion image here, a stereoscopic image information configuration including all the stereoscopic image information in the main screen 21 is realized. Note that the pixel correspondence of the peripheral portion of the outer frame in the above figures is ignored because it is not included in the description, but the same applies to the following figures. By using such a stereoscopic image information configuration that aims to reduce the amount of information, it becomes possible to include these sub-screen stereoscopic image information in the space above and below the screen that occurs when a wide screen is displayed on a normal TV, for example. It is possible to realize a stereoscopic image structure compatible with the two-dimensional image of. Here, in the case of an ordinary two-dimensional display device, this two-dimensional image can be displayed, and in the case of a three-dimensional image display device, image information can be converted into both stereoscopic images and displayed as a three-dimensional image.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the correspondence of each pixel in both left and right screens of a stereoscopic image. That is, when viewing a certain point P with the left and right eyes EL, ER, the left and right screens 3L, 3R
It is represented by. For example, let P be the position of point P on the left screen 3L.
If L is set and PL position on the screen is determined, the viewing angle α of the left eye
L is determined. Here, if the distance XL to the point P is defined with the distance between both eyes as D, the distance XR from the point P to the right eye and the viewing angle αR of the right eye, and the parallax angle β of both eyes with respect to the point P.
Therefore, the position PR to which the point P corresponds on the right screen is uniquely determined. Of course, at this time, the parallax angle β may be defined instead of XL, and the right eye X may be replaced by VL and αL.
Even if R and αR are determined, these relationships are uniquely determined. When the parallax angle β is defined here, the position of the point P at which the parallax angle β is constant is a position that includes the positions EL and ER of both eyes and has a diameter along a constant circumference determined by the distance D and the parallax angle β. To be distributed. Further, PL and PR are the distance XL from the point P depending on the viewing position,
Since XR is different, PR corresponds to PL by expanding if the size is close according to the distance and reducing it if it is far. It should be noted that although the horizontal movement has been described above, a description of the position for looking up or looking down on the screen is omitted because a surface having a certain elevation angle corresponding to this may be considered. Regarding the accuracy of the distance information, the distance is rough and good, but the closer the distance is, the greater the difference in distance greatly affects the stereoscopic effect. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures such as keeping the number of effective digits the same. In the case of the parallax angle, similarly, it is effective to consider a certain precision of precision so that the absolute value of the angle is small when the absolute value is small, and is rough when the absolute value is large.

FIG. 4 shows, as an example of a stereoscopic image, a left and right screen of an object having a cube Q in front of a flat background when the object is viewed as a stereoscopic image. Here, when the cube Q having the characters A and B, which is the object, is viewed with both eyes, it is displayed as QL and QR on the left and right screens 4L and 4R, which are stereoscopic images thereof.

FIG. 5 shows these 4L and 4R in more detail. 5L and 5R are left and right screens, respectively. The diagonal grid line portion 5J of the right screen 5R becomes a right screen occlusion image that cannot be seen on the left screen 5L. All the pixels other than this have correspondence with the left screen, so that by defining distance information with a smaller amount of information instead of the image information at that position for these pixels, all the image information on the left screen can be dealt with by this. In this case, the shaded portion 5JL on the left screen corresponds to the left screen occlusion image and does not correspond to the right screen. Therefore, if the left screen is the main screen and the right screen is the sub screen, the pixel information that corresponds to the main screen as the image information of the sub screen includes distance information with a smaller amount of information, and the pixels that do not correspond to the main screen. By including the occlusion image information on the sub screen,
It is possible to configure a sub screen with a reduced amount of information. Then, by combining the sub-screen image information and the main-screen image information, the sub-screen corresponding to the original right screen is reproduced.

FIG. 6 is a diagram in which the left screen QL is shown by a solid line diagram 6L and the right screen QR is shown by a dotted line diagram 6R for a target cube, and the two screens are superimposed. The positional relationship is shown. As shown in this figure, the corresponding pixels on both screens are moved by an amount corresponding to the parallax angle corresponding to the distance, and the right screen is displaced leftward.
At this time, since each distance from the eye to the object changes as the position moves, in the right screen, the portion of the letter A in which the distance of the corresponding pixel goes away is reduced, and the portion of the letter B in which the distance becomes closer. Is expanded.

Further, referring to FIG. 6, description will be given of a method of generating distance information for pixels having correspondence on both left and right screens. As shown in the figure, the right screen 6 is different from the left screen 6L.
Each pixel in R moves to the left, which is the direction of the left screen, by the amount corresponding to the parallax angle, and is enlarged or reduced by the change in the distance corresponding to the viewing angle position. Therefore, when comparing each pixel of both screens, the pixel which both screens match as it is corresponds to an object located at infinity with a parallax angle of zero. Next, on one of the screens (for example, the right screen 6R), the pixel position is shifted to the right by an amount corresponding to the minimum parallax angle, the pixel position is shifted, and the enlargement / reduction correction corresponding to the viewing angle position is performed, and then the two screens are compared. If so, the matching portion is associated as a pixel corresponding to the parallax angle, that is, the distance corresponding thereto. If the parallax angle is sequentially increased and the screens are shifted by that amount and compared, and the matching pixels are sequentially associated,
The corresponding pixel and its distance information can be obtained for both screens. In this case, since the difference in distance depending on the visual angle position can be almost ignored at a certain distance or more, the size correction is unnecessary. In addition, these operations can be compared on the contrary from the one having a larger parallax angle. Here, when the left screen 6L is the main screen and the right screen 6R is the sub screen, the pixels remaining on the sub screen side as a result of the comparison are the portions 6J surrounded by the diagonal grid lines. Corresponds to occlusion image information. At this time, in the main screen, the position of the point where the distance information of the pixels arranged on the screen is discontinuously distant in the right direction on the sub screen side is shown by a thick line 6K, but this is not visible on the main screen. Corresponds to a certain position of image information.

[0017]

According to the present invention, by displaying one image on both left and right screens of a conventional stereoscopic image by distance information, it becomes possible to construct a stereoscopic image with a smaller amount of information. This realizes a drastic reduction in the amount of recorded information for stereoscopic images that will be needed in all image fields in the future, including televisions, videos, games, etc., and enables the construction of more compact and low-cost stereoscopic images. It is a thing. Furthermore, when using a conventional TV, video, etc. on a wide screen,
By incorporating compressed stereoscopic image information according to the present invention into unnecessary upper and lower spaces, it becomes possible to construct a two-dimensional image in which a small amount of stereoscopic image information is partially incorporated. This makes it possible to construct a stereoscopic image system compatible with the conventional two-dimensional image system such as a television, in contrast to a stereoscopic image system such as a stereoscopic TV and a video which is required more and more in the future. The social importance of the social security is immeasurable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing correspondence between pixels on both screens of a stereoscopic image.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing left and right screens of a stereoscopic image example.

5 is a diagram showing details of both left and right screens of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram in which the left and right screens of FIG. 5 are overlapped for a target cube.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 main screen 12 sub screen 1F part corresponding to main screen 1J sub screen occlusion image part 21 main screen including sub screen information 2K occlusion screen position not visible on main screen 3L, 4L, 5L left screen 3R, 4R, 5R right Screen 5J Right screen occlusion image part 5JL Left screen occlusion image part 6L, 6R Left and right screens of target object 6J Sub-screen occlusion image part 6K Sub-screen occlusion image corresponding position invisible on main screen D Distance between both eyes EL, ER Left eye and right eye G Part corresponding to sub-screen P Object point PL, PR Position of point P on left and right screen Q Object three-dimensional object QL, QR Image of object Q on left and right screens XL, XR Distance from left and right eyes to point P αL, αR Viewing angle of point P with left and right eyes β Parallax between both eyes

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A main screen and a sub-screen corresponding to the main screen are provided. For a pixel in the sub-screen having a correspondence with a pixel of the main screen, distance information at the position of each pixel is included, For non-corresponding pixels, stereoscopic image information configuration method that includes sub-screen occlusion image information at the pixel position. 2. In the main screen, each pixel corresponding to the sub-screen includes image information and quadrature information at the position of the pixel, and the position of the sub-screen pixel not corresponding to the main screen. And a stereoscopic image information configuration method including sub-screen occlusion image information corresponding to the pixel. 3. A sub-screen occlusion image information corresponding to a pixel position indicating that the distance information of a pixel of the main screen changes discontinuously in the direction of the sub-screen is included. Stereoscopic image information composition method. 4. The position of one of the left and right screens for displaying a stereoscopic image is shifted by an amount corresponding to a certain parallax distance, and a magnitude corresponding to the viewing angle position in that case is corrected, and the other of these is corrected. A solid distance information generation method that generates a pixel corresponding to the distance and distance information by comparing with the screen and obtaining a match.