JPH10191204A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a picture processor which can clearly and visually view an object in spite of the situation of the object with a simple operation. SOLUTION: The goggle-type picture processor is mounted in such a way that it is at an approximated height of the eye parts of a user. For improving the visibility of a picture. a first optical lens part 101 executes a focusing processing and an information processing part 120 executes the procesings of display magnification change, luminance correction and distortion correction on the picture of the object. The object picture to which the processings are executed in displayed on an LCD panel 111. A reference area to which the picture processings are executed is set to be the center area of the object picture or it is set by line of sight tracking.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a goggle type image processing apparatus which is held close to a user's eye and visually recognizes a subject.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, human eyes have functions such as focus adjustment and exposure adjustment, and a healthy person can recognize many subjects in a normal situation with naked eyes. However, in the case of a visually impaired person, it is necessary to ensure visibility with various visibility assisting devices, and depending on the situation of the subject, even a healthy person may need assistance with the visibility assisting device. .

[0003] For the impairment of the focus adjustment function such as myopia, hyperopia, or lens abnormality, it is known to ensure the visibility by an optical system such as eyeglasses. In addition, it is known to ensure visibility with a flashlight or a night-vision for impairment of visual acuity function due to insufficient light quantity such as bird's eye, and these are used even by healthy people when the light quantity of the subject is insufficient. Is done. Further, particularly for the visual recognition of a distant subject, it is known to ensure visibility using an optical system device such as a telescope, and this is used for both visually impaired persons and healthy persons.

[0004]

However, in the case where the visual function deteriorates remarkably or there are a plurality of functional disorders, it is not always possible to secure sufficient visibility with the conventional visibility assisting device. Also, depending on the situation of the subject,
In some cases, even a healthy person could not secure sufficient visibility.

[0005] That is, when the focus adjustment function is particularly deteriorated or when the lens is abnormal (extraction, etc.), it is difficult to completely compensate the focus adjustment function using only glasses.

Further, when a person who has an abnormality in both the focus adjustment function and the exposure adjustment function looks at a subject with insufficient light quantity, it is not possible to secure sufficient visibility with only glasses. In this case, both glasses and a flashlight must be used,
Inconvenient.

[0007] Furthermore, even a healthy person has a limit in visually recognizing a distant subject in detail, and the visibility deteriorates even when the subject is dark or extremely dazzling.

[0008] As described above, not only a person with abnormal visual function, but also a healthy person, may not be able to secure good visibility only by using the conventional visibility assisting device. However, there is a problem that the use of the visibility assisting device at the same time is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its object is to provide a simple operation.
Provided is an image processing apparatus capable of clearly recognizing a subject regardless of the situation of the subject. An image processing device is provided.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a goggle-type image processing apparatus which is held close to an eye of a user and visually recognizes a subject. Input means for inputting an image of the subject, processing means for processing the image to improve the visibility of the image input by the input means, and display means for displaying the image processed by the processing means. It is characterized by having.

[0011] To achieve the same object, claim 2 of the present invention
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The image processing apparatus further includes an area designating unit that designates a desired area in the area of the image input by the input unit, wherein the processing by the processing unit is performed based on an image of the area designated by the area designating unit. And

[0012] To achieve the same object, claim 3 of the present invention.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
The information processing apparatus further includes a line-of-sight detection unit that detects the line of sight of the user, and the designation by the area specifying unit is performed based on the line of sight detected by the line-of-sight detection unit.

[0013] To achieve the same object, claim 4 of the present invention.
The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the processing by the processing unit is at least one of focusing, changing a display magnification, correcting luminance, and correcting distortion. There is a feature.

[0014] In order to achieve the same object, claim 5 of the present invention.
The image processing device according to claim 4, wherein
And a magnification setting means for setting a display magnification changed by the processing means.

[0015] To achieve the same object, claim 6 of the present invention.
The image processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is the image processing apparatus according to the fourth or fifth aspect, further comprising a luminance setting unit that sets a luminance corrected by the processing unit.

[0016] In order to achieve the same object, claim 7 of the present invention.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein
The image forming apparatus further includes a light amount detecting unit that detects a light amount of the image input by the input unit, and the setting of the luminance by the luminance setting unit is performed according to the light amount detected by the light amount detecting unit.

[0017] To achieve the same object, claim 8 of the present invention.
The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the area extracting unit extracts a predetermined area in an area of the image whose distortion has been corrected by the processing unit; And a region moving unit that moves the region extracted by the unit within the region of the image whose distortion has been corrected by the processing unit.

[0018] To achieve the same object, claim 9 of the present invention.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein
The apparatus further includes a line-of-sight detection unit that detects the line of sight of the user, and the movement by the area moving unit is performed based on the line of sight detected by the line-of-sight detection unit.

[0019]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The image processing apparatus is in the form of so-called goggles (the appearance is not shown), and is configured to be mounted on the user's head by a belt or helmet type mounting mechanism. Two LCD panels 111 are provided corresponding to the left and right eyes inside the image processing apparatus at the time of mounting, so that the LCD panel 111 approaches the user's eye 130 when the apparatus is mounted. Is configured. As will be described later, in a state where the image processing apparatus is mounted, a light image of a subject in front of the user is input to the apparatus, a predetermined image processing is performed, and the subject image is converted to an LC.
Displayed on the D panel 111, the user can visually recognize the subject.

The image processing apparatus comprises an image input unit 100, a goggle type image display unit 110, an information processing unit 120, a headphone 131, a visual line detection unit 132, and an operation unit 133. The image input unit 100 includes a first optical lens unit 101, a reflecting mirror 102, and a CCD 103. The goggle-type image display unit 110 includes an LCD panel 111, a second optical lens unit 112, and a prism lens 113.

First optical lens unit 101, reflecting mirror 10
2, the CCD 103 and the information processing unit 120 are connected in series, and the first optical lens unit 101 is connected to the information processing unit 12.
0 is also connected. The information processing unit 120, the LCD panel 111, the second optical lens unit 112, and the prism lens 113 are connected in series.
The eye part 130 of the user is located in the output direction of the third image.
The prism lens 113 is further connected to the information processing unit 120 via the visual line detection unit 132. Information processing unit 1
Further, a headphone 131 and an operation unit 133 are connected to 20.

The information processing unit 120 includes a CPU, a ROM, an R
It comprises an AM or the like, and detects the amount of light from an input light image (image) of a subject to correct the brightness of the image, and also performs various image processing such as distortion correction on a wide-angle image. In addition, an instruction is output to each component of the image processing apparatus as needed.

The first optical lens unit 101 has a focus adjusting function and an image scaling function, and inputs a light image of a subject and supplies the reflecting mirror 102 with the subject image. At this time, the focus adjustment and the image magnification processing are performed based on a focus adjustment / magnification signal 121 which is an instruction from the information processing unit 120.

The reflecting mirror 102 includes the first optical lens unit 10
The object image supplied from 1 is reflected and supplied to the CCD 103. The CCD 103 receives the supplied subject image, converts the subject image as optical data into electrical subject image information, and outputs this to the information processing unit 120. Further, the CCD 103 receives the sensitivity adjustment signal 122 from the information processing unit 120 and sets the sensitivity to an appropriate value determined from the input optical data based on the signal.

In this sensitivity adjustment, the sensitivity can be varied by adjusting the accumulation time of the CCD 103, the gain of a circuit for processing the image signal output from the CCD 103, and the like. Further, a diaphragm mechanism may be provided in the optical lens unit 101, and the sensitivity may be set by using the diaphragm mechanism together with the adjustment of the diaphragm.

The information processing section 120 performs image processing on the subject image information input from the CCD 103 automatically or by a manual operation of the user, and outputs the subject image information subjected to the image processing to the LCD panel 111. The LCD panel 111 converts the subject image information input from the information processing unit 120 into a subject image, which is optical data, and outputs this to the second optical lens unit 112. At that time, LCD
The light amount of the panel 111 is appropriately adjusted based on the backlight adjustment signal 123 from the information processing unit 120.

The second optical lens unit 112 converts the subject image input from the LCD panel 111 into the user's eye unit 130.
The focal length is appropriately adjusted by the focus adjustment signal 124 from the information processing unit 120 so that an image is formed appropriately on the top, and the focal length is output to the prism lens 113. In addition,
When the user wears the image processing apparatus, the user adjusts the diopter so as to suit him / her using the operation unit 133 described later.
At this time, it is preferable that the diopter can be adjusted individually for both eyes.

The prism lens 113 is a semi-transmissive deflection type lens that bends an optical image, and reflects a subject image input from the second optical lens unit 112 to the eye unit 130.
To supply. Thereby, the user can visually recognize the subject.

The operation unit 133 is provided at an appropriate position on the image processing apparatus so that the user can easily operate the image processing apparatus, or is provided as an operator such as a remote control in a form separated from the apparatus. The operation unit 133 includes a setting of automatic / manual focusing of a subject, a setting of a change of a display magnification of an image on the LCD panel 111, a setting of a brightness adjustment of a subject displayed on the LCD panel 111, various operations by gaze tracking, At least an operator for setting validity / invalidity of designation, an image distortion correction setting, and an operator for diopter adjustment described above are provided.

The line-of-sight detection unit 132 has a well-known line-of-sight detection mechanism including a CCD, an infrared ray input / output unit, and the like.
The image of the eye from 30 is input via the prism lens 113, the position of the line of sight in the screen is detected, and information on the detected line of sight is output to the information processing unit 120.

The headphones 131 reproduce sound.

The operation of the image processing apparatus will be described below.

The user sets automatic / manual focusing of the subject by the first optical lens unit 101 using the operation unit 133. When "automatic" is set, the focusing process is automatically performed, and when "manual" is set, the focusing process is performed by the user. In addition, the user sets whether to fix the focus reference area to the center area of the image or to designate the area by eye tracking. When "fixed to the center area" is set, focusing processing is performed on the center of the subject image, and when "designation by gaze tracking" is set, for example, an image area divided into a plurality of pieces in advance is used. The focusing process is performed on a region including the line-of-sight position or within a certain range around the line-of-sight position. These focusing processes are performed based on the focus adjustment / magnification signal 121 as described above. This focusing processing can reduce eye fatigue caused by improper focus adjustment for a subject to be viewed.

The user sets the display magnification of the image on the operation unit 133.
Set with. For example, when viewing a distant subject, it is effective to set an enlargement, and to obtain a wide field of view, it is effective to set a reduction. The indication information of the display magnification is based on the focus adjustment / magnification signal 121 input from the operation unit 133 via the information processing unit 120 as described above.
1 optically.

Further, when the user enlarges the display magnification and displays the image, for example, the user sets whether to fix the image area to be enlarged to the center area of the image or to designate the area by gaze tracking. When “fixed to the central area” is set, the area in the central part of the image is determined according to the enlargement magnification so as to fit on the display screen of the LCD panel 111, and the image in the area is enlarged. On the other hand, when "designation by gaze tracking" is set, an image area is determined based on the gaze position in the image, for example, as in the case of focusing, and the image of the area is enlarged. When the position of the line of sight is past the corner of the image, the image area to be enlarged may be automatically changed to the center.

The goggle-type image display unit 110 may be provided with a function of electronically changing the display magnification so that the magnification can be changed.

The user sets the brightness of the subject displayed on the LCD panel 111 using the operation unit 133. For example, the luminance is set to be high enough to allow the subject to be visually recognized even in darkness where the amount of light is insufficient.
Alternatively, the luminance is set to be low when the brightness is extremely bright. The correction of the brightness is performed by the information processing unit 120 by electronic processing. Note that if the correction of the luminance is performed by setting the entire subject image, the visibility of the subject that is too bright or the subject in darkness can be improved. Further, the correction of the luminance may be performed by setting a partial area in the subject image. For example, if the correction is performed so that some of the subjects to be visually recognized have an appropriate luminance, it is possible to reduce the burden on the eyes when visually recognizing the subjects in the backlight state. The region setting in this case may also be performed by the visual line tracking.

The user operates the operation unit 1 to set the degree of image distortion correction.
Set at 33. Image distortion is caused by the first optical lens unit 101
In particular, when a wide-angle lens is used as the optical lens in (1), correction is required. Therefore, the degree of distortion correction should be set according to the wide-angle lens used. The image distortion is corrected by the information processing unit 120 by electronic processing.

Next, a specific example of image processing by the image processing apparatus will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display image displayed through image processing by the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

The display image 200 is an image when the display magnification is set to the same magnification, and the enlarged image 210 is an image when this image is enlarged and displayed. In the normal display at the same magnification, the display image 20 shown in FIG.
0, a foreground 201 (person), a foreground 202 (car),
A distant view 203 (tree) and a distant view 204 (mountain) are displayed. In this state, if the user wants to enlarge and view the foreground 202 and sets an enlargement of the display magnification (for example, 9 times),
An area corresponding to one-ninth of the entire display screen of the LCD panel 111 is specified as a central area in the display image 200 (enlargement target area 211). The specified enlargement target area 211 is magnified 9 times, and an enlarged image 210 is displayed on the LCD.
It is displayed in panel 111.

When it is desired to enlarge a subject image such as the near view 201 or the distant view 203 that is not in the center area, the apparatus is moved so that the subject image such as the near view 201 or the distant view 203 is displayed near the center area (the near view 201 or the near view 203). Direction). Note that, when the enlargement of the display magnification is set together with the gaze tracking of the enlargement target area, the near view 2
Without moving the apparatus so that the subject image such as 01 is displayed in the vicinity of the central area, it is possible to enlarge and display the image simply by turning the line of sight to the near view 201 or the like.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display image displayed after distortion correction. In particular, FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a display image when a wide-angle lens is used.

A subject image obtained by using a wide-angle lens for the first optical lens unit 101 has a wide field of view and large distortion at the periphery of the image. The information processing section 120 performs a distortion correction on this, creates a wide-angle correction screen 300, and, in a central region of the wide-angle correction screen 300, the LCD panel 1
Display screen 30 sized to fit display screen 11
1 is extracted. The extracted display screen 301 is displayed on the LCD panel 111.

Here, when the user sets “gaze tracking” to “valid”, the display screen 301 is adjusted according to the movement of the gaze position.
Moves within the range of the wide-angle correction screen 300. For example, when the line of sight is moved in the upper left direction on the display screen 301, LC
As a result, the display on the D panel 111 also moves in the upper left direction, and as a result, a display screen 302 is displayed on the LCD panel 111 as shown in FIG. Thereby, the user can visually recognize the subject image with a wide field of view in a natural state only by moving his or her line of sight without moving the image processing apparatus. The movement of the display image in the wide-angle correction screen 300 may be performed by separately providing a dedicated operation element.

According to the present embodiment, since the subject image can be viewed only by attaching the image processing apparatus, the subject can be easily visually recognized with both hands free. Further, since the desired image processing is performed, the subject can be clearly recognized regardless of the condition of the subject such as the brightness of the subject and the distance to the subject. Therefore, not only can the visual function of a person having a visual function abnormality be assisted, but also a healthy person can easily recognize the subject and reduce the burden on the eyes.

Further, since image processing such as focusing, brightness correction, and change of display magnification can be performed not only on the entire subject image but also on a specific area, the visibility of a subject to be viewed in detail is further improved. be able to.

Furthermore, by performing the target area of various image processing by gaze tracking, it is possible to realize a natural viewing environment which is easier to use.

When a wide-angle lens is used for the first optical lens unit 101, the display area is moved after appropriately correcting distortion, so that a subject image with a wide field of view can be viewed in a natural state. can do.

In the present embodiment, the image processing apparatus is configured to be able to focus on the input subject image, change the display magnification, correct the luminance, and correct the distortion.
You may be comprised so that only a part of these processes can be performed.

It should be noted that the target area for image processing such as focusing, luminance correction, display magnification change, etc., which does not depend on line-of-sight tracking, is not necessarily the center area, and may be set manually. Good.

Note that images corresponding to the left and right eyes are displayed on the two LCD panels 111 using parallax, respectively.
A stereoscopic image may be obtained.

Although two LCD panels 111 are provided corresponding to the left and right eyes, a single LCD panel 111 may be provided so as to be viewed by both eyes.

It is preferable that the present image processing apparatus is a goggle type which can maintain the mounted state even when the hand is released.
It is good also as a form which holds by hand like binoculars.

[0057]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
According to the image processing apparatus according to the above, an image of the subject is input, the image is processed to improve the visibility of the input image, and the processed image is displayed. Regardless of the situation of the subject, the subject can be clearly recognized.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, a desired area in the area of the input image is specified, and the processing is performed based on the image of the specified area. The usefulness can be further improved, for example, a specific subject inside can be visually recognized in detail.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the user's line of sight is detected and the designation is performed based on the detected line of sight, it is easier to use and a natural viewing environment is realized. Can be.

According to the image processing apparatus of the fourth aspect, the processing is at least one of focusing, change of display magnification, correction of luminance, and correction of distortion. Therefore, for example, by focusing on a desired area, it is possible to avoid fatigue due to an inappropriate focal length. Further, for example, if an image of a desired area is enlarged and displayed, a distant subject can be more easily and clearly recognized. Further, by correcting the brightness of the entire image, the visibility of a subject that is too bright or in the dark can be improved. If the brightness is corrected based on the brightness of the image in the desired area, the visibility of a subject against backlight, etc., can be improved. Can be reduced.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, a predetermined area in the area of the image in which the distortion has been corrected is extracted, and the extracted area moves within the area of the image in which the distortion has been corrected. Therefore, for example, when a wide-angle lens is used, an image in a desired region in a wide field of view can be visually recognized in a natural state.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display image displayed through image processing by the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display image displayed after distortion correction by the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment;
5 shows a display image when a wide-angle lens is used for the optical lens unit of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 image input unit 101 first optical lens unit 102 reflecting mirror 103 CCD 110 goggle-type image display unit 111 LCD panel 112 second optical lens unit 113 prism lens 120 information processing unit 132 visual line detection unit 133 operation unit

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A goggle-type image processing apparatus which is held close to a user's eye and visually recognizes a subject, comprising: input means for inputting an image of the subject; and visibility of the image input by the input means. An image processing apparatus comprising: processing means for processing the image so as to improve image quality; and display means for displaying the image processed by the processing means. 2. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an area designating section for designating a desired area in an area of the image input by the input section, wherein the processing by the processing section is based on an image of the area designated by the area designating section. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing is performed. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a line-of-sight detection unit configured to detect a line of sight of the user, wherein the specification by the area specifying unit is performed based on the line of sight detected by the line-of-sight detection unit. Image processing device. 4. The processing by the processing means includes at least one of focusing, change of display magnification, correction of luminance, and correction of distortion.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising magnification setting means for setting a display magnification changed by said processing means. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a luminance setting unit for setting a luminance corrected by said processing unit.
Or the image processing apparatus according to 5. 7. A light quantity detecting means for detecting a light quantity of an image inputted by the input means, wherein the setting of the luminance by the luminance setting means is performed in accordance with the light quantity detected by the light quantity detecting means. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: 8. An area extracting means for extracting a predetermined area in an area of an image whose distortion has been corrected by said processing means,
8. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: an area moving unit configured to move an area extracted by the area extracting unit within an area of the image whose distortion has been corrected by the processing unit. 9. Image processing device. 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a line-of-sight detection unit that detects the line of sight of the user, wherein the movement by the area moving unit is performed based on the line of sight detected by the line-of-sight detection unit. Image processing device.