JPS6368809A - Method and device for forming stereoscopic image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a far and near feeling and to increase a visual field by forming a means which refracts pieces of luminous flux each traveling from a stereoscopic image to one eye and sets the distance between a right and a left stereoscopic image below the distance between pupils, and a means which collimate the refracted pieces of luminous flux into parallel light beams. CONSTITUTION:The method and device are provided with the stereoscopic images for the right and left eyes, the means which refracts the pieces of luminous flux each traveling from a stereoscopic image to one eye and sets the distance between the right and left stereoscopic images below the distance between the pupils, and the means which collimates the refracted pieces of luminous flux into the parallel light beams. Then, the luminous flux from the stereoscopic images is given a sufficient angle of field for an image plane of the same size by a prism 3 as the means which sets the distance between the right and left stereoscopic images below the distance between the pupils. Further, the luminous flux refracted by the prism 3 is collimated into the parallel light beams by a convex lens 6 as the means which collimates the luminous flux into the parallel light beams, so the image is formed as a sufficiently distant image on the whole.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] This invention provides a method for viewing three-dimensional images prepared for each eye, one for each eye, for example, through a television Senniyo. It relates to a method and device for forming a three-dimensional image that produces three-dimensional perception, and in particular provides not only a sense of perspective but also a sense of perspective.
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional image forming method and apparatus that can increase the viewing angle.

[Prior art and its problems] As is well known, one way to obtain a stereoscopic image is to use two images, that is, a stereoscopic image, and to obtain stereoscopic perception by inserting them into the left and right eyes, respectively. It is known as a 3D television using a 3D mirror system.

Traditionally, the significance and purpose of 3D in 3D television is to give viewers a sense of perspective, as if the image is jumping out at them, and to arouse their admiration and amazement. is one of its aims. In this sense, the initial objective has been achieved to some extent due to improvements in perspective discrimination ability, and in fact, one of the techniques often used for stereoscopic imaging is the ability to detect sharp objects such as spears and walking sticks approaching each other. The 3D image that appears has such an effect that it makes the viewer stand up even though they recognize it as an image.

As mentioned above, conventional stereoscopic images have a strong show-like element, and there is interest in giving them a popping effect. For this reason, in 3D image forming technology, we are focusing on improving the sense of perspective, and improvements in the structure of devices that form 3D images are also being made from the perspective of improving the sense of perspective. There is.

As described above, in the conventional three-dimensional image forming method and apparatus, no consideration is given to the width of the field of view, and no improvement has been made in this aspect of the field of view, so the viewing angle is only 30 to 40 degrees.
Even if you observe a huge object such as a building or a city as a 3D image, the field of view secured by the above method and device is not sufficient, especially when looking at a huge and expansive object such as a building or a city. However, I was unable to fully appreciate the depth and breadth of the space. For this reason, there was a problem in that it was not possible to obtain a sense of realism when viewing a huge object, and the structure of the space could not be clearly grasped. In particular, viewing architecture and cities in 3D is not only a show-like effect, but also a clear understanding of the structure of the space being targeted.
Securing the viewing angle is an important element because it has important meaning.

[Problems with the Prior Art] In general, in order to view a stereoscopic image as a stereoscopic image, it is necessary to see the distance between the centers of the left and right stereoscopic images less than or equal to the pupillary distance. Furthermore, in order to widen the viewing angle on a screen of the same size, it is necessary to bring the screen closer to view the screen larger. For example, when two 4-inch monitors are used, the distance between the centers of the left and right images is 80 mm or more, which is larger than the average human pupillary distance, and when viewing this, it usually becomes a 3D image. It cannot be seen as such.

For this reason, it is necessary to make the distance between the centers of the left and right images smaller than the distance between the pupils, but it is physically impossible to set the two monitors at such a distance because the monitors would overlap each other. .

Furthermore, when configuring left and right images on one monitor screen, the images become rough, so it is necessary to enlarge the left and right images. Increasing the size of the left and right images inevitably requires increasing the screen size of the monitor itself. If the monitor itself is made larger in this way, the distance between the centers of the left and right images becomes larger than the distance between the pupils.

The basic purpose of this invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it provides not only sufficient perspective but also a sufficient field of vision.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for forming a three-dimensional image that enhances the sense of realism by giving a sense of the expanse of space.

This three-dimensional image forming method and apparatus can provide a three-dimensional image with an improved sense of reality, and by improving the sense of reality, it has the potential to partially replace the role of a model used in design. .

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a stereoscopic image provided for both left and right eyes, and a light path between the image and each eye. A viewing angle is determined by a means for refracting a light beam traveling from the stereoscopic image toward each eye to make the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images equal to or less than the interpupillary distance, and a means for converting the refracted light beam into parallel light. form a large 3D image.

As a device that forms a 3D image with a large viewing angle,
A stereoscopic image for both the left and right eyes is formed on a monitor,
a prism disposed on the optical path between the monitor image and each eye, which refracts a light beam traveling from the stereoscopic image toward one eye so that the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images is equal to or less than the interpupillary distance; Convex lenses for converting the refracted light beam into parallel light beams are sequentially arranged from the monitor side.

In addition, it is possible to provide stereoscopic images for both the left and right eyes by using two television monitors. It is also possible to allocate one for the eyes and one for the right eye on the right side and provide it with a single television monitor.

[Function] According to the method and apparatus of the present invention, the light flux from the stereoscopic images is reduced to a sufficient amount on a screen of the same size by the prism serving as a means for making the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images equal to or less than the interpupillary distance. The viewing angle will be given. Furthermore, since the light beam refracted by the prism is made into parallel light beams by a convex lens, the entire image can be formed as if it were located sufficiently far away.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the method and apparatus of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. However, as a matter of course, the components, other members, and arrangements described or illustrated in the following illustrative examples are not intended to limit the present invention, but are merely illustrative examples.

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the device of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a sectional view in plan view, FIG. 2 is a side view on the convex lens side of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing the arrangement of each member, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the state of use.

In FIG. 1, two television monitors 1.1 are used as means for providing stereoscopic images.

The monitor used in this example is a KX-4MI microcolor monitor manufactured by Sony Corporation and called "Profile Mini." Although the KX-4MI micro color monitor has a screen size of 4 inches, it has sufficient resolution and is expected to produce sharp images.

The size of the monitor screen must be 4 inches or more, and 3 inches or more in order to expect sufficient resolution and clarity of the image.
Less than an inch is not desirable.

If these monitor stands of 4 inches or more are arranged so as to provide a sufficient viewing angle, the monitors will overlap each other, making it physically impossible to arrange them. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 4, a prism 3 is used to form an image of the monitor screen at the position indicated by the dashed line Y to enable stereoscopic viewing.

The monitors 1 are arranged at positions where the image is sharpest, and for this reason it is preferable to arrange the monitors at an angle of 11 degrees.

Also, when two monitors that are close to each other produce different images, interference waves will occur on the screen due to the electromagnetic fields generated around each other, so the electromagnetic waves generated by one monitor will affect the other monitors and cause interference waves. It is necessary to prevent this from occurring. Therefore, in this example, an aluminum plate having a thickness of about 1.5 mm is processed, and monitor partition plates 2 are arranged to surround each monitor to provide electromagnetic shielding.

Above monitor 1. Right angle prisms 3.3 are respectively arranged in front of the prisms 1 with their right angles facing forward (to the viewer's side). The prism 3 used in this example is made of BK7 standard optical glass, and the lengths of the two planes that intersect at right angles are 50 mm. Also prism 3
is a monitor.

With respect to the vertical reference plane 4 (see Figure 1) whose central axis is approximately perpendicular (actually inclined at 5.5 degrees), the outer plane 3a or 50
The inner plane 3b is positioned at an angle of 40 degrees.

Further, a prism partition 5 is arranged between the prisms 3 so as not to affect the light beam passing through one prism or the light beam passing through the other prism. This vertical reference plane 4-1- has a diameter of 30 m, facing the prisms 3, 3, respectively.
A biconvex lens 6.6 with a focal length of 90 mm and a focal length of 90 mm is arranged. The convex lenses 6.6 are positioned such that the distance between their centers is 58 mm.

Further, an aperture 7 is provided around the periphery of each convex lens 6, and each of the above-mentioned members is housed in a case 8 to constitute a three-dimensional image device.

Here, the reason for setting the distance between the centers of the convex lenses 6.6 in this example will be explained below.

Generally, the average pupillary distance of Japanese people is 65 mm,
When viewing a nearby object at a distance of clear vision (25-30 cm), eyes tend to become cross-eyed and the interpupillary distance decreases. However, when viewing objects that are far enough away, there is no reduction in interpupillary distance. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention that gives the impression that the image is sufficiently far away, the distance between the centers of the convex lenses 6.6 and the distance between the centers of the monitors 1.1 and 1.1 are set to the average distance between the pupils of Japanese people, in order to prevent cross-eyedness. Ideally, it should be set to 65 mm, which is the same as the distance. However, people who are unaccustomed to stereoscopic vision tend to have a preconceived notion that they are viewing images through a small device, even if a parallel light beam is obtained using a convex lens, resulting in them viewing images with cross-eyed eyes. In this case, the distance between the centers of the convex lens, etc. is equal to the average pupillary distance.
With a device set at 5 mm, it becomes difficult to provide a stereoscopic image. From the above point of view, we conducted repeated experiments with people who had no experience in stereoscopic vision, and found that the distance between the centers of convex lenses was 58 mm for Japanese people.
It turns out that is the optimal value. It goes without saying that the center-to-center distance can be changed depending on the target race.

In addition, the effect of the lens in this example is to make the light beam refracted by the prism into parallel light in order to make the whole room feel as if it is far away. When viewing an object in 3D, it is inconvenient for the 3D image to make the object appear to be far away, as in the case of the device of this example. However, when stereoscopically viewing a huge object such as a city or architecture, which is the object of the present invention, it is safe to assume that the object is always sufficiently far away.

Further, the function of the aperture 7 will be explained below.

Generally, an aperture is provided at the periphery of a lens and is used to prevent diffraction or curvature of light at the periphery of the lens. However, with a stereoscopic image forming device, if the image is blocked by the edge of the monitor, the scenery in the foreground will appear to be blocked by the edge further away, and the front-back relationship between the image and the edge will seem contradictory. It will be done. Such a phenomenon significantly impedes the sense of realism in stereoscopic viewing and causes the stereoscopic effect to be lost. In order to prevent this decrease, the edge of the screen should be formed sufficiently close to the front side. As a means for this purpose, a black thin plate (of any material) is used, and a rectangular light beam transmission hole is provided in the center of the plate, and the plate is placed sufficiently in front of the screen. In this embodiment, a hole with dimensions of 18 mm in length and 24 mm in width is provided, and an aperture 7 is placed closely behind the convex lens so that the edge of the image on the monitor 1 is blocked by the aperture 7.

In the stereoscopic image forming apparatus thus obtained, the interior of the case 8 is viewed through the convex lens 6, that is, the eyepiece, as shown in FIG.

Each monitor 1 displays an image created for the left and right eyes, and the light beam 9 from this image is refracted by a prism 3 to make the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images equal to or less than the interpupillary distance. Furthermore, the light beam refracted by the convex lens 6 is made into parallel light beams and reaches the observer's eyes. With this device, the image on the monitor 1.1 maintains sufficient perspective while increasing the viewing angle and giving a sense of lateral expanse. According to experiments, the viewing angle is 55° in the horizontal direction.
35mm on a 35mm camera
It is comparable to a wide-angle lens.

Next, another embodiment will be described based on FIGS. 5 and 6.

In this example, structures, members, materials, etc. that are the same as those in the above embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

In this embodiment, left and right stereoscopic images are displayed on one monitor lO
The screens of the left and right halves of the monitor 10 are respectively obtained as stereoscopic images 11a for the left and right eyes,
This is what is assigned to llb.

In this example, since the prism 3 is sufficiently close to the monitor screen, it prevents the left and right images from overlapping each other in the visual fields of the left and right eyes (indicated by symbol X) and obstructs the stereoscopic image. In order to maintain resolution and sharpness in order to form left and right stereoscopic images on one monitor, it is necessary to make the monitor screen larger, and when the monitor screen is enlarged in this way, the distance between the stereoscopic images becomes the interpupillary distance. This problem is solved in the same way as in the previous embodiment.

In the above embodiment using one monitor in this way, it is necessary to make adjustments to synchronize each image.
In this embodiment, which uses one monitor, synchronization adjustment is not necessary and the operation is simple. Further, unlike the embodiments described above, there is no need to provide electromagnetic shielding between the monitors, and partition plates and the like can be omitted, resulting in a compact device.

However, in this example, in order to obtain the same resolution as the image of the previous example, a monitor with higher resolution than the monitor of the previous example is required.

In the embodiment described above, it is possible to use commercially available general components ranging from the monitor to the prism and the convex lens.

j In other words, the present invention achieves the intended purpose by setting the parameters of the optical system (the shape of the prism or convex lens, the refractive index, the focal length, etc.) and the layout of the members, and provides an inexpensive device. be able to. Therefore, the shape of the prism and its material are not limited to those of the embodiments described above, as long as it functions as a means for making the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images equal to or less than the interpupillary distance. Also, the convex lens may have the function of converting the light beam refracted by the prism into parallel light beams, and the focal length is not limited as long as it has this function.

Furthermore, its shape is not limited to a biconvex lens, but can also be a plano-convex lens or a convex menisque lens.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, there is a means for refracting the light flux traveling from the stereoscopic images toward each eye to make the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images equal to or less than the interpupillary distance. and a means for converting the refracted light beam into parallel light beams, it is possible to obtain a sufficient sense of perspective, increase the viewing angle, and obtain a stereoscopic image with a sense of horizontal expanse.

Therefore, the depth and breadth of huge buildings and urban spaces can be fully felt, and images with a wide field of view and a sense of realism can be obtained. This makes it possible to clearly understand the spatial structure, and it can also be used as an alternative to models in design.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the method and apparatus of the present invention5. Fig. 2 is a side view of the convex nozzle 111, Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the arrangement of each member, and Fig. 4 is a state of use. Figures 5 and 6 show the second embodiment, Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing the state of use, and Figure 6 shows the monitor used in the embodiment shown in Figure 8. It is a front view. 1. lO...monitor, 3... prism, 6.
...Convex lens, 5...Partition, 7...Aperture 9...Light flux. Patent applicant: Atsushi Akiyama, agent patent attorney, Delphi Institute Co., Ltd. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Procedural Amendment (December 23, 1986)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A stereoscopic image provided for both left and right eyes, and a light beam traveling from the stereoscopic image toward each eye on the optical path between the image and each eye. A method for forming a stereoscopic image, comprising means for refracting the left and right stereoscopic images so that the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images is equal to or less than the interpupillary distance, and a means for converting the refracted light beam into parallel light beams. 2. A stereoscopic image provided for both the left and right eyes is formed on a monitor, and a light beam traveling from the stereoscopic image toward each eye is placed on the optical path between the image on the monitor and each eye. A stereoscopic image forming apparatus characterized in that a prism that refracts the left and right stereoscopic images so that the distance between the left and right stereoscopic images is equal to or less than the interpupillary distance, and a convex lens that converts the refracted light beam into parallel light beams are sequentially arranged from the monitor side. . 3. A three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that a prism partition is formed between the prisms, an aperture is formed between the prism and the convex lens, and the edge of the monitor screen is exposed. A three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the three-dimensional image forming apparatus prevents the following.