Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B30/00—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images
  • G02B30/20—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images by providing first and second parallax images to an observer's left and right eyes
  • G02B30/26—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images by providing first and second parallax images to an observer's left and right eyes of the autostereoscopic type
  • G02B30/27—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images by providing first and second parallax images to an observer's left and right eyes of the autostereoscopic type involving lenticular arrays
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N13/00—Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof
  • H04N13/30—Image reproducers
  • H04N13/302—Image reproducers for viewing without the aid of special glasses, i.e. using autostereoscopic displays
  • H04N13/305—Image reproducers for viewing without the aid of special glasses, i.e. using autostereoscopic displays using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B30/00—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images
  • G02B30/20—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images by providing first and second parallax images to an observer's left and right eyes
  • G02B30/26—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images by providing first and second parallax images to an observer's left and right eyes of the autostereoscopic type
  • G02B30/30—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images by providing first and second parallax images to an observer's left and right eyes of the autostereoscopic type involving parallax barriers
  • G02B30/31—Optical systems or apparatus for producing three-dimensional [3D] effects, e.g. stereoscopic images by providing first and second parallax images to an observer's left and right eyes of the autostereoscopic type involving parallax barriers involving active parallax barriers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N13/00—Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof
  • H04N13/30—Image reproducers
  • H04N13/302—Image reproducers for viewing without the aid of special glasses, i.e. using autostereoscopic displays
  • H04N13/31—Image reproducers for viewing without the aid of special glasses, i.e. using autostereoscopic displays using parallax barriers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N13/00—Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof
  • H04N13/20—Image signal generators
  • H04N13/204—Image signal generators using stereoscopic image cameras
  • H04N13/207—Image signal generators using stereoscopic image cameras using a single two-dimensional [2D] image sensor
  • H04N13/229—Image signal generators using stereoscopic image cameras using a single two-dimensional [2D] image sensor using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N13/00—Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof
  • H04N13/20—Image signal generators
  • H04N13/286—Image signal generators having separate monoscopic and stereoscopic modes

Definitions

• This invention generally relates to stereoscopic images and specifically concerns novel techniques and apparatus for viewing such images for use with televisions, computer displays, fluoroscopes and other imaging electronic recording and imaging devices, either analog or digital, providing an illusion of depth to the viewer.
• lenticulated images to create stereoscopic images. These techniques are limited in that they require the use of a lenticular viewing lens to visualize the stereoscopic image.
• stereoscopic photographs of an object can be made by exposing a photographic film record through a lenticular screen with attendant relative movement between the camera lens, the object, and/or the film to provide a lenticulated or striplike base image, each striplike image being representative of a different viewing angle of the object being photographed.
• the resulting exposed base film image is viewed through a lenticular screen having suitable optical characteristics, the picture seen will appear to have depth and will generally have stereoscopic characteristics, regardless of the viewing angle.
• stereoscopic images can be used to convey a fourth dimension, time, as a sequence of images (so-called "Four-Dimensional" (4D) images).
• 4D Flu-Dimensional
• a sequence of ten exposures, each separated by a fraction of a second can be combined to produce a short movie. If during exposure the film is moved on its vertical or horizontal axis so that each of the ten exposures captures a different view of the object, person or scene, a time sequence of events occurring can be viewed from a single formatted, complex image as described in U.S. Pat. No.
• the present invention provides a novel means and technique for viewing stereoscopic images.
• the lenticular lens viewing screen required in the prior art is replaced with an optical grid forming a virtual lens of thin light transmitting slits that are controlled electronically.
• the current invention acts as an array of apertures which allows one eye to see one image while the other sees another angulated view - giving a stereoscopic pair of images, which in turn is combined and interpreted by the brain and perceived as a 3-D image.
• the combined image is composed of more than four or five angled views, a person with vision in only one eye can also perceive images in 3-D.
• an array of apertures, slits, raster, lined opaque screen, spatial light modulator, diffuser, parallax barrier screen, lattice screen, grating or interference plate all refer to an optical lens that can create different angulated views for each eye.
• the virtual viewing lens of the present invention is an electronically controlled Liquid Crystal Diode (“LCD”) viewing lens (“Viewing Lens”) placed in front of a Cathode Ray Tube (“CRT"), LCD Display or similar display (hereinafter “Image Display”).
• the Viewing Lens is an LCD screen which is transparent in the “off' mode, and by electrically aligning selected Liquid Crystals to their opaque state in the "on” mode, alternating vertical light-transmitting slits and light-absorbing lines covering the screen can be formed. It is to be understood that the Viewing Lens of the present invention can also be implemented with devices other than an LCD screen, as long as alternating light- transmitting slits and light-absorbing lines can be formed.
• the LCD on the viewing lens and the Image Display are separated by a plate made of light transmitting medium ("Spacer Plate”), made of glass or plastic, and having a predetermined thickness.
• Space Plate a plate made of light transmitting medium
• the Viewing Lens acts as a virtual lenticular screen for images projected on the Image Display. When viewed through the Viewing Lens, the image appears as a 3-D or 4-D image without the use of additional viewing devices.
• the Image Display, Spacer Plate and Viewing Lens are integrated and combined into a sandwich-like construction, which is suitable for use in flat video display screens or advertising displays.
• the Viewing Lens act as the slit of a slit-hole camera and the image fro a point or slit light source is diffracted through the Viewing Lens to form a 3-D or 4-D image on a screen.
• the Viewing Lens is an Electro-Mechanical Lens ("E-M Lens”) constructed primarily of metal.
• the lens is lined with small metal shutters made of thin metal plates, which are opened and closed by electro-mechanical means.
• the shutters are at 90° to the horizontal (i.e., 90 ° to the Image Display). Because the shutters are constructed of very thin metal plates, they do not obstruct the view when viewed in this position.
• the shutters are turned “on” for viewing 3-D or 4-D images, the shutters are rotated 90° to be in line with the Image Display, creating black lines that are slightly separated and forming apertures to allow viewing of different stereo image pairs.
• the E-M Lens can be placed behind of or in front of the sandwich construction.
• the viewing lens of the present invention can be used for viewing a three dimensional image transmitted in fluoroscopy, television, computer, or electronic advertising screen, if the signal was produced with the camera as described in the
• the viewing lens can be formed on a CRT, LCD display or other electronic screen by turning selected LCD pixels to their opaque state.
• a television set equipped with an LCD viewing lens can be used to view conventional two-dimensional programs by turning off power to the LCD viewing lens, which would become transparent.
• a 3-D image will be created and viewed through use of a separate electronic lens screen image transmitted to a screen in front of or behind the multiplexed image screen and separated by an appropriate transparent spacer.
• FIG. 1 is a prior art schematic illustration of a prior art optical technique for obtaining a film record containing parallax and providing a visual depth effect;
• FIG. 2 is a prior art schematic illustration of a film containing a plurality of discrete images providing depth information, and an overlying lenticular screen so as to enable observation of the film record from virtually any angle, as abovediscussed;
• FIG. 3 is a prior art schematic illustration of a viewing lens having alternating light absorbing lines and light transmitting lines as described in the '424 patent.
• Fig. 4 shows a simple slit-hole camera construction enlarging an image of a straight line.
• FIG. 5 shows a lenticular lens enlarging the same line, demonstrating the thin slits and narrow transparent spaces between the wider opaque lines acts as lensless lenticular lenses .
• FIG. 6 illustrates a "sandwich construction" lens in accordance with the invention which incorporates an Image Display, a transparent spacer, and an electronically controlled viewing lens.
• Fig. 7 illustrates a close-up schematic of an electro-mechanical lens showing the opening and closing of the shutters.
• Fig. 8 illustrates the electro-mechanical lens in the "off position for viewing of normal 2-D images.
• Fig. 9 illustrates the electro-mechanical lens in the "on" position for viewing of 3-D/4- D images.
• Typical prior art cameras for obtaining stereographic photographs are well known and are schematically indicated in FIG. 1. They generally comprise a standard commercial camera 10 mounted on a suitable non-illustrated structure for traversing a path about one or more subject images 12, 14 and 16, film 11, and an overlying lenticular screen 13. As shown in FIG. 1, camera 10 is capable of being moved between dottedline positions along an arc whose radii intersect at point 18, the central point of any particular picture to be taken. The different relative positions of the camera while photographing the object, or the difference in point of view, i.e., parallax, of the camera as it traverses its arc is illustrated by the rays extending from each of the cameras.
• FIG. 2 What will be stored, then, on the camera film, is a plurality of lenticulated images or strips of the objects 12, 14 and 16, each viewed from a different angle and thus containing what can be termed parallax.
• a stereoscopic view of the image could only be seen through a superimposed plurality of lenticles forming a viewing screen 22, similar to screen 11.
• the invention described in the '424 Patent eliminates the undesirable lenticular viewing screen and replaces it with a viewing lens having alternating light absorbing lines and light transmitting lines.
• a photographic film 40 is made with a transparent layer 41 on one side.
• the viewing lens 42 is printed directly on the opposite side of the transparent layer 41. Immediately after developing the film the recorded image could be viewed with stereoscopic characteristics without requiring additional devices.
• the present invention provides a novel means and technique for viewing stereoscopic images by replacing the lenticular lens viewing screen required in the prior art with an optical grid which forms a lenseless virtual lens of light transmitting slits that are controlled electronically.
• slits act in a similar manner to the slit of a slit-hole camera.
• Fig. 4 shows a simple slit-hole camera construction. An image of a straight line 100 passes through a slit- hole 101 in the front of the camera 102. The light passes through the slit-hole and a magnified image 103 is formed. If a light sensitive film is placed in the camera, the image can be recorded. It can be shown that the slit-hole acts as a lenseless lenticular lens. Referring to Fig. 5, by utilizing a light transmitting lenticular lens made of glass or plastic 104, we can see that the same straight line 105 also forms a magnified image 106.
• the present invention utilizes a series of slits, each of which act as a lenseless (virtual) lenticular lens.
• a virtual viewing lens is created by biasing an LCD organic crystal screen, diode display screen etc. 46, to form a plurality of vertical opaque lines 47 alternating with vertical light transmitting slits 48 on a screen, placed in front of a display such as a phosphor plate in a CRT or a LCD Image Display 49.
• the lens and the display screen are separated an appropriate distance by a transparent spacer made of glass or plastic 50.
• a multiplexed image is projected on the Image display 49 and transmitted through the transparent spacer 50 and viewing lens 46 to a separate attached screen (not shown), placed either in front of or behind the projected virtual image 51. Therefore, the stereoscopic image pairs will be enlarged to the same scale and in alignment on the screen. This obviates constant re-alignment to avoid misaligned images screens on the receiver. For a 2-D image viewing, a signal turns the lens "off' and the viewing lens remains transparent.
• the Virtual Viewing Lens is an electro -mechanical virtual lens constructed primarily of metal 58 placed in front of an Image
• shutters 52 hinged on pivots 53 which open and close by electro-mechanical means 54.
• electro-mechanical means 54 Such means would include electric motor driven rod or link assemblies to open and close the hinged shutters, or the shutters could be electro-magnetically opened and closed with small magnet assemblies at the hinges.
• the shutters are constructed of an extremely thin material, they do not obstruct the view for normal 2-d viewing when they are opened to 90° to the horizontal plane 55 (see Figs. 8).
• the Image Display, Spacer Plate and Viewing Lens can be integrated and combined into a sandwich-like construction, which is suitable for use in flat video display screens, or for electronic advertising displays used for showing 3-D images in a lightbox.
• different 3-D images can be changed at regular intervals, again using the multiplexed image on one screen and the grid on another. Both images are transmitted together for viewing, but both should be included on the same frame so that magnification of the 3-D image will be the same from frame-to-frame.
• L/S/M construction This "lens/spacer/multiplexed image” sandwich construction (“L/S/M construction”) can also be used for viewing 3-D or 4-D fluoroscopic images, computerized tomography (C.T. Scans), magnetic resonance scans, PET Scans, ultrasound images or any other electronic displays.
• C.T. Scans computerized tomography
• magnetic resonance scans PET Scans
• ultrasound images ultrasound images or any other electronic displays.
• different image strips from different studies, such as CT and MRI scans can be combined to give 3-D images with Accurate Bony Landmarks for surgeons, and again can be viewed individually or combined on such a L/S/M construction.
• a viewing lens placed in front of a cathode ray tube (“CRT") or a viewing lens placed in front of or behind an LCD screen would also enable viewing a stereoscopic transmitted image in three or four dimensions.
• CTR cathode ray tube
• LCD liquid crystal display
• Additional applications for the viewing lens of the present invention include viewing multiple images created by different studies such as computerized axial tomography (CAT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or positron emitting technology (PET). These images or cuts would need to be spaced V degree to ⁇ degree apart when produced and then combined electronically, digital or analog, as described in the '987 patent. .
• CAT computerized axial tomography
• MRI magnetic resonance imaging
• PET positron emitting technology
• a composite image can also be created from the combination of images taken from different studies.
• CAT scans produce bony landmarks and MRI scans produce excellent soft tissue images
• the two can be combined on a single three or four dimensional image, giving accurate coordinates for a physician for stereotactic manipulation or surgery.
• physiological studies done on PET scans can also be incorporated.
• two views from a CAT scan giving bony landmarks, four cuts from an MRI showing soft tissue, and if necessary, two cuts from a PET scan showing metabolic activity can all be combined on one picture, provided of course that the images are of the same size and the correct angles have been recorded.
• stereoscopic images of diagnostic studies such as angiograms, movement of a joint, and the beating of a heart, recorded as described in the '987 patent or other like means, can be viewed with the viewing lens of the present invention.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Stereoscopic And Panoramic Photography (AREA)
• Testing, Inspecting, Measuring Of Stereoscopic Televisions And Televisions (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=25093608

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (16)

Family Cites Families (15)

• 2001
  • 2001-01-29 US US09/772,008 patent/US20020101658A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2002
  • 2002-01-17 WO PCT/US2002/001165 patent/WO2002061466A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2002-01-17 JP JP2002561979A patent/JP4111832B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-01-17 EP EP02705798A patent/EP1366385A4/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-01-17 AU AU2002239925A patent/AU2002239925A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2003
  • 2003-04-10 US US10/410,165 patent/US20040004763A1/en not_active Abandoned

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events