Image processing system, projector, program, information storage medium, and image processing method

• US 20050041216A1
• Filed: 07/01/2004
• Published: 02/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Masanobu
• Granted Patent: US 7,419,268 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 353/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3182 Colour adjustment, e.g. white balance, shading or gamut white balance per se H04N9/73; control of amplitude of colour signals H04N9/68; colour control circuits for displays in general G09G5/02, G09G3/2003, G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3185 Geometric adjustment, e.g. keystone or convergence optical or mechanical adjustment of convergence H04N9/317; using scanning means H04N3/22; optical or mechanical adjustments of projectors not peculiar to the presence of an electronic spatial light modulator G03B21/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3194 including sensor feedback

Abstract

A projector includes a calibration image information generation section, an image projection section which projects a calibration image, a sensing section which senses a region including the projected calibration image and a projection target through a sensing plane to generate sensing information, a projection target region information generation section which generates projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region based on the sensing information, a projection area information generation section which generates projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the calibration image in the sensing region based on the sensing information, a correction information generation section which generates image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information, and a distortion correction section which corrects image distortion based on the image distortion correction information.

Claims

1. An image processing system comprising:

an image projection means for projecting a single-color calibration image formed of an arbitrary single color onto a projection target, and projecting a multi-color calibration image onto the projection target, the multi-color calibration image including a first region and a second region, the first region being in a first single color and smaller than an entire image region and the second region being a region other than the first region and in a second single color, which is a color other than the first single color;

a sensing means for sensing the single-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate first sensing information, and sensing the multi-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate second sensing information;

a projection target region information generation means for generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing means based on a difference in image signal value between each pixel based on the first sensing information;

a projection area information generation means for detecting the first region in the sensing region as a partial projection area based on a difference between the first sensing information and the second sensing information, and generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the partial projection area;

a correction information generation means for generating image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction means for correcting an image signal so that image distortion is corrected based on the image distortion correction information,

wherein the image projection means projects an image based on the image signal corrected by the distortion correction means.

2. The image processing system as defined in claim 1,

wherein the first region is formed by reducing the entire image region by 1/n, and

wherein the projection area information generation means detects a region formed by multiplying the partial projection area by n as the projection area.

3. The image processing system as defined in claim 1,

wherein the correction information generation means:

calculates a relative distance between an origin in a three-dimensional space in which an optical axis of the sensing means is added to a two-dimensional plane of the sensing region as a third dimension and the four corners of the projection target on the optical axis based on the projection target region information;

calculates coordinates of the four corners of the projection target in the three-dimensional space based on the projection target region information and the relative distance;

calculates a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target by calculating lengths of two sides of the projection target which are not opposite each other based on the coordinates;

calculates coordinates of four corners of an image in the sensing region in a case where the image projection means projects the image onto the projection target in an undistorted state at a second height/width ratio based on the first height/width ratio, the second height/width ratio and the projection target region information, the second height/width ratio indicating a height/width ratio of the single-color calibration image, the multi-color calibration image, or a projection panel of the image projection means; and

generates the image distortion correction information based on the coordinates of the four corners of the image in the sensing region and the projection area information.

4. The image processing system as defined in claim 1,

wherein the correction information generation means determines a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection target region information, and generates projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel of the image projection means based on the projection area information and generates the image distortion correction information based on the projection coordinate system projection area information so that an image is displayed at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio.

7. The image processing system as defined in claim 1,

wherein the projection target region information generation means searches for an image signal value of the sensing information so that each pixel is radially searched for from a region near a center of the sensing region, and generates the projection target region information by determining the projection target region based on a difference in the image signal value during searching.

5. An image processing system comprising:

an image projection means for projecting a calibration image onto a projection target;

a sensing means for sensing the calibration image to generate sensing information;

a projection target region information generation means for generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing means based on the sensing information;

a projection area information generation means for generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the sensing information;

a correction information generation means for generating image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction means for correcting an image signal based on the image distortion correction information so that image distortion is corrected,

wherein the image projection means projects an image based on the image signal that has been corrected by the distortion correction means, and

wherein the correction information generation means determines a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection target region information, and generates projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel of the image projection means based on the projection area information and generates the image distortion correction information based on the projection coordinate system projection area information so that an image is displayed at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio.

6. The image processing system as defined in claim 5,

wherein the correction information generation means:

calculates a relative distance between an origin in a three-dimensional space in which an optical axis of the sensing means is added to a two-dimensional plane of the sensing region as a third dimension and the four corners of the projection target on the optical axis based on the projection target region information;

calculates coordinates of the four corners of the projection target in the three-dimensional space based on the projection target region information and the relative distance; and

calculates a first height/width ratio by calculating lengths of two sides of the projection target which are not opposite each other based on the coordinates.

8. An image processing system comprising:

an image projection section which projects a single-color calibration image formed of an arbitrary single color onto a projection target, and projects a multi-color calibration image onto the projection target, the multi-color calibration image including a first region and a second region, the first region being in a first single color and smaller than an entire image region and the second region being a region other than the first region and in a second single color, which is a color other than the first single color;

a sensing section which senses the single-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate first sensing information, and senses the multi-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate second sensing information;

a projection target region information generation section which generates projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing section based on a difference in image signal value between each pixel based on the first sensing information;

a projection area information generation section which detects the first region in the sensing region as a partial projection area based on a difference between the first sensing information and the second sensing information, and generates projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the partial projection area;

a correction information generation section which generates image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction section which corrects an image signal so that image distortion is corrected based on the image distortion correction information,

wherein the image projection section projects an image based on the image signal corrected by the distortion correction section.

9. An image processing system comprising:

an image projection section which projects a calibration image onto a projection target;

a sensing section which senses the calibration image to generate sensing information;

a projection target region information generation section which generates projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing section based on the sensing information;

a projection area information generation section which generates projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the sensing information;

a correction information generation section which generates image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction section which corrects an image signal based on the image distortion correction information so that image distortion is corrected,

wherein the image projection section projects an image based on the image signal that has been corrected by the distortion correction section, and

wherein the correction information generation section determines a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection target region information, and generates projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel of the image projection section based on the projection area information and generates the image distortion correction information based on the projection coordinate system projection area information so that an image is displayed at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio.

10. A projector comprising:

an image projection means for projecting a single-color calibration image formed of an arbitrary single color onto a projection target, and projecting a multi-color calibration image onto the projection target, the multi-color calibration image including a first region and a second region, the first region being in a first single color and smaller than an entire image region and the second region being a region other than the first region and in a second single color, which is a color other than the first single color;

a sensing means for sensing the single-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate first sensing information, and sensing the multi-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate second sensing information;

a projection target region information generation means for generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing means based on a difference in image signal value between each pixel based on the first sensing information;

a projection area information generation means for detecting the first region in the sensing region as a partial projection area based on a difference between the first sensing information and the second sensing information, and generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the partial projection area;

a correction information generation means for generating image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction means for correcting an image signal so that image distortion is corrected based on the image distortion correction information,

wherein the image projection means projects an image based on the image signal corrected by the distortion correction means.

11. A projector comprising:

an image projection means for projecting a calibration image onto a projection target;

a sensing means for sensing the calibration image to generate sensing information;

a projection target region information generation means for generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing means based on the sensing information;

a projection area information generation means for generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the sensing information;

a correction information generation means for generating image distortion correction information so that an image is projected onto the projection target region at a desired height/width ratio, based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction means for correcting an image signal based on the image distortion correction information so that image distortion is corrected,

wherein the image projection means projects an image based on the image signal that has been corrected by the distortion correction means, and

wherein the correction information generation means determines a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection target region information, and generates projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel of the image projection means based on the projection area information and generates the image distortion correction information based on the projection coordinate system projection area information so that an image is displayed at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio.

12. A projector comprising:

an image projection section which projects a single-color calibration image formed of an arbitrary single color onto a projection target, and projects a multi-color calibration image onto the projection target, the multi-color calibration image including a first region and a second region, the first region being in a first single color and smaller than an entire image region and the second region being a region other than the first region and in a second single color, which is a color other than the first single color;

a sensing section which senses the single-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate first sensing information, and senses the multi-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate second sensing information;

a projection target region information generation section which generates projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing section based on a difference in image signal value between each pixel based on the first sensing information;

a projection area information generation section which detects the first region in the sensing region as a partial projection area based on a difference between the first sensing information and the second sensing information, and generates projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the partial projection area;

a correction information generation section which generates image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction section which corrects an image signal so that image distortion is corrected based on the image distortion correction information,

wherein the image projection section projects an image based on the image signal corrected by the distortion correction section.

13. A projector comprising:

an image projection section which projects a calibration image onto a projection target;

a sensing section which senses the calibration image to generate sensing information;

a projection target region information generation section which generates projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing section based on the sensing information;

a projection area information generation section which generates projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the sensing information;

a correction information generation section which generates image distortion correction information so that an image is projected onto the projection target region at a desired height/width ratio based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction section which corrects an image signal based on the image distortion correction information so that image distortion is corrected,

wherein the image projection section projects an image based on the image signal that has been corrected by the distortion correction section, and

wherein the correction information generation section determines a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection target region information, and generates projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel of the image projection section based on the projection area information and generates the image distortion correction information based on the projection coordinate system projection area information so that an image is displayed at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio.

14. A computer-readable program which causes a computer to function as:

an image projection means for projecting a single-color calibration image formed of an arbitrary single color onto a projection target, and projecting a multi-color calibration image onto the projection target, the multi-color calibration image including a first region and a second region, the first region being in a first single color and smaller than an entire image region and the second region being a region other than the first region and in a second single color, which is a color other than the first single color;

a sensing means for sensing the single-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate first sensing information, and sensing the multi-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate second sensing information;

a projection target region information generation means for generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing means based on a difference in image signal value between each pixel based on the first sensing information;

a projection area information generation means for detecting the first region in the sensing region as a partial projection area based on a difference between the first sensing information and the second sensing information, and generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the partial projection area;

a correction information generation means for generating image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction means for correcting an image signal so that image distortion is corrected based on the image distortion correction information,

wherein the image projection means projects an image based on the image signal corrected by the distortion correction means.

16. An information storage medium storing a computer-readable program which stores the program defined in claim 14.

15. A computer-readable program which causes a computer to function as:

an image projection means for projecting a calibration image onto a projection target;

a sensing means for sensing the calibration image to generate sensing information;

a projection target region information generation means for generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing means based on the sensing information;

a projection area information generation means for generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the sensing information;

a correction information generation means for generating image distortion correction information so that an image is projected onto the projection target region at a desired height/width ratio, based on the projection target region information and the projection area information; and

a distortion correction means for correcting an image signal based on the image distortion correction information so that image distortion is corrected,

wherein the image projection means projects an image based on the image signal that has been corrected by the distortion correction means, and

wherein the correction information generation means determines a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection target region information, and generates projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel of the image projection means based on the projection area information and generates the image distortion correction information based on the projection coordinate system projection area information so that an image is displayed at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio.

17. An information storage medium storing a computer-readable program which stores the program defined in claim 15.

18. An image processing method comprising:

projecting a single-color calibration image formed of an arbitrary single color onto a projection target by an image projection section;

sensing the single-color calibration image projected onto the projection target by a sensing section to generate first sensing information;

projecting a multi-color calibration image onto the projection target, the multi-color calibration image including a first region and a second region, the first region being in a first single color and smaller than an entire image region and the second region being a region other than the first region and in a second single color, which is a color other than the first single color;

sensing the multi-color calibration image projected onto the projection target to generate second sensing information;

generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing section based on a difference in image signal value between each pixel based on the first sensing information;

detecting the first region in the sensing region as a partial projection area based on a difference between the first sensing information and the second sensing information, and generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the partial projection area;

generating image distortion correction information based on the projection target region information and the projection area information;

correcting an image signal so that image distortion is corrected based on the image distortion correction information; and

projecting an image based on the image signal.

19. The image processing method as defined in claim 18,

wherein the first region is formed by reducing the entire image region by 1/n, and a region formed by multiplying the partial projection area by n is detected as the projection area.

20. The image processing method as defined in claim 18, the method comprising:

calculating a relative distance between an origin in a three-dimensional space in which an optical axis of the sensing section is added to a two-dimensional plane of the sensing region as a third dimension and the four corners of the projection target on the optical axis based on the projection target region information;

calculating coordinates of the four corners of the projection target in the three-dimensional space based on the projection target region information and the relative distance;

calculating a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target by calculating lengths of two sides of the projection target which are not opposite each other based on the coordinates;

calculating coordinates of four corners of an image in the sensing region in a case of projecting the image onto the projection target in an undistorted state at a second height/width ratio based on the first height/width ratio, the second height/width ratio and the projection target region information, the second height/width ratio indicating a height/width ratio of the single-color calibration image, the multi-color calibration image, or a projection panel of the image projection section; and

generating the image distortion correction information based on the coordinates of the four corners of the image in the sensing region and the projection area information.

21. The image processing method as defined in claim 18, the method comprising:

determining a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection target region information;

generating projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel based on the projection area information so that an image is displayed at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio; and

generating the image distortion correction information based on the projection coordinate system projection area information.

23. The image processing method as defined in claim 21, the method comprising:

calculating a relative distance between an origin in a three-dimensional space in which an optical axis of the sensing section is added to a two-dimensional plane of the sensing region as a third dimension and the four corners of the projection target on the optical axis based on the projection target region information;

calculating coordinates of the four corners of the projection target in the three-dimensional space based on the projection target region information and the relative distance; and

calculating a first height/width ratio by calculating lengths of two sides of the projection target which are not opposite each other based on the coordinates.

24. The image processing method as defined in claim 18, the method comprising:

searching for an image signal value of the sensing information so that each pixel is radially searched for from a region near a center of the sensing region, and generating the projection target region information by determining the projection target region based on a difference in the image signal value during searching when generating the projection target region information.

22. An image processing method comprising:

projecting a calibration image onto a projection target by an image projection section;

sensing the calibration image by a sensing section to generate sensing information;

generating projection target region information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection target in a sensing region of the sensing section based on the sensing information;

generating projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of a projection area in the sensing region based on the sensing information;

generating projection coordinate system projection area information which indicates coordinates of four corners of the projection area in a projection panel of the image projection section based on the projection area information;

determining a first height/width ratio which indicates a height/width ratio of the projection target based on the projection coordinate system projection area information;

generating image distortion correction information so that an image is projected at a second height/width ratio which indicates a desired height/width ratio corresponding to the first height/width ratio;

correcting an image signal based on the image distortion correction information so that image distortion is corrected; and

projecting an image based on the corrected image signal.