Image display apparatus and signal processing apparatus

• US 20060238613A1
• Filed: 06/22/2006
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Hibino, Yoshihiko, Takayama, Haruhisa, Sakaue, Osamu
• Granted Patent: US 8,089,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/405 using Z-buffer
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10012 Stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/10 Processing, recording or transmission of stereoscopic or multi-view image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/161 Encoding, multiplexing or demultiplexing different image signal components for multi-view video sequence encoding H04N19/597
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/324 Colour aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 with head-mounted left-right displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/363 using image projection screens volumetric display H04N13/388
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2213/003 Aspects relating to the "2D+depth" image format

Abstract

An apparatus is disclosed for displaying to a viewer an image stereoscopically representing a three-dimensional object to be displayed. The apparatus includes: an emitter emitting light, having an intensity modulating section capable of intensity modulation for modulating an intensity of the light emitted from the emitter; a wavefront-curvature modulator capable of wavefront-curvature modulation for modulating a curvature of wavefront of the light emitted from the emitter; and a controller controlling the intensity modulation and the wavefront-curvature modulation, based on a luminance signal indicative of luminance of the image, and a depth signal indicative of depth of the image. The depth signal is a signal corresponding to depth data produced in a rendering process for the object to be displayed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying to a viewer an image stereoscopically representing a three-dimensional object to be displayed, the apparatus comprising:

an emitter emitting light, having an intensity modulating section capable of intensity modulation for modulating an intensity of the light emitted from the emitter;

a wavefront-curvature modulator capable of wavefront-curvature modulation for modulating a curvature of wavefront of the light emitted from the emitter; and

a controller controlling the intensity modulation and the wavefront-curvature modulation, based on a luminance signal indicative of luminance of the image, and a depth signal indicative of depth of the image;

wherein the depth signal is a signal corresponding to depth data produced in a rendering process for the object to be displayed.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the depth signal is a signal corresponding to the depth data which is produced during hidden surface elimination implemented in the rendering process.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the depth data is Z-value data indicative of a Z-value which is temporarily stored in a Z-buffer when a Z-buffer technique is implemented for hidden surface elimination in the rendering process.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller includes:

a synchronizer synchronizing the luminance signal and the depth signal relative to each other; and

an output section outputting the synchronized luminance and depth signals to the intensity modulating section and the wavefront-curvature modulator.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the luminance signal is in the form of a signal including an effective portion in which there is present an effective signal for displaying the image, and a non-effective portion in which the effective signal is absent,

wherein a start signal is embedded in the luminance signal at the non-effective portion preceding the effective portion, the start signal being predetermined independent of the effective signal present in the effective portion, and

wherein the synchronizer synchronizes the luminance and depth signals relative to each other, based on the embedded start signal.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller includes:

(a) an entry section into which an image signal formed by embedding the depth signal into the luminance signal is entered; and

(b) an output section extracting the luminance and depth signals from the image signal entered, and outputting the extracted luminance and depth signals to the intensity modulating section and the wavefront-curvature modulator.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the luminance signal is in the form of a signal including an effective portion corresponding to an image display region in which the apparatus displays the image and, a non-effective portion corresponding to an image non-display region in which the apparatus does not display the image, the effective portion including a plurality of luminance individual-signals representing the luminance for a plurality of respective divisions of one frame of the image, and

wherein the depth signal is formed to include a plurality of depth individual-signals representing the depth for the plurality of respective divisions.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image signal is formed such that the depth signal is embedded in the luminance signal, by replacing ones of the luminance individual-signals which are present in a fraction of the effective portion of the luminance signal, with the depth individual-signals corresponding to an image corresponding to an entirety of the effective portion.

11. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image signal is formed by embedding into the non-effective portion of the luminance signal, the depth individual-signals corresponding to an image corresponding to the effective portion preceding or subsequent to the non-effective portion.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller includes:

an entry section into which there are entered the luminance and depth signals which have previously been synchronized relative to each other; and

an output section outputting the luminance and depth signals entered to the intensity modulating section and the wavefront-curvature modulator in synchronization with each other.

9. The apparatus according to claim B, wherein the fraction of the effective portion corresponds to an edge area of the image display region corresponding to the entirety of the effective portion.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a scanner two-dimensionally scanning the light modulated by the wavefront-curvature modulator,

wherein the scanner performs a first scan for scanning the light in a first scan direction, per each frame of an image to be displayed, and a second scan for scanning the light in a second scan direction intersecting with respect to the first scan direction, to thereby form the image in a plurality of scan lines,

wherein a scan region which is an overall region in which the light is two-dimensionally scanned by the scanner is configured to be larger than the image display region, to thereby allow the image non-display region to be located outside the image display region,

wherein the image display region is formed with the plurality of scan lines,

wherein the effective portion is present for each of the plurality of scan lines, and

wherein the fraction of the effective portion corresponds to an edge area of a corresponding one of the plurality of scan lines to an entirety of the effective portion.

13. An apparatus for signal processing which supplies signals to an image display section displaying an image representing a three-dimensional object to be displayed, in an image display region in which the image is to be displayed, the apparatus comprising:

a signal output section performing outputting of a luminance signal to the image display section, and outputting of a depth signal indicative of depth of the image to the image display section, with the depth signal being in the form of a signal corresponding to depth data produced in a rendering process for the object to be displayed.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the depth signal is a signal corresponding to the depth data which is produced during hidden surface elimination implemented in the rendering process.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the depth data is Z-value data indicative of a Z-value which is temporarily stored in a Z-buffer when a Z-buffer technique is implemented for hidden surface elimination in the rendering process.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the signal output section outputs the luminance and depth signals in non-synchronization with each other.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the signal output section outputs the luminance signal in the form of a signal including an effective portion in which there is present an effective signal for displaying the image, and a non-effective portion in which the effective signal is absent, and

wherein the apparatus further comprises means for embedding a start signal into the luminance signal at the non-effective portion preceding the effective portion, the start signal being predetermined independent of the effective signal present in the effective portion.

18. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising an image signal generator generating an image signal by embedding the depth signal into the luminance signal, and

wherein the signal output section outputs the generated image signal to the image display section.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the luminance signal is in the form of a signal including an effective portion corresponding to the image display region in which the image display section displays the image, and a non-effective portion corresponding to an image non-display region in which the image display section does not display the image, the effective portion including a plurality of luminance individual-signals representing the luminance for a plurality of respective divisions of one frame of the image, and

wherein the depth signal is formed to include a plurality of depth individual-signals representing the depth for the plurality of respective divisions.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the image signal is formed by replacing ones of the luminance individual-signals which are present in a fraction of the effective portion of the luminance signal, with the depth individual-signals corresponding to an image corresponding to an entirety of the effective portion, for the depth signal to be embedded into the luminance signal.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the fraction of the effective portion corresponds to an edge area of the image display region corresponding to the entirety of the effective portion.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the image display section includes a scanner two-dimensionally scanning light modulated by a wavefront-curvature modulator,

wherein the scanner performs a first scan for scanning the light in a first scan direction, per each frame of an image to be displayed, and a second scan for scanning the light in a second scan direction intersecting with respect to the first scan direction, to thereby form the image in a plurality of scan lines,

wherein a scan region which is an overall region in which the light is two-dimensionally scanned by the scanner is configured to be larger than the image display region, to thereby allow the image non-display region to be located outside the image display region,

wherein the image display region is formed with the plurality of scan lines,

wherein the effective portion is present for each of the plurality of scan lines, and

wherein the fraction of the effective portion corresponds to an edge area of a corresponding one of the plurality of scan lines to an entirety of the effective portion.

23. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the image signal is formed by embedding into the non-effective portion of the luminance signal, the depth individual-signals corresponding to an image corresponding to the effective portion preceding or subsequent to the non-effective portion.

24. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the signal output section outputs the luminance and depth signals in synchronization with each other.

25. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the signal output section outputs the luminance signal via a single set of RGB signal lines, while outputting the depth signal via a signal line different in type from the RGB signal lines.

26. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the signal output section outputs the luminance signal via one of a plurality of sets of RGB signal lines, while outputting the depth signal via another set of RGB signal lines.

27. The apparatus according to claim 13, supplying the luminance and depth signals to the image display section, while supplying to a reproducing device reproducing a physical effect other than an image, a control signal for control of the reproducing device, and

further comprising:

a storage medium; and

a signal storing section, prior to supply to the image display section and the reproducing device, storing the image signal and the control signal into the storage medium at a plurality of storage blocks positionally associated with each other, respectively, the image signal and the control signal being to be processed in the image display section and the reproducing device, respectively, in synchronization with each other.

28. The apparatus according to claim 27, further comprising:

an interface in common to the image signal and the control signal; and

a transmitting circuit in common to the image signal and the control signal, which transmits the image signal and the control signal, upon retrieved from the storage medium, to the image display section and the reproducing device, respectively.

29. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the image to be displayed by the image display section is formed with a group of a plurality of frames,

wherein the storage medium is assigned a plurality of frame-by-frame storage areas with the same number as the number of the frames forming the image, the plurality of frame-by-frame storage areas used for storing the image signal and the control signal per each frame of the image, and

wherein the signal storing section stores the image signal and the control signal into the frame-by-frame storage areas per each frame of the image.

30. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the signal storing section stores the control signal into each of the frame-by-frame storage areas on an upstream side of a direction in which the image signal and the control signal are retrieved from each of the frame-by-frame storage areas for transmission.

31. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the signal storing section stores the control signal into each of the frame-by-frame storage areas on a downstream side of a direction in which the image signal and the control signal are retrieved from each of the frame-by-frame storage areas for transmission.

32. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein one frame of an image to be displayed by the image display section is formed with a group of a plurality of lines,

wherein each of the frame-by-frame storage areas is assigned a plurality of line-by-line storage regions with the same number as the number of the lines forming each frame of the image, the plurality of line-by-line storage regions used for storing the image signal and the control signal per each line of each frame of the image, and

wherein the signal storing section stores the image signal and the control signal into the line-by-line storage regions per each line of each frame of the image.

33. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the signal storing section stores the control signal into each of the line-by-line storage regions on an upstream side of a direction in which the image signal and the control signal are retrieved from each of the line-by-line storage regions for transmission.

34. The apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the signal storing section stores the control signal into each of the line-by-line storage regions on a downstream side of a direction in which the image signal and the control signal are retrieved from each of the line-by-line storage regions for transmission.