OPTICALLY ENHANCED IMAGE SEQUENCES

• US 20080266468A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Actuality Systems, Inc. (Ellis Amalgamated LLC)
• Inventors: Cossairt, Oliver S., Hill, Samuel L., Purtell, Thomas J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,356,905 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/759
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/305 using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/31 using parallax barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/317 using slanted parallax optics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/351 for displaying simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/363 using image projection screens volumetric display H04N13/388
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 3/10 by means not exclusively optical-mechanical H04N3/36 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3111 for displaying the colours sequentially, e.g. by using sequentially activated light sources sequential projection in colour photography G03B33/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/317 Convergence or focusing systems electronic adjustment of convergence H04N9/3185; convergence or focusing arrangements for cathode ray tubes H04N9/28; means for automatic focusing of projectors not peculiar to the presence of an electronic spatial light modulator G03B21/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3188 Scale or resolution adjustment scaling in general G06T3/40; resolution modifying circuits for displays in general G09G5/391

Abstract

Enhanced image sequences are provided by a high resolution imaging system (HRIS) for generating an enhanced image, where the system includes a device for outputting an image sequence including a plurality of K source images, each source image including a plurality of pixels; and a projector for projecting, within a period of integration, each of the source images to an optical filter, the filter adapted for providing pixels of each source image as sub-pixels of pixels in the enhanced image. The enhanced images may be two-dimensional or three-dimensional. A method and computer program product are provided for generating enhanced images, as well as techniques for fabrication of the HRIS.

Claims

1. A high resolution imaging system (HRIS) for generating an enhanced image, the system comprising:

a device for outputting an image sequence comprising a plurality of K source images, each source image comprising a plurality of pixels; and

a projector for projecting, within a period of integration, each of the source images to an optical filter, the filter adapted for providing pixels of each source image as sub-pixels of pixels in the enhanced image.

2. The HRIS as in claim 1, wherein the projector comprises at least one of a digital light projector (DLP), a lamp, a color-wheel and a spatial light modulator.

3. The HRIS as in claim 1, wherein the period comprises about fifty milliseconds.

4. The HRIS as in claim 1, wherein the filter comprises at least one of an aperture array, a microlens array, and a liquid crystal device (LCD).

5. The HRIS as in claim 1, wherein the filter comprises a scanner.

6. The HRIS as in claim 5, wherein the scanner comprises at least one of a piezo-electric scanner, a translational scanner and a rotational scanner.

7. The HRIS as in claim 5, wherein the scanner provides a scan pattern comprising one degree of freedom.

8. The HRIS as in claim 5, wherein the scanner provides a scan pattern comprising at least two degrees of freedom.

9. The HRIS as in claim 1, further comprising a two-dimensional illumination source.

10. The HRIS as in claim 1, comprising additional optics for providing the enhanced image as a three-dimensional enhanced image.

11. The HRIS as in claim 10, wherein the additional optics comprise at least one of a lenticular lens array, an upstream glass plate, a downstream glass plate, a parallax barrier, a holographic optical element and a fly'"'"'s eye lens array, and a spatial demultiplexing element adapted for varying at least one of a direction and an amplitude of the sub-pixels.

12. The HRIS as in claim 1, wherein the enhanced image comprises a three-dimensional enhanced image.

13. The HRIS as in claim 1, wherein the projector projects at least 1,000 frames per second.

14. The HRIS as in claim 1, wherein each source image comprises m pixels in a first direction and n pixels in a second direction and the enhanced image comprises m×

n×

K total pixels.

15. A method for producing an enhanced image, the enhanced image comprising a plurality of pixels, the method comprising:

outputting an image sequence comprising a plurality of source images, each of the source images comprising a plurality of pixels;

within a period of integration, projecting each source image of the image sequence, and filtering each source image to produce sub-pixels of the pixels in the enhanced image.

16. The method as in claim 15, wherein filtering comprises offsetting the sub-pixels within respective portions of the pixels.

17. The method as in claim 15, wherein filtering comprises scanning in a single direction.

18. The method as in claim 15, wherein filtering comprises scanning in at least two directions.

19. The method as in claim 15, wherein filtering comprises scanning with at least one of a rotational, translational, electrical, mechanical and electro-mechanical technique.

20. The method as in claim 15, wherein filtering comprises scanning according to at least one of a random pattern, a boustrophedonic pattern and a Lissajous pattern.

21. The method as in claim 15, further comprising mapping locations for each sub-pixel.

22. The method as in claim 15, wherein producing the enhanced image comprises producing one of a two dimensional and a three-dimensional enhanced image.

23. A computer program product comprising machine readable instructions stored on machine readable media for providing an enhanced image, the instructions comprising:

outputting an image sequence comprising a plurality of source images, each source image comprising a plurality of pixels;

projecting a first source image;

filtering the first source image to provide a plurality of sub-pixels on a first location of a surface for pixels of the enhanced image;

projecting a next source image and filtering the next source image to provide a plurality of sub-pixels in a next location for pixels of the enhanced image until each of the source images has been projected on the surface within a period of visual integration.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the enhanced image comprises one of a two-dimensional (2D) image and a three-dimensional (3D) image.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising instructions for determining an offset for each location.

26. A high-resolution imaging system comprising:

means for receiving an image sequence comprising a plurality of source images, each source image comprising a plurality of pixels; and

projecting means for projecting within a period of integration each of the source images to filtering means, the filtering means for providing pixels of each source image as sub-pixels of pixels in the enhanced image.

27. A method for fabricating a high resolution imaging system (HRIS) for generating an enhanced image, the method comprising:

selecting components for receiving an image sequence comprising a plurality of source images, each source image comprising a plurality of pixels; and

for projecting within a period of integration each of the source images to an optical filter, the filter comprising a plurality of windows for providing pixels of each source image as sub-pixels of pixels in the enhanced image; and

assembling the components.

28. The method as in claim 27, wherein the selecting comprises selecting components for increasing a number of source images within the plurality.

29. The method as in claim 27, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the optical filter for providing brightness in the enhanced image.

30. A high resolution imaging system (HRIS) for generating a three-dimensional (3D) enhanced image, the system comprising:

a device for outputting an image sequence comprising a plurality of source images, each source image comprising a plurality of pixels; and

a projector for projecting, within a period of integration, each of the source images to an optical filter and a spatial demultiplexing element, the filter adapted for providing pixels of each source image as sub-pixels of pixels in the 3D enhanced image.

31. The HRIS as in claim 30, wherein the spatial demultiplexing element comprises a lenticular lens array.

32. The HRIS as in claim 30, wherein the spatial demultiplexing element comprises at least one of an upstream glass plate, a downstream glass plate, a parallax barrier, a holographic optical element and a fly'"'"'s eye lens array.

33. The HRIS as in claim 30, wherein the spatial demultiplexing element is adapted for varying at least one of a direction and an amplitude of the sub-pixels.