MULTI-DIRECTIONAL IMAGE DISPLAYING DEVICE

• US 20090323029A1
• Filed: 06/27/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: CHEN, BILLY P., OFEK, EYAL
• Granted Patent: US 7,967,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 353/37
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/14 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 21/28 Reflectors in projection beam in illumination beam G03B21/2066
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 37/04 with cameras or projectors providing touching or overlapping fields of view

Abstract

Methods, devices, and systems are provided for displaying an image using a multi-directional image displaying device in a compact, configurable device having an expansive viewing angle. An image projector projects an image having a plurality of image pixels. A distribution object is aligned with the image projector. The distribution object is utilized to redirect the image pixels projected by the image projector onto one or more display surfaces. As such, in one embodiment, a wide view display of the first image that expands at least the width of a user field of view results from the spreading of the image pixels. A compact housing unit provides support for the image projector and the distribution object. In one embodiment, the multi-directional image displaying device can be adjusted to change the wide view display of the image.

Claims

1. A multi-directional image displaying device having a viewing angle that extends at least one hundred eighty degrees around the multi-directional image displaying device to provide a wide view display of an image, the multi-directional image displaying device comprising:

a first image projector for projecting a first image having a plurality of image pixels;

a distribution object aligned with the first image projector for spreading the image pixels projected by the first image projector onto one or more display surfaces, wherein a wide view display of the first image that expands at least the width of a user field of view results from the spreading of the image pixels; and

a compact housing unit to support the first image projector and the distribution object.

2. The multi-directional image displaying device of claim 1, wherein the first image comprises a digital image.

3. The multi-directional image displaying device of claim 2, wherein the first image comprises a still image or a video image.

4. The multi-directional image displaying device of claim 1, wherein the distribution object comprises a parabolic shaped mirror, a conical shaped mirror, a spherical shaped mirror, a pyramidal shaped mirror, a piecewise planar mirror, or a general smooth surface.

5. The multi-directional image displaying device of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more display surfaces comprise a wall in a room.

6. The multi-directional image displaying device of claim 1 further comprising an image capturing component directed towards the distribution object for capturing one or more images of the image projected onto one or more display surfaces.

7. The multi-directional image displaying device of claim 6, wherein the one or more captured images are utilized to modify a second image to be projected from the first image projector.

8. A method for causing images to display in multiple directions extending from a multi-directional image displaying device, the method comprising:

projecting an image from one or more image projectors via light rays corresponding with the image extending from the one or more image projectors, the one or more image projectors disposed within a housing of the multi-directional image displaying device;

utilizing a distribution object to reflect the light rays corresponding with the image in a plurality of directions in accordance with the shape of the distribution object, thereby expanding the viewing angle of the one or more projectors; and

displaying the image on one or more display surfaces, wherein the width of the image extends in multiple directions around the multi-directional image displaying device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the width of the image extends three hundred sixty degrees around the multi-directional image displaying device.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising capturing an image of the distribution object reflecting the image displayed on the one or more display surfaces.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising utilizing the captured image, the projected image, and position data indicating the relative position of the one or more image projectors and an image capturing component to modify images to be projected via the one or more image projectors so that the images to be projected will not appear distorted to a user.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising utilizing the captured image to identify if a user interaction exists, wherein the displayed image is manipulated in accordance with the user interaction if the user interaction exists.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the distribution object comprises a curved or multi-planar mirror or lens.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the distribution object can be removed and replaced with another distribution object to control a size, a shape, or a combination thereof of the image displayed.

15. A multi-directional image displaying system for causing images to display in multiple directions extending from a multi-directional image displaying device, the system comprising:

a housing having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the housing is compact;

a first image projector that projects a video image, the first projector enclosed within the housing;

a distribution object comprising a curved or multi-planar shaped mirror that distributes the video image in multiple directions around the housing, the distribution object extending from the top surface or the bottom surface of the housing, wherein the distribution object causes the video image to be displayed on multiple walls; and

an image source that provides the video image to the first image projector.

16. The multi-directional image displaying system of claim 15 further comprising an image capturing component to capture one or more images, wherein the one or more captured images are utilized to modify at least one image to be projected from the first image projector, the image capturing component disposed within the housing.

17. The multi-directional image displaying system of claim 16 further comprising a processor to perform at least one of determining a correspondence between one or more pixels projected from the first image projector and one or more pixels captured by the image capturing component, reconstructing a three-dimensional model of a room, or portion thereof, in which the image is being displayed, modifying the at least one image to be projected from the first image projector to account for geometrical distortion, and normalizing at least one image to be projected from the first image projector to account for non-uniform albedo.

18. The multi-directional image displaying system of claim 15 further comprising a second image projector that projects the video image, the second projector being disposed with the housing.

19. The multi-directional image displaying system of claim 18, wherein the first image projector projects the video image towards a first portion of the distribution object and the second image projector projects the video image towards the second portion of the distribution object.

20. The multi-directional image displaying system of claim 15, wherein the position between first image projector and the distribution object or the shape of the distribution object can be adjusted to modify the display of the image.