MOBILE TERMINAL AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20120013605A1
• Filed: 03/21/2011
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Seol, Yunhwan
• Granted Patent: US 9,420,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/144 for flicker reduction
• 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 13/337 using polarisation multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/341 using temporal multiplexing

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a controller and a display unit for displaying a stereoscopic image including a first image provided to a left eye of a user and a second image provided to a right eye of the user. The controller detects at least one same object between the first and second images, and determines a distance between a point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the first image and a point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the second image. When the determined distance is equal to or greater than a preset critical value, the controller changes a position of the at least one same object in each of the first and second images to decrease the distance to less than the preset critical value.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a controller; and

a display unit controlled by the controller and configured to display a stereoscopic image, the stereoscopic image comprising a first image provided to a left eye of a user and a second image provided to a right eye of the user,

wherein the controller;

detects at least one same object between the first and second images, and

determines a distance between a point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the first image and a point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the second image,

wherein when the determined distance is equal to or greater than a preset critical value, the controller changes a position of the at least one same object in each of the first and second images to decrease the distance between the point at which the at least one same object is positioned in the first image and the point at which the at least one same object is positioned in the second image to less than the preset critical value, and

wherein the controller displays the changed first and second images on the display unit.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the display unit comprises an image displaying means and a parallax generating means provided over the image displaying means to change at least one of a propagation direction and a vibration direction of a light generated from the image displaying means.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller detects the at least one same object between the first and second images by a block search algorithm or an object tracking algorithm.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller changes the position of the at least one same object in each of the first image and second image by moving the at least one same object closer to a center point between the point at which the at least one same object is positioned in the first image and the point at which the at least one same object is positioned in the second image by the same distance.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller displays the at least one same object with a prescribed visual effect before changing the position of the at least one same object.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 5, further comprising a user input unit configured to receive a user command, wherein if the at least one same object with the prescribed visual effect is selected by the user command, the controller only changes a position of the selected object in each of the first image and second image.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein each time the selection is made, the controller changes the position of the selected object by a predetermined distance.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 5, further comprising a user input unit configured to receive a user command, wherein if the at least one same object with the prescribed visual effect is selected by the user command, the controller displays a menu window in the vicinity of the selected object to enable the user to select a manual execution of the position change or an automatic execution of the position change of the selected object.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein if the manual execution is selected from the menu window, the controller displays a scroll bar for adjusting a distance of the position change of the selected object.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein if the automatic execution is selected from the menu window, the controller changes the position of the selected object in each of the first image and second image such that the distance between the point at which the selected object is positioned in the first image and the point at which the selected object is positioned in the second image is less than the preset critical value.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 5, wherein the controller displays a convergence object positioned at a same position in the first and second images with a different prescribed visual effect according to a relative level of a stereoscopic effect of the at least same object.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the first image and the second image correspond to one video frame, wherein when the position of the at least one same object is changed in each of the first image and second image, if a lost space is generated in the one video frame, the controller controls an image corresponding to the lost space to be inserted in a video frame next to or previous to the one video frame.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein when the position of the at least one same object is changed in one of the first image and second image, if a lost space is generated, the controller controls an image corresponding to the lost space in the other of the first image and second image to be inserted in the lost space in the one of the first image and second image.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the preset critical value is a distance corresponding to a binocular interval of the user.

15. A method of controlling a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

detecting at least one same object between a first image and a second image displayed on a display unit, wherein the first image and second image together form a stereoscopic image;

calculating a distance between a point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the first image and a point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the second image;

determining whether the calculated distance is equal to greater than a preset critical value,

when the calculated distance is equal to or greater than the preset critical value, changing a position of the at least one same object in each of the first and second images to decrease the distance between the point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the first image and the point at which the detected at least one same object is positioned in the second image to less than the preset critical value; and

displaying the changed first and second images on the display unit.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising detecting the at least one same object between the first and second images by a block search algorithm or an object tracking algorithm.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein changing the position of the at least one same object in each of the first image and second image comprises moving the at least one same object closer to a center point between the point at which the at least one same object is positioned in the first image and the point at which the at least one same object is positioned in the second image by the same distance.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying the at least one same object with a prescribed visual effect before changing the position of the at least one same object.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first image and the second image correspond to one video frame, wherein when the position of the at least one same object is changed in each of the first image and second image, if a lost space is generated in the one video frame, controlling an image corresponding to the lost space to be inserted in a video frame next to or previous to the one video frame.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein when the position of the at least one same object is changed in one of the first image and second image, if a lost space is generated, controlling an image corresponding to the lost space in the other of the first image and second image to be inserted in the lost space in the one of the first image and second image.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the preset critical value is a distance corresponding to a binocular interval of a user.