APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GENERATING A THREE-DIMENSION IMAGE DATA IN PORTABLE TERMINAL

• US 20120019617A1
• Filed: 07/21/2011
• Published: 01/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Ahn, Sang-Jun, Choi, Kwang-Cheol
• Granted Patent: US 9,749,608 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/43
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/161 Encoding, multiplexing or demultiplexing different image signal components for multi-view video sequence encoding H04N19/597

Abstract

An apparatus and a method process a stereoscopic image. More particularly, an apparatus and a method improve compression performance of stereoscopic image data in a portable terminal. The apparatus includes a camera unit including at least two camera modules spaced about a certain distance apart. The camera unit is configured to obtain a first image and a second image to be used to constitute stereoscopic image data. The apparatus further includes a three-dimensional (3D) data generation unit configured to change a compression ratio of the first image and the second image obtained by the camera unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating stereoscopic image data, the apparatus comprising:

a camera unit including at least two camera modules spaced a certain distance apart, the camera unit configured to obtain a first image and a second image to be used to constitute stereoscopic image data; and

a three-dimensional (3D) data generation unit configured to change a compression ratio of the first image and the second image obtained by the camera unit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the 3D data generation unit changes the compression ratio of the first image and the second image obtained by the camera unit to form a changed compression ratio, the 3D data generation unit is further configured to generate the stereoscopic image data uniting images of the changed compression ratio into one file.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the stereoscopic image data united into the one file is reproducible by a two-dimensional (2D) portable terminal and a 3D portable terminal.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein, when the 2D portable terminal plays the stereoscopic image data, the 3D data generation unit is further configured to reproduce the first image of the stereoscopic image data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first image of the stereoscopic image data is an image compressed into a predefined image quality, and the second image in the stereoscopic image data is an image compressed into a low image quality.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein, when the 3D portable terminal plays the stereoscopic image data, the 3D data generation unit is further configured to combine and reproduce the first image and the second image of the stereoscopic image data.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the 3D data generation unit is further configured to change the compression ratio of at least one of the first image and the second image.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the 3D data generation unit is further configured to set and provide a compression condition of the first image and the second image to a first encoder and a second encoder, compress the first image using the first encoder, and compress the second image using the second encoder.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the compression condition is a coding variable for changing a type of the first encoder and the second encoder and comprises at least one of a motion vector search range, a bit rate, error correction, and intra prediction.

10. A method for generating stereoscopic image data, the method comprising:

obtaining a first image and a second image to be used to constitute stereoscopic image data through at least two camera modules spaced a certain distance apart; and

changing a compression ratio of the first image and the second image obtained.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

after changing the compression ratio of the first image and the second image obtained to form a changed compression ratio, generating the stereoscopic image data uniting images of the changed compression ratio into one file.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the stereoscopic image data united into the one file is reproducible by a two-dimensional (2D) portable terminal and a 3D portable terminal.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

when the 2D portable terminal plays the stereoscopic image data, reproducing the first image of the stereoscopic image data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first image in the stereoscopic image data is an image compressed into a predefined image quality, and the second image in the stereoscopic image data is an image compressed into a low image quality.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

when the 3D portable terminal plays the stereoscopic image data, combining and reproducing the first image and the second image of the stereoscopic image data.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the compression ratio of the first image and the second image obtained changes the compression ratio of at least one of the first image and the second image obtained.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the compression ratio of the first image and the second image obtained comprises:

setting a compression condition of the first image and the second image;

providing the compression condition of the first image to a first encoder;

providing the compression condition of the second image to a second encoder; and

compressing the first image using the first encoder and the second image using the second encoder.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the compression condition is a coding variable for changing a type of the first encoder and the second encoder and comprises at least one of a motion vector search range, a bit rate, error correction, and intra prediction.

19. An apparatus for generating stereoscopic image data, the apparatus comprising:

a camera unit including at least two camera modules spaced a certain distance apart, the camera unit configured to obtain a first image and a second image to be used to constitute stereoscopic image data;

a condition setter configured to determine a compression ratio of the first image and the second image;

a first encoder configured to compress the first image;

a second encoder configured to compress the second image; and

a three-dimensional (3D) data generation unit configured to generate 3D data comprising the first image and the second image compressed by the first encoder and the second encoder.

20. An apparatus for playing stereoscopic image data, the apparatus comprising:

a controller configured to determine whether data to play comprises a plurality of data compressed at different compression ratios and control to selectively play data of the plurality of data, wherein the controller is configured to process to select and play at least one of the plurality of the data when the portable terminal does not support three-dimensional (3D) data and provide stereoscopic effect by playing the plurality of the data when the portable terminal supports the 3D data.