PARALLAX IMAGE GENERATING APPARATUS, STEREOSCOPIC PICTURE DISPLAYING APPARATUS AND PARALLAX IMAGE GENERATION METHOD

• US 20120139902A1
• Filed: 06/16/2011
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Fujisawa, Tatsuro, Heng, Tse Kai
• Application Number:
  US13/162,227
• Publication Number:
  US 20120139902A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/111 Transformation of image signals corresponding to virtual viewpoints, e.g. spatial image interpolation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity

Abstract

An embodiment provides a parallax image generating apparatus including a disparity generating section, a disparity correcting section and an image shifting section. The disparity generating section is configured to receive a depth of each part of an input image, and based on the depth, generate a disparity for the part of the image for a respective viewpoint. The disparity correcting section is configured to correct a disparity of a target part of the image to a value based on a disparity obtained for a foreground part from among parts neighboring the target part. The image shifting section is configured to move a part of the input image based on the disparity corrected by the disparity correcting section, to generate a parallax image for the respective viewpoint.

Claims

1. A parallax image generating apparatus comprising:

a disparity generating section configured to receive a depth of each part of an input image, and based on the depth, generate a disparity for each part of the image for a respective viewpoint;

a disparity correcting section configured to correct a disparity of a target part in the image to a value based on a disparity obtained for a foreground part from among parts neighboring the target part; and

an image shifting section configured to move a part of the input image based on the disparity corrected by the disparity correcting section, to generate a parallax image for the respective viewpoint.

2. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the disparity correcting section determines a value of the disparity obtained for the foreground part as a value of the disparity of the target part.

3. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the disparity correcting section obtains the disparity of the target part using a result of weighting and adding up disparities obtained for the parts neighboring the target part and the disparity obtained for the foreground part.

4. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the disparity correcting section obtains the disparity of the target part using a result of weighting and adding up disparities obtained for parts in a predetermined range including the target part and the disparity obtained for the foreground part.

5. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the target part is a part of a hidden surface area to which none of the parts of the input image are moved when the image shifting section moves the parts of the input image based on the disparities obtained by the disparity generating section.

6. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the target part is a part of a hidden surface area to which none of the parts of the input image are moved when the image shifting section moves the parts of the input image based on the disparities obtained by the disparity generating section.

7. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the target part is a part of a hidden surface area to which none of the parts of the input image are moved when the image shifting section moves the parts of the input image based on the disparities obtained by the disparity generating section.

8. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the target part is every part in the input image.

9. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the target part is every part in the input image.

10. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the target part is every part in the input image.

11. The parallax image generating apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the target part is every part in the input image.

12. A stereoscopic picture displaying apparatus comprising:

a depth generating section configured to obtain a depth of each part of an input image;

a parallax image generating section including a disparity generating section configured to, based on the depth, generate a disparity for each part of the image for a respective viewpoint, a disparity correcting section configured to correct a disparity of a target part in the image to a value based on a disparity obtained for a foreground part from among parts neighboring the target part, and an image shifting section configured to move a part of the input image based on a disparity corrected by the disparity correcting section, to generate a parallax image for the respective viewpoint; and

a multi-viewpoint image generating section configured to combine parallax images generated by the parallax image generating section for the respective viewpoints to generate a multi-viewpoint image.

13. The stereoscopic picture displaying apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the disparity correcting section determines a value of the disparity obtained for the foreground part as a value of the disparity of the target part.

14. The stereoscopic picture displaying apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the disparity correcting section obtains the disparity of the target part using a result of weighting and adding up disparities obtained for the parts neighboring the target part and the disparity obtained for the foreground part.

15. The stereoscopic picture displaying apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the disparity correcting section obtains the disparity of the target part using a result of weighting and adding up disparities obtained for parts in a predetermined range including the target part and the disparity obtained for the foreground part.

16. A parallax image generation method comprising:

receiving a depth of each part of an input image, and based on the depth, generating a disparity for each part of the image for a respective viewpoint;

correcting a disparity of a target part in the image to a value based on a disparity obtained for a foreground part from among parts neighboring the target part; and

moving a part of the input image based on the corrected disparity to generate a parallax image for the respective viewpoint.

17. The parallax image generation method according to claim 16, wherein the correcting a disparity includes setting a value of the disparity obtained for the foreground part as a value of the disparity of the target part.

18. The parallax image generation method according to claim 16, wherein the correcting a disparity includes obtaining the disparity of the target part using a result of weighting and adding up disparities obtained for the parts neighboring the target part and the disparity obtained for the foreground part.

19. The parallax image generation method according to claim 16, wherein the correcting a disparity includes obtaining the disparity of the target part using a result of weighting and adding up disparities obtained for parts in a predetermined range including the target part and the disparity obtained for the foreground part.