Methods and Apparatus for Displaying an Image with Enhanced Depth Effect
First Claim
1. A method for displaying an image containing Objects having different depths within the image, the method comprising:
- dividing the image into disjoint portions, each portion containing objects with depths in a respective range; and
displaying disjoint portions of the image in sequence within a frame period.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for displaying an image with enhanced image depth are disclosed. In one method, a range of depth values of picture elements (pixels) of an image is divided into multiple depth layers, and pixels in the different depth layers are displayed in a phased manner relative to the frame start time. For each image frame, objects with increasing depth in a scene are displayed with increasing delays relative to the image frame start time. The resulting illusion of depth is believed to be attributable to the edge-detection response of the human visual system, which reacts strongly to the alternating illumination on each side of an object'"'"'s edge. In some implementations, the display device includes multiple pixel units that are individually activated dependent upon corresponding pixel depth data.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for displaying an image containing Objects having different depths within the image, the method comprising:
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dividing the image into disjoint portions, each portion containing objects with depths in a respective range; and displaying disjoint portions of the image in sequence within a frame period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for displaying an image comprising a plurality of picture elements (pixels), the method comprising:
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dividing a range of depth values of the pixels into a plurality of depth layers including a first depth layer and a second depth layer; activating the pixels having depth values within the first depth layer at a start time; after a selected period of time from the start time, activating the pixels having depth values within the second depth layer; and wherein the selected period of time is selected such that a human observer of the image perceives depth in the image as the pixels of the image are displayed. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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- 16. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the display screen comprises a liquid crystal display screen.
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18. A display system, comprising:
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a display device comprising a display screen; a memory system storing color/intensity data and depth data for each of a plurality of picture elements (pixels) of an image to be displayed on the display screen, wherein the image comprises a plurality of depth layers; a display processor coupled between the memory system and the display device and configured to access the color/intensity data and the depth data stored in the memory system, to use the color/intensity data and the depth data to generate a display signal, and to provide the display signal to the display device; and wherein the display signal causes the display device to display the depth layers of the image on the display screen alternately and in sequence. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 29, 30)
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22. A display device, comprising:
a plurality of picture element (pixel) units, wherein each of the pixel units comprises; a pixel cell configured to display a pixel dependent upon color/intensity data of the pixel; a color/intensity data buffer for storing the color/intensity data; a depth data buffer for storing depth data of the pixel; a pixel switch element coupled to the color/intensity data buffer; a timing circuit coupled to the depth data buffer and to the pixel switch element; wherein the pixel switch element is coupled to receive a signal from the timing circuit and configured to activate the pixel cell in accordance with the color/intensity data from the color/intensity data buffer in response to the signal from the timing circuit; and wherein the timing circuit is configured to provide the signal to the pixel switch element dependent upon the depth data stored in the depth data buffer. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
Specification