Stereoscopic television system

• US 4,523,226 A
• Filed: 01/19/1983
• Issued: 06/11/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/1982
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Real D
• Original Assignee: Stereographics Corporation (RealD Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lipton, Lenny, Stewart, James D., Meyer, Lawrence D., Starks, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): ORSINO JR, JOSEPH
• Application Number:
  US06/459,174
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• Field of Search: 358/88, 358/91, 358/92, 358/97, 358/146, 358/237, 358/238, 358/239, 358/901, 352/60
• US Class Current: 348/49
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/10 Processing, recording or transmission of stereoscopic or multi-view image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/218 using spatial multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/239 using two 2D image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance H04N13/243 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/339 using spatial multiplexing H04N13/337 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/341 using temporal multiplexing

Abstract

An improved stereoscopic television system is disclosed, having a great deal of compatibility with the existing commercial television infrastructure. Flicker is eliminated while preserving the existing bandwidth allowing the stereoscopic video signals to be handled with conventional apparatus such as video tape recorders, video disks, or broadcast equipment. In the present invention the number of fields per second is twice that of he standard field rate. When displayed on an unmodified receiver or monitor, each subfield image appears to be anamorphically compressed in the vertical direction by a factor of two. A blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse separates the two subfields.

Claims

1. A television system having means for providing standard video fields of standard duration but with each field comprising a first subfield in its upper half with the image therein vertically compressed and a second subfield in its lower half with the image therein vertically compressed, said first and second subfields being separated by a blanking area including a vertical sync pulse.

2. A television system as in claim 1 wherein each pair of video subfields comprises a stereoscopic pair of images.

3. A television system as in claim 1 wherein said upper subfield comprises the left side of a stereoscopic image pair and said lower subfield comprises the right side of the stereoscopic image pair.

4. A television system as in claim 1 wherein said upper subfield comprises the right side of a stereoscopic image pair and said lower subfield comprises the left side of the stereoscopic image pair.

5. A television system as in claim 1 including means for vertically compressing each subfield by a factor of two.

6. A television system having means for providing standard video fields of standard duration equal to (1/vertical deflection frequency) but with each field comprising a first vertically compressed subfield in its upper half and a second vertically compressed subfield in its lower half, said first and second subfields being separated by a vertical sync pulse.

7. A television system as in claim 6 wherein said subfields are additionally separated by a blanking area.

8. A television system as in claim 6 wherein each pair of video subfields comprises a stereoscopic pair of images.

9. A television system as in claim 6 wherein said upper subfield comprises the left side of a stereoscopic image pair and said lower subfield comprises the right side of the stereoscopic image pair.

10. A television system as in claim 6 wherein said upper subfield comprises the right side of a stereoscopic image pair and said lower subfield comprises the left side of the stereoscopic image pair.

11. A television system as in claim 6 including means for vertically compressing each subfield by a factor of two.

12. A stereoscopic television system for providing standard video frames, each frame having a pair of interlaced fields, of 1/60th a second each, comprising:

means for providing a pair of vertically compressed stereoscopic subfields within each field, one subfield being provided by approximately the first half of the raster scan lines and the second subfield being provided by approximately the second half of the raster scan lines, successive pairs of first subfields interlaced to form video frames constituting the first of a stereo pair, successive pairs of second subfields interlaced to form video frames constituting the second of a stereo pair; and

wherein each of said subfields is separated by a vertical sync pulse.

13. A stereoscopic television system as in claim 12 wherein each of said subfields is separated by a blanking area.

14. A stereoscopic television system as in claim 12 wherein each of said subfields is separated by a blanking area and a vertical sync pulse.

15. A stereoscopic television system as in claim 12 including means for vertically compressing each subfield by a factor of two.

16. A stereoscopic television system for providing video fields of standard time duration with one vertically compressed stereoscopic image forming a first subfield within the upper half of each field and the other vertically compressed stereoscopic image forming a second subfield within the lower half of each field, the subfields being separated by a blanking area and vertical sync pulse, comprising:

a first video camera for creating one of the two vertically compressed stereoscopic images for the first subfield, said first camera having means for operating at twice the normal vertical frequency rate;

a second video camera for creating the other of the two vertically compressed stereoscopic images for the second subfield, said second camera having means for operating at twice the normal vertical frequency rate;

means for switching between each of said cameras after each subfield; and

means for providing a blanking area and vertical sync pulse between subfields.

17. A stereoscopic television generation system for providing video fields each having a period defined as (1/vertical frequency rate) with one stereoscopic image forming a first vertically compressed subfield within the upper half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming a second vertically compressed subfield within the lower helf of each field, the subfields being separated by a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse, comprising:

a first video source for creating one of the two vertically compressed stereoscopic images for the first subfield, said first video source having means for operating at twice the normal vertical frequency rate;

a second video source for creating the other of the two vertically compressed stereoscopic images for the second subfield, said video source having means for operating at twice the normal frequency rate;

means for switching between each of said video sources after each subfield; and

means for providing a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse between subfields.

18. A stereoscopic television generation system for providing standard video fields of standard duration but with one stereoscopic image forming a vertically compressed first subfield within the upper half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming a second vertically compressed subfield within the lower half of each field, the subfields being separated by a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse, comprising:

a first video source for providing one of the two stereoscopic images for the first subfield;

a second video source for providing the other of the two stereoscopic images for the second subfield;

means for switching between each of said video sources after each subfield;

means for providing a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse between subfields; and

means for vertically compressing each subfield by a factor of two.

19. The stereoscopic television generation system of claim 18 wherein said compressing means comprises a digital effects device.

20. The stereoscopic television generation system of claim 18 wherein said first and second video sources each comprises a video camera.

21. A stereoscopic television system for providing video fields of standard duration but with one stereoscopic image forming a first subfield within the upper half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming a second subfield within the lower half of each field, the subfields being separated by a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse, comprising:

a television raster scan imaging device;

means for alternately providing the first of a pair of vertically compressed video images on one-half of said television imaging device and the second of a pair of vertically compressed video images on the other half of said television imaging device;

means for centering the television imaging device raster on the first video image when it is provided and for centering the raster on the second video image when it is provided, whereby the resulting output from said image device is alternating video subfields of said first and second vertically compressed images; and

wherein the vertical raster scan rate of said television imaging device is twice that of a standard television imaging device.

22. A stereoscopic television generation system as in claim 21 including means for adding a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse between the respective subfields.

23. A stereoscopic television generation system as in claim 21 wherein said television imaging device is a television pick-up tube.

24. A stereoscopic television system for providing video fields of standard duration with one stereoscopic image forming a first vertically compressed subfield within the upper half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming a second subfield within the lower half of each field, comprising:

an unmodified television raster scan imaging device;

an optical system for taking stereoscopic pairs of images through side-by-side left and right lenses and including means for converting the side-by-side images to over-and-under vertically compressed subfield images for delivery to said imaging device; and

means for inserting a blanking area vertically compressed and sync pulse between the over-and-under vertically compressed subfield images.

25. A stereoscopic television system as in claim 24 wherein said optical system comprises an over and under lens system.

26. A stereoscopic television system as in claim 24 wherein said optical system comprises a optical fiber delivery system.

27. A stereoscopic television system as in claim 26 wherein said optical fiber delivery system comprises a first optical fiber bundle connected from one of the side-by-side lenses to the upper half of said television imaging device and a second optical fiber bundle connected from the other side-by-side lens to the lower half of the said television imaging device.

28. A stereoscopic television generation system as in claim 27 wherein the images through said first and second optical fiber bundles are anamorphically compressed in the vertical direction by a factor of two by altering the spacing of the optical fiber bundles.

29. A stereoscopic television system for providing video fields of standard duration, but with one stereoscopic image forming a first subfield compressed vertically within the upper half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming a second subfield within the lower half of each field, comprising:

a programmed digital computer for generating the respective vertically compressed images forming said first and second subfields, said subfields being anamorphosed in the vertical direction; and

means for inserting a blanking area/vertical sync pulse between said subfields.

30. A stereoscopic television display system for displaying incoming video fields of standard duration, with each field having one stereoscopic image forming a first vertically compressed subfield within the upper half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming a second vertically compressed subfield within the lower half of each field, the subfields being separated by a blanking area and vertical sync pulse, comprising means for doubling the normal vertical sync rate of said display system so that the vertically compressed subfields appear as individual, normal sized uncompressed fields.

31. A stereoscopic television display system for displaying incoming video fields of standard duration, but with each such field having one stereoscopic image forming an anamorphosed first subfield within the upper half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming an anamorphosed second subfield within the lower half of each field, the subfields being separated by a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse, comprising:

optical means for preventing one eye of the viewer from seeing the upper displayed subfield and preventing the other eye from seeing the lower displayed subfield;

said optical means including means to deanamorphose each displayed subfield.

32. A stereoscopic television display system as in claim 31 wherein said television display system includes a cathode ray tube display and said optical means comprises:

(a) a first polarizer placed on said cathode ray tube display over the area of the displayed upper subfield;

(b) a second polarizer placed on said cathode ray tube display over the area of the displayed lower subfield, the axes of polarization of said first and second polarizers being generally orthogonal to each other; and

(c) side-by-side binocular viewing elements, one viewing element containing a third polarizer having an axis of polarization generally parallel to that of said first polarizer, and the other viewing element containing a fourth polarizer having an axis of polarization generally parallel to that of said second sheet polarizer.

33. A stereoscopic television display system as in claim 31 wherein said deanamorphose means comprises a cylindrical lense.

34. A stereoscopic television display system as in claim 32 wherein each of said viewing elements includes a prism to align the axes of the respective subfield images.

35. A stereoscopic television projection display system for displaying incoming video fields of standard duration with one stereoscopic image forming a first anamorphosed subfield within one half of each field and the other stereoscopic image forming a second anamorphosed subfield within the other half of each field, the subfields being separated by a blanking area and/or vertical sync pulse, comprising:

a plurality of raster scan projectors for projecting primary color images in superimposition onto a screen;

means for optically isolating the two projected subfields from each of said raster scan projectors;

means for polarizing the respective subfield images with polarizers whose axes of polarization are orthogonally oriented;

means for superimposing the respective projected polarized subfields onto a screen with the proper stereoscopic parallax; and

means associated with each of the plurality of raster scan projectors to deanamorphose the respective subfield pairs.

36. A stereoscopic television projection display system as in claim 35 wherein said isolating means comprises means for locating each of said polarizing means and each of said superimposing means at a sufficient distance from said projectors.

37. A stereoscopic television projection display system as in claim 35 wherein said isolating means comprises a double curved reflector with the interface of the two reflectors being aligned to coincide with the projected blanking area and/or vertical subfield.

38. A stereoscopic television projection display system as in claim 35 wherein said first and second subfields are arranged in an over-and-under format.

39. A stereoscopic video assist viewfinder for a stereoscopic movie camera comprising:

a conventional stereoscopic movie camera with over and under stereoscopic lenses;

means for diverting the over-and-under image from the camera film to a viewing screen;

a television monitor;

a video camera for transmitting the over-and-under image on said viewing screen to said television monitor in the form of over-and-under subfields within a single field of standard duration;

means for inserting a blanking area and video sync pulse between the resulting over-and-under subfields; and

means for enabling a viewer to stereoscopically view the images displayed on said monitor.

40. A viewfinder as in claim 39 wherein said enabling means comprises means for operating said monitor at twice the normal vertical sync rate, and occluding means synchronized with the fields on said monitor to alternately block the viewer'"'"'s left and right eyes.

41. A television system having means for providing standard video fields of standard duration but with each field comprising a first vertically compressed subfield in one-half of a standard field and a second vertically compressed subfield in the other half of a standard field, said first and second subfields being separated by a blanking area and vertical sync pulse.

42. A television transmission system as in claim 41 wherein said first subfield is provided in the left side and the second subfield in the right side of the standard video field.