Binocular display apparatus

• US 5,936,663 A
• Filed: 09/15/1997
• Issued: 08/10/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Hashimoto, Yoshiaki, Tabata, Seiichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): BRITTON, HOWARD W
• Application Number:
  US08/929,611
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 348/51, 348/53, 348/42, 348/47, 348/46
• US Class Current: 348/51
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0093 with means for monitoring data relating to the user, e.g. head-tracking, eye-tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/34 Stereoscopes providing a stereoscopic pair of separated images corresponding to parallactically displaced views of the same object, e.g. 3D slide viewers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/111 Transformation of image signals corresponding to virtual viewpoints, e.g. spatial image interpolation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/122 Improving the 3D impression of stereoscopic images by modifying image signal contents, e.g. by filtering or adding monoscopic depth cues H04N13/128 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/15 for colour aspects of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/167 Synchronising or controlling image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/189 Recording image signals; Reproducing recorded image signals
• 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 13/296 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/327 Calibration thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/337 using polarisation multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/341 using temporal multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 with head-mounted left-right displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/366 using viewer tracking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/383 for tracking with gaze detection, i.e. detecting the lines of sight of the viewer's eyes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/0081 Depth or disparity estimation from stereoscopic image signals

Abstract

A binocular display apparatus includes a left display unit for displaying a left-eye image, a right display unit for displaying a right-eye image, a left designator for designating the position of a left-eye specific area in the display plane of the right display unit, a right designator for designating the position of a right-eye specific area in the display plane of the right display unit based on a correspondence relation with respect to the position of the specific area, an evaluating section for numerically expressing images lying in the specific areas by use of image evaluation parameters, a calculator for calculating a similarity between the left-eye and right-eye images in the specific areas based on the numerically expressed two image evaluation parameters, and a modifier for modifying the right image based on the similarity S calculated by the calculator.

Claims

1. A binocular display apparatus comprising:

a left-eye image display section for displaying a left-eye image;

a right-eye image display section for displaying a right-eye image;

a first specific area position designator for designating the position of one of left-eye and right-eye specific areas in the display plane of one of said left-eye and right-eye image display sections;

a second specific area position designator for designating the position of the other one of the left-eye and right-eye specific areas in the display plane of the other one of said right-eye and left-eye image display sections based on a correspondence relation previously determined for the position of said one of the left-eye and right-eye specific areas;

a first image evaluation parameter calculator for numerically expressing an image lying in said one of the left-eye and right-eye specific areas by use of image evaluation parameters to derive a first image evaluation parameter value;

a second image evaluation parameter calculator for numerically expressing an image lying in the other one of the left-eye and right-eye specific areas by use of image evaluation parameter to derive a second image evaluation parameter value;

a similarity calculator for calculating the similarity between the left-eye image in the left-eye specific area and the right-eye image in the right-eye specific area by comparing the numerically expressed first image evaluation parameter value with the numerically expressed second image evaluation parameter value; and

an image modifier for modifying at least one of the left and right images based on the similarity calculated by said similarity calculator.

2. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said first and second specific area position designators includes a close observation area detector for detecting a close observation area of an observer.

3. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said first and second specific area position designators detects a locus of a close observation area of an observer in a preset period of time and sets an area surrounding the locus as a specific area.

4. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said first and second image evaluation parameter calculators numerically expresses the image by using at least two of average luminance of images lying in the areas, a dispersive value of luminance, an average spatial frequency, average chromaticity, and a dispersive value of chromaticity as evaluation parameters.

5. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image modifier effects at least one of a process for deforming and correcting the image and a process for shifting the entire portion of the image in the horizontal direction to enhance the similarity between the images in the specific areas.

6. A binocular display apparatus in which image signals representing three-dimensional image frames constructed by left-eye and right-eye images are sequentially input according to the time series of the three-dimensional image frames, comprising:

a left-eye image display section for displaying the left-eye image;

a right-eye image display section for displaying the right-eye image;

a first specific area position designator for designating the position of one of the left-eye and right-eye specific areas in the display plane of one of said left-eye and right-eye image display sections;

a second specific area position designator for designating the position of the other one of the right-eye and left-eye specific areas in the display plane of the other one of said right-eye and left-eye image display sections based on a correspondence relation previously determined for the position of one of the left-eye and right-eye specific areas;

a first image evaluation parameter calculator for numerically expressing an image lying in the first specific area by use of image evaluation parameters to derive a first image evaluation parameter value;

a second image evaluation parameter calculator for numerically expressing an image lying in the second specific area by use of image evaluation parameters to derive a second image evaluation parameter value;

a similarity calculator for calculating the similarity between an image in the first specific area and an image in the second specific area by comparing the numerically expressed first image evaluation parameter value with the numerically expressed second image evaluation parameter value; and

an image modifier for comparing the similarity associated with one of the three-dimensional image frames sequentially provided with the similarity associated with a different one of the three-dimensional image frames which lies before the former three-dimensional image frame and modifying at least one of the left-eye and right-eye images based on the result of similarity comparison.

7. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each of said first and second specific area position designators includes a close observation area detector for detecting a close observation area of an observer.

8. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each of said first and second specific area position designators detects a locus of a close observation area of an observer in a preset period of time and sets an area surrounding the locus as a corresponding one of the left-eye and right-eye specific areas.

9. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein sequential time-series three-dimensional video frames represented by an input video signal are dealt as a frame An-2, frame An-1 and frame An, and when the frame An among the sequential time-series video frames is modified, said second specific area position designator compares a similarity Sn-2 for the frame An-2 with a similarity Sn-1 for the frame An-1 and designates the position of the second specific area associated with the frame An according to a correspondence relation which is previously determined based on the result of comparison, and said image modifier compares the similarity Sn-1 for the frame An-1 with a similarity Sn for the frame An and modifies the frame An based on the result of comparison.

10. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each of said first and second image evaluation parameter calculators numerically expresses the image by using at least two of average luminance of images lying in the areas, a dispersive value of luminance, an average spatial frequency, average chromaticity, and a dispersive value of chromaticity as evaluation parameters.

11. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said image modifier effects at least one of a process for deforming and correcting the image and a process for shifting the entire portion of the image in the horizontal direction to enhance the similarity between the images in the specific areas.

12. A binocular display apparatus comprising:

a video signal input section for receiving left and right image signals corresponding to left and right images;

a line-of-sight detector for detecting lines of sight of an observer who observes an image;

a left and right area designator for designating specific areas of the left and right images based on information of the line of sight detected by said line-of-sight detector;

a specific area image pickup unit for extracting left and right specific area image signals corresponding to the specific areas designated by said left and right area designator;

an evaluation parameter calculator for calculating left and right image evaluation parameters based on the left and right specific area image signals;

a similarity calculator for calculating a similarity between images in the left and right specific areas by comparing the left and right image evaluation parameters derived by said evaluation parameter calculator; and

an image modifier for modifying at least one of the left and right images based on the similarity calculated by said similarity calculator.

13. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each of said left-eye and eight-eye image evaluation parameter calculators numerically expresses the image by using at least two of average luminance of images lying in the areas, a dispersive value of luminance, an average spatial frequency, average chromaticity, and a dispersive value of chromaticity as evaluation parameters.

14. A binocular display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said image modifier effects at least one of a process for deforming and correcting the image and a process for shifting the entire portion of the image in the horizontal direction to enhance the similarity between the images in the specific areas.