Stereoscopic image processing and display system

• US 7,277,121 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2002
• Issued: 10/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Mashitani, Ken, Hamagishi, Goro
• Primary Examiner(s): VO, TUNG T
• Application Number:
  US10/227,945
• Publication Number:
  US 20030048354A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,862 Days
• Field of Search: 348/49, 348/51, 348/52, 348/47, 348/42, 345/415, 345/419, 351/201, 359/464, 359/462
• US Class Current: 348/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/161 Encoding, multiplexing or demultiplexing different image signal components for multi-view video sequence encoding H04N19/597
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/178 Metadata, e.g. disparity information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/31 using parallax barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/312 the parallax barriers being placed behind the display panel, e.g. between backlight and spatial light modulator [SLM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/324 Colour aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/349 Multi-view displays for displaying three or more geometrical viewpoints without viewer tracking for viewing without the aid of special glasses using fly-eye lenses H04N13/307
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/356 having separate monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/361 Reproducing mixed stereoscopic images; Reproducing mixed monoscopic and stereoscopic images, e.g. a stereoscopic image overlay window on a monoscopic image background

Abstract

An image processing apparatus includes an image obtaining unit and an information adding unit. The image obtaining unit obtains a base image for stereovision in a multiplex format or a side-by-side format, or obtains an original image and then converts it to such a base image. The information adding unit records information to be referred to for stereovision, such as the format of the base image and the number of assumed viewpoints, in a header of the image data.

Claims

1. A stereoscopic image display method comprising:

displaying an image to be stereoviewed on a screen of a display apparatus; and

shifting the image on the screen, and wherein,

a shift amount of the image is restricted to an integer multiplication of the number of different parallax images which compose the image multiplied by the number of dots which composes a pixel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein in case that the image is displayed in a window, the shift unit is referred to at least on an occasion of scrolling the image in the window.

3. A stereoscopic image display apparatus comprising:

a shift instruction obtaining unit which obtains an instruction to shift an image to be stereoviewed on a screen; and

a shift processing unit which shifts the image according to the instruction, and wherein,

the shift processing unit shifts the image in such a manner that a shift amount of the image is restricted to an integer multiplication of the number of different parallax images which compose the image multiplied by the number of dots which composes a pixel.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a window display unit which displays a window for displaying the image on the screen, and wherein the shift processing unit puts a restriction by the shift unit on scrolling the image in the window.