Stereoscopic image display device

• US 9,083,964 B2
• Filed: 07/03/2006
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NexusChips Co., Ltd., Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: NexusChips Co., Ltd., Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Song, Myoung-Seop, Lee, Jang-Doo, Jang, Hyoung-Wook, Kim, Hag-Keun, Lee, Duck-Myung, Choi, Han-Jun, Kim, Hyun-Sook, Lee, Woo-Jong
• Primary Examiner(s): BROOME, SAID A
• Application Number:
  US11/480,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20070008314A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,298 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 13/189 Recording image signals; Reproducing recorded image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/296 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/305 using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/31 using parallax barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/356 having separate monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/398 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/597 specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding

Abstract

A stereoscopic image display device includes: a display unit including a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix format, the pixels including left-eye and right-eye pixels alternately arranged in one direction; a memory including a left-eye image area for storing left-eye image data corresponding to the left-eye pixels and a right-eye image area for storing right-eye image data corresponding to the right-eye pixels; an address comparator for the respectively storing the left-eye and right-eye image data at corresponding addresses of the left-eye and right-eye image areas and making an arrangement of the left-eye and right-eye image areas in the memory in response to a first signal; a data synthesizer for synthesizing a stereoscopic image signal from the data stored in the memory; and a data driver for applying a data signal corresponding to a stereoscopic image signal to the display unit.

Claims

1. A stereoscopic image display device comprising:

a display unit comprising a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix format, the plurality of pixels comprising left-eye pixels and right-eye pixels alternately arranged in one direction;

a memory comprising a plurality of left-eye image areas for storing left-eye image data corresponding to the left-eye pixels and a plurality of right-eye image areas for storing right-eye image data corresponding to the right-eye pixels, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas being alternately and repeatedly arranged;

an address comparator for storing the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data at corresponding addresses of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas, respectively, and changing an arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas in the memory from a first arrangement to a second arrangement or from the second arrangement to the first arrangement in accordance with a first signal indicative of a change of a physical orientation of the display unit, wherein, in the first arrangement, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas alternate along a first direction and, in the second arrangement, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas alternate along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;

a data synthesizer for synthesizing a stereoscopic image signal from the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data stored in the memory; and

a data driver for applying a data signal corresponding to the stereoscopic image signal to the display unit.

2. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 1, wherein the arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas corresponds to an arrangement of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit.

3. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 1, wherein, in accordance with the first signal, the address comparator changes the arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas of the memory in correspondence with an arrangement of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit.

4. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 1, wherein an arrangement of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit is perpendicularly changed when the arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas of the memory is changed from the first direction to the second direction.

5. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 1, further comprising a pixel-address matching unit for matching the left-eye image data with the left-eye pixels and the right-eye image data with the right-eye pixels, and transmitting matched data among the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data to the data synthesizer.

6. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 5, wherein the data synthesizer synthesizes the stereoscopic image signal by arranging the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data matched by the matching unit in correspondence with an arrangement of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit.

7. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 1, wherein:

each of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels comprises a first subpixel, a second subpixel, and a third subpixel respectively corresponding to first, second, and third colors; and

data respectively corresponding to the first subpixel, the second subpixel, and the third subpixel are dividedly stored in the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas.

8. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 1, further comprising a barrier comprising transparent and opaque regions arranged to form a light projection path so that images output by the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels can respectively be projected in a left direction or a right direction through the light projection path.

9. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 8, wherein the transparent and opaque regions of the barrier are rearranged when the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit are rearranged.

10. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 1, wherein the stereoscopic image display device is a display unit of a mobile communication terminal.

11. A 3D image-stereoscopic image converter for converting 3D image data to stereoscopic image data corresponding to an arrangement of left-eye pixels and right-eye pixels of a display unit, comprising:

a geometric engine for converting the 3D image data to left-eye 3D image data or right-eye 3D image data in accordance with a stereoscopic image activation signal;

a memory comprising a plurality of left-eye image areas for storing the left-eye 3D image data corresponding to the left-eye pixels and a plurality of right-eye image areas for storing the right-eye 3D image data corresponding to the right-eye pixels, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas being alternately and repeatedly arranged;

a rendering engine for recording the left-eye 3D image data and the right-eye 3D image data at the memory by utilizing spatial information and color information of the left-eye 3D image data and the right-eye 3D image data;

an address comparator for storing the left-eye 3D image data and the right-eye 3D image data input from the rendering engine at corresponding addresses of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas, respectively, and changing an arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas in the memory from a first arrangement to a second arrangement or from the second arrangement to the first arrangement in accordance with a first signal indicative of a change of a physical orientation of the display unit, wherein, in the first arrangement, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas alternate along a first direction and, in the second arrangement, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas alternate along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; and

a data synthesizer for synthesizing a stereoscopic image signal from the left-eye 3D image data and the right-eye 3D image data stored in the memory.

12. The 3D image-stereoscopic image converter of claim 11, wherein the arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas corresponds to the arrangement of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit.

13. The 3D image-stereoscopic image converter of claim 11, wherein in accordance with the first signal, the address comparator changes the arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas of the memory in correspondence with the arrangement of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit.

14. The 3D image-stereoscopic image converter of claim 11, further comprising a pixel-address matching unit for matching the left-eye 3D image data with the left-eye pixels and the right-eye 3D image data with the right-eye pixels, and transmitting matched data among the left-eye 3D image data and the right-eye 3D image data to the data synthesizer.

15. The 3D image-stereoscopic image converter of claim 14, wherein the data synthesizer synthesizes the stereoscopic image data by arranging the left-eye 3D image data and the right-eye 3D image data matched by the matching unit in correspondence with the arrangement of the left-eye pixels and the right-eye pixels of the display unit.

16. A stereoscopic image display device comprising:

a display unit comprising a plurality of pixels, the pixels being adapted to be arranged into left-eye pixels and right-eye pixels that are alternately arranged in one direction in accordance with a spatial orientation of the display unit; and

a data converter adapted to receive image data and to convert the image data into stereoscopic image data comprising left-eye image data and right-eye image data, the data converter comprising a memory adapted to be arranged into a plurality of left-eye image areas for storing the left-eye image data corresponding to the left-eye pixels and a plurality of right-eye image areas for storing the right-eye image data corresponding to the right-eye pixels, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas being alternately and repeatedly arranged,

wherein the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas of the memory are arranged according to a physical orientation of the display unit,

wherein the memory is adapted to change an arrangement of the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas from a first arrangement to a second arrangement or from the second arrangement to the first arrangement in response to a change of the physical orientation of the display unit, and

wherein, in the first arrangement, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas alternate along a first direction and, in the second arrangement, the left-eye image areas and the right-eye image areas alternate along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

17. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 16, further comprising means for directing light from the left-eye pixels toward a left eye of a user and for directing light from the right-eye pixels toward a right eye of the user.

18. The stereoscopic image display device of claim 16, wherein the data converter converts the image data into the stereoscopic image data when it receives a stereoscopic image activation signal.