Apparatus and method for displaying 3-dimensional image

• US 9,363,504 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2012
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Cha, Youngwoon, Lee, Kyoungil, Lee, Dongha
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Phi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Beard, Charles L
• Application Number:
  US13/476,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20120327073A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,478 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/27 involving lenticular arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/28 involving active lenticular arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/31 involving active parallax barriers involving directional light or back-light sources G02B30/33
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• 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 13/317 using slanted parallax optics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/359 Switching between monoscopic and stereoscopic modes

Abstract

An apparatus and method for displaying a three-dimensional (3D) image is disclosed. On a display panel, red, green and blue subpixels are alternately arranged in a row direction and subpixels having the same color are arranged in a column direction. A 3D image filter is disposed ahead of the display panel and includes a transparent area and a non-transparent area arranged alternately. An edge defining the width of the non-transparent area is inclined with respect to a vertical axis of the display panel. A controller assigns a view image to be displayed at a subpixel of the display panel according to an inclination angle of the edge.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying both a perceived three-dimensional (3D) image and a 2-dimensional (2D) image, comprising:

a display panel having a plurality of subpixels, wherein red, green and blue subpixels are alternately arranged in a row direction of the display panel, and subpixels having a same color are arranged in a column direction of the display panel;

a 3D image filter provided in front of the display panel, the 3D image filter including a transparent area and a non-transparent area that are arranged alternately, wherein an edge that defines a width of the non-transparent area is inclined with respect to a vertical axis of the display panel; and

a controller to assign a view image to be displayed at a subpixel of the display panel based on an inclination angle and an inclination direction of the edge with respect to the vertical axis of the display panel, wherein an inclination angle of the edge is arctan (4Ph/3Pv), wherein Ph represents a width of the subpixel and Pv represents a length of the subpixel, and wherein Pv is three times Ph,

wherein the controller controls activation and deactivation of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter according to a kind of the image to be displayed, and the controller is configured to;

control deactivation of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter when the displayed image is a 2D image, and

control activation of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter when the displayed image is a 3D image,

wherein the perceived 3D image is a multi-view image including three or more images acquired by photographing a subject using three or more cameras, and a part of the images less than a number of images included in the multi-view image are displayed in one row of the subpixels, wherein two of the part of the images form a sweet spot for viewing 3D image,

wherein the part of the images is continuously assigned to the subpixels, and wherein the controller assigns the multi-view image in the row direction of the display panel by a first number and assigns the multi-view image in the column direction of the display panel by a second number.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter corresponds to a total width of four subpixels.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width of the transparent area of the 3D image filter corresponds to a width of one subpixel.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the edge of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter is formed to pass through a point spaced apart from a start point by the width of the non transparent area in the row direction of the display panel and is spaced apart from the start point by a total length of a predetermined number of subpixels in the column direction of the display panel.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller controls activation and deactivation of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter based on a type of the displayed image.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a backlight behind the display panel, the backlight to supply light to the display panel.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display panel is a Plasma Display Panel (PDP) or a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the perceived 3D image includes 15 view images.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first number and the second number are 3 or more.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the edge is inclined to the right with respect to the vertical axis of the display panel, the controller:

as a view image to be displayed at a subpixel,

assigns a view image having an allocation number greater than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the row direction by the first number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a difference between the allocation number of the view image, which is greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number, and a maximum allocation number when the view image having the allocation number greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number is not present, and

assigns a view image having an allocation number greater than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the column direction by the second number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a difference between the allocation number of the view image, which is greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number, and a maximum allocation number whenthe view image having the allocation number greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number is not present.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, whenthe edge is inclined to the left with respect to the vertical axis of the display panel, the controller:

as a view image to be displayed at a subpixel,

assigns a view image having an allocation number less than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the row direction by the first number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a sum of the allocation number of the view image, which is less than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number, and a maximum allocation number whenthe view image having the allocation number less than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number is not present, and

assigns a view image having an allocation number greater than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the column direction by the second number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a difference between the allocation number of the view image, which is greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number, and a maximum allocation number whenthe view image having the allocation number greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number is not present.

12. An apparatus for displaying both a perceived three-dimensional (3D) image and a 2-dimensional (2D) image, comprising:

a display panel having a plurality of subpixels, wherein red, green and blue subpixels are alternately arranged in a row direction of the display panel, and subpixels having a same color are arranged in a column direction of the display panel;

a lenticular lens substrate provided in front of the display panel, the lenticular lens substrate including a plurality of lenses, wherein a vertical axis of each lens is inclined with respect to a vertical axis of the display panel; and

a controller to assign a view image to be displayed at a subpixel of the display panel based on an inclination angle and an inclination direction of the vertical axis of the lens with respect to the vertical axis of the display panel, wherein an inclination angle of the edge is arctan (4Ph/3Pv), wherein Ph represents a width of the subpixel and Pv represents a length of the subpixel, and wherein Pv is three times Ph, and wherein the controller controls activation and deactivation of a non-transparent area of a 3D image filter according to a kind of the image to be displayed, and the controller is configured to;

control deactivation of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter when the displayed image is a 2D image, and

control activation of the non-transparent area of the 3D image filter when the displayed image is a 3D image,

wherein the perceived 3D image is a multi-view image including three or more images acquired by photographing a subject using three or more cameras, and a part of the images less than a number of images included in the multi-view image are displayed in one row of the subpixels, wherein two of the part of the images form a sweet spot for viewing 3D image, wherein the part of the images is continuously assigned to the subpixels, and

wherein the controller assigns the multi-view image in the row direction of the display panel by a first number and assigns the multi-view image in the column direction of the display panel by a second number.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a width of the lens corresponds to a total width of 5 subpixels.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein an inclination angle α

of the vertical axis of the lens is arctan (4Ph/3Pv), wherein Ph represents a width of the subpixel and Pv represents a length of the subpixel.

15. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein:

the lenticular lens substrate further includes a lenticular array to convert transmitted light into circularly polarized light, and

the controller controls activation and deactivation of the lenticular array based on a type of the displayed image.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a backlight behind the display panel, the backlight to supply light to the display panel.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the display panel is a Plasma Display Panel (PDP) or a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).

18. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the multi-image view includes 15 view images.

19. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the first number and the second number are 3 or more.

20. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, whenthe vertical axis of the lens is inclined to the right with respect to the vertical axis of the display panel, the controller:

as a view image to be displayed at a subpixel,

assigns a view image having an allocation number greater than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the row direction by the first number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a difference between the allocation number of the view image, which is greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number, and a maximum allocation number whenthe view image having the allocation number greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number is not present, and

assigns a view image having an allocation number greater than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the column direction by the second number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a difference between the allocation number of the view image, which is greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number, and a maximum allocation number whenthe view image having the allocation number greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number is not present.

21. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, whenthe vertical axis of the lens is inclined to the left with respect to the vertical axis of the display panel, the controller:

as a view image to be displayed at a subpixel,

assigns a view image having an allocation number less than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the row direction by the first number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a sum of the allocation number of the view image, which is less than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number, and a maximum allocation number whenthe view image having the allocation number less than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the first number is not present, and

assigns a view image having an allocation number greater than that of a view image of a previous subpixel in the column direction by the second number and assigns a view image having an allocation number having a difference between the allocation number of the view image, which is greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number, and a maximum allocation number whenthe view image having the allocation number greater than that of the view image of the previous subpixel by the second number is not present.

22. A method of displaying both a perceived three-dimensional (3D) image and 2-dimensional (2D) image on a display panel having a plurality of subpixels, the method comprising:

assigning view images to be displayed at subpixels of the display panel from among a plurality of view images based on an inclination angle and an inclination direction of an edge that defines a width of a non-transparent area of an image filter, wherein an inclination angle of the edge is arctan (4Ph/3Pv), wherein Ph represents a width of the subpixel and Pv represents a length of the subpixel, and wherein Pv is three times Ph;

displaying the assigned view images through the subpixels of the display panel;

controlling deactivation of the non-transparent area of the image filter when the displayed image is a 2D image; and

controlling activation of the non-transparent area of the image filter when the displayed image is a 3D image,

wherein the edge of the non-transparent area is inclined with respect to a vertical axis of the display panel, and red, green and blue subpixels are alternately arranged in a row direction of the display panel, and subpixels having a same color are arranged in a column direction of the display panel,

wherein the perceived 3D image is a multi-view image including three or more images acquired by photographing a subject using three or more cameras, and a part of the images less than a number of images included in the multi-view image are displayed in one row of the subpixels, wherein two of the part of the images form a sweet spot for viewing 3D image, wherein the part of the images is continuously assigned to the subpixels, and

wherein assigning view images includes assigning the multi-view image in the row direction of the display panel by a first number and assigning the multi-view image in the column direction of the display panel by a second number, and wherein the first number and the second number are 3 or more.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising separating the displayed view images using a transparent area of the image filter formed between non-transparent areas of the image filter.

24. The method according to claim 22, further comprising refracting the displayed view images using a lens.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the multi-view image includes 15 view images.