Method and device for the generation of 3-D images

• US 20040027346A1
• Filed: 05/29/2003
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Phoenix 3D, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NewSight Corp. (Hong Kong Winalite Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Naske, Rolf-Deiter
• Granted Patent: US 7,321,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/261 with monoscopic-to-stereoscopic image conversion

Abstract

A method for generating three-dimensional images based on a sequence of two-dimensional images is characterized by the steps of: analyzing a two-dimensional image with respect to its scene type, selecting a deformation assigned to the defined scene type with which the two-dimensional image is deformed, deforming the two-dimensional image and transmitting the deformed two-dimensional image to at least one viewing channel. The method also contemplates applying various transition functions to the two-dimensional image to provide a continuous and smooth transition from one scene type to another. The method can be carried out by an apparatus for performing these functions.

Claims

1. A method for generating three-dimensional (3-D) images based on a sequence of two-dimensional (2-D) images, comprising the steps of:

analyzing a two-dimensional image with respect to its scene type;

assigning a deformation to the defined scene type;

deforming the two-dimensional image; and

transmitting the deformed two-dimensional image to at least one viewing channel.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising defining a scene type as one of a close-up shot, a normal shot (medium shot), and a wide angle shot.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein assigning includes assigning a spherical deformation to the close-up-shot scene type, and deforming includes distorting the pixels of the two-dimensional image concentrically from the midpoint of the image outward.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein assigning includes assigning a sphere-tilt deformation to the normal-shot scene type, and deforming includes simultaneously distorting and expanding the pixels of the two-dimensional image from top to bottom and concentrically from the midpoint of the image.

5. A method according to claim 2, wherein assigning includes assigning a tilt deformation to the wide-angle-shot scene type, and deforming includes incrementally, continuously, and horizontally expanding the pixels of the two-dimensional image.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein assigning includes assigning a spherical deformation to a close-up-shot scene type, and further comprising producing first and second viewing channels using different angles of observation of the deformed image.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein assigning includes assigning a cylindrical deformation to a wide-angle-shot scene type, and further comprising producing first and second viewing channels using different angles of observation of the deformed image.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising interpolating a predetermined number of sequential images from at least one two-dimensional image to produce at least a portion of the sequence of two-dimensional images.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein when the scene type of an image is different than that of a previous image, further comprising applying a transition function to the image to continuously adjust the assigned deformation from the deformation type assigned to the previous scene type to the deformation type assigned to the new scene type to prevent an unnatural appearance of the image.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein applying the transition function includes applying a predetermined number of transition deformations and the new image deformation, whereby the transition deformations are calculated by interpolation of the previous deformation and of the new deformation for every pixel.

11. An apparatus for implementing the method of claim 1, characterized by a device for scene analysis of a loaded image by defining at least a partial image and comparing the partial image to the whole image.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that the device for scene analysis is equipped for defining a partial image with variable size near the center of a whole image and for calculating a root mean square deviation of the partial image and of the whole image in order to define a scene type as a close-up shot or a normal shot based on this.

13. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that the device for scene analysis is equipped for defining a plurality of partial images near the edge of the whole image and for calculating an absolute amount of the cross-correlation between different areas of the image in order to define a scene type as a wide angle shot based on this.

14. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized by an image deformation storage device for storing a plurality of scene types, one type of deformation assigned to each scene type, and one type of transition deformation assigned to each transition between two deformations.

15. A computer with an executable program and program code devices for performing the steps of the method according to claim 1.

16. A computer according to claim 15, wherein the program is stored on a computer-data-readable medium.

17. A computer according to claim 15, wherein the program code devices are stored on a machine-readable medium for the performance of the steps of the method according to claim 1.

18. A digital image processing system for generating three-dimensional images transmitted or stored in two-dimensional format that includes a device as set forth in claim 11.

19. An apparatus for generating 3-D images, comprising:

an input to receive a sequence of 2-D images;

a scene analysis device to analyze scene types of 2-D images;

a number of image deformation routines (matrices) related to respective scene types; and

an image deformation device for deforming 2-D images based on scene type and associated deformation routine to provide respective sequences of 3-D images.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising an image storage device for storing input 2-D images.

21. An apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising a phase selector for providing respective sequences of image for respective left eye and right eye viewing as 3-D images.