Television – Stereoscopic – Stereoscopic display device
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-30
2001-11-06
Le, Vu (Department: 2613)
Television
Stereoscopic
Stereoscopic display device
C348S053000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06313867
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to a stereoscopic display apparatus for displaying a stereoscopic image and more particularly to an improved stereoscopic display apparatus which can provide a stereoscopic image simultaneously to a plurality of viewers.
PRIOR ART
There has been proposed a stereoscopic display apparatus which can provide a stereoscopic image simultaneously to a plurality of viewers as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,220. This conventional stereoscopic display apparatus comprises a plurality of light sources arranged on a plane and driven in a time-division manner, a single image forming device, for example, of the light transmission type which is common to a plurality of viewers, an optical system for guiding light beams from the plurality of light sources to the eyes of the viewers, respectively, and a control device for controlling light emitting positions of the light sources in accordance with the head positions of the viewers.
With the above conventional stereoscopic display apparatus, however, in order that a good stereoscopic image is viewed by every viewer, the eyes of all the viewers should substantially be on the same plane. As a result, the application of the conventional apparatus has been restricted to those for computer screens, video games and video rooms where the viewers sheets are arranged on a predetermined plane. Furthermore, since the conventional apparatus has such a structure that an image formed by a simple image forming device is illuminated by a plurality of light sources in a time-division fashion, it has been difficult to obtain a bright image and a light source of a special arrangement has been required.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a stereoscopic display apparatus for a plurality of viewers, wherein positions at which the viewers get good stereoscopic images are not restricted to those situated on a plane.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stereoscopic display apparatus for a plurality of viewers which does not require a specially arranged light source and can provide a brighter image than the conventional apparatus.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a widely applicable stereoscopic display apparatus in which the freedom of the position of eyes where the viewers can get good stereoscopic images is sufficiently high, so that a plurality of viewers present at arbitrary positions in arbitrary attitudes without being bound by sheets or the like can be supplied with good stereoscopic images.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
For achieving the above objects, a stereoscopic display apparatus is provided with a plurality of display units each having a pair of display panels which are driven in accordance with video signals for right and left eyes, respectively, which together represent a stereoscopic image; a concave mirror disposed before viewers for serving as an imaginary screen; convex lens means for directing image-containing lights from the plurality of display means to the concave mirror.
According to the stereoscopic display apparatus having the above structure, it is possible to provide a bright and good stereoscopic image to a plurality of viewers located at specified positions being not always in a plane by disposing the plurality of display units at specified positions in relation to the convex lens means.
Another stereoscopic display apparatus according to the present invention includes in addition to the above structure, drive means for separately moving the plurality of display units to desired three-dimensional coordinate positions with respect to the convex lens means. In this case, it is preferable to further provide an image taking device, such as a video camera, for shooting each viewer present in front of the concave mirror and a tracking control device for detecting a head position or both eye positions of the viewer based on an output from the image taking device and supplying a signal representing the detected output positions to the drive units thereby to move each of the display means to a three-dimensional coordinate position which corresponds to a position where each of the viewers is present.
According to the stereoscopic display apparatus having the above structure, it is possible to view always well a stereoscopic image even in case that each of viewers takes an arbitrary posture and moves to an arbitrary position.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5311220 (1994-05-01), Eichenlaub
patent: 5614941 (1997-03-01), Hines
patent: 6034717 (2000-03-01), Dentinger et al.
patent: 6069649 (2000-05-01), Hattori
patent: 6163336 (2000-12-01), Richards
Le Vu
U.S. Philips Corporation
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