Television – Stereoscopic
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-18
2002-12-17
Britton, Howard (Department: 2613)
Television
Stereoscopic
C348S051000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06496218
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image display apparatus (stereoscopic display apparatus) and, more particularly, to an apparatus which can be suitably used to stereoscopically display image information on the display device (display) of a TV set, a video recorder, a computer monitor, a game machine, or the like and allows an observer to stereoscopically observe the image information from a predetermined observation region.
The conventional stereoscopic image observation methods which have been proposed include a method of observing parallax images in different polarization states by using polarization glasses, a method of guiding predetermined parallax images, of a plurality of parallax images (viewpoint images), to the eyes of an observer by using a lenticular lens, and the like.
In a stereoscopic display scheme using polarization glasses, a right-eye parallax image and a left-eye parallax image are displayed in different polarization states, and the observer uses the polarization glasses to separate the right and left parallax images so as to visually recognize them as a stereoscopic image. For example, a liquid crystal shutter is placed on the display side to set right and left parallax images in different parallax states, and the parallax states are switched in synchronism with each field signal of the image displayed on the display. With this operation, an observer with polarization glasses can separately and alternately observe right and left images with a corresponding eye time-divisionally so as to realize a stereoscopic view.
A method by placing a liquid crystal shutter on the polarization glasses side has also been proposed. In this method, the shutter is operated in synchronism with the image displayed on a monitor to allow an observer to visually recognize right and left parallax images properly so as to recognize a stereoscopic image.
In a stereoscopic display scheme using a lenticular lens, the lenticular lens is placed on the front side of an image display surface to spatially separate an image into images for the right and left eyes of an observer so as to realize a stereoscopic vision.
FIG. 46
is a view for explaining a stereoscopic display apparatus of the conventional lenticular lens scheme. Referring to
FIG. 46
, reference numeral
151
denotes a liquid crystal display, in which a display pixel portion
153
of the liquid crystal is formed between glass substrates
152
and
154
. A lenticular lens
155
constituted by many cylindrical lenses, each having a semicircular cross-section and extending in a direction perpendicular to the drawing surface as shown in
FIG. 46
, is formed on the observer side of the liquid crystal display
151
. The display pixel portion
153
of the liquid crystal is positioned on the focal plane of the lenticular lens
155
.
A striped image is displayed in the display pixel portion
153
. A striped image is synthesized from a plurality of parallax images (images with parallaxes) from a plurality of viewpoints. To synthesize a striped image, at least two parallax images are required. Let Rs be a parallax image corresponding to the right eye, and Ls be a parallax image corresponding to the left eye. Each parallax image is divided into elongated stripe pixels (to be referred to as stripe pixels hereinafter) R
i
and L
i
(i=1, 2, 3, . . . ). The stripe pixels obtained from the respective parallax images are alternately arranged, i.e., arranged in the following sequence: the stripe pixels R
1
, L
2
, R
3
, L
4
, . . . (or L
1
, R
2
, L
3
, R
4
, . . . ), into one image, thus forming a striped image. A “three-dimensional image” in this specification indicates this striped image. The formation of a striped image will be referred to as stripe synthesis hereinafter.
If three parallax images A, B, and C are prepared, a striped image is obtained by alternately arranging stripe pixels in the following sequence: stripe pixels A
1
, B
2
, C
3
, A
4
, B
5
, C
6
, . . . , B
1
, C
2
, A
3
, B
4
, C
5
, A
6
, . . . , or C
1
, A
2
, B
3
, C
4
, A
5
, B
6
, . . .
As shown in
FIG. 46
, the display pixel portion
153
is obtained by alternately arranging right-eye stripe pixels (black portions) and left-eye stripe pixels (white portions), each having the form of a stripe and extending in the direction perpendicular to the drawing surface, in correspondence with the pitch of the lenticular lens. The lenticular lens
155
optically separates light beams from these stripe pixels into regions in which right and left eyes E
R
and E
L
of the observer are present. With this operation, a stereoscopic vision is realized.
FIG. 46
shows a spatial region where right-eye and left-eye images on the two end portions and central portion of the liquid crystal display
151
can be observed. Referring to
FIG. 46
, a stereoscopic vision region
156
indicated by the thick solid lines is a common region where right and left images are separately observed with the eyes (the distance between the centers of the eyes is represented by e) of the observer throughout the entire screen. Note that another stereoscopic vision region (not shown) where a stereoscopic vision can be obtained is also present near the stereoscopic vision region
156
.
In addition to the above lenticular lens scheme, the parallax barrier scheme is available as a stereoscopic display scheme. This parallax barrier scheme is described below.
A stereoscopic image display scheme using the parallax barrier scheme is disclosed by. S. H. Kaplan (“Theory of Parallax Barriers.”, J. SMPTE, Vol. 59, No. 7, pp. 11-21, 1952). In this scheme as well, a striped image synthesized from right and left parallax images like those described above is displayed, and an observer separately observes the parallax images corresponding to the right and left eyes with the corresponding eyes through a slit pattern (called a parallax barrier) having predetermined opening portions placed at a predetermined distance from this striped image, thereby realizing a stereoscopic vision.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 3-119889 and 5-122733 disclose stereoscopic display apparatuses in which a parallax barrier is electronically formed by a transmission type liquid crystal display device and the like, and the shape, position, and the like of the parallax barrier are electronically controlled and changed.
FIG. 47
shows the schematic arrangement of the main part of the stereoscopic image display apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-119889. In this apparatus, an electronic parallax barrier
103
constituted by a transmission liquid crystal display device is placed on an image display surface
101
through a spacer
102
having a thickness d. A vertically striped image constituted by parallax images obtained from two or more directions is displayed on the image display surface
101
. A parallax barrier is formed at an arbitrary position on the barrier surface of the electronic parallax barrier
103
upon designation of X and Y addresses by a control means such as a microcomputer
104
, thereby allowing a stereoscopic view based on the principle of the above parallax barrier scheme.
FIG. 48
is a schematic view showing the arrangement of the main part of the stereoscopic image display apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-119889, which is constituted by a liquid crystal display and an electronic barrier. In this stereoscopic image display apparatus, two liquid crystal layers
115
and
125
are respectively sandwiched between two polarizing plates
111
and
118
and between two polarizing plates
121
and
128
. The liquid crystal layer
115
and the liquid crystal layer
125
respectively serve as an image display means and an electronic barrier formation means.
An apparatus capable of performing mixed display of three- and two-dimensional images within a single display surface is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-122733. In this apparatus, as shown in
FIG. 49
, a striped barrier pattern can be generated only in any partial area of an electronic
Osaka Tsutomu
Takigawa Tomoshi
Britton Howard
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Morgan & Finnegan L.L.P.
T Tung Vo
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