Combining 3D video and auxiliary data that is provided when not reveived

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10021377-B2
Application number	US-201013386493-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2010
Priority date	Jul 27, 2009
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

A three dimensional [3D] video signal ( 41 ) is provided for transferring to a 3D destination device ( 50 ). Depth metadata is determined indicative of depths occurring in the 3D video data, which depth metadata includes a near value indicative of depths of video data nearest to a user. The 3D video signal, which comprises the 3D video data, now also includes the depth metadata. The 3D destination device ( 50 ) is enabled to retrieve the depth metadata, to provide auxiliary data, and to position the auxiliary data at an auxiliary depth in dependence of the retrieved metadata for displaying the auxiliary data in combination with the 3D video data such that obscuring the auxiliary data by said nearest video data, and/or disturbing effects at the boundary of the auxiliary data, is avoided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of providing a three dimensional video signal for transferring to a three dimensional display device, wherein the three dimensional display device comprises a three dimensional display that has a first surface, wherein the first surface emits light, the method comprising:
in a source device:
determining depth metadata indicative of depths of elements occurring in a three dimensional video data, wherein the depth metadata is distinct from the video data and includes a near value indicative of a depth of one or more elements occurring in the three dimensional video data that extend most in a first direction normal to the first surface and away from the first surface toward a viewer when displayed on the three dimensional display,
generating the three dimensional video signal comprising the three dimensional video data, and
including the depth metadata in the three dimensional video signal; and

in the three dimensional display device:
receiving the three dimensional video signal from the source device,
retrieving the three dimensional video data and the depth metadata from the three dimensional video signal, and
positioning at least one auxiliary data object at an auxiliary depth based on the retrieved metadata, wherein the auxiliary data object is displayed in combination with the three dimensional video data.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the depth metadata comprises a far value indicative of a depth of one or more elements occurring in the three dimensional video data that extend least in the first direction for enabling the three dimensional display device to set the auxiliary depth farther away from the viewer than the near value, and to apply a shift to the three dimensional video data in a second direction normal to the first surface and away from the viewer to shift the three dimensional video data to a depth farther away from the viewer than the auxiliary depth, wherein the shift is dependent upon the far value.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the shift is a disparity shift based on a predetermined maximum disparity value between adjacent views of multiple views in the three dimensional video data, the predetermined maximum disparity value being dependent on at least one of: a selected eye distance value; a safety margin (M); and a user defined maximum disparity value.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the near value is a disparity value.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the three dimensional video signal comprises an encoded video data stream arranged for conveying decoding information according to a predefined standard, and said including the depth metadata in the three dimensional video signal comprises including the depth metadata in at least one of: a user data message; a signaling elementary stream information message; an entry point table; and an XML based description.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the depth metadata comprises data indicative of depths occurring in a period of the three dimensional video data, the period being one of: a group of pictures, a shot, and a group of shots.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the depth metadata comprises data indicative of depths occurring in at least one spatial region of the three dimensional video data.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the method comprises manufacturing a record carrier, wherein the record carrier comprises a track of marks representing the three dimensional video signal.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein if auxiliary data is not received from the source device, providing the auxiliary data, wherein the auxiliary data includes at least one of subtitles, logos, or three dimensional image data.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the depth metadata is a list of offset values and an offset direction indicator, the offset values indicating a pixel shift between a left output plane and a right output plane of the auxiliary data and the direction indicator indicates whether the pixel shift is to the left or to the right.

11. A three dimensional source device for providing a three dimensional video signal for transferring to a three dimensional display device, wherein the three dimensional display device comprises a three dimensional display that has a first surface, wherein the first surface emits light,
the source device comprising an electronic processor circuit that:
determines depth metadata indicative of depths of elements occurring in the three dimensional video data, wherein the depth metadata is distinct from the video data and includes a near value indicative of a depth of one or more elements occurring in the three dimensional video data that extend most in a first direction normal to the first surface and away from the first surface toward a viewer when displayed on the three dimensional display,
generates the three dimensional video signal comprising the three dimensional video data, and
includes the depth metadata in the three dimensional video signal to enable the three dimensional display device to retrieve the depth metadata from the source device, and to position auxiliary data at an auxiliary depth in dependence on the retrieved metadata for displaying the auxiliary data in combination with the three dimensional video data.

12. The three dimensional source device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the depth metadata comprises a far value indicative of a depth of one or more elements occurring in the three dimensional video data that extend least in the first direction.

13. The three dimensional source device as claimed in claim 12 , and the electronic processor circuit:
sets the auxiliary depth farther away from the viewer than the near value,
applies a shift to the three dimensional video data in the direction away from the viewer for shifting the three dimensional video data to a depth farther away from the viewer than the auxiliary depth, wherein the shift is based on the far value.

14. The three dimensional source device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the electronic processor circuit:
detects that the far value does not allow a shift for accommodating the auxiliary depth,
generates at least a left view and a right view by reducing the three dimensional video data to two dimensional video and applying, to the two dimensional video, a horizontal shift based on a disparity value dependence on the near value.

15. The three dimensional source device as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the auxiliary data is two dimensional data and the near value is a disparity value, and the electronic processor circuit generates at least a left auxiliary image and a right auxiliary image by applying, to the two dimensional auxiliary data, at least one horizontal shift based on the disparity value.

16. The source device of claim 11 , wherein the depth metadata is a list of offset values and an offset direction indicator, the offset values indicating a pixel shift between a left output plane and a right output plane of the auxiliary data and the direction indicator indicates whether the pixel shift is to the left or to the right.

17. A three dimensional display device for receiving a three dimensional video signal, the device comprising:
a three dimensional display that has a first surface, wherein the first surface emits light,
an input unit that receives the three dimensional video signal comprising three dimensional video data and depth metadata indicative of depths occurring in the three dimensional video data, which depth metadata is distinct from the video data and includes

Assignees

• Newton Philip Steven
• Bolio Dennis Daniel Robert Jozef
• Kurvers Mark Jozef Maria
• Van Der Heijden Gerardus Wilhelmus Theodorus
• Bruls Wilhelmus Hendrikus Alfonsus
• De Haan Wiebe
• Talstra Johan Cornelis
• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Newton Philip Steven
• Bolio Dennis Daniel Robert Jozef
• Kurvers Mark Jozef Maria
• Van Der Heijden Gerardus Wilhelmus Theodorus
• Bruls Wilhelmus Hendrikus Alfonsus
• De Haan Wiebe
• Talstra Johan Cornelis

Classifications

• H04N13/194

  Transmission of image signals · CPC title

• H04N13/178

  Metadata, e.g. disparity information · CPC title

• H04N13/183

  On-screen display [OSD] information, e.g. subtitles or menus · CPC title

• H04N13/161

  Encoding, multiplexing or demultiplexing different image signal components (for multi-view video sequence encoding H04N19/597) · CPC title

• H04N19/597

  specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding · CPC title