Head-mounted apparatus, and method thereof for generating 3D image information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10466485-B2
Application number	US-201815880020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2018
Priority date	Jan 25, 2017
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

Provided is a head-mounted display (HMD) apparatus, including a light modulator and eye lens, where the light modulator is configured to perform integral imaging on an image output from a 2D display panel, to form a light field image, the eye lens are configured to magnify the light field image formed by the light modulator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A head-mounted display (HMD) apparatus comprising:
a light modulator configured to perform integral imaging on an image output from a two-dimensional (2D) display panel to form a light field image;
an eye lens configured to magnify the light field image formed by the light modulator; and
an aperture disposed between the light modulator and the eye lens and configured to filter light rays from at least one view area except a main view area.

2. The HMD apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a light screen configured to project a first light field image associated with a left eye to the left eye and not to a right eye, and project a second light field image associated with to the right eye to the right eye and not to the left eye,
wherein the light screen is provided between the light modulator and the eye lens.

3. The HMD apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
acquire parameter information of the HMD apparatus; and
generate, based on the parameter information acquired, three-dimensional (3D) image information of the HMD apparatus.

4. The HMD apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
adjust a distance between an eye lens corresponding to a left eye and an eye lens corresponding to a right eye on the HMD apparatus, to correspond to a distance between a pupil of the left eye and a pupil of the right eye of a user;
adjust distance between one of the eye lens corresponding to the left eye and the right eye and the light modulator on the HMD apparatus, to correspond to an eyesight of the user;

a camera configured to determine a location of the pupil of the left eye and the pupil of the right eye of the user with respect to the HMD apparatus, wherein the location of the pupil of the left eye and the pupil of the right eye of the user are included within the main view area by adjusting a location of the main view area; and
a storage configured to store an error value corresponding to a-parameter information of the HMD apparatus.

5. The HMD apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
the 2D display panel configured to output an image,
wherein the light modulator is configured with uniformly distributed dot pitch based on the 2D display panel configured with uniform resolution, and
wherein the light modulator is configured with non-uniformly distributed dot pitch based on the 2D display panel configured with non-uniform resolution.

6. The HMD apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the light modulator is a micro lens array or a pinhole array.

7. The HMD apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine the parameter information of the HMD apparatus based on first parameters preset by the HMD apparatus, and
acquire the determined parameter information of the HMD apparatus.

8. The HMD apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the parameter information of the HMD apparatus based on third parameters calibrated based on second parameters computed from the first parameters and error values corresponding to the second parameters.

9. The HMD apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first parameters comprise at least one from among:
a distance between the 2D display panel and the eye lens,
a distance between a virtual 2D display panel and the eye lens,
a diameter of the eye lens,
a width of the virtual 2D display panel,
a number of pixels corresponding to the eye lens, and
a pixel pitch of the 2D display panel.

10. The HMD apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the parameter information of the HMD apparatus comprises at least one from among:
a magnification factor of the 2D display panel,
a focal distance of the eye lens,
a dot pitch of a virtual light modulator,
a distance between the eye lens and a vertex of the main view area,
a view angle of the main view area,
a distance between a virtual 2D display panel and the virtual light modulator,
a distance between the light modulator and the eye lens,
a distance between the light modulator and the 2D display panel,
a magnification factor of the light modulator, and
a dot pitch of the light modulator.

11. A method for generating three-dimensional (3D) image information by a head-mounted display (HMD) apparatus, the method comprising:
acquiring parameter information of the HMD apparatus based on first parameters preset by the HMD apparatus;
generating, according to the parameter information acquired, 3D image information of the HMD apparatus;
performing integral imaging on an image output from a two-dimensional (2D) display panel to form a light field image by a light modulator included in the HMD apparatus;
filtering light rays from at least one view area except a main view area by an aperture included in the HMD apparatus, the aperture being disposed between the light modulator and an eye lens included in the HMD apparatus; and
magnifying the light field image formed by the light modulator by the eye lens.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
projecting a first light field image associated with a left eye to the left eye and not to a right eye, and projecting a second light field image associated with the right eye to the right eye and not to the left eye by a light screen included in the HMD apparatus,
wherein the light screen is provided between the light modulator and the eye lens.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
adjusting a distance between an eye lens corresponding to a left eye and an eye lens corresponding to a right eye on the HMD apparatus to correspond to a distance between a pupil of the left eye and a pupil of the right eye of a user;
adjusting a distance between one of the eye lens corresponding to the left eye and the right eye and the light modulator included in the HMD apparatus to correspond to an eyesight of the user;
determining a location of the pupil of the left eye and the pupil of the right eye of the user with respect to the HMD apparatus, wherein the location of the pupil of the left eye and the pupil of the right eye of the user are included within the main view area by adjusting a location of the main view area; and
storing an error value corresponding to the parameter information of the HMD apparatus.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
outputting an image by the 2D display panel,
wherein the light modulator is configured with uniformly distributed dot pitch based on the 2D display panel configured with uniform resolution, and
wherein the light modulator is configured with non-uniformly distributed dot pitch based on the 2D display panel configured with non-uniform resolution.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the light modulator is a micro lens array or a pinhole array.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the acquiring parameter information of the HMD apparatus comprises:
determining the parameter information of the HMD apparatus based on the first parameters preset by the HMD apparatus; and
acquiring the determined parameter information of the HMD apparatus.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first parameters comprises at least one from among a distance between the 2D display panel and the eye lens, a distance between a virtual 2D display panel and the eye lens, a diameter of the eye lens, a width of the virtual 2D display panel, a number of pixels covered by the eye lens, and a pixel pitch of the 2D display panel.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the parameter information of the HMD ap

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhou Mingcai
• Hong Tao
• Li Weiming
• Wang Haitao

Classifications

• H04N13/307

  using fly-eye lenses, e.g. arrangements of circular lenses · CPC title

• G02B3/0006

  Arrays (G02B3/02, G02B5/188 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B2027/0134

  of stereoscopic type · CPC title

• H04N13/344

  with head-mounted left-right displays · CPC title

• G02B2027/014

  comprising information/image processing systems · CPC title