Generation of image for an autostereoscopic display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10638119-B2
Application number	US-201615568951-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2016
Priority date	May 5, 2015
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

A display image for a display panel ( 503 ) of an autostereoscopic display projecting the display image in a plurality of view cones is generated. A source ( 803 ) provides a three dimensional representation of a scene to be displayed and a generator ( 805 ) generates the display image from the representation. For each pixel, the generator ( 805 ) determines a scene viewpoint direction indication reflecting a view point direction for the scene in response to a direction mapping function and a view cone projection direction indication reflecting a projection direction for the pixel within the view cones. The direction mapping function reflects a relationship between view cone projection directions and scene view point directions. The pixel value corresponding to the view point direction is then generated from the three dimensional representation. In addition, a processor ( 809 ) determines a viewer characteristic; and an adapter ( 811 ) for adapts the direction mapping function in response to the viewer characteristic.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for generating a display image for a display panel of an autostereoscopic display, wherein the autostereoscopic display is configured to project the display image in a plurality of view cones, the apparatus comprising:
a source apparatus, wherein the source apparatus is arranged to provide a three dimensional representation of a scene;
a generator circuit, wherein the generator circuit is arranged to generate the display image from the three dimensional representation of the scene,
wherein the generator circuit is arranged to determine a scene view point direction indication reflecting a view point direction for the scene in response to a direction mapping function and a view cone projection direction indication,
wherein the view cone projection direction indication reflects a projection direction for at least one pixel of the display image within the view cones,
wherein the direction mapping function reflects a relationship between view cone projection directions and scene view point directions, and
wherein the generator circuit is arranged to determine a pixel value corresponding to the view point direction from the three dimensional representation for the at least one pixel of the display image;

a processor circuit, wherein the processor circuit is arranged to determine a viewer characteristic indicative of an increasing number of current viewers; and
an adapter circuit, wherein the adaptor circuit is arranged to adapt, in response to the viewer characteristic indicative of the increasing number of current viewers, the direction mapping function to reduce, for at least one view cone projection direction, at least one of a scene view point direction deviation from a scene view point direction corresponding to a central view cone projection direction, and a magnitude of a derivative of the direction mapping function,
wherein the autostereoscopic display comprises the display panel and a view forming optical element, and
wherein the view forming optical element is arranged to project the display image in a plurality of view cones.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function so as to reduce the scene view point direction deviation for at least one view cone projection directions in response to the viewer characteristic being indicative of an increasing number of current viewers.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function to reduce the derivative of the direction mapping function for at least one view cone projection directions for at least one view cone projection directions in response to the viewer characteristic being indicative of an increasing number of current viewers.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function to provide a reduced interval of view cone projection directions for which the derivative of the direction mapping function has a same sign as a derivative of the direction mapping function for a central view cone projection direction in response the viewer characteristic being indicative of an increasing number of current viewers.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function to reduce the magnitude of the derivative of the direction mapping function at a view cone edge projection direction in response to the viewer characteristic being indicative of an increasing number of current viewers.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the viewer characteristic is indicative of a position of at least one viewer.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function to reduce the scene view point direction deviation for at least one view cone projection directions in response to an increasing distance between a viewer position indicated by the viewer characteristic and a central view cone projection direction.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function to reduce the scene view point direction deviation for at least one view cone projection directions in response to the viewer characteristic being indicative of increasing viewer movement.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function to arrange the display image to correspond to a stereo image if the viewer characteristic is indicative of a number of viewers is less than a threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adapter circuit is arranged to adapt the direction mapping function to arrange the display image to provide a plurality of sub-viewing cones within each viewing cone of the plurality of viewing cones if the viewer characteristic is indicative of a number of viewers exceeding a threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the three dimensional representation of the scene is an input three dimensional image and the generator circuit is arranged to determine the pixel value corresponding to the view point direction by applying a view direction transformation to the input three dimensional image.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the direction mapping function comprises a disparity mapping function mapping from a disparity of the input three dimensional image to a disparity of the display image, and the view direction transformation comprises applying a pixel shift to pixels of the input three dimensional image to generate pixels for the display image, wherein the pixel shift is dependent on the disparity mapping function.

13. An autostereoscopic display, comprising:
a display arrangement, the display arrangement comprising a display panel and a view forming optical element wherein the view forming optical element is arranged to project the display image in a plurality of view cones;
a source apparatus, wherein the source apparatus is arranged to provide a three dimensional representation of a scene;
a generator circuit, wherein the generator circuit is arranged to generate the display image from the three dimensional representation of the scene,
wherein the generator circuit is arranged to determine a scene view point direction indication reflecting a view point direction for the scene in response to a direction mapping function and a view cone projection direction indication,
wherein the view cone projection direction indication reflects a projection direction for the at least one pixel of the display image within the view cones,
wherein the direction mapping function reflects a relationship between view cone projection directions and scene view point directions, and
wherein the generator circuit is arranged to determine a pixel value corresponding to the view point direction from the three dimensional representation for the at least one pixel of the display image;

a processor circuit, wherein the processor circuit is arranged to determine a viewer characteristic indicative of an increasing number of current viewers; and
an adapter circuit, wherein the adaptor circuit is arranged to adapt, in response to the viewer characteristic indicative of the increasing number of current viewers, the direction mapping function to reduce, for at least one view cone projection direction, at least one of a scene view point direction deviation from a scene view point direction corresponding to a central view cone projection direction, and a magnitude of a derivative of the direction mapping function.

14. A method for generating a display image for a display panel of an autoste

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Kroon Bart

Classifications

• H04N13/366

  using viewer tracking · CPC title

• H04N13/302

  for viewing without the aid of special glasses, i.e. using autostereoscopic displays · CPC title

• H04N13/376

  for tracking left-right translational head movements, i.e. lateral movements · CPC title

• H04N13/368

  for two or more viewers · CPC title

• H04N13/349

  Multi-view displays for displaying three or more geometrical viewpoints without viewer tracking (for viewing without the aid of special glasses using fly-eye lenses H04N13/307) · CPC title