Image processing method and stereoscopic image display device using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9092871-B2
Application number	US-201213472361-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2012
Priority date	May 16, 2011
Publication date	Jul 28, 2015
Grant date	Jul 28, 2015

Abstract

A stereoscopic image display device and method of removing jagging of a stereoscopic image. The method comprises: detecting left edges and right edges by analyzing left-eye image data and right-eye image data; detecting a row line as a complicated line if a number of the left edges or the right edges in the row line is equal to or more than a complicated line threshold value, and counting a number of complicated lines; generating a complexity signal having a first logic level if the number of the complicated lines is equal to or more than a complexity detection threshold value; and generating the complexity signal having a second logic level if the number of the complicated lines is less than the complexity detection threshold value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image processing method comprising:
detecting left edges and right edges of an image by analyzing left-eye image data and right-eye image data;
detecting a row line as a complicated line if a number of the left edges or the right edges in the row line is greater than or equal to a complicated line threshold value;
counting a number of complicated lines;
generating a complexity signal having a first logic level if the number of the complicated lines is greater than or equal to a complexity detection threshold value;
generating the complexity signal having a second logic level if the number of the complicated lines is less than the complexity detection threshold value;
generating converted three-dimensional (3D) image data if the complexity signal has the first logic level by arranging the left-eye image data of odd-numbered lines on the odd-numbered lines of a Nth frame, the right-eye image data of even-numbered lines on the even-numbered lines of the Nth frame, the left-eye image data of the even-numbered lines on the odd-numbered lines of a (N+1)th frame, and the right-eye image data of the odd-numbered lines on the even-numbered lines of the (N+1)th frame, wherein N is a natural number; and
if the complexity signal has the second logic level,
replacing the left-eye image data on a k th line with the left-eye image data on a (k−1) th line if a first absolute value of a difference between a number of the left edges on the (k−1) th line and a number of the left edges on the k th line is greater than or equal to an edge number threshold value; and
replacing the right-eye image data on the k th line with the right-eye image data on the (k−1) th line if a second absolute value of a difference between a number of the right-eye edge data on the (k−1) th line and a number of the right-eye edge data on the k th line is greater than or equal to the edge number threshold value,
wherein k is a natural number greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to n, and
wherein n is a vertical resolution of a display panel.

2. The image processing method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating a third absolute value of a difference between a j th left-eye pixel value of the left-eye image data on the (k−1) th line and a j th left-eye pixel value of the left-eye image data on the k th line if the first absolute value is less than the edge number threshold value; and
calculating a fourth absolute value of a difference between j th right-eye pixel value of the right-eye image data on the (k−1) th line and j th right-eye pixel value of the right-eye image data on the k th line if the second absolute value is less than the edge number threshold value,
wherein j is a natural number equal to or more than 1 and equal to or less than m, and
wherein m is a horizontal resolution of the display panel.

3. The image processing method of claim 2 , further comprising:
replacing the j th left-eye pixel value of the left-eye image data on the k th line with the j th left-eye pixel value of the left-eye image data on the (k−1) th line if the third absolute value is greater than or equal to a pixel value threshold value; and
replacing the j th right-eye pixel value of the right-eye image data on the k th line with the j th right-eye pixel value of the right-eye image data on the (k−1) th line if the fourth absolute value is greater than or equal to the pixel value threshold value.

4. The image processing method of claim 3 , further comprising:
arranging replaced left-eye image data of odd-numbered lines on the odd-numbered lines of a Nth frame, arranging replaced right-eye image data of even-numbered lines on the even-numbered lines of the Nth frame, the replaced left-eye image data of the even-numbered lines on the odd-numbered lines of a (N+1)th frame, the replaced right-eye image data of the odd-numbered lines on the even-numbered lines of the (N+1)th frame,
wherein N is a natural number.

5. The image processing method of claim 2 , further comprising:
replacing the j th left-eye pixel value of the left-eye image data on the k th line with an arithmetical mean of the j th left-eye pixel value of the left-eye image data on the k th line and the k th left-eye pixel value of the left-eye image data on the (k−1) th line if the third absolute value is greater than or equal to a pixel value threshold value; and
replacing the j th right-eye pixel value of the right-eye image data on the k th line to a arithmetical mean of the j th right-eye pixel value of the right-eye image data on the k th line and the j th right-eye pixel value of the right-eye image data on the (k−1) th line if the fourth absolute value is greater than or equal to the pixel value threshold value.

6. The image processing method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting left edges and right edges includes:
receiving original 3D image data having original left-eye image data and original right-eye image data;
generating the left-eye image data by expanding the original left-eye image data, and generating the right-eye image data by expanding the original right-eye image data;
converting the left-eye image data into left-eye gray scale data, and converting the right-eye image data into right-eye gray scale data;
detecting at least one chat window area by analyzing the left-eye gray scale data and the right-eye gray scale data; and
converting the left-eye gray scale data and the right-eye gray scale data in the chat window area.

7. The image processing method of claim 6 , wherein the detecting the chat window area includes:
determining one of the left-eye gray scale data or the right-eye gray scale data as a central gray scale data;
determining a plurality of displacement calculation areas based on the central gray scale data;
setting a mask having a size of p×q on one of the displacement calculation areas, wherein p and q are natural numbers greater than 2;
determining one of gray scale data in the mask as a reference gray scale data;
calculating a displacement from the central gray scale data to the reference gray scale data; and
determining that the central gray scale data is in the chat window area if the displacement is zero.

8. The image processing method of claim 7 , wherein the converting the left-eye gray scale data and the right-eye gray scale data in the chat window area includes:
if the central gray scale data CD in the chat window area is jth gray scale data on a kth line,
replacing the jth gray scale data on the kth line, the jth gray scale data on a (k−1)th line, and the jth gray scale data on a (k+1)th line with an arithmetic mean of the jth gray scale data on the kth line, the jth gray scale data on the (k−1)th line, and the jth gray scale data on the (k+1)th line,
wherein j is a natural number greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to m which is a horizontal resolution of the display panel, and
wherein k is a natural number greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to n which is a vertical resolution of the display panel.

9. A stereoscopic image display device, comprising:
a display panel including scan lines and data lines;
an image processor configured to detect a complexity of a three-dimensional (3D) image by using a complexity detector, and convert the 3D image data by applying either a first algorithm or a second algorithm to the 3D image based on the complexity of the 3D image;
a data driver configured to convert the converted 3D image data from the image processor into data voltages and supply the data voltages to the data lines; and
a gate driver configured to sequentially supply gate pulses synchronized with the data voltage to the gate lines,
wherein

Assignees

• Park Myungsoo
• Lee Jaewoo
• Kim Hyejin
• Lee Jeongki
• Lg Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Myungsoo
• Lee Jaewoo
• Kim Hyejin
• Lee Jeongki

Classifications

• H04N13/0018

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06T7/0085 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T7/13 Primary

  Edge detection · CPC title

• H04N13/122

  Improving the three-dimensional [3D] impression of stereoscopic images by modifying image signal contents, e.g. by filtering or adding monoscopic depth cues (H04N13/128 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N13/00 Primary

  Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof · CPC title