Image display apparatus and method

An image display apparatus configured to project an image onto a screen, comprising:

• a projection lens arranged at a first position;
• and
• a camera arranged at a second position,
• wherein, when the screen has a curved surface, a camera image obtained by capturing a first image projected on the screen by the camera is acquired,
• wherein a geometric transformation for correcting a geometric distortion caused by the curved surface seen from a first virtual viewpoint position is performed for an image to be displayed based on information of the camera image, the first position, and the second position, and a post-transformation image is projected onto the screen,
• wherein a second virtual viewpoint position different from the first virtual viewpoint position is set, and
• wherein the geometric transformation for correcting the geometric distortion seen from the second virtual viewpoint position is performed based on a difference between the first virtual viewpoint position and the second virtual viewpoint position.

An image display apparatus configured to project an image onto a screen, comprising:

• a projection lens arranged at a first position;
• and
• a camera arranged at a second position,
• wherein, when the screen has a curved surface, a camera image obtained by capturing a first image projected on the screen by the camera is acquired,
• wherein a geometric transformation for correcting a geometric distortion caused by the curved surface seen from a first virtual viewpoint position is performed for an image to be displayed based on information of the camera image, the first position, and the second position, and a post-transformation image is projected onto the screen,
• wherein an obstacle area in the screen is detected based on the camera image,
• wherein each point of a grid of a projected image on the screen is calculated by using the first image and the camera image,
• wherein a distance from the first position to each point of the grid is calculated,
• wherein a virtual camera image when seen from the first virtual viewpoint position is calculated by using the camera image and the distance,
• wherein, from a first grid corresponding to a projectable area of the virtual camera image, a second grid corresponding to a quadrangular area which does not include the obstacle area and is included in the projectable area is calculated, and
• wherein the transformation matrix is calculated by using the second grid.

An image display method in an image display apparatus configured to project an image onto a screen,

• the image display apparatus comprising:
• a projection lens arranged at a first position;
• and
• a camera arranged at a second position, and
• the image display method comprising:
• when the screen has a curved surface,
• a step of acquiring a camera image obtained by capturing a first image projected on the screen by the camera;
• and
• a step of performing a geometric transformation for correcting a geometric distortion caused by the curved surface seen from a first virtual viewpoint position for an image to be displayed based on information of the camera image, the first position, and the second position, and projecting a post-transformation image onto the screen,
• wherein each point of a grid of a projected image on the screen is calculated by using the first image and the camera image,
• wherein a distance from the first position to each point of the grid is calculated,
• wherein a transformation matrix for correcting the geometric distortion caused by the curved surface seen from the first virtual viewpoint position is calculated by using the grid and the distance, and
• wherein the geometric transformation is performed by using the transformation matrix.