Specular reflection reduction using multiple cameras
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorDavid R. Jenkins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An interactive display system that includes an interactive display screen. An illuminator is positioned to illuminate one of the inner or outer surfaces of the display screen. At least two cameras are placed so as to view the illuminated surface of the display screen. Each of at least one of the cameras are positioned such that specular reflections from the illuminator are received by the camera. The images from the different cameras are merged to form a merged image in which specular reflections are reduced or even cancelled.
Claims20
An interactive display system comprising:
- a display screen comprising one or more display layers;
- an illuminator positioned so as to illuminate one of the inner surface or outer surface of the display screen;
- a first camera positioned so as to view the illuminated surface of the display screen at a position such that when the illuminator is illuminated, a specular reflection occurs at an area of an image as captured by the first camera;
- a second camera positioned so as to view the illuminated surface of the display screen at a position such that when the illuminator is illuminated, the second camera is able to view at least a portion of the specular reflection area of the first camera;
- and
- an image merging mechanism configured to combine images from the first camera and from the second camera such that specular reflections are at least reduced in a merged image in comparison with the image captured by the first camera.
An image merging mechanism for use with an interactive display system that includes one or more display layers, a first camera positioned so as to view an illuminated surface of the one or more display layers at a position such that when the illuminator is illuminated a specular reflection occurs at an area of an image as captured by the first camera, a second camera positioned so as to view an illuminated surface of the one or more display layers at a position such that when the illuminator is illuminated the second camera is able to view at least a portion of the specular reflection area of the first camera, the image merging mechanism configured to perform the following act:
- an act of combining images from the first and second camera such that specular reflections are at least reduced as compared to the specular reflection levels present in the first camera.
An interactive display system comprising:
- a display screen comprising one or more display layers;
- an illuminator positioned to illuminate one of the inner or outer surfaces of the display screen layers;
- a first camera positioned so as to view the illuminated surface of the one or more display screen layers at a position such that when the illuminator is illuminated, a specular reflection occurs at an area of an image as captured by the first camera;
- a second camera positioned so as to view the illuminated surface of the one or more display screen layers at a position such that when the illuminator is illuminated, a specular reflection occurs at a second portion of images captured by the second camera, the second camera capturing images reflected from the illuminator at a second region of the one or more display screen layers;
- a third camera positioned so as to view the illuminated surface of the one or more display screen layers at a position such that the third camera captures images reflected from the illuminator at a third region of the one or more display screen layers;
- a fourth camera positioned so as to view the illuminated surface of the one or more display screen layers at a position such that the fourth camera captures images reflected from the illuminator at a fourth region of the one or more display screen layers;
- and
- an overlapping camera positioned so as to view the illuminated surface of the one or more display screen layers at a position such the overlapping camera captures
- images from areas of specular reflection for the first and second cameras, without itself capturing specular reflections for those corresponding areas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.