Camera controller for stereoscopic video system
AssigneeStereoGraphics Corporation
InventorsLenny Lipton, Lawrence D. Meyer, Frank K. Kramer, III, William A. Slattery
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for time multiplexing and demultiplexing two channels of picture information within a standard video channel. The method is specifically designed for field sequential stereoscopic display applications, but may be used for non-stereoscopic applications where conservation of bandwidth is required. The technique is superior to prior art commercially available stereoplexing approaches, and increases vertical resolution while decreasing stair-stepping of diagonal lines. The demultiplexing display controller of the invention can be manufactured at a low cost because its design takes advantage of commercially available integrated circuits.
Claims16
A method for forming a flickerless, field-sequential stereoscopic image from first and second analog video signals, each analog video signal being encoded with sychronization information and color information, comprising:
- digitizing the video signals;
- decoding the digitized video signals;
- storing a first portion of each decoded digitized video signal in an odd video field and storing a second portion of each decoded digitized video signal in an even video field;
- multiplexing the video fields so as to generate a flickerless stereoscopic video image.
A method for time multiplexing a first analog video source signal and a second analog video source signal, including the steps of:
- synchronizing the horizontal and vertical relationship of said first analog video signal and said second analog video signal
- generating a first and a second digitized video signal from the first and second analog video source signals, respectively;
- separating horizontal and vertical sync timing edges from the first and second digitized video source signals;
- generating a first luma signal and a second luma signal by removing the chroma components of the first and second digitized video signals, respectively;
- generating a first pair and a second pair of chroma signals by decomposing the chroma components of the first and second digitized video signals, respectively;
- combining the first pair of chroma signals and combining the second pair of chroma signals;
- storing the first luma signal and the first pair of chroma signals in a first field memory, wherein each unit of storage in the first field memory comprises a single video field in which even and odd video fields are alternately stored;
- and
- storing the second luma signal and the second pair of chroma signals in a second field memory, wherein the second field memory comprises separate storage for even and odd video fields.
An apparatus for processing analog video source signals from a first camera and a second camera in order to generate a real time display output and composite and component record outputs, wherein the first camera provides a first source signal and the second camera provides a second source signal, each source signal being encoded with sychronization information and color information, comprising:
- means for digitizing the source signals;
- means for decoding the digitized source signals;
- means for storing a first portion of each decoded digitized source signal in an odd video field;
- means for storing a second portion of each decoded digitized source signal in an even video field;
- means for multiplexing the video fields so as to generate a flickerless stereoscopic video image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.