US 6,111,598 AGranted

System and method for producing and displaying spectrally-multiplexed images of three-dimensional imagery for use in flicker-free stereoscopic viewing thereof

AssigneePeveo, Inc.

InventorSadeg M. Faris

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Abstract

A Method and apparatus is provided for producing and displaying pairs of spectrally-multiplexed gray-scale or color images of 3-D scenery for use in stereoscopic viewing thereof. In one illustrative embodiment of the present invention, pairs of spectrally-multiplexed color images of 3-D scenery are produced using a camera system records left and right color perspective images thereof and optically processes the spectral components thereof. In another illustrative embodiment of the present invention, pairs of spectrally-multiplexed color images of 3-D imagery are produced within a computer-based system which generates left and right perspective images thereof using computer graphic processes, and processes the pixel data thereof using pixel-data processing methods of the present invention. Thereafter, produced pairs of spectrally-multiplexed images can be recorded on diverse recording mediums, and accessed by the display system of the present invention for real-time display on diverse display surfaces including, for example, flat-panel liquid-crystal display (LCD) surfaces, CRT display surfaces, projection display screen surfaces, and electro-luminescent panel display surfaces. In the various illustrative embodiments of the display system, stereoscopic viewing of 3-D imagery is facilitated by wearing electrically passive or electrically-active light polarizing spectacles during the image display process of the present invention.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A system for producing and displaying pairs of first and second spectrally-multiplexed images of a three-dimensional object for use in 3-D stereoscopic viewing thereof substantially free of image flicker, said system comprising:

(A) first pixel data set producing means for producing a first set of pixel data elements representative of a first perspective image of said object and each said pixel data element thereof including color codes representing first and second groups of spectral components contained in said first perspective image;
(B) second pixel data set producing means for producing a second set of pixel data elements representative of a second perspective image of said object and each said pixel data element thereof including color codes representing first and second groups of spectral components contained in said second perspective image;
(C) pixel data element processing means for
(i) analyzing the color codes of pixel data elements in said first and second pixel data sets,
(ii) determining which pixel data elements in said first and second pixel data sets have color code values of a prespecified magnitude for one of said first and second spectral component groups, and
(iii) assigning a filler pixel to each said pixel data element in said first and second pixel data sets which has been determined to have at least one color code value of said prespecified magnitude, thereby producing modified first and second perspective images;
(D) pixel data element multiplexing means for multiplexing the color codes of pixel data elements in said modified first and second perspective images so as to produce third and fourth sets of pixel data elements representative of first and second spectrally-multiplexed images, respectively;
and
(E) image display means for sequentially displaying said first and second spectrally-multiplexed images using said third and fourth sets of pixel data elements,
whereby a human viewer viewing said displayed first and second spectrally-multiplexed images can stereoscopically perceive said three-dimensional object substantially free of image flicker.

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A method of producing a pair of pixel data sets representative of a pair of spectrally-multiplexed images of a three-dimensional scene, for use in stereoscopic viewing thereof substantially free of image flicker, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) producing first and second pixel data sets representative of first and second perspective images of said three-dimensional scene, respectively, each said perspective image having at least first and second groups of spectral components and each said pixel data set containing data representative of the first and second groups of spectral components;
(b) analyzing the color codes of pixel data elements in said first and second pixel data sets;
(c) determining which pixel data elements in said first and second pixel data sets have color code values of a prespecified magnitude for one of said first and second spectral component groups;
(d) assigning a filler pixel to each said pixel data element in said first and second pixel data sets which has been determined to have at least one color code value of said prespecified magnitude, thereby producing modified first and second perspective images;
(e) multiplexing the color codes of pixel data elements in said modified first and second perspective images so as to produce third and fourth sets of pixel data elements representative of first and second spectrally-multiplexed images, respectively;
and
(f) sequentially displaying said first and second spectrally-multiplexed images using said third and fourth sets of pixel data elements,
whereby a human viewer viewing said displayed first and second spectrally-multiplexed images can stereoscopically perceive said three-dimensional scene substantially free of image flicker.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.