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US 6,570,623 B1Granted
Optical blending for multi-projector display wall systems
AssigneePrinceton University
InventorsKai Li, YuQun Chen, Timothy Housel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-projector video wall system employs a blending frame to blend the overlapping portions of two adjacent images I1 and I2. The blending frame is preferably located a distance Dframe from the aperture of the projector and has an optimal half frame width Wf from the axis of the lens of the projector. A camera-based feedback loop can be employed to fine-tune the optical blending by digitally altering the image source.
Claims8
A system for blending a first I1 and a second I2 image as projected onto a screen said system comprising:
- a. a first projection means for projecting said first image I1, said first projection means including a first object plane and a first aperture located a distance Dscreen from said screen;
- b. a first frame means located a distance Dframe from said first aperture, wherein said first frame means occludes an overlapping portion of said first image I1 that overlaps said second image I2 thereby reducing the intensity of said first image I1 in said overlapping portion;
- c. a second projection means for projecting said second image I2, said second projection means including a second object plane and a second aperture located a distance Dscreen from said screen;
- and,
- d. a second frame means located a distance Dframe from said second aperture, wherein said second frame means occludes an overlapping portion of said second image I2 that overlaps said first image I1 thereby reducing the intensity of said second image I2 in said overlapping portion and, further, and, wherein the combined intensities of overlapping images I1 and I2 is substantially the same as the intensity of said images in regions adjacent to said overlapping images, wherein said first and second apertures each have a diameter Dlens and said images I1 and I2 have a half image width W1 and a region of common overlap Lovlp and, wherein said distance Dframe is optimally determined by the relationship:
- D frame = ( D lens L ovlp + D lens ) × D screen .
3 more elements
A method for blending a first image I1 and a second image I2 that overlap, comprising the steps of:
- a. projecting said first image I1 onto a screen;
- b. projecting said second image I2 onto said screen so that said image I1 and I2 at least partially overlap in a region;
- c. occluding at least part of one image with an occlusion means to decrease the intensity of illumination of at least one of said images in said region of overlap, wherein said occlusion means comprises a first occlusion means for occluding said first image I1 in said region of overlap and a second occlusion means for occluding said second image I2 in said region of overlap;
- d. balancing the intensity of the occluded images I1 and I2 in said region of overlap so that said images I1 and I2 substantially blend in said region with minimal intensity variation with respect to the region directly adjacent to said region of overlap, wherein said images I1 and I2 are created by a first and second projection means respectively, each having an object plane and an aperture located a distance Dscreen from said screen, said aperture being located a distance Dframe from said occlusion means and having a diameter Dlens and images I1 and I2 having a half image width WI and a region of overlap Lovlp, and,
- e. setting said distance Dframe so that it meets the following relationship:
- D frame = ( D lens L ovlp + D lens ) × D screen .
3 more elements
A video wall system for blending at least a first I1 and a second I2 image as projected onto said wall, said system comprising:
- a. a first projection means for projecting said first image I1, said first projection means including a first object plane and a first aperture located a distance Dscreen from said wall;
- b. a first frame means located a distance Dframe from said first aperture, wherein said first frame means occludes an overlapping portion of said first image I1 that overlaps said second image I2 thereby reducing the intensity of said first image in said overlapping portion;
- c. second projection means for projecting said second image I2, said second projection means including a second object plane and a second aperture located a distance Dscreen from said wall;
- and,
- d. a second frame means located a distance Dframe from said second aperture, wherein said second frame means occludes an overlappin portion of said second image I2 that overlaps said first image I1 thereby reducing the intensity of said second image in said overlapping portion and, further, and, wherein the combined intensities of overlapping images I1 and I2 is substantially the same as the intensity of said images in regions adjacent to said overlapping images,
- wherein said first and second apertures each have a diameter Dlens and said images I1 and I2 have a half image width W1 and a region of common overlap Lovlp and, wherein said distance Dframe is optimally determined by the relationship:
- D frame = ( D lens L ovlp + D lens ) × D screen .
4 more elements
A video wall system for blending at least a first I1 and a second I2 image as projected onto said wall, said system comprising:
- a. a first projection means for projecting said first image I1, said first projection means including a first object plane and a first aperture located a distance Dscreen from said wall;
- b. a first frame means located a distance Dframe from said first aperture, wherein said first frame means occludes an overlapping portion of said first image I1 that overlaps said second image I2 thereby reducing the intensity of said first image in said overlapping portion;
- c. a second projection means for projecting said second image I2, said second projection means including a second object plane and a second aperture located a distance Dscreen from said wall;
- and,
- d. a second frame means located a distance Dframe from said second aperture, wherein said second frame means occludes an overlapping portion of said second image I2 that overlaps said first image I1 thereby reducing the intensity of said second image in said overlapping portion and, further, and, wherein the combined intensities of overlapping images I1 and I2 is substantially the same as the intensity of said images in regions adjacent to said overlapping images,
- wherein said first and second projection means include micro-lens light integrator means;
- and, wherein said first and second frame means are tilted with respect to the rows and columns of said micro-lens light integrator means.
4 more elements
A video wall system for blending at least a first I1 and a second I2 image as projected onto said wall, said system comprising:
- a. a first projection means for projecting said first image I1, said first projection means including a first object plane and a first aperture located a distance Dscreen from said wall;
- b. a first frame means located a distance Dframe from said first aperture, wherein said first frame means occludes an overlapping portion of said first image I1 that overlaps said second image I2 thereby reducing the intensity of said first image in said overlapping portion;
- c. a second projection means for projecting said second image I2, said second projection means including a second object plane and a second aperture located a distance Dscreen from said wall;
- and,
- d. a second frame means located a distance Dframe from said second aperture, wherein said second frame means occludes an overlapping portion of said second image I2 that overlaps said first image I1 thereby reducing the intensity of said second image in said overlapping portion and, further, and, wherein the combined intensities of overlapping images I1 and I2 is substantially the same as the intensity of said images in regions adjacent to said overlapping images,
- wherein said first and second projection means include micro-lens light integrator means;
- and, wherein said first and second frame means has a saw-tooth pattern in order to create a smooth blending of light output between two columns of said micro-lens light integrator means.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.