Method and system for presenting live video from video capture devices on a computer monitor

A method for presenting artifact-free live video from at least one video capture device on a computer system having a display monitor controlled by a display controller, said display controller repeatedly providing a vertical blanking signal, comprising:

• configuring said video capture device to commence the acquisition of an image frame in response to a trigger signal, partitioning memory means of the computer system into at least one FIFO stack of frame buffers comprising an input buffer and an output buffer, and performing an acquisition-and-display loop until a system reset, said acquisition-and-display loop comprising the steps of:
• converting said vertical blanking signal to the trigger signal and applying said trigger signal to said video capture device at a rate substantially equal to a rate of said vertical blanking signal multiplied or divided by a whole positive number;
• commencing the transfer of acquired image data from said video capture device to said input buffer;
• transferring the content of said output buffer that contains a previously received image frame to the graphic memory of said display controller during the vertical blanking interval of said display monitor;
• and
• advancing the positions of the frame buffers in said FIFO stack after the filling of said input buffer with acquired image data is complete,
• whereby the acquisition frame rate of said video capture device is synchronized with the refresh rate of said display monitor, the rendering of said image data is synchronized with the refresh cycle of said display controller, and live video is presented on said display monitor substantially without motion artifacts.

A method for presenting artifact-free 3D live video on a computer system from two video capture devices positioned to capture stereoscopic pairs of images, the computer system having a display monitor controlled by a display controller, said display controller repeatedly providing a vertical blanking signal, comprising:

• configuring each of said video capture devices to commence the acquisition of an image frame in response to a trigger signal, partitioning memory means of the computer system into two FIFO stacks of frame buffers, each FIFO stack being associated with one of said video capture devices and comprising an input buffer and an output buffer, and performing an acquisition-and-display loop until a system reset, said acquisition-and-display loop comprising the steps of:
• converting said vertical blanking signal to the trigger signal and applying said trigger signal to said video capture devices at a rate substantially equal to a rate of said vertical blanking signal;
• commencing the transfer of acquired image data from each one of said video capture devices to the input buffer of an associated one of said FIFO stacks;
• alternately transferring image data from the output buffers of said FIFO stacks to the graphic memory of said display controller during the vertical blanking interval of said display monitor;
• applying said vertical blanking signal to a controller of stereoscopic shutter glasses, said controller alternating the optical state of stereoscopic shutter glasses;
• and
• advancing the positions of the frame buffers in each one of said FIFO stacks after the filling of its input buffer with acquired image data is complete,
• whereby the acquisition frame rate of said video capture devices is synchronized with the refresh rate of said display monitor and with the switching rate of said shutter glasses, the rendering of said image data is synchronized with the refresh cycle of said display controller, and 3D live video is presented on said display monitor substantially without judder and tearing artifacts.