Abstract:
The method and system of the present invention displays autostereographic images without parallax barriers or loss of resolution. A stereopair is processed and sent to a distant display and one or more transmissive displays placed in front of it. Each display has a calculated images containing at least some of the image information destined for both eyes of a viewer. Each display acts as a mask for the other displays. The processing of the stereopairs to produce calculated images comprises summing the predicted image data, comparing the predicted image data to the desired stereopair, and minimizing the error. In a preferred embodiment, this processing is performed by an artificial neural network. A spatial mask, such as a diffuser, can be placed between displays to suppress Moir{acute over (e )} patterns.

Description:
RELATIONSHIP TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This Application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/456,826, filed Dec. 08, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates generally to a stereoscopic display of images and related apparatus. More specifically the present invention is a system and method for 3-D visualization based on parallel information processing of stereo imaging on multi aspect displays.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Stereoscopic display of images has become increasingly important in modem times. For example, training of professionals, from pilots to physicians, now frequently relies upon the visualization of stereographic images. Further it is important that multiple aspects of an image be able to be viewed so that, for example, during simulations of examination of human or mechanical parts, a viewer can have a continuous stereoscopic view of those parts without having to change data or switch images.  
           [0004]    Conventional stereoscopic display systems have been in use for many years. All of these rely upon segregating images for the right and left eyes. For example, an apparatus which sequentially displays different views to the left and right eye of a viewer has been used successfully in cartographic and other applications. In this instance, using stereo image alternation, a different view is sequentially presented to the left and right eye of the viewer. This is also accomplished by using cathode ray tubes or liquid crystal displays whereby a viewer wears special glasses such as polarizing glasses or liquid crystal shutter glasses in order to see a different image in the left and right eye.  
           [0005]    Lenticular lenses have also been used to allow a viewer to see a left and right image separately when a viewer is at an optimum distance from the lenticular lens screen. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,494 to Araki was issued for an “Apparatus for Displaying Image Allowing Observer to Recognize Stereoscopic Image.” This apparatus uses a lenticular screen displaying a plurality of striped images each stripe corresponding to the parallax view of the left and right eye when the user is looking through the lenticular screen. This apparatus presents a limited number views of a stereo image pair and is therefore limited in the number of views that can be displayed.  
           [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,037 was issued to Imai for a “Stereoscopic Display Apparatus Which Prevents Inverse Stereoscopic Vision.” This invention relates to the use of lenticular lenses to see stereoscopic image but also prevents the phenomenon known as inverse stereoscopic viewing when the right eye sees the image that is destined for the left eye and vice versa. While this does prevent a certain phenomena from occurring, this invention is limited in the number of stereoscopic image pairs that can be present to a particular user.  
           [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,732 was issued to Street for an “Auto Stereoscopic Image Display Adjustable for Observer Location and Distance.” This invention was created to account for the fact that, when a lenticular lens is used, a viewer must be at a particular distance from the lens in order for the lens to operate correctly. This invention comprises a distance measuring apparatus allowing a system to determine the position of the viewer&#39;s head in terms of distance and position (left-right) relative to the screen. In this fashion an appropriate stereographic image pair can be presented to the user at any particular location. Again this invention relies upon a lenticular screen to separate the parallax views for the left and right eye of the viewer. The head location apparatus dictates various other geometries associated with viewing the stereographic pairs of an image. However, this invention relates to adapting for the location of the viewer&#39;s head during such viewing and is limited in the number of aspects of images that can be created.  
           [0008]    What would be desirable is a system that provides numerous aspects or “multi aspect” display such that the user can see many aspects of a particular object when desired. It would further be useful for such viewing to take place in a flexible way so that the viewer is not constrained in terms of the location of the viewer&#39;s head when seeing the stereo image.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide for multi aspect image viewing to create a stereo image.  
           [0010]    It is a further objective of the present invention to be able to present an unlimited number of aspects of an image to a viewer so as not to lose any information while simultaneously having a full stereo image presented to the viewer.  
           [0011]    It is yet another objective of the present invention to simplify the three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of objects.  
           [0012]    It is a further objective of the present invention to improve the perception of 3-D information to a viewer.  
           [0013]    It is a further objective of the present invention to remove sources of error from the viewing of stereographic images.  
           [0014]    It is yet another objective of the present invention to eliminate any mask or obstruction from the view of a viewer when reviewing stereo imagery.  
           [0015]    It is yet another objective of the present invention to eliminate the parallax barrier from the view of viewers trying to visualize a three dimensional scene.  
           [0016]    In conventional parallax barrier-type of lenticular lenses, very few aspects of a particular object are presented. Further, one screen, or plane, contains all of the information about the various aspects while the other screen (or mask) contains only the lenticular lens or running slit that isolates the left aspect from the right aspect of an image being viewed. Further, whenever a viewer uses a parallax barrier type of viewing system, the viewer is actually seeing the parallax barrier or the lenticular lens. This further limits the number of aspects of an image that can be seen by a viewer in attempting to view stereographic images.  
           [0017]    The present invention is a system and method for three-dimensional visualization based upon parallel information processing of stereo and multi aspect images. The images can be processed for a single 3-D viewing zone or multiple 3-D viewing zones. Further, in another embodiment, the processing can be adaptive in nature so as to be continually processed as the location of the viewer changes. Thus the perception of 3-D images by the viewer is improved by not constraining the viewer in any meaningful way.  
           [0018]    In the present invention, at least two transmissive electronic display screens are positioned one behind another. Each such screen is composed of multiple pixels or cells that collectively are capable of forming an image. Although the transmissive electronic display screens will be referred to hereinafter as LCDs (liquid crystal displays), the present invention is not meant to be limited to LCDs and can use other transmissive electronic display means, such as, but not limited to, plasma displays, OLED (organic light emitting diode) or OLEP (organic light emitting polymer) screens. The screens are transmissive, i.e. they each transmit light. An illumination means is positioned behind the screens to illuminate the LCD images created.  
           [0019]    Unlike prior art systems that use a pair of screens to display a right and left stereographic image pair or aspect (hereafter called stereopair), each screen of the present invention displays a calculated image that is not one of the stereopair images, but is rather a derivitive of the stereopair images that interact in the present design to produce the stereo image to be viewed. The information is derived from the database of stereopairs stored in a memory unit. A memory unit provides a desired stereopair to the processing block, which in turn processes the calculated images to be displayed by the LCD panels. Further, the processing block can control the lighting unit that illuminates the LCD panels.  
           [0020]    Since the 3-D image information is distributed between the LCD panels, there is no loss of resolution as found in prior art systems wherein both aspects must be displayed on a single screen or plane, such as with lenticular viewing systems.  
           [0021]    In another embodiment of the invention, the calculated images are presented to the viewer based upon a sensing of the viewer position. This viewer position signal is input to the processing block by means known in the art, such as IR sensing of position or RF or ultrasonic tracking means, which in turn retrieves a different stereopair from the memory unit for subsequent processing, presentation, and display by the controller of the LCD panels.  
           [0022]    In a basic embodiment of the invention, the calculated image in each panel acts as a mask for the other panel(s). Thus, the viewer sees no images other than the object itself. This in contrast to conventional parallax barrier-type imaging systems, where the mask can clearly be seen. In addition, this preliminary processing of the image results in the absence of noise and distortion of a visual nature such as that created by lenticular screens or lenses.  
           [0023]    In another embodiment of the invention, a separate mask panel can be included between the LCD panels so as to increase the image quality and suppress Moiré patterns. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0024]    [0024]FIG. 1 illustrates the display system.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 illustrates the computational and control architecture of the present invention.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 illustrates the light beam movement of the present invention.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4 illustrates the data flow for the operation of the display control program.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 5 illustrates a neural network diagram used to determine image data. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0029]    As noted above, the present invention is a system and method for presentation of multiple aspects of an image to create a three dimensional viewing experience using two liquid crystal panels.  
         [0030]    Referring to FIG. 1, computational device  1  provides control for an illumination subsystem  2  and for the display of images on two discreet liquid crystal displays  4  and  6  separated by a spatial mask  5 . Illumination source  2  which is controlled by the computational device  1  illuminates the transmissive liquid crystal displays  4  and  6  which are displaying images provided to them by the computational device  1 .  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 2 illustrates the detail for the computational device  1 . Although disclosed in this embodiment as including a viewer position signal  10 , it is understood by one of skill in the art that the invention can also be practiced without this feature by defining a set viewing zone or multiple set viewing zones, as discussed in the example below. The invention comprises a database of stereopairs or aspects  8  which are provided to the memory unit  12 . Memory unit  12  has several functions. Initially memory unit  12  will extract and store a particular stereopair from the stereopair database  8 . This stereopair will correspond to an initial viewing position. As noted above, a viewer position sensor  10  can provide a viewer position signal to processing block  14 .  
         [0032]    All during the viewing session, the viewer position signal  10  is constantly monitored and provided to processing block  14 . Depending upon the viewer position and subsequent error processing as noted (below), information from processing block  14  regarding viewer position  10  is provided to memory unit  12  for subsequent extraction of the stereopair aspects from the data base  8 . Thus the present invention can constantly provide an updated series of stereopairs to the processing block based upon the viewer position signal  10  if the viewer desires to see the 3-D object from various positions. If the viewer desires to see a single 3-D view of an object, regardless of the viewing position, the viewer position signal  10  can be used to determine the optical geometry used in the required processing.  
         [0033]    Memory unit  12  provides the desired stereopair to the processing block  14  to produce calculated images. The calculated images can be directly sent from processing block  14  to LCD panel and lighting unit control  16  or stored in memory unit  12  to be accessed by control unit  16 . Unit  16  then provides the calculated images to the appropriate LCD panels  4 ,  6  as well as controls the lighting that illuminates the transmissive LCD panels  4 ,  6 . Processing block  14  can also provide instructions to LCD and lighting control unit  16  to provide the appropriate illumination.  
         [0034]    It should be noted that memory unit  12  holds the accumulated signals of individual cells or elements of the liquid crystal display. Thus the memory unit  12  and processing block  14  have the ability to accumulate and analyze the light that is traveling through relevant screen elements of the LCD panels toward the right and left eyes of the viewer which are identified by the processing block  14  based upon the set viewing zone(s) or the viewer position signal  10 .  
         [0035]    Referring to FIG. 3, the diagram of the light beam movement of the present invention is illustrated. In this illustration a three-panel LCD system is illustrated.  
         [0036]    In this instance the display comprises an image presented on a near panel  18 , a mask panel  20  and a distant image panel  22 . The relative position of these panels is known and input to the processing block for subsequent display of images. Although illustrated as an LCD panel that is capable of storing image information, mask panel  20  could also be a simpler spatial mask device, such as a diffuser.  
         [0037]    Different portions of the information needed to present each stereopair to a viewer are displayed in each element of panels  18 ,  20 , and  22  by sending appropriate calculated images to each panel. In this illustration left eye  36  sees a portion  28  on panel  18  of the calculated image sent to that panel. Since the panels are transmissive in nature, left eye  36  also sees a portion  26  of the calculated image displayed on the mask LCD panel  20 . Additionally, and again due to the transmissivity of each LCD panel, left eye  36  also sees a portion  24  of the calculated image which is displayed on a distant LCD panel  22 . In this manner, desired portions of the calculated images are those that are seen by the left eye of the viewer  
         [0038]    Similarly, right eye  34  sees the same portion  28  of the calculated image on the near panel  18 , as well as sees a portion  30  of the calculated image displayed on the mask panel  20 , as well as a portion  32  of the calculated image on distant panel  22 .  
         [0039]    These portions of the calculated images are those that are to be seen by the right eye of the viewer.  
         [0040]    These portions of the calculated images seen by the right and left eye of the viewer constitute two views seen by the viewer, thereby creating a stereo image.  
         [0041]    Referring to FIG. 4, the data flow for the manipulation of the images of the present invention is illustrated. As noted earlier the memory unit  12 , processing block  14 , and LCD control and luminous control  16  regulate the luminous radiation emanating from the distant screen  22  and the transmissivity of the mask  20  and near screen  18 .  
         [0042]    Information concerning multiple discreet two dimensional (2-D) images (i.e., multiple calculated images) of an object, each of which is depicted in multiple different areas on the LCD screens, and, optionally, information about positions of the right and left eyes of the viewer are adjusted by the processor block  14 .  
         [0043]    Signals corresponding to the transmission of a portion  28  of near screen  18 , the transmissivity of mask  20  corresponding to the left and right eye respectively ( 26 ,  30 ) and the distant screen  22  corresponding to the luminous radiation of those portions of the image of the left and right eye respectively ( 24 ,  32 ) are input to the processing block following the set program.  
         [0044]    The light signals from the cells of all screens that are directed toward the right and left eye of each viewer are then identified. In this example signals from cell  28 ,  26 , and  24 , are all directed toward the left eye of the viewer  36  and signals from block  28 ,  30 , and  32  are directed the right eye of the viewer  34 .  
         [0045]    Each of these left and right eye signals is summed  38  to create a value for the right eye  42  and the left eye  40 . These signals are then compared in a compare operation  48  to the relevant parts of the image of each aspect and to the relevant areas of the image of the object aspects  44  and  46 .  
         [0046]    Keeping in mind that the signal is important a function of the location of the viewer&#39;s eyes, the detected signal can vary to some extent. Any errors from the comparison are identified for each cell of each near mask, and distant screen. Each error is then compared to the set threshold signal and, if the error signal exceeds the set threshold signal, the processing block control changes the signals corresponding to the luminous radiation of at least part of the distant screen  22  cells as well changes the transmissivity of at least part of the mask and near cells of the LCD displays.  
         [0047]    If the information concerning the calculated images of the object changes, as a result of movement of the viewer position, the processing block senses that movement and inputs into the memory unit signals corresponding to luminous radiation of the distant screen cells as well as the transmissivity of the mask and near screen cells until the information is modified. When the viewer position varies far enough to require a new view, that view or image is extracted from the database and processed.  
       EXAMPLES  
       [0048]    In a simple embodiment, the present invention consists of two transmissive LCD screens, such as illustrated in FIG. 1. The distant and nearest (hereinafter called near) screens  4  and  6  are separated by a gap in which a spatial mask  5  is placed. This mask may be pure phase (e.g., lenticular or random screen), amplitude or complex transparency. The screens are controlled by the computer  1 . The viewing image formed by this system depends upon the displacement of the viewer&#39;s eyes to form an autostereographic 3-D image. The only problem that must be solved is the calculation of the images (i.e., calculated images) on the distant and near screens for integrating stereo images in the viewer eyes.  
         [0049]    One means to solve this problem is to assume that L and R are a left and right pair of stereo images and a viewing-zone for the viewer&#39;s eye positions is constant. A spatial mask of an amplitude-type will be assumed for simplicity.  
         [0050]    As illustrated in FIG. 3, two light beams will come through the arbitrary cell z  28  on the near screen  18  in order to come through the pupils of eyes  34  and  36 . These beams will cross mask  20  and distant screen  22  at the points a(z)  26  and c(z)  30 , b(z)  24  and d(z)  32 , respectively. The image in the left eye  36  is a summation of: 
           SL   z   =N   z   +M   a(z)   +D   d(z) ,  (1) 
         [0051]    where N is the intensity of the pixel on the near screen  18 , M is the intensity of the pixel on the mask  20 , and D is the intensity of the pixel on the distant screen  22 .  
         [0052]    For right eye  34 , respectively, the summation is: 
           SR   z   =N   z   +M   c(z)   +D   d(z) .  (2) 
         [0053]    When light is directed through all the pixels z(n) of near screen  18 , the images SL and SR are formed on the retinas of the viewer. The aim of the calculation is a optimizing of the calculated images on the near and distant screens  18  and  22  to obtain 
         SL→L, SR→R. 
         [0054]    One can prove that it is impossible to obtain an exact solution for the arbitrary L and R images. That is why the present invention seeks to find an approximated solution in the possible distributions for N and D to produce a minimum quadratic disparity function (between target and calculated images): 
         ρ(SL-L){right arrow over ( N,D )}min 
         ρ(SR-R){right arrow over ( N,D )}min 
         [0055]    where ρ(x) is a function of the disparity, with the limitation of pixel intensity to 0≦N≦255, 0≦D&lt;255 for constant M.  
         [0056]    An artificial Neural Network (NN) was used for this problem solving because of the following specific features:  
         [0057]    Parallel processing; and  
         [0058]    Possibility of DSP integrated scheme application.  
         [0059]    The neural network architecture of FIG. 5 was applied to the present problem.  50  is a three layer NN. The input layer  52  consists of one neuron that spreads the unit excitement to the neurons of the hidden layer  54 . The neurons of the hidden layer  54  form three groups that correspond to the near and distant screens and the mask. The neurons of the output layer  56  forms two groups that correspond to images SL and SR. The number of neurons corresponds to the number of LCD screens pixels. Synaptic weights Wij that corresponds to the near and distant screens is an adjusting parameter, and Wij of the mask is a constant. Synaptic interconnection between hidden layer neurons corresponds to the optical scheme of the system:  
               V     j   ,   k       =     {         1               -   if                   j     =       k   &amp;                   k       ,     a        (   k   )       ,     b        (   k   )               is                 on                 the                 same                 line                                            or                 j     =       k   &amp;                   k       ,     c        (   z   )       ,     d        (   z   )                 is                 on                 the                 same                 line             0         -   otherwise                                 (   4   )                               
 
         [0060]    Nonlinear functions are a sigmoid function in the value [0-255]:  
               F        (   x   )       =       255     1   +     exp        (     -   x     )           .             (   5   )                               
 
         [0061]    The functioning of the NN can be described by:  
               X   J     =       F        (       ∑   J            W   ij          Inp   t         )       =       F        (     W     1      J       )       =     {           D   J         -           if                 j     ∈   D               M   J         -           if                 j     ∈     M              -                output                 of                 hidden                 layer                   N   J         -           if                 j     ∈   N                         (   6   )                               
 
               Y   k     =       F        (       ∑   k            V   jk          X   J         )                  -                output                 of                 the                   NN   .                 (   7   )                               
 
         [0062]    The output signal in any neuron is a summation of at least one signal from the distant and near screens and the mask. The output of the NN (according to (6), (7), corresponding to the left and right eye of the viewer, is 
           Y   k (left)= F ( X   z   +X   a(z)   +X   b(z) )= F ( N   z   +M   a(z)   +D   b(z) )  Y   k (right)= F ( X   z   +X   c(z)   +X   d(z) )= F ( N   z   +M   c(z)   +D   d(z) )  (8) 
         [0063]    which is the same that in equations (1) and (2), above.  
         [0064]    The error function is:  
             E   =         ∑   k          ρ        (         Y   k          (   left   )       -     L   k       )         +       ∑   k          ρ        (         Y   k          (   right   )       -     R   k       )                   (   9   )                               
 
         [0065]    that is the summation of all the errors. From (8), it is evident that when E→0 while NN learning, the output of the hidden layer will correspond to the desired calculated images to be illuminated on the screens.  
         [0066]    NN learning.  
         [0067]    In the initial step, the weights Wij have random values. A back propagation method (BackProp) was used to teach the NN:  
                   W   ij          (   new   )       =         W   ij          (   old   )       -     α             E            W   ij               ,           (   10   )                               
 
         [0068]    where α-is a velocity of the learning. The experiments show that an acceptable accuracy was obtained at 10-15 iterations according (10) learning, for some images the extremely low errors can be achieved in 100 iterations. The calculations show the strong dependence between the level of errors and the parameters of the optical scheme, such as the shape of the L and R images, the distance between the near and distant screens and the mask, and the viewer eye position.  
         [0069]    For obtaining more stable solutions for small variations of the optical parameters, two alternative methods can be used.  
         [0070]    The first method involves modification of the error function (9), by adding a regularization term:  
             E   =         ∑   k          ρ        (         Y   k          (   left   )       -     L   k       )         +       ∑   k          ρ        (         Y   k          (   right   )       -     R   k       )         +     β                     W   ij   2     2                 (   11   )                               
 
         [0071]    where β-is a regularization parameter.  
         [0072]    The second method involves randomly changing the position of the viewer eye by a small amount during the training of the NN. Both of these methods can be used for enlarging of the area of stereo viewing.  
         [0073]    Training methods other than “BackProp” can also be used, for example, a conjugated gradients method:  
                     W   iJ          (   t   )       =         W   iJ          (     t   -   1     )       +       α        (   t   )              S   iJ          (     t   -   1     )             ,     
              S     i   ,   J            (   t   )       =       -       G   iJ          (   t   )         +                  G   iJ          (   t   )            2                G   iJ          (     t   -   1     )            2              S   iJ          (     t   -   1     )                    
              G   iJ          (   t   )       =            E            W   iJ         .               (   12   )                               
 
         [0074]    which is a variant of Fletcher-Reeves. This will accelerate the training procedure 5-10 times.  
         [0075]    A typical system to employ the present invention consists of two 15″ AM LCDs having a resolution of 1024×768 and a computer system on based on an Intel Pentium III-500 MHz processor for stereo image processing. The computer emulates the neural network for obtaining the calculated images that must be illuminated on the near and distant screens in order to obtain separated left-right images in predefined areas. The neural network emulates the optical scheme of display and the viewer&#39;s eye position in order to minimize the errors in the stereo image.  
         [0076]    This technique improves the image quality in comparison with parallax barrier systems due to the total use of the cells of all the screens for the information transmission. The present system can also identify the number of the viewers as well as the positions of the right and left eyes of each viewer and perform the above-mentioned procedures to realize the techniques in accordance with the identified eye positions of all the viewers. Such a system makes it possible for several viewers to receive visual information with the perception of the stereoscopic effect simultaneously.  
         [0077]    The signals corresponding to the transmissivity of the near and distant screens cells are input into the memory unit by means of the processing block following the set program. The next step is to identify the light signals that can be directed from the cells of all the screens towards the right and left eyes of at least one viewer. Then compare the identified light signals directed towards each eye to the corresponding areas of the set 2-D stereopair image of the relevant object.  
         [0078]    For each cell of each screen, the error signal is identified between the identified light signal that can be directed towards the relevant eye and the identified relevant area of the stereo picture of the relevant object aspect that the same eye should see.  
         [0079]    Each received error signal is compared to the set threshold signal. If the error signal exceeds the set threshold signal, the mentioned program of the processing block control changes the signals corresponding to the screen cells. The above process is repeated until the error signal becomes lower than the set threshold signal or the set time period is up.  
         [0080]    It is also possible to solve the calculations for the case of two (or more) different objects reconstructed in two (or more) different directions for two (or more) viewers. It must be mentioned specifically that all calculations can be performed in parallel; the DSP processors can be designed for this purpose.  
         [0081]    The present invention can be used for multi-viewing display emulation. It has been shown that the number of aspects depends upon the information capacity of the image, such that present experiments allow up to 20 viewing zone images.  
         [0082]    It should also be noted that the system of the present invention may also be used with multiple viewers observing imagery simultaneously. The system simply recognizes the individual viewers&#39;positions (or sets specific viewing zones) and stages images appropriate for the multiple viewers.  
         [0083]    To adapt a system that uses a set image viewing zone (or zones) so as to allow a viewer to move, a viewer position signal is input into the system. The algorithms used to determine SL and SR use variables for the optical geometry, and the viewer position signal is used to determine those variables. Also, the viewer position signal is used to determine which stereopair to display, based on the optical geometry calculation. Numerous known technologies can be used for generating the viewer position signal, including known head/eye tracking systems employed for virtual reality (VR) applications, such as, but not limited to, viewer mounted RF sensors, triangulated IR and ultrasound systems, and camera-based machine vision using video analysis of image data.  
         [0084]    A system and method for the viewing of stereo imagery has now been shown. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments of the present invention are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as disclosed.