Abstract:
The present invention relates to projection systems where one or more projectors are utilized to project a video, a still image, or combinations thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of calibrating and operating such systems. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of calibrating an image display system is provided. The system comprises one or more projectors oriented to project an image on a projection screen and one or more image sensors oriented to acquire an image projected on the projection screen. According to the method, the projector is operated to project a calibration image comprising one or more image fiducials on the image projection screen. The image sensor acquires the projected calibration image including the image fiducials. The respective positions of the image fiducials are identified and the identified fiducial positions are validated by applying a parametric model to compare respective ones of the identified fiducial positions with corresponding approximations of the identified fiducial positions. Corrected fiducial positions are generated when a result of one of the comparisons exceeds an error threshold. The corrected fiducial positions are used in place of fiducial positions for which errors are certified to generate geometric calibration data for the projector for operation in a calibrated projection mode. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/745,342, filed Apr. 21, 2006. 
     
    
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to projection systems where one or more projectors are utilized to project a video, a still image, or combinations thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of calibrating and operating such systems. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of calibrating an image display system is provided. The system comprises one or more projectors oriented to project an image on a projection screen and one or more image sensors oriented to acquire an image projected on the projection screen. According to the method, the projector is operated to project a calibration image comprising one or more image fiducials on the image projection screen. The image sensor acquires the projected calibration image including the image fiducials. The respective positions of the image fiducials are identified and the identified fiducial positions are validated by applying a parametric model to compare respective ones of the identified fiducial positions with corresponding approximations of the identified fiducial positions. Corrected fiducial positions are generated when a result of one of the comparisons exceeds an error threshold. The corrected fiducial positions are used in place of fiducial positions for which errors are certified to generate geometric calibration data for the projector for operation in a calibrated projection mode. Additional embodiments are disclosed and claimed.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0003]     The following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present invention can be best understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which:  
         [0004]      FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a projection system according to one or more embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0005]      FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration related to image-based projector calibration according to one or more embodiments of the present invention; and  
         [0006]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating calibration methodology according to one or more embodiments of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0007]     Generally, various embodiments of the present invention relate to calibration techniques that utilize parametric models to generate geometric calibration data to calibrate an image display system including one or more image projectors and one or more image sensors positioned to acquire a projected image, or at least portions thereof. Although the calibration methodology of the present invention has broad applicability to any image projection system where an image or series of images are projected onto a viewing screen using one or more projectors, the methodology of the various embodiments of the present invention is described herein in the context of a multi-projector display system.  
         [0008]     Referring initially to  FIG. 1 , a calibration method according to one embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the context of an image display system  10  comprising a plurality of projectors P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4  oriented to project an image on a projection screen  20 . Two cameras C 1 , C 2  are oriented to acquire the image projected on the projection screen  20 . A controller  30 , illustrated as a programmable computer, is coupled to the projectors and cameras.  
         [0009]     Referring additionally to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the projectors are initially operated to project a calibration image comprising a pattern or other representation of image fiducials F on the image projection screen  20  (see input  100  and step  102 ). Preferably, the geometry of the respective image fiducials F permits reliable identification of the spatial center of each fiducial F or some other spatially consistent reference point of each fiducial F. For example, and not by way of limitation, the respective image fiducials F may comprise circular 2D Gaussian images. In which case, spatially consistent reference points could be established by determining the respective centers-of-mass of the image fiducials or by fitting the parameters of a 2D Gaussian to the observed intensities and determining the maximal point of the Gaussian function. In the illustrated embodiment, the image fiducials F are illustrated as respective circles with two lines intersecting at the center of the circle. To identify a spatially consistent reference point across the set of image fiducials F, an image processing routine could first determine line equations that best fit the observed lines, and then compute the point of intersection of the two lines. In the case of a fiducial with a Gaussian intensity distribution, an image processing routine can first detect the fiducial region and then compute a center of mass of intensity for that region. These points of intersection are illustrated in  FIG. 2  and can be used as an estimate of location of each fiducial image F.  
         [0010]     For the purposes of describing and defining the present invention, it is noted that a calibration image may define a specific pattern of image fiducials F or may merely comprise an image for which feature locations within the image are known and are distinguishable in the camera. Indeed, reference herein to “image fiducials F” should be read broadly to cover any aspect of a calibration image that can be used to help identify feature locations within the image. A calibration image and the corresponding image fiducials F therein need not be limited to specific types of formal calibration images.  
         [0011]     Once the image fiducials have been displayed, the cameras C 1 , C 2 , or other types of conventional or yet-to-be developed image sensors, are operated to acquire the projected calibration image including the image fiducials F as projected on the projection screen  20  (see step  104 ). As is noted above, the respective positions of the image fiducials F within the pattern of fiducials as projected on the projection screen  20  can be calculated or otherwise identified collectively or on a fiducial-by-fiducial basis by suitable image processing software (see step  106  and output  108 ). As is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , because fiducial identification processes are commonly subject to measurement error arising from ambient lighting non-uniformity, irregularities in the display surface geometry, and irregularities in reflectance properties, the identified position of a given fiducial F 0 ′ relative to a set of neighboring fiducials F 1 ′-F 4 ′ in the image acquired by the camera C 1  can vary significantly from the position of the fiducial F 0  relative to a set of neighboring fiducials F 1 -F 4  defined by the projector P 1 . Although this type of measurement error can lead to visibly noticeable calibration/registration error in a wide variety of single and multi-projector display systems, it is particularly acute in display systems where two or more projectors are used to form a single, geometrically consistent image. According to one aspect of the present invention, this measurement error can be mitigated by using local parametric models to provide an estimate of the image measurement error for a given fiducial F. Further, the local parametric models and the estimate of the image measurement error may form a basis for replacing erroneous or missing measurements with values that conform to the model.  
         [0012]     The fiducial positions identified in step  106  are validated to identify erroneous or missing image fiducials F in the acquired calibration image. To validate the fiducials, a parametric model is applied to compare respective ones of the identified fiducial positions with corresponding approximations of the identified fiducial positions (see inputs  108 ,  110  and step  112 ). As is illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the respective approximations that are used in the fiducial validation step can be calculated or otherwise determined by using positional data acquired for a neighborhood of image fiducials F 1 ′-F 4 ′ in the calibration image acquired by the camera C 1 , as projected on the projection screen  20 . More specifically, the neighborhood of image fiducials F 1 ′-F 4 ′ are used in combination with a suitable local parametric model to approximate the identified fiducial position F 0 ′. To minimize error, the identified fiducial position F 0 ′ is excluded from the set of neighboring image fiducials F 1 ′-F 4 ′ when approximating the identified fiducial position F 0 ′.  
         [0013]     The local parametric model used in the validation step preferably represents a mapping of the calibration image from the image projector P 1  to the image sensor C 1 . More specifically, the parametric model can comprise one or more functions that are configured to predict the positions of individual image fiducials in a 2D frame of the image sensor C 1  and can be created in a number of ways. For example, and not by way of limitation, the parametric functions can be created by applying (i) a least squares approximation to a neighborhood of image fiducials in the calibration image, (ii) a Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm parametric optimization technique, (iii) a simulated-annealing parametric optimization technique, (iv) a gradient descent parametric optimization technique, or combinations thereof.  
         [0014]     In cases where the parametric functions are created by applying a least squares approximation to the neighborhood of image fiducials F 1 ′-F 4 ′ in the calibration image. In many cases, the parametric models will be derived from one or more dual variable, low order polynomials. For example, the following two-degree polynomial of the variables Px and Py could be used to approximate the 2D positions in the camera image of a projector point for a variety of projection screen geometries: 
 
 C   x   =f ( P   x   ,P   y ) 
 
 C   y   =g ( P   x   ,P   y ) 
 
 where C x  and C y  represent the x and y coordinates of a point in the image sensor frame, P x  and P y  represent the x and y coordinates of a point in the projector frame, and f and g represent coefficient scalars. Other functions that include constraints about the expected positions of points relative to one another can be used in the presence of additional information about the screen surface, radiometric properties of the display surface, or other auxiliary information. For example, linear homography techniques can be used to determine how points on a planar display surface will be observed using a projective sensing device such as a camera. This type of parametric model would have eight degrees of freedom and would be represented by a non-singular homogeneous 3×3 matrix resulting in a set of parametric equations. 
 
         [0015]     In order to use the parametric equations to validate fiducial image locations, the parameters to the function should first be determined and, for each term in the polynomial function, a coefficient scalar value should be computed or, where linear homography techniques are used, the  8  free parameters of the matrix would need to the discovered. These coefficients can be computed by using a standard least-squares approximation technique. In order to compute the least squares approximation, first a neighborhood of fiducial points is chosen, and the corresponding projector and camera coordinates for each point in the neighborhood is added to a list. This list of (Px, Py)→(Cx, Cy) point correspondences represents input to output mappings that should be produced by the functions. By applying the least-squares estimation technique to these data, a function of best fit can be determined.  
         [0016]     It is contemplated that several different parametric models can be fit to the local neighborhood of points in the case where an accurate parametric model is unavailable or unknown. In this case, the function of best fit both determines the parameters of the function as well as the parametric model that best describes the local neighborhood of fiducal locations.  
         [0017]     For a given fiducial F that is in the projector frame buffer, a function is fit to the points in some neighborhood of F, but not including F. This function can then be used to predict the camera position of the image of F. If the observed position of the image of F differs from the predicted position by more than some minimum value, then a validation error is acknowledged (see step  114 ). The parametric models used in the validation process can be configured to account for the geometry of the projection screen, the projector geometry, or a combination thereof. Further, the particular parametric models used in validation may vary depending on the projected position of the image fiducial to be validated.  
         [0018]     As is noted above, once a validation error is acknowledged or otherwise certified, a corrected fiducial can be generated and used to replace the observed image fiducial F 0  (see step  116 ). More specifically, the validation routine can be configured such that an error threshold determines when an observed fiducial is retained or replaced. Typically, the error threshold represents a distance metric between an identified fiducial position and an approximation of the identified fiducial position. The error threshold may be fixed or may vary as the projected positions of the image fiducials to be validated vary. One example of how a dynamic threshold value can be computed is to use the residual fit error of a least-squares approximation. This value can be related to how well the parametric function fits the input data, with lower values indicating a better fit.  
         [0019]     The corrected fiducial positions generated at output  118  in  FIG. 3  can be determined with reference to a fixed or dynamic correction factor. For example, the approximations of the identified fiducial positions can be used as the corrected fiducial positions or can at least form a partial basis for defining the corrected fiducial positions. It is also contemplated that the corrected fiducial positions can be computed as a combination of the identified fiducial positions and the approximations of the identified fiducial positions, i.e., by taking an average of the respective positions, an average weighted by the residual fit error, etc. In any case, geometric calibration data is constructed for the projector using corrected fiducial positions (see output  118 ) in place of fiducial positions for which errors have been certified. In the illustrated embodiment, an OR logic function  122  or other suitable routine is used to combine validated fiducial positions, as represented in the observed fiducials (see output  108 ), and the corrected fiducial positions generated in step  116  to generate a complete set of geometric calibration data for the projector (see step  124 ). This geometric calibration data is used to operate the projector in a calibrated projection mode.  
         [0020]     As is noted above, the concepts of the present invention are equally applicable to single and multiple projector image display systems. Accordingly, it is contemplated that multiple projector image display systems incorporating aspects of the present invention can additionally be configured to include execution of conventional or yet-to-be developed multi-projector intensity blending routines.  
         [0021]     As is noted above, the parametric models discussed herein can also be used to generate corrected image fiducials F that can be used to replace missing image fiducials when an image fiducial is not present in the acquired calibration image. To do so, the corrected fiducial position can be approximated from a neighborhood of image fiducials present in the calibration image, as projected on the projection screen, as long as a sufficient number of neighborhood points can be observed to ensure a minimum degree of accuracy.  
         [0022]     It is noted that recitations herein of a component of the present invention being “configured” or “programmed” to embody a particular property, function in a particular manner, etc., are structural recitations, as opposed to recitations of intended use. More specifically, the references herein to the manner in which a component is “configured” or “programmed” denotes an existing physical condition of the component and, as such, is to be taken as a definite recitation of the structural characteristics of the component.  
         [0023]     It is noted that terms like “preferably,” “commonly,” and “typically,” when utilized herein, should not be read to limit the scope of the claimed invention or to imply that certain features are critical, essential, or even important to the structure or function of the claimed invention. Rather, these terms are merely intended to highlight alternative or additional features that may or may not be utilized in a particular embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0024]     Having described the invention in detail and by reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims. More specifically, although some aspects of the present invention are identified herein as preferred or particularly advantageous, it is contemplated that the present invention is not necessarily limited to these preferred aspects of the invention.