1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an image processing apparatus and an associated method which performs a color separation operation upon received 3D image data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As 3D technology progresses and 3D video becomes more popular, many 3D TV and peripheral devices are developed to provide 3D video to users. However, these 3D TV generally needs high-level panels (e.g., the operation frequency of the panel is equal to 120 Hz or 240 Hz, or the panel has an additional polarizer), or the user must use a special glasses (such as shutter glasses) to watch these 3D TV. Therefore, the costs of the 3D TV and the peripheral devices will be much higher, and the user may feel that these 3D TV are too expensive.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and image processing method, which is able to make the user to use less cost to watch 3D video, to solve the above-mentioned problem.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, an image processing apparatus positioned in a display comprises a receiving unit, a color separation unit and an image processing unit. The receiving unit is utilized for receiving 3D image data, where the 3D image data includes left-eye image data and right-eye image data. The color separation unit is coupled to the receiving unit, and is utilized for performing a color separation upon at least a portion of the left-eye image data to generate color-separated left-eye image data, and performing the color separation upon at least a portion of the right-eye image data to generate color-separated right-eye image data, where each of the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data corresponds to only one or two of three primary colors, the three primary colors include red, green and blue, and the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data do not have the data correspond to the same primary color. The image processing unit is coupled to the color separation unit, and is utilized for generating adjusted 3D image data according to the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an image processing method applied to a display includes: receiving 3D image data, where the 3D image data includes left-eye image data and right-eye image data; performing a color separation upon at least a portion of the left-eye image data to generate color-separated left-eye image data, and performing the color separation upon at least a portion of the right-eye image data to generate color-separated right-eye image data, where each of the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data corresponds to only one or two of three primary colors, the three primary colors include red, green and blue, and the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data do not have the data correspond to the same primary color; generating adjusted 3D image data according to the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an image processing apparatus positioned in a display includes a receiving unit, an image processing unit and a color separation unit. The receiving unit is utilized for receiving 3D image data, where the 3D image data includes left-eye image data and right-eye image data. The image processing unit, coupled to the receiving unit, and is utilized for processing the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data to generate processed left-eye image data and processed right-eye image data, respectively. The color separation unit is coupled to the image processing unit, and is utilized for performing a color separation upon at least a portion of the processed left-eye image data to generate a color-separated left-eye image data, and performing the color separation upon at least a portion of the processed right-eye image data to generate a color-separated right-eye image data, where each of the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data corresponds to only one or two of three primary colors, the three primary colors include red, green and blue, and the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data do not have the data correspond to the same primary color.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an image processing method applied to a display includes: receiving 3D image data, where the 3D image data includes left-eye image data and right-eye image data; processing the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data to generate processed left-eye image data and processed right-eye image data, respectively; and performing a color separation upon at least a portion of the processed left-eye image data to generate a color-separated left-eye image data, and performing the color separation upon at least a portion of the processed right-eye image data to generate a color-separated right-eye image data, where each of the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data corresponds to only one or two of three primary colors, the three primary colors include red, green and blue, and the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data do not have the data correspond to the same primary color
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a display includes a display panel and an image processing apparatus, where the image processing apparatus includes a receiving unit, a color separation unit and an image processing unit. The receiving unit is utilized for receiving 3D image data, where the 3D image data includes left-eye image data and right-eye image data. The color separation unit is coupled to the receiving unit, and is utilized for performing a color separation upon at least a portion of the left-eye image data to generate a color-separated left-eye image data, and performing the color separation upon at least a portion of the right-eye image data to generate a color-separated right-eye image data, where each of the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data corresponds to only one or two of three primary colors, the three primary colors include red, green and blue, and the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data do not have the data correspond to the same primary color. The image processing unit is coupled to the color separation unit, and is utilized for generating adjusted 3D image data according to the color-separated left-eye image data and the color-separated right-eye image data.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Please refer to
Please refer to
In Step 300, the flow starts. Then, in Step 302, the receiving unit 102 receives 3D image data Din, and the image scaling circuit 110 performs an image scaling operation upon the 3D image data Din to generate scaled 3D image data Din′. Taking the video format shown in (b) of
Then, in Step 304, the image alignment circuit 120 aligns the pixels having the same positions of the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data of the scaled 3D image data Din′, and transmits an aligned left-eye image data DL and right-eye image data DR to the color separation unit 130. In addition, the image alignment circuit 120 can store the scaled 3D image data Din′ into a buffer, and then aligns the pixels having the same positions of the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data of the scaled 3D image data Din′; or the image alignment circuit 120 can use a delay circuit to align the pixels having the same positions of the left-eye image data and the right-eye image data of the scaled 3D image data Din′.
Then, in Step 306, the color separation unit 130 performs a color separation operation upon the left-eye image data DL to generate a color-separated left-eye image data DL′, and performs the color separation operation upon the right-eye image data DR to generate a color-separated right-eye image data DR′, where each of the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ corresponds to only one or two of three primary colors, the three primary colors include red, green and blue, and the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ do not have the data correspond to the same primary color. For example, the color separation unit 130 may delete the pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red” of the left-eye image data DL (i.e., the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ only has pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue”), and delete the pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue” of the right-eye image data DR (i.e., the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ only has pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red”).
Finally, in Step 308, the image processing unit 140 integrates/combines the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ to generate adjusted 3D image data Dout, and transmits the adjusted 3D image data Dout to the following circuit and to be displayed on a screen. In detail, a frame of the adjusted 3D image data Dout includes all the pixel values of the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′, that is, the frame of the adjusted 3D image data Dout includes the pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue” of the left-eye image data DL and the pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red” of the right-eye image data DR. Therefore, the pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue” of the left-eye image data DL and the pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red” of the right-eye image data DR are displayed on the screen simultaneously.
As described above, because the display only shows the pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue” of the left-eye image data DL and the pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red” of the right-eye image data DR, the user can simply use a glass having a bluish green glassine covered on the left eye and a red glassine covered on the right eye to enjoy the 3D video. In addition, because the video format of the adjusted 3D image data Dout is substantially a 2D video format, the display 150 can use a conventional display panel (e.g., 2D panel) without using a high-level 3D display panel. Therefore, the user does not need to buy the expensive 3D TV and the peripheral device to enjoy the 3D video.
In addition, the positions of the image scaling circuit 110 on the image processing apparatus 100 is merely an example, and is not to be a limitation of the present invention. In another embodiment of the present invention, the image scaling circuit 110 can be positioned after the image alignment circuit 120, or after the color separation unit 130, or after the image processing unit 140. These alternative designs should fall within the scope of the present invention.
Please refer to
The operations of the image processing apparatus 400 are similar to the operations of the image processing apparatus 100 shown in
In addition, the positions of the image scaling circuit 410 on the image processing apparatus 400 is merely an example, and is not to be a limitation of the present invention. In another embodiment of the present invention, the image scaling circuit 410 can be positioned after the color separation unit 420, the image alignment circuit 430 or the image processing unit 440. These alternative designs should fall within the scope of the present invention.
Please refer to
Please refer to
In Step 600, the flow starts. Then, in Step 602, the receiving unit 502 receives 3D image data Din, and the image scaling circuit 510 performs an image scaling operation upon the 3D image data Din to generate scaled 3D image data Din′. Taking the video format shown in (b) of
Then, in Step 604, the color separation unit 520 performs a color separation operation upon a first portion of the left-eye image data DL to generate a color-separated left-eye image data DL′, and performs the color separation operation upon a second portion of the right-eye image data DR to generate a color-separated right-eye image data DR′, where each of the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ corresponds to only one or two of three primary colors, the three primary colors include red, green and blue, the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ do not have the data correspond to the same primary color, and the first portion and the second portion correspond to different pixel positions. For example, the color separation unit 520 may merely perform the color separation operation upon odd scan lines of the left-eye image data DL to generate the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ (e.g., delete the pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red” of the left-eye image data DL), and the color separation unit 520 may merely perform the color separation operation upon even scan lines of the right-eye image data DR to generate the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ (e.g., delete the pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue” of the right-eye image data DR).
Finally, in Step 606, the image processing unit 530 integrates/combines the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ to generate adjusted 3D image data Dout, and transmits the adjusted 3D image data Dout to the following circuit and to be displayed on a screen. In detail, odd scan lines of a frame of the adjusted 3D image data Dout include the pixel values of the color-separated left-eye image data DL′, and even scan lines of the frame of the adjusted 3D image data Dout include the pixel values of the color-separated right-eye image data DR′. That is, the frame of the adjusted 3D image data Dout includes the pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue” of the left-eye image data DL and the pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red” of the right-eye image data DR. Therefore, the pixel values corresponding to the primary colors “green” and “blue” of the left-eye image data DL and the pixel values corresponding to the primary color “red” of the right-eye image data DR are displayed on the screen simultaneously.
Please refer to
In Step 700, the flow starts. Then, in Step 702, the receiving unit 502 receives 3D image data Din, and the image scaling circuit 510 performs an image scaling operation upon the 3D image data Din to generate scaled 3D image data Din′, where the scaled 3D image data Din′ includes a first left-eye image data and a first right-eye image data of a first frame, and a second left-eye image data and a second right-eye image data of a second frame, where the second frame is immediately adjacent to the first frame.
Then, in Step 704, the color separation unit 520 performs a color separation operation upon the first left-eye image data DL to generate a color-separated left-eye image data DL′, and performs the color separation operation upon the second right-eye image data DR to generate a color-separated right-eye image data DR′.
Finally, in Step 706, the image processing unit 530 generates adjusted 3D image data Dout according to the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′, and transmits the adjusted 3D image data Dout to the following circuit and to be displayed on a screen. In this embodiment, the color-separated left-eye image data DL′ and the color-separated right-eye image data DR′ are sequentially and continuously displayed on the screen, and the second left-eye image data of the second frame and the first right-eye image data of the first frame are not displayed on the screen (i.e., the second left-eye image data of the second frame and the first right-eye image data of the first frame are not displayed on the screen are discarded).
In addition, the positions of the image scaling circuit 510 on the image processing apparatus 500 is merely an example, and is not to be a limitation of the present invention. In another embodiment of the present invention, the image scaling circuit 510 can be positioned after the color separation unit 520. This alternative design should fall within the scope of the present invention.
Please refer to
The operations of the image processing apparatus 800 are similar to the operations of the image processing apparatus 500 shown in
In addition, the image processing apparatuses 100, 400, 500 and 800 performs the color separation operations and other image processing operations upon the 3D image data Din to generate the adjusted 3D image data Dout/Dout′ in a real-time manner, and the adjusted 3D image data Dout/Dout′ is real-time displayed on the screen.
Briefly summarized, in the image processing apparatus and the image processing method of the present invention, 3D image data are performed by a color separation operation to generate the adjusted 3D image data to be displayed on a 2D display or a 3D display. Therefore, the user can enjoy the 3D video without buying the expensive 3D TV and the peripheral device.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
100103318 | Jan 2011 | TW | national |