Embodiments described herein relate generally to an electronic apparatus that displays a desktop screen on a display screen of a display and a desktop image display method.
In recent years, many 3D contents and many electronic apparatuses capable of providing 3D display have been commercially available and have been becoming familiar. When a desktop screen is displayed, a desktop image may be provided by preparing a wallpaper image for stereoscopic display, an application activation image that is used to activate an application, a system bar image, and the like, and drawing these images in order.
However, at present, the application activation image and the system bar image are intended for normal display, and not all the images may be configured for stereoscopic display. A normal video fails to be displayed when a desktop screen is displayed on a display screen of a display by drawing an image for stereoscopic display and an image for normal display in layer order without varying processing between these images.
Thus, the image for normal display and the image for stereoscopic display need to be distinguished from each other. After the image for normal display and the image for stereoscopic display are distinguished from each other, the image for normal display needs to be processed into an image suitable for stereoscopic display. Then, a normal video is displayed by drawing the processed image and the image for stereoscopic display in order to prepare a desktop screen and displaying the desktop screen on the display screen of the display.
Distinguishing the image for normal display from the image for stereoscopic display requires a special mechanism. Implementing and maintaining the mechanism is expensive.
A general architecture that implements the various features of the embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate the embodiments and not to limit the scope of the invention.
Various embodiments will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In general, according to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus is configured to draw, for generating a desktop image, a plurality of images comprising a first image comprising an image of a left eye perspective and an image of a right eye perspective based on drawing order information and drawing position information corresponding to the plurality of images, and to display an image based on the desktop image on a display screen of a display. The apparatus comprises a detection module, a processor, and a drawing module. The detection module is configured to detect an image from the plurality of images based on the drawing order information and a drawing size of each of the plurality of images, the detected image matching a predetermined condition. The processor is configured to process undetected images having failed to be detected by the detection module into processed images. Each of the processed images comprises an image of a left eye perspective and an image of a right eye perspective. The drawing module is configured to draw the detected image and the processed images based on the drawing order information and the drawing position information in order to generate the desktop image.
First, with reference to
The computer 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a bridge circuit 102, a main memory 103, a graphics controller (GPU) 105, a sound controller 106, a BIOS-ROM 107, a solid-state drive (SSD) 109, a Bluetooth (BT [registered trademark]) module 110, a card slot 111, a wireless LAN controller 112, a embedded controller (EC) 113, an EEPROM 114, a USB connector 13, a glasses-free 3D touchscreen display, and a video memory (VRAM) 105A.
The CPU 101 is a processor that controls operations of the sections in the computer 10. The CPU 101 executes an operating system (OS) 201 and various application programs loaded from the SSD 109 into the main memory 103.
The present embodiment assumes the OS 201 to be, for example, Android (registered trademark). That is, the present embodiment assumes a system that uses the Android OS and assumes the computer 10 to be a apparatus with the Android OS installed therein. According to the present embodiment, the OS 201 may be the computer 10 with an OS other than the Android OS installed therein. That is, such a system as described in the present embodiment can be applied to a system with another OS installed therein. Thus, such a system as described in the present embodiment can also be applied to the computer 10 with an OS other than the Android OS installed therein.
Furthermore, the CPU 101 executes a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) stored in the BIOS-ROM 107. The BIOS is a program for hardware control.
The bridge circuit 102 is a bridge device that connects a local bus for the CPU 101 to devices on a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus and devices on a Low Pin Count (LPC) bus. Furthermore, the bridge circuit 102 includes a built-in serial Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) controller configured to control the SSD 109. Moreover, the bridge circuit 102 has a function to carry out communication with the sound controller 106. Alternatively, the bridge circuit 102 has a function to carry out communication with the GPU 105 via a serial bus conforming to the PCIEXPRESS standard.
The GPU 105 is a display controller that controls an LCD 17A that is used as a display monitor of the computer 10. Video signals (also referred to as display signals) generated by the GPU 105 are transmitted to the LCD 17A.
The sound controller 106 is a sound source device that outputs audio data to be reproduced to a speaker 18A and a speaker 18B. The wireless LAN controller 112 is a wireless communication device that carries out, for example, wireless communication conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard.
The EC 113 is an embedded controller for power management. The EC 113 has a function to power on or off the computer 10 in accordance with a user's operation. A power supply circuit 121 generates operating power to components using power supplied by a battery 122 in the computer 10 or power supplied by an external power source such as an AC adapter 123. Furthermore, the power supply circuit 121 charges the battery 122 using power supplied by the external power source.
The glasses-free 3D touchscreen display 17 carries out stereoscopic display based on a glasses-free stereopsis scheme (for example, a lenticular scheme or a barrier scheme). The glasses-free touchscreen display 17 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 17A and a lens unit 17B disposed on the LCD 17A. The user can perceive a three-dimensional image with the naked eye by viewing an image displayed on the glasses-free 3D touchscreen display 17. The lens unit 17B includes a plurality of lens mechanisms configured to emit a plurality of light rays in the respective directions; the light rays correspond to a plurality of pixels contained in an image displayed on the LCD 17A. The lens unit 17B is, for example, a lenticular lens sheet that allows electric switching among functions required to display three-dimensional images. Turning the lens unit 17B on enables the user to perceive a stereoscopic image. Turning the lens unit 17B off allows the user to perceive normal two-dimensional image.
The glasses-free 3D touchscreen display 17 incorporates a touchpanel 17C in addition to the LCD 17A and the lens unit 17B. The touchpanel 17C, arranged so as to overlap the lens unit 17B, includes a sensor and a microcontroller unit (MCU). When a touch operation is performed on the touchpanel 17C, the touched position is detected by the sensor. Then, input information including the touched position on the touchpanel 17C is output by the MCU.
The computer 10 enables the user to perceive a wallpaper image on a desktop screen.
The wallpaper display area 301 displays a selected wallpaper image. When the wallpaper selection button 302 is operated, a screen that allows an image file for use as a wallpaper image to be selected from an image file stored in the SSD 109 is displayed. The check button 303 is operated to carry out a process of displaying an image that allows the user to perceive a stereoscopic image if a check mark is displayed. The option buttons 304A and 304B allow either a side-by-side format or a top-and-bottom format to be selected for the selected image. One of the option buttons 304A and 304B can be selected if the check mark is displayed. The setup button 305 allows setups to be completed.
As shown in
The wallpaper image generation module 401 generates, in the main memory 103 or the VRAM 105A, a wallpaper image from an image file specified by the user using the setup screen. The wallpaper image generation module 401 generates a wallpaper image of a drawing size corresponding to the entire area of the display screen except for a system bar image area described below.
The application activation image generation module 402 generates an application activation image (second image) in the main memory 103 or the VRAM 105A; at least one icon for use in activating an application is arranged in the application activation image. The application activation image generated by the application activation image generation module 402 has the same drawing size as that of the wallpaper image 500 generated by the wallpaper image generation module 401.
As shown in
The system bar image generation module 403 generates a system bar image (third image) in the main memory 103 or the VRAM 105A; the system bar image displays buttons and system information that support the user's operation.
The popup image generation module 404 generates a popup image (fourth image) in the main memory 103 or the VRAM 105A; the popup image presents a notification to the user. The popup image is displayed, for example, to notify the user of a newly arriving mail if a mailer has received the mail.
The application activation image 600, the system bar image 700, and the popup image 800 are not formed to allow the user to perceive stereoscopic images.
The drawing order/position specification module 405 determines the drawing order (z-order) of images generated by the wallpaper image generation module 401, the application activation image generation module 402, the system bar image generation module 403, and the popup image generation module 404, and the drawing positions of these images in the display screen of the LCD. The drawing order/position specification module 405 generates drawing information indicative of the determined drawing order and positions.
The drawing information includes a first piece of storage position information indicative of the storage position of a wallpaper image in the memory (main memory 103 or VRAM 105A), a first piece of drawing order information indicative of the drawing order of the wallpaper image, and a first piece of drawing position information indicative of the drawing position of the wallpaper image in the screen. The first piece of drawing order information and the first piece of drawing position information are associated with the first piece of storage position information.
The drawing information includes a second piece of storage position information indicative of the storage position of an application activation image in the memory (main memory 103 or VRAM 105A), a second piece of drawing order information indicative of the drawing order of the application activation image, and a second piece of drawing position information associated with the second piece of storage position information and which is indicative of the drawing position of the application activation image in the screen. The second piece of drawing order information and the second piece of drawing position information are associated with the second piece of storage position information.
The drawing information includes a third piece of storage position information indicative of the storage position of a system bar image in the memory (main memory 103 or VRAM 105A), a third piece of drawing order information indicative of the drawing order of the system bar image, and a third piece of drawing position information indicative of the drawing position of the system bar image in the screen. The third piece of drawing order information and the third piece of drawing position information are associated with the third piece of storage position information.
The drawing information includes a fourth piece of storage position information indicative of the storage position of a popup image in the memory (main memory 103 or VRAM 105A), a fourth piece of drawing order information indicative of the drawing order of the popup image, and a fourth piece of drawing position information indicative of the drawing position of the popup image in the screen. The fourth piece of drawing order information and the fourth piece of drawing position information are associated with the fourth piece of storage position information.
The first piece of storage position information to the fourth piece of storage position information are information indicative of the leading address and size of each of the images in memory (main memory 103 or VRAM 105A) or information such as pointers which is indicative of areas in the memory.
For example, if e-mail client software has not received any new mail and there is no notification to the user, the drawing order/position specification module 405 specifies the drawing order such that the popup image, the wallpaper image, the application activation image, and the system bar image are drawn in this order from the bottom of the screen.
Furthermore, for example, if the e-mail client software has received a new mail and there is a notification to the user, the drawing order/position specification module 405 specifies the drawing order such that the wallpaper image, the application activation image, the system bar image, and the popup image are drawn in this order from the bottom of the screen.
Values in
Based on the drawing formation, the desktop image drawing module 406 displays the images in a predetermined area in the main memory 103 or the VRAM 105A in order of increasing drawing order value. Each of the wallpaper image, the application activation image, the system bar image, and the popup image includes a mixture of a normal image (hereinafter referred to as a plane image) and an image created to allow the user to perceive a stereoscopic image (hereinafter referred to as a stereopsis image). When the image is drawn without any change, the user views an abnormal image. Thus, the plane image is processed into an image including a video for the left eye and a video for the right eye. The processed image may be stored in the main memory 103 or the VRAM 105A at the same position as that where the unprocessed image is stored. The same storage position eliminates the need to change the storage position information in the drawing information.
The stereopsis image detection module 411 determines a stereopsis image included in the plurality of images (for example, the wallpaper image 500, the application activation image 600, the system bar image 700, and the popup image 800) prepared to draw the desktop image based on each piece of drawing image information and each piece of drawing position information to match a predetermined condition. The wallpaper image is drawn under the application activation image and has the same drawing size as that of the application activation image. Utilizing this, the stereopsis image detection module 411 detects a stereopsis image. The predetermined condition is that over an image, another image of the same drawing size is drawn.
The image processing module 412 processes an image having failed to be determined by the stereopsis image detection module 411 to be a stereopsis image, into an image with a video for the left eye and a video for the right eye. If the wallpaper image is in a side-by-side format and the image having failed to be determined by the stereopsis image detection module 411 to be a stereopsis image is equal to the LCD 17A in the number of pixels arranged in the horizontal direction, the image processing module 412 reduces the pixels arranged in the image in the horizontal direction to half to generate a new image. The image processing module 412 arranges the halved image and a subsequently generated image in the horizontal direction to generate a new image.
If the wallpaper image is in the side-by-side format and the image having failed to be determined by the stereopsis image detection module 411 to be a stereopsis image is not equal to the LCD 17A in the number of pixels arranged in the horizontal direction, the image processing module 412 generates an image which is equal to the LCD 17A in the number of pixels arranged in the horizontal direction and which is located at a position based on the drawing position of the image. The image processing module 412 then reduces the pixels of the image in the horizontal direction to half to generate a new image. The image processing module 412 arranges the halved image and a subsequently generated image in the horizontal direction to generate a new image.
If the wallpaper image is in a top-and-bottom format, and the image is equal to the LCD 17A in the number of pixels arranged in the vertical direction, the image processing module 412 reduces the pixels arranged in the image in the vertical direction to half to generate a new image. The image processing module 412 then arranges the halved image and a subsequently generated image in the vertical direction to generate a new image.
If the wallpaper image is in the top-and-bottom format, and the image is not equal to the LCD 17A in the number of pixels arranged in the vertical direction, the image processing module 412 generates an image which is equal to the LCD 17A in the number of pixels arranged in the vertical direction and which is located at a position based on the drawing position of the image. The image processing module 412 then reduces the pixels of the image in the vertical direction to half to generate a new image. The image processing module 412 arranges the halved image and a subsequently generated image in the vertical direction to generate a new image.
An example of processing of the application activation image 600, the system bar image 700, and the popup image 800 will be discussed below.
For example, the image processing module 412 processes the application activation image 600 shown in
The number of pixels of the popup image 800 in the horizontal direction is smaller than the number of pixels arranged in the LCD 17 in the horizontal direction. Thus, the image processing module 412 generates a popup image 1500 equal to the LCD 17A in the number of pixels arranged in the horizontal direction (
Furthermore, the image processing module 412 changes drawing position information (1000, 653) in drawing information on the popup image in
The drawing module 413 draws the image detected by the stereopsis image detection module 411 and image processed by the image processing module 412, in a predetermined area in the main memory 103 or the VRAM 105A.
A case where the drawing module 413 carries out drawing based on the drawing information shown in
A case where the drawing module 413 carries out drawing based on the drawing information shown in
First, the stereopsis image detection module 411 acquires drawing information (block B11). The stereopsis image detection module 411 sets n=0 (block B12). Based on the drawing information, the stereopsis image detection module 411 determines whether the n+1th image to be drawn is present (block B13). If the stereopsis image detection module 411 determines that the n+1th image to be drawn is present (Yes in block B13), the stereopsis image detection module 411 determines whether the nth image has the same size as that of the n+1th image (block B14). If the stereopsis image detection module 411 determines that the nth image has the same size as that of the n+1th image (Yes in block B14), the stereopsis image detection module 411 requests the drawing module 413 to draw the nth image (block B15). The drawing module 413 draws the image in the nth layer (block B16). When the drawing is finished, the drawing module 413 notifies the stereopsis image detection module 411 that the drawing of the nth image is finished. The stereopsis image detection module 411 sets n=n+1 (block B17). After block B17, the processing starting from block B13 is sequentially carried out.
Upon determining that the n+1th image to be drawn is not present (No in block B13) or that the nth image does not have the same drawing size as that of the n+1th image (No in block B14), the stereopsis image detection module 411 requests the image processing module 412 to process the nth image (block B18). In response to the request, the image processing module 412 processes the nth image (block B19). The image processing module 412 requests the drawing module 413 to draw the nth image (block B20). The drawing module 413 draws the image in the nth layer (block B21). The drawing module 413 notifies the stereopsis image detection module 411 that the drawing of the nth image is finished. The stereopsis image detection module 411 determines whether the n+1th image is present (block B22). Upon determining that the n+1th image is present (Yes in block B22), the stereopsis image detection module 411 sets n=n+1 (block B17). After block B17, the processing starting from block B13 is sequentially carried out. If the stereopsis image detection module 411 determines that the n+1th image is not present (No in block B22), the drawing process ends.
After the drawing process ends, the image is transmitted to the GPU 105. The GPU 105 generates a video signal as allows the user to perceive a video image based on the drawn image. The GPU 105 transmits the generated video signal to the LCD 17A. As shown in
In the above-described example, stereoscopic display is provided based on the glasses-free stereopsis scheme. However, stereoscopic display may be provided using a liquid crystal shutter or a polarizing lens.
As described above, if two of a plurality of images which are the same in size are contiguous with each other, the first drawn image is processed into an image for stereoscopic display, whereas the second drawn image is processed into an image for normal display. Then, the image for normal display and the image for stereoscopic display can be easily distinguished from each other without the need to add data such as a special flag.
The various processes for stereoscopic display according to the present embodiment can be carried out by a computer program. Thus, effects similar to those of the present embodiment can be easily exerted simply by installing this compute program in a normal computer through a computer readable storage medium and executing the computer program.
The various modules of the systems described herein can be implemented as software applications, hardware and/or software modules, or components on one or more computers, such as servers. While the various modules are illustrated separately, they may share some or all of the same underlying logic or code.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2012-151700 | Jul 2012 | JP | national |
This application is a Continuation Application of PCT Application No. PCT/JP2013/057930, filed Mar. 13, 2013 and based upon and claiming the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-151700, filed Jul. 5, 2012, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2013/057930 | Mar 2013 | US |
Child | 13967574 | US |