Patent Application
20130202190
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an image processing apparatus that shows stereo images.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a user is watching a 3D video but not sitting directly in front of the display, inappropriate depth information of the 3D video perceived by the user may lessen the enjoyment of the viewing experience. Furthermore, a performance of the 3D video may be influenced by environmental factors such as external light sources. Finding a solution to the above problems is essential for ensuring the quality of the user's 3D viewing experience.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and associated method to solve the above-mentioned problems.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, an image processing apparatus comprises an image detector and a controller. The image detector is utilized for receiving a surrounding image, and analyzing the surrounding image to determine a user's position. The controller is coupled to the image detector, and is utilized for receiving a stereo image, and modifying the stereo image to generate a modified stereo image by at least rotating the stereo image according to the user's position.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an image processing method comprises: receiving a surrounding image, and analyzing the surrounding image to determine a user's position; and receiving a stereo image, and modifying the stereo image to generate a modified stereo image by at least rotating the stereo image according to the user's position.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an image processing apparatus comprises at least one light source detector and a controller. The light source detector is utilized for receiving a measuring result from at least one light sensor, and determining a position of a light source according to the measuring result. The controller is coupled to the image detector, and is utilized for receiving a stereo image and modifying the stereo image to generate a modified stereo image according to the position of the light source.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an image processing method comprises: receiving a measuring result from at least one light sensor, and determining a position of a light source according to the measuring result; and receiving a stereo image and modifying the stereo image to generate a modified stereo image according to the position of the light source.
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.
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ” The terms “couple” and “couples” are intended to mean either an indirect or a direct electrical connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections.
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In Step 200, the flow starts. In Step 202, the image sensor 102 captures a surrounding image of a surrounding area, and the image detector 110 receives this surrounding image in a real-time manner. Then, in Step 204, the image detector 110 analyzes the surrounding image to determine a user's position and information about a light source in the surrounding area. Taking
In Step 206, the controller 120 receives a stereo image and its depth map, and rotates the stereo image towards the user by referring to the depth map and the user's position. The controller rotates the whole stereo image by the angle θ shown in
In Step 208, the controller 120 further establishes a lighting model to modify the stereo image so that the modified stereo image shows an interaction between light and objects in the stereo image, where the lighting model is established by the position/intensity of the light source detected by the image detector 110. The objects in the stereo image are modified as if the objects were illuminated by the light model so as to eliminate or enhance the influence of the environmental light source. In addition, in this embodiment, the above-mentioned modifying operation can be implemented by an openGL code, but this is not meant to be a limitation of the present invention.
Finally, in Step 210, the back-end processing unit 130 performs other (required) image processing upon the modified stereo image, and sends the processed stereo image to a display to be displayed thereon.
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In Step 500, the flow starts. In Step 502, the light sensor 402 measures an intensity of light in a surrounding area to generate a measuring result in a real-time manner. Then, in Step 504, the light source detector 410 determines a position of a light source according to the measuring result. As the light source detection can be implemented by many well-known methods, further descriptions are omitted here.
In Step 506, the controller 420 further establishes a lighting model to modify the stereo image so that the modified stereo image shows an interaction between light and objects in the stereo image, where the lighting model is established by the position/intensity of the light source detected by the light source detector 410. The objects in the stereo image are modified as if the objects were illuminated by the light model so as to eliminate or enhance the influence caused by the environmental light source. In addition, in this embodiment, the above-mentioned modifying operation can be implemented by an openGL code, but this is not meant to be a limitation of the present invention.
Finally, in Step 508, the back-end processing unit 430 performs other (required) image processing upon the modified stereo image, and sends the processed stereo image to a display to be displayed thereon.
Briefly summarized, in the image processing apparatus and associated method of the present invention, the stereo image can be rotated/lighted according to a user's position and the light source information in the surrounding area. Therefore, the 3D images viewed by the user will appear to be of a higher viewing quality.
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.
