Patent Application
20110234994
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a projector device which has a trapezoidal distortion correcting function which corrects trapezoidal distortion of a projection image projected on a projection surface, and a projection method thereof.
2. Related Art
In the related art, there has been known a projector device which corrects trapezoidal distortion of a projection image projected on a projection surface by correcting an image in a displayable region of a light modulating element which modulates light from a light source (refer to JP-A-2006-005534).
The projector device reduces and corrects the image in the displayable region of the light modulating element according to an after-correction image region of the light modulating element corresponding to an outline of the projection surface in a state where an entire projection region projected from an entire surface of the light modulating element is enlarged to cover the projection surface (screen), and corrects trapezoidal distortion of the projection image. At this time, respective pixels of the light modulating element in which the image in the displayable region is reduced for correction and the image is not projected for display are controlled to be all displayed as a black image so as not to transmit light from the light source.
In this regard, as a technique to adjust the position of a projection image projected on a projection surface, a lens shift function of a zoom lens or a technique of changing an installation angle of a projector device itself has been studied. However, in such a technique, a projection light axis with respect to the projection surface is changed, thereby causing remarkable trapezoidal distortion in the projection image. Thus, if the position of the projection image is adjusted after the trapezoidal distortion is corrected, such a trapezoidal distortion correcting process should be repeated, thereby making the process complicated. Further, such a mechanical adjusting technique does not provide a minute position adjustment, thereby making it difficult to perform adjustment according to a user's wish.
An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a projector device and a projection method thereof which can easily and appropriately perform a position adjustment of a projection image after trapezoidal distortion correction.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a projector device including: a light modulating element which modulates light from a light source section according to an image signal; a projecting section which projects a modulation light modulated by a displayable region in a surface of an effective region of the light modulating element onto a projection surface; a trapezoidal distortion correcting section which corrects trapezoidal distortion of a projection image projected onto the projection surface by projecting a light modulation image by means of the displayable region by an after-correction image region which is a part of the effective region of the light modulating element; and a position adjusting section which adjusts the position of the projection image projected onto the projection surface by moving the after-correction image region in the surface of the effective region while maintaining the size and shape of the after-correction image region.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a projection method of a projector device which includes a light modulating element which modulates light from a light source section according to an image signal and projects a modulation light modulated by a displayable region in a surface of an effective region of the light modulating element onto a projection surface, the method including: correcting trapezoidal distortion of a projection image projected onto the projection surface by projecting a light modulation image by means of the displayable region by an after-correction image region which is a part of the effective region of the light modulating element; and adjusting the position of the projection image projected onto the projection surface by moving the after-correction image region in the surface of the effective region while maintaining the size and shape of the after-correction image region.
According to these configurations, since the after-correction image region is moved by the position adjusting section, it is possible to adjust the position of the projection image without changing a projection light axis with respect to the projection surface. Thus, since a large trapezoidal distortion is not generated in the projection image after the position adjustment, it is possible to simplify the image processing without repeatedly correcting the trapezoidal distortion after the position adjustment. Further, since the after-correction image region on the light modulating element moves in the effective region while maintaining the size and shape thereof, it is possible to easily perform the image processing according to the position adjustment, to perform the movement in units of pixels of the light modulating element, and to accurately perform a minute position adjustment of the projection image. Further, it is possible to effectively utilize pixels which are not used in a region other than the after-correction image region in the effective region of the light modulating element.
In this case, the position adjusting section may move the after-correction image region with at least two corners thereof being in internal contact with the effective region.
According to these configurations, the after-correction image region can occupy the maximum area in the effective region, and thus, it is possible to effectively use the light modulating element to the maximum.
Further, the projector device may further include a manipulation section which adjusts the movement amount of the after-correction image region in the effective region after the projection image is projected, and the position adjusting section may adjust the position of the projection image according to manipulation of the manipulation section.
According to this configuration, it is possible to adjust the position of the projection image by a user desired amount according to a user's manipulation.
In this case, the manipulation section may include a longitudinal manipulation section which is manipulated when a longitudinal trapezoidal distortion correction is performed by the trapezoidal distortion correcting section and a transverse manipulation section which is manipulated when a transverse trapezoidal distortion correction is performed by the trapezoidal distortion correcting section.
According to this configuration, it is possible to adjust the position of the projection image with intuitive manipulation through two manipulation sections of the longitudinal manipulation section and the transverse manipulation section.
In this case, the manipulation section may include a knob movable manipulator which adjusts the movement amount of the after-correction image region using a displacement amount of a knob.
According to this configuration, since the adjustment can be performed using the displacement amount of the knob, it is possible to continuously adjust the position of the projection image. Further, the knob movable manipulator may employ any one of a linear knob type in which a knob moves (slides) linearly and a rotary knob type in which a knob rotates.
Further, the manipulation section may include a lever type manipulator which adjusts the movement direction and the movement amount of the after-correction image region using the inclination direction and inclination amount of a lever.
According to this configuration, since the adjustment can be performed using the inclination direction and inclination amount of the lever, it is possible to intuitively and continuously adjust the position of the projection image. Further, the lever type manipulator may employ a joy stick, a cross lever, or the like.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.
Hereinafter, a projector device and a projection method thereof according to an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The signal input section 11 receives an image signal from an external device 10 such as a personal computer or a video recorder. That is, the signal input section 11 is realized by an interface which receives an RGB signal output from the personal computer or a composite signal output from the video recorder. In this embodiment, the image signal is received from the external device 10 through the signal input section 11, but a configuration in which it is detected whether a recording medium (USB memory or SD memory card) is inserted or the image signal is read out from the recording medium may be used.
The image processing section 12 performs a predetermined process on the basis of an image processing program stored in advance, with respect to the image signal input through the signal input section 11. A light modulation image data is generated from the image signal through the predetermined process, and a light modulation image 100 (image in a displayable region) is projected from a liquid crystal light valve 34 (light modulating element) which will be described later, on the basis of the light modulation image data. A region on the light modulating element corresponding to the light modulation image 100 is assumed as a displayable region 54.
The image processing section 12 includes a trapezoidal distortion correcting section 21 which performs a trapezoidal distortion correcting process, and a position adjusting section 22 which performs an image position adjusting process. Further, the image processing section 12 includes respective processing sections which perform processes (for example, a screen size adjusting process, an image quality adjusting process, a gamma correcting process, an image composing process, and the like) other than the above processes (not shown).
In a case where there exists trapezoidal distortion to a projection image 200 projected to a projection surface 30, the trapezoidal distortion correcting section 21 corrects the light modulation image data to thereby perform the trapezoidal distortion correcting process. Specifically, the image captured data transmitted by the image capturing section 15 which will be described later is processed and the amount of position offsets of four corners of the projection image 200 with respect to a projection frame (screen frame) of the projection surface 30 is calculated, and thus, it is determined whether the trapezoidal distortion is generated or not. Then, in order to change the trapezoidal shape of the projection image 200 into a rectangular shape, the light modulation image 100 (displayable region 54) is projected from an after-correction image region 51 which is a part of an effective region 50 of the liquid crystal light valve 34, to thereby correct the trapezoidal distortion of the projection image 200 (refer to
After the trapezoidal distortion correcting process is completed by the trapezoidal distortion correcting section 21, the position adjusting section 22 moves the after-correction image region 51 in the effective region 50 of the liquid crystal light valve 34 to thereby perform adjustment of the projection position of the projection image 200. In this case, the position adjusting section 22 moves the after-correction image region 51 while maintaining the size and shape thereof (refer to
The projection control section 13 calculates a grayscale value corresponding to each pixel of the liquid crystal light valve 34 (light modulating element) on the basis of the light modulation image data generated by the image processing section 12, and performs a projection control on the basis of grayscale values of all pixels.
The projection optical system 14 projects the projection image 200 on the projection surface 30, and includes a lamp driving section 31, a light valve driving section 32, a light source section 33, the liquid crystal light valves 34 (34R, 34G, and 34B) corresponding to the three primary colors, and a projection lens 35.
Each liquid crystal light valve 34 is formed, for example, by a liquid crystal display panel in which liquid crystals are sealed between a pair of transparent substrates. On an inner surface of each transparent substrate, a transparent electrode capable of applying a driving voltage to the liquid crystal for every minute region is formed in a matrix format as a pixel. The light valve driving section 32 applies the driving voltage according to the light modulation image data (grayscale values of all pixels) to each pixel of the liquid crystal light valve 34, to thereby set the light transmittance of each pixel to display the light modulation image 100.
The light source section 33 can employ a halogen lamp, a metal halide lamp, or a high-pressure mercury lamp. Further, a solid light source such as laser or LED may be used instead. The lamp driving section 31 turns on the light source section 33 on the basis of a turn-on command from the projection control section 13.
An illumination light emitted from the light source section 33 is separated into color lights of R, G, and B by a light separation optical system (not shown) and is modulated by passing through the liquid crystal light valve 34 for each color. The modulated light (light modulation image 100) is composed for every pixel by a light composing optical system (not shown, a dichroic prism or the like) to be color-imaged, and the color image light which is color-imaged is projected through the projection lens 35, and the colored projection image 200 is displayed on the projection surface 30.
Further, instead of the above-described liquid crystal display method, other methods may be applied to the projection optical system 14. Specifically, there is a projection method using a DMD (Digital Micro mirror Device), that is, a so-called DLP (Digital Light Processing) method. Here, the DLP method refers to a method of collecting the light of a white glow lamp using a lens to direct the light to the DMD, and enlarging the light when each mirror of the DMD is inclined in a turned on state using a different lens to project the light to a screen, to which the invention can be applied.
The image capturing section 15 is configured by a CCD camera or the like, and captures the projection image 200 which is projected on the projection surface 30. The image captured data is transmitted to the image processing section 12, and the trapezoidal distortion correcting process is performed on the basis of the image captured data by the trapezoidal distortion correcting section 21.
The manipulation section 16 is a section in which a variety of settings and manipulations are performed by a user, and includes a manipulation panel 41 installed on a main body of the projector device 1, a remote controller light receiver 42, and a remote controller 43. A position adjusting knob 63 for adjusting the position of the projection image 200 is installed on the manipulation panel 41 (refer to
The central control section 17 is configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like (none of them not shown), and controls the entire projector. A specific process (projecting process) of the central control section 17 will be described later.
Here, the trapezoidal distortion correcting process of the image will be described with reference to
However, in the effective region 50 of the liquid crystal light valve 34 after the trapezoidal distortion correcting process, an image mask region 52 which is a different region from the displayable region 54 displays a black image by lowering the light transmittance by a combination of a polarization plate in order not to transmit the projection light. In addition, in the projection surface 30, a projection mask region 53 to which the black image of the image mask region 52 is projected is present. The image mask region 52 is a pixel region generated by reducing at least a part of the light modulation image 100 to compensate for the trapezoidal distortion of the projection image 200, and in actuality, is an image displayable region. Accordingly, the projection mask region 53 is an image projectable region. The position adjusting section 22 of this embodiment performs the position adjustment of the projection image 200 by using the image mask region 52 and moving the after-correction image region 51.
Next, a position adjusting manipulation function of the projection image 200 in the manipulation section 16 of the projector device 1 will be described with reference to
The position adjusting knob 63 includes a longitudinal manipulation knob 63a which manipulates the projection image 200 in the longitudinal direction (up and down directions), and a transverse manipulation knob 63b which manipulates the projection image 200 in the transverse direction (left and right directions). The longitudinal manipulation knob 63a and the transverse manipulation knob 63b area so-called knob movable manipulator, which includes a knob section 64 which is gripped by a user for manipulation, a slide section 65 which is connected to the knob section 64, and a slide groove 66 in which the slide section 65 slides, as shown in
In this way, as the position adjusting manipulation function of the projection image is provided in the manipulation section 16, it is possible to adjust the position of the projection image 200 by a user desired amount, according to a manipulation of the user. Further, it is possible to intuitively and continuously adjust the projection position of the projection image 200 by the position adjusting knob 63 and the position adjusting stick 72. The position adjusting stick 72 may be installed on the manipulation panel 41, or the position adjusting knob 63 may be installed on the remote controller 43.
Further, the manipulation section 16 may be configured by a touch pad or a touch panel of an electrostatic capacitance type which is mounted on a typical notebook personal computer. According to such a configuration, space saving of the manipulation section 16 is realized and the user can more intuitively perform the position adjustment of the projection image 200. In particular, if the touch panel capable of detecting a plurality of points is used, it is possible to perform zoom-out and zoom-in using a pinch operation by two-point simultaneous detection on the panel. Thus, longitudinal movement, transverse movement, and enlargement and reduction in the projection image can be manipulated at one time, to thereby enhance manipulation performance.
Next, a projection process (projection method) of the projector device 1 will be described with reference to
In a case where the trapezoidal distortion is not generated (S06; NO), the trapezoidal distortion correcting process and the position adjustment processing image process are not performed, and the procedure is terminated. On the other hand, in a case where the trapezoidal distortion is generated in the projection image 200, the trapezoidal distortion correcting process is performed by the trapezoidal distortion correcting section 21 (S07). Then, in a case where the position adjusting manipulation is performed by the manipulation section 16 (S08; YES), the position adjusting process is performed by the position adjusting section 22 (S09), and then the projection process is terminated. Further, in a case where the position adjusting manipulation is not performed (S08; NO), the projection process is terminated as it is.
Subsequently, the position adjusting process of the image will be described with reference to
As described above, according to the projector device 1 in this embodiment, since the position adjustment of the projection image 200 is performed by correcting the light modulation image data, it is possible to easily perform the position adjustment of the image without repeatedly generating a large trapezoidal distortion in the projection image 200 after the position adjustment. Further, it is possible to perform the movement in units of pixels and to accurately perform a minute position adjustment. Furthermore, since the light modulation image 100 (after-correction image region 51) moves by using the image mask region 52 in the effective region 50, it is possible to effectively utilize the pixels of the liquid crystal light valve 34. Further, since the light modulation image 100 (after-correction image region 51) moves inside the effective region 50 with two corners thereof being in internal contact with the effective region 50, it is possible to constantly maximize the area of the light modulation image 100 in the effective region 50 of the liquid crystal light valve 34, and to prevent deterioration of the projection image 200 by preventing reduction in the number of pixels corresponding to the light modulation image 100. Further, since the light modulation image 100 moves inside the effective region 50 with the size and shape thereof being maintained, the image processing according to the position adjustment becomes easy.
In the above-described embodiment, the size of the projection image 200 is slightly enlarged through the movement of the after-correction image region 51 by the position adjusting section 22, but the reduction processing of the light modulation image 100 may be performed so that the size of the projection image 200 becomes identical before adjustment and after adjustment. That is, in order to perform the position adjustment while maintaining the screen size in the projection surface 30 as the same area, the position adjusting section 22 may perform adjustment so that the light modulation image 100 moves according to the manipulation of the manipulation section 16, and then further corrects the light modulation data to reduce the light modulation image 100 (after-correction image region 51) inwardly while maintaining the image position, so that the projection screen 200 before the movement and the projection screen 200 after the movement have the same area. Further, after the movement of the after-correction image region 51 or at the time of reduction processing of the light modulation image 100, the trapezoidal distortion correction process through the trapezoidal distortion correcting section 21 may be performed again.
It is possible to provide the respective components of the projector device in the above-described embodiment as a program. Further, the program may be stored in a variety of recording mediums (CD-ROM, flash memory, or the like) and provided. That is, a program for allowing a computer to function as the respective components of the projector device, and a recording medium which records this program are included in the scope of the invention. Further, modifications may be made in the range without departing from the spirit of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-072423 | Mar 2010 | JP | national |
