Patent Application
20150130912
This invention relates to a display system and, more particularly, to a display system having an image projector for use with a television display to enhance viewing the video content displayed by the television display.
Typical television displays provide a viewer with an image of video content that is displayed on a screen of fixed size. While television display screens may be very large, the peripheral area surrounding the display screen typically is a blank wall. This peripheral area usually provides a static display that, in the room in which the television display normally is located, is not visually exploited. As a result, the viewer's experience is less realistic, especially when compared to the visual experience in a movie theater where the audience views a large screen that occupies a larger portion of the field of view. The peripheral area around the movie screen is proportionally smaller (as compared to the peripheral area surrounding a television display screen) and is dark to minimize distractions inasmuch as there is nothing in that peripheral area that corresponds to the content displayed on the screen.
If the peripheral area surrounding the television display screen is advantageously utilized to provide visual imaging to complement or otherwise correspond to the television content displayed on the television display screen, the viewer's visual experience will be improved.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display for use with a television display that improves and enhances the viewer's visual experience while viewing the television content.
It is another object of this invention to project images on a surface proximate the television display, thereby improving the viewer's periphery enjoyment.
A further object of the invention is to control an image projector to project an image separate and apart from a television display screen in accordance with image information related to the television content being displayed.
Various other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become readily apparent from the ensuing detailed description; and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
In accordance with some embodiments of this invention, a display system comprises an image projector for use with a television display, the image projector being supplied with image information that differs from but is related to the displayed television content. Image information is discriminated from content information supplied to the display system; and the image information is supplied to the image projector which projects an image on a surface separate and apart from the television display screen.
In one embodiment, the image information is supplied to the display system as metadata.
In another embodiment, the image information and television content are supplied in separate channels, such as in the separate channels used in a 3-D television system.
In a further embodiment, predetermined parameters in the video content are discriminated and used to control different aspects of the image information supplied to the image projector.
The following detailed description, given by way of example and not intended to limit the present invention solely to those embodiments described herein, will best be understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used throughout, and particularly to
The illustrated display system is supplied with television content, such as typical video programs, stored content, recorded content (such as on optical or magnetic discs), from which the television content is supplied to TV display 102. A viewer positioned in front of the TV display screen thus may view the received television content supplied from, for example, terrestrial transmission, satellite transmission, cable TV transmission, Internet transmission or another active network supply.
The surface upon which the image is projected may be adjacent or near the TV display and need not necessarily surround the TV display screen.
The illustrated display system also is supplied with image information that differs from but is related to the television content displayed by the TV display 102. Examples of the image information are described below. This image information is applied to image projector 104 which, in turn, projects an image on wall 106. As will be described below, the image information may be in the form of metadata included with the received television content. Alternatively, the TV display may be a 3-D television display device that, when viewing 3-D programming, receives television content over separate channels, such as the left-eye and right-eye channels, which are processed by the 3-D television display device to display three-dimensional video images. If TV display 102 is a 3-D television display device, one of its channels (e.g. the left-eye channel) may be used to receive two-dimensional television content and the other channel (e.g. the right-eye channel) may be used to receive the image information. It will be appreciated that TV display 102 may be a 2-D television display device with a decoder operable to receive a 3-D formatted signal containing one channel on which 2-D content is transmitted and the other channel on which the image information is transmitted. As yet a further alternative, image projector 104 may include circuitry and/or software modules for discriminating predetermined parameters in the received television content to generate the image information. Various embodiments are described below.
Before describing the preferred embodiments of image projector 104, and particularly the apparatus used to provide the images projected by the image projector, examples of the usefulness of the illustrated display system are now described. In one example, the television content supplied to and displayed on TV display 102 may be a sporting event; and the image information supplied to image projector 104 may be a scoreboard or box score of that sporting event. As a result, image projector 104 may display on wall 106, as a peripheral display adjacent or surrounding the content displayed on the TV display screen, the box score of that sporting event.
As another example, the image projected on wall 106 by image projector 104 may be closed caption text related to the television content displayed on TV display 102. Such closed caption text may be a language translation of the dialogue in that television content, or may be supertitles or subtitles of a performance, for example, an opera.
A further example of the projected image may be selectable Internet items, such as products or icons, received via an interactive network, such as the Internet, that may be selected by the viewer similar to the selection of displayed items on a computer display screen in an interactive system. Examples of such selectable image items and apparatus operable by the viewer to select such items are described below.
A still further example of the projected image may be a wide-angle view of a scene that surrounds the view being displayed on TV display 102.
Yet another example of the projected image may be light whose color and intensity are controlled by the image information supplied to the image projector. For example, if the displayed television content represents a storm, the projected image may be flashes of light representing lightning. If the displayed television content represents an emergency scene, the projected image may be flashing colored lights representing the lights of emergency vehicles. As a further example, the projected image may be background color which matches or is compatible with the scene being displayed on the TV display. Or the projected image may be light of an intensity to match the intensity of ambient light in room 110.
In the embodiment shown in
Turning now to
A pointer device 122, such as a mouse, joystick, touch-sensitive screen, track pad, motion sensing controller, or other known pointer devices, including sensors adapted to sense gestures made by a user, is coupled to image projector 104. As schematically illustrated, image 108 projected by the projector onto the surface (not shown) includes the aforementioned Internet images. Pointer 122 communicates with processor 121 to drive image generator 112 to control image projector 104 to project a superimposed cursor onto the image 108. In this respect, pointer 122 interacts with processor 121 and image generator 112 to adjust the position at which the cursor is superimposed on the projected images in much the same way as a conventional mouse interacts with a laptop or desktop computer, resulting in the display of a cursor superimposed onto Internet images. Alternatively, the operation of pointer 122 may cause different ones of the Internet images to be high-lighted. Pointer 122 includes a user-operable switch that enables the viewer to select a displayed Internet image when the cursor is superimposed over that image or when that image is high-lighted. Since this is conventional, further description need not be provided.
In operation, image information supplied to image projector 104 by video decoder 120 causes the image projector to project Internet images determined by the image information. The viewer operates pointer 122 to superimpose the cursor over different selectable images that are projected. For example, the Internet images may be images of different products, different icons, different links, different buttons or different selectable items of the type normally displayed on a computer screen. When the user moves the cursor to a position superimposed over a desired item, the user may operate the switch on the pointer to select that item. Corresponding information is supplied to, for example, the source of the image information that supplied the image information to input 118 of the illustrated display system. As a result, the viewer may engage in online shopping, gaming or other online interactive activities.
A more detailed illustration of the operation achieved by the embodiment shown in
Projected image 108 includes displayed items 124, which may be buttons, text links, icons, purchasable products or other selectable items. The projected image also includes cursor 126 which may be moved over the projected image 108 by operation of pointer 122. Operation of the pointer is processed by processor 121 which drives image generator 112 to supply to projector 104 an image of the cursor superimposed over the items 124 of projected image 108. When cursor 126 is superimposed over a desired one of displayed items 124, the viewer may operate the switch on pointer 122; whereupon processor 121 is supplied with information identifying the selected item 124. Processor 121 is a digital processor, a CPU, or the like, which sends to a server information identifying the selected item. The processor also communicates with image generator 112 to control the image projected by projector 104. It is appreciated, pointer 122, cursor 126, and processor 121 operate in a manner similar to the operation of a mouse in a conventional interactive computer system.
The metadata separated by decoder 120 is provided to processor 121 which is adapted to process the received metadata and drive image generator 112 to generate the image information of the type discussed above. Processor 121 is coupled to image generator 112 which supplies image information to control the image projector 104.
In operation, video decoder 120 detects and decodes the metadata supplied with the video signals to input 118. Such video signals are processed by the video decoder and supplied to TV display 102 which displays the television content represented by those video signals. The detected metadata is supplied to processor 121 which produces image information from the metadata. This image information is supplied to image generator 112 which controls image projector 104 to project a corresponding image on wall 106. The image data may represent a scoreboard, closed caption text, Internet items, intensity and/or color of light or other information mentioned above. If the metadata represents color or light intensity, processor 121 is adapted to process such color or light intensity; and image generator 112 controls image projector 104 to project an image whose color or brightness corresponds to the detected color light intensity. Alternatively, the metadata may represent image information that enhances the scene corresponding to the video signals displayed on TV display 102.
Examples of the metadata parsed by video decoder 120 include, among other types of information, closed captioning, program title, time remaining in the current program, content rating and the like. It will be understood that other types of information may be detected by the video decoder, such as blocks of data related to the video content. Detected text may be designated to be displayed directly, such as a description of the content displayed on TV display 102. Such text may be encoded with markup code such as XML, JSON, or HTML. Additionally, the metadata or markup code may contain URLs, or IDs that can be passed into API calls. The information from the text can be used to lookup data from a server. By using a URL or IDs to indicate the location of data on a network, a small amount of metadata can specify a large quantity of related data. While references to things on the network are common in markup codes such as HTML, the separated block of data could simply be a URL. The data, such as in HTML which commonly includes JavaScript, may also contain logic and other instructions to be executed by the processor 121 when evaluating the data. The data may also contain media, such as still images, audio, and/or video. In the case of video media, the resolution, frame rate, bit rate, codex used to encode the video data, and other properties of the video data may differ from the main video content to which the metadata is related.
In one configuration of the embodiment shown in
Decoder 140 is coupled to supply TV display 102 with video signals. Decoder 140 also is coupled to image generator 112 to supply the separated image information for controlling image projector 104 with such image information. Thus, TV display 102 displays the received television content and image projector 104 projects an image on wall 106 related to but different from the television content, thereby enhancing the viewer's viewing experience.
The video output of decoder 148 also is coupled to a video analyzer 152 which is adapted to extract predetermined parameters included in the video signal, or television content, separated by the decoder. For example, the video analyzer is adapted to analyze frames of the video signal and to identify and extract the predetermined parameters included in the analyzed frames. Examples of such predetermined parameters include brightness (or light intensity) of the video signal, overall color, panning direction of the subject in the video signal, zooming direction of the video image, text information such as score information associated with a sporting event, background scene information, or even audio information such as sound intensity included in the television content. The extracted parameters are supplied to image generator 112 to control particular characteristics of the image information supplied by the image generator to image projector 104. For example, the color of the image projected by projector 104 may be controlled. Or the movement of displayed items (discussed in connection with
Examples of the operation of the embodiment shown in
As another example, let it be assumed that the television content is a sporting event. Score information related to the sporting event is extracted by video analyzer 152 and supplied to generator 112 which, in turn, supplies graphic data resembling a scoreboard to image projector 104. As a result, a scoreboard image is projected.
As a further example, let it be assumed that the television content includes a scene of a severe storm which includes thunder and lightning. Audio information representing the thunder, such as audio signals of low frequency and high intensity, are extracted by video analyzer 152 and supplied to image generator 112 which supplies image information representing bright flashes of light to the image projector 104.
Thus, in the embodiment shown in
For example, if surface 106 is not a white wall, the color of the image projected on the wall may differ from the color for which the image projector had been calibrated. This color difference is sensed by the combination of sensor 160 and light analyzer 162 to adjust, or compensate, the color of the image generated by image generator 112 and projected by image projector 104. As a result, the color of the projected image that is viewed is corrected, or compensated.
Another configuration for enhancing the image projected by the image projector is illustrated in
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may be made. For example, although only one image projector has been shown, the present invention may be used with several image projectors to project images that illuminate other walls and also the ceiling of the room. As yet another example, in addition to, or as an alternative to, the image projector, the lighting system in the user's room or home may be controlled in response to the discriminated image information. Still further, if the image information is included in the metadata described above, that metadata may indicate preferred or ideal room lighting color and intensity. It is intended that the appended claims be interpreted to cover the embodiments described herein, the examples mentioned above and equivalents thereto.
