1. Field
The present disclosure relates to three-dimensional (3D) glasses and a driving method of the three-dimensional glasses. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to three-dimensional glasses and a driving method of the three-dimensional glasses that can reduce the number of integrated circuits (IC) so that 3D glasses may be miniaturized and the structure of the integrated circuits may be simplified to reduce power consumption or generated heat when a driving portion for driving the three-dimensional glasses is formed on a printed circuit board as an integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an image display apparatus that provides three-dimensional images having a cubic-effect as well as two-dimensional images has been developed. Particularly, image display apparatuses that can display three-dimensional images having a cubic-effect may be classified as using one of two methods: a glasses type method using special glasses and a non-glasses type method that does not use special glasses. The glasses type method using the special glasses may be classified as a color filter method that separates and selects images using color filters having a complementary relationship, a polarizing filter method that separates left eye images from right eye images using a shade effect by combining polarizing elements intersected at right angles, and a shutter glasses method that can allow users to feel a cubic effect by alternately blocking left and right eyes corresponding to a sync signal to project left and right eye image signals onto a screen.
In the shutter glasses method, in order to view a three-dimensional image having a cubic effect, the left eye glass and the right eye glass of the three-dimensional glasses should be alternately turned on and off by a sync signal transmitted from an image display apparatus.
As illustrated in
The driving integrated circuit chips, as illustrated in
However, since the conventional three-dimensional glasses are formed so that the RF chip 100 controls all peripheral circuits such as the analog switch 110, etc., the number of pins of the RF chip to output signals is increased and the RF chip has a relatively high price. Further, power consumption of the RF chip 100, particularly, the amount of power being consumed when receiving RF signals from the image display apparatus is significantly increased.
Further, since in addition to the RF chip 100, the integrated circuits (ICs), such as the analog switch 110, the DC/DC converter 130, the charger 120, etc., are formed on the printed circuit board separately from each other, there are problems such that the size of the printed circuit board is increased and space efficiency for circuit configuration is decreased.
The exemplary embodiments have been developed in order to address the above drawbacks and other problems associated with the conventional arrangement of 3D glasses. An aspect of an exemplary embodiment is to provide three-dimensional glasses and a driving method of three-dimensional glasses that can may be miniaturized by reducing the number of integrated circuits and may reduce power consumption or heat by simplifying the structures of the integrated circuits when a driving portion to drive the three-dimensional glasses is formed in integrated circuit form on a printed circuit board.
The above aspect and/or other features of the exemplary embodiments can be substantially achieved by providing three-dimensional glasses which may include a first driver that receives a sync signal from an image display apparatus on which a three-dimensional image is displayed, and generates and outputs a timing signal corresponding to the received sync signal; a second driver that receives an input voltage and outputs the input voltage according to the timing signal; a storage that stores information for pairing with the image display apparatus and outputs the stored information on request of the first driver; and a lens component having left and right eye glasses that alternately perform an on and off operation based on the output voltage of the second driver, wherein the second driver and the storage are configured of a single chip.
The first driver and the second driver may be connected with each other by at least one timing signal line that processes the timing signal.
The sync signal may include additional information in addition to the timing signal; and the first driver and the second driver may be connected with each other by a data signal line that processes the additional information.
Each of the first driver and the second driver may include a controller which processes the additional information; and each of the first driver and the second driver may be configured as a master or a slave.
The three-dimensional glasses may include a sync signal requester that transmits a request signal to the image display apparatus that the three-dimensional glasses targets, wherein the image display apparatus sends the sync signal to the three-dimensional glasses that transmitted the request signal.
The three-dimensional glasses may include an infrared signal receiver that receives an infrared signal from the image display apparatus as the sync signal, wherein when the first driver receives and processes a radio frequency (RF) signal that can perform two-way communication as the sync signal, the second driver processes the infrared signal which is received by the infrared signal receiver.
The first driver may include a signal transmitter that retransmits the received sync signal to at least one other three-dimensional glasses apparatus.
According to another aspect of an exemplary embodiment, a driving method of a three-dimensional glasses may include receiving a sync signal at the three-dimensional glasses from an image display apparatus on which a three-dimensional image is displayed; transmitting the received sync signal to at least one second pair of glasses for a user; and driving left and right eye glasses to alternately perform on and off operations based on the sync signal.
The transmitting the received sync signal to at least one second pair of glasses for a user may include converting the received sync signal into another sync signal different from the received sync signal and transmitting it.
According to another aspect of an exemplary embodiment, a driving method of a three-dimensional glasses may include requesting a sync signal from a target image display apparatus which can display a three-dimensional image; receiving the sync signal from the target image display apparatus based on the request; and driving left and right eye glasses to alternately perform on and off operations based on the sync signal.
The requesting a sync signal may from a target image display apparatus which can display a three-dimensional image may include transmitting an infrared signal to the image display apparatus in order to request transmission of the sync signal.
Other objects, advantages and salient features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the attached drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the exemplary embodiments will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts, components and structures.
Hereinafter, certain exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The matters described herein, such as a detailed construction and elements thereof, are provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of this description. Thus, it is apparent that exemplary embodiments may be carried out without those defined matters. Also, well-known functions or constructions are omitted to provide a clear and concise description of the exemplary embodiments. Further, dimensions of various elements in the accompanying drawings may be arbitrarily increased or decreased for clarity to and assist in acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the drawings.
As illustrated in
The image display apparatus 400 is a display apparatus that can realize a three-dimensional image, and may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), a light-emitting diode (LED) display apparatus including an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), etc. When three-dimensional images are provided from a broadcasting station or a user device such as a camcorder, the image display apparatus 400 processes the three-dimensional image data, displays them on a screen thereof, and, while the three-dimensional image is displayed on the screen, sends a sync signal synchronized to the three-dimensional image to the glasses for a user 410. However, when a two-dimensional image is input, the image display apparatus 400 may convert the two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional image, and while the converted three-dimensional image is displayed on the screen, sends a sync signal synchronized thereto to the glasses for a user 410. Here, to convert the two-dimensional image into the three-dimensional image, a unit frame of the input two-dimensional image is defined as a left eye image. For every unit frame, the left eye image is shifted by a predetermined amount to generate a right eye image, and the images are displayed in the order of a left eye L1→a right eye R1→the left eye L2→the right eye R2. At this time, depth information of the right eye image can be obtained using objects and a background of the left eye image, for example.
The image display apparatus 400 uses a radio-frequency signal (hereinafter, referred to as an RF signal), such as Zigbee, Bluetooth, and WiFi, that can perform bidirectional communication, as a sync signal and sends it to the glasses for a user 410. Alternatively, in addition to the RF signal, an infrared signal or a signal in the form of packets can be sent as the sync signal. Also, the sync signal, for example, the RF signal can be sent to the glasses for a user 410 whenever the left and right eye images are displayed. Alternatively, when an arbitrary left or right eye image is displayed, a first sync signal is sent and a next sync signal can be sent at predetermined time intervals. At this time, additional information with respect to the predetermined time interval may be sent with the sync signal. The additional information may include duty information that indicates time information when a unit frame is really implemented from among entire time that the unit frame can be implemented.
For example, if the image display apparatus 400 sends a sync signal per 60 frames, the image display apparatus 400 can send the additional information with respect to this to the glasses for a user 410. This may be determined when the system of the image display apparatus 400 is first designed. In other words, if when the sync signal is sent per 60 frames, 2-bit signal “10” is defined (or set) to be used as the additional information between the image display apparatus 400 and the glasses for a user 410, the glasses for a user 410 can determine that the sync signal is provided per 60 frames based on the additional information.
On the other hand, the glasses for a user 410 can be three-dimensional glasses using a shutter glasses method that alternately turns on and off the left and right eye glasses according to the sync signal sent from the image display apparatus 400. At this time, the three-dimensional glasses are designed to receive infrared signals or RF signals as the sync signal. Alternatively, the three-dimensional glasses may be designed to receive both infrared signals and RF signals as the sync signal. The glasses for a user 410 may include a glass frame, lenses, and a driving portion to drive the lenses. Here, the lenses include the left and right eye glasses, and each of the left and right eye glasses may include two glasses and a liquid crystal between the two glasses. At this time, the liquid crystal is twisted according to a voltage being applied to the two glasses so that an open-close operation is performed. For example, in case of a normal white mode, when voltage of the same level is applied to both ends thereof, the two glasses are turned on so that the image can be seen, and when voltage of different levels is applied to both ends thereof, the two glasses are turned off so that the image cannot be seen. However, in case of a normal black mode, operations of the two glasses may be to the opposite of that described above. The driving portion will be described in detail hereinafter.
As illustrated in
The glasses for a user 410 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
Further, the first driving portion 500 and the second driving portion 510-1 may be connected with each other by a timing signal line that transmits a timing signal ST using the sync signal which the first driving portion 500 receives and a data signal line that performs bi-directional communication between the first driving portion 500 and the second driving portion 510-1. The data signal line may transmit time interval information when a timing signal ST is sent from the sync signal received by the first driving portion 500 or duty information.
On the other hand, the first driving portion 500 and the second driving portion 510-1 may be formed in various shapes. For example, looking at the control portions 720 and 820 with reference to
Looking further, the first driving portion 500, as illustrated in
Here, the signal transmission/reception portion 700 may include a signal transmission end Tx and a signal reception end Rx separated from each other. In fact, in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the signal transmission/reception portion 700 may include only the signal reception end except the signal transmission end. However, if one glasses for a user 410 that receives a sync signal from the image display apparatus 400 needs to send the sync signal to other glasses for a user 410, the glasses for a user 410 can include the signal transmission end.
The signal transmission/reception portion 700 receives a sync signal through an antenna 100a. During the process, if the sync signal is provided in the form of packet, the signal transmission/reception portion 700 may additionally perform a process of decoding the signal and may further perform various operations such as separation of the received sync signal, generation of a new signal using the sync signal, etc. Here, the separation of signal may mean to separate additional information such as a timing signal, duty information, etc. from the sync signal.
The first two-way communication portion 710 may include a communication module for performing a communication with a second two-way communication portion 810 of the second driving portion 510-1. For example, the first two-way communication portion 710 receives the additional information separated by the signal transmission/reception portion 700 under the control of the first control portion 720 and may play a role to provide it to the second two-way communication portion 810 of the second driving portion 510-1. Further, in the case of the configuration example 3, the first driving portion 500 and the second driving portion 510-1 may send and receive information between each other to set a master and a slave.
The first control portion 720 entirely controls the signal transmission/reception portion 700 and the first two-way communication portion 710 inside the first driving portion 500. During this process, for example, in the case of the configuration example 3, when the first control portion 720 determines whether an error occurs in an inner operations thereof and determines that an error has occurred, or when the first driving portion 500 checks the input voltage, etc. so that a system is determined to be unstable, the first control portion 720 can hand over a role of the master to the second driving portion 510-1.
The second driving portion 510-1, as illustrated in
The signal transmission/reception portion 800 may consist of a signal input end and a signal output end separated from each other. A sync signal from the first driving portion 500 i.e. a timing signal, is input into the signal input end. In a case of a system that one of the glasses for a user 410 transmits a sync signal to other glasses for a user 410, the signal output end may play a role to output a signal so that the second driving portion 510-1 can transmit the signal through the antenna 100a of the first driving portion 500.
The second two-way communication portion 810 has a function similar to that of the first two-way communication portion 710. The charging portion 830 performs a role to receive external commercial power, to perform processes of rectifying, smoothing, etc., and to provide a predetermined voltage to a battery.
Also, the voltage converting portion 840 is, for example, a DC/DC converter, and converts voltage in analogue form being provided from the charging portion 830 or the battery into voltage in digital form. Further, the voltage converting portion 840 boosts and outputs the voltage converted in digital form. The converted voltage is used to turn on/off the left and right eye glasses of the glasses for a user 410.
The switching portion 850 may include a plurality of switching devices. The plurality of switching devices are turned on/off by the sync signal, i.e. the timing signal, and output the voltage provided from the voltage converting portion 840 to the glasses for a user 410. Due to this, the left and right eye glasses of the glasses for a user 410 are alternately turned on/off.
The storage portion 510-2 may include, for example, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) that can be read and written on. The storage portion 510-2 can store information (or data) for pairing, that is, compatibility between the glasses for a user 410 and the image display apparatus 400, or a program which implements that in the form of algorithms. The information or the program may be run under the control of the second control portion 820. In
Since, as illustrated in
Also, manufacturing cost may be reduced when compared to the conventional form using multiple-chip configuration. For example, assembling a single chip uses less labor and less power than to assembling multiple chips.
Further, since the structure of the first driving portion 500 is configured to be distributed to the second driving portion 510-1, power consumption or heat of the first driving portion 500 may be reduced. Due to the simplification of the structure, the number of signal output ports, that is, pins is also reduced. Therefore, manufacturing cost thereof may be reduced.
In addition, since the first driving portion 500 and the second driving portion 510-1 can perform master and slave operations, a system becomes stabilized, and signal processing may be facilitated.
Until now, with reference to
Hereinafter, the case that the storage portion 510-2 of
As illustrated in
Compared to the structure of the glasses for a user 410 of
For example, when the first driving portion 900 of the chip A processes a sync signal and other algorithms and outputs a voltage for driving the lens portion 920 as a master, the required number of output ports may be at least two or more. At this time, the second driving portion 910 of the chip B simply performs the role of a passive component so that it simply boosts the output of the first driving portion 900 and transmits the output to the lens portion 920. If the second driving portion 910 of the chip B includes a control portion, wires of more than three ports may be connected and may be used as data signal lines.
Also, the peripheral circuits 930, 940 and 950 may include a battery portion 930, a button portion 940 having a power button, etc., and a status display portion 950 that displays a power-on status and a battery charge status. The peripheral circuits 930, 940 and 950 may be connected to and operated in association with the first driving portion 900 and the second driving portion 910 according to the configuration examples 1, 2 and 3. However,
Also, the first driving portion 900 may generate a plurality of timing signals, ST1 . . . STn, with respect to the received sync signal and may provide the plurality of timing signals to the second driving portion 910. In this case, a plurality of timing signal lines may disposed between the first driving portion 900 and the second driving portion 910. However, in terms of cost savings, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may have a relatively small number of lines.
Except for the above description, the first driving portion 900 and the second driving portion 910 are similar to the first driving portion 500 and the second driving portion 510-1 of
As illustrated in
There is one timing signal line between the first driving portion 1000 and the second driving portion 1010. The first driving portion 1000 may generate one timing signal with respect to the received sync signal and transmit it to the second driving portion 1010.
For example, if the second driving portion 1010 of the chip B acts as a master and the first driving portion 1000 of the chip A transmits a sync signal and additional information to the second driving portion 1010 of the chip B, the required number of output ports may be more than one.
Except for the above description, the content relating to the first driving portion 1000, the second driving portion 1010, the lens portion 1020, and the peripheral circuits 1030, 1040 and 1050 is not significantly different from the content of the first driving portion 900, the second driving portion 910, the lens portion 920, and the peripheral circuits 930, 940 and 950 of
Due to the above configuration, the number of pins of the first driving portion 1000 formed in an IC chip of the glasses for a user 410 of
Referring to
When compared with the image display apparatus 400 of
If the first driving portion 1200 of
Except for the above description, the content relating to the first driving portion 1200, the second driving portion 1210, the lens portion 1220, and the peripheral circuits 1240, 1250 and 1260 is not significantly different from the content of the first driving portion 900, the second driving portion 910, the lens portion 920, and the peripheral circuits 930, 940 and 950 of
Referring to
The image display apparatus 1300 may transmit at least one signal between an RF signal that can perform two-way communication and an infrared signal that can be one-way communication as a sync signal.
If the first glasses for a user 1310-1 are combined use glasses that can process both the RF signal and the IR signal, and the second, third, and fourth glasses for a user 1310-2, 1310-3, and 1310-4 are RF glasses that can process the RF signals, the first glasses for a user 1110 may convert the IR signal into the RF signal and provide the other RF glasses with necessary information on the operation thereof.
During this process, the control portion of the first driving portion 1400 as illustrated in
For example, the second driving portion 1410 of the chip B may convert sync, timing, and more information which the first driving portion 1400 of the chip A receives through the infrared signal receiving portion 1460 into sync/data, and may again transmit it to the first driving portion 1400 of the chip A. At this time, the first driving portion 1400 of the chip A converts the sync/data into an RF signal and may transmit the RF signal to the second, third, and fourth glasses for a user 1310-2, 1310-3, and 1310-4 through the signal transmission end Tx of transmission/reception portion 1400-1.
On the other hand, although not illustrated in the drawings, the first glasses for a user 1310-1 receives a sync signal that the image display apparatus 1300 transmits, for example, an RF sync signal through the signal receiving end Rx of the first driving portion 1400, and the control portion thereof can again transmit the sync signal to the second, third, and fourth glasses for a user 1310-2, 1310-3, and 1310-4 through the signal transmission end Tx.
Except for the above description, the content relating to the first driving portion 1400, the second driving portion 1410, the lens portion 1420, and the peripheral circuits 1430, 1440 and 1450 is not significantly different from the content of the first driving portion 900, the second driving portion 910, the lens portion 920, and the peripheral circuits 930, 940 and 950 of
Referring to
When there is another three-dimensional image display apparatus 1520 near the glasses for a user 1510 in addition to the image display apparatus 1500 which the glasses for a user 1510 is targeting to receive a sync signal, the glasses for a user 1510 may tend to receive a sync signal from the near image display apparatus 1520. This may be caused by the fact that the glasses for a user 1510 communicate with image display apparatus 1520 based on signal strength.
In order to address the problem, in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to receive a sync signal from the image display apparatus 1500 which the glasses for a user 1510 targets, the glasses for a user 1510 may cause the sync signal request portion 1630 to send an infrared signal to the image display apparatus 1500 to which the lens portion 1620 is oriented. Then, the image display apparatus 1500 transmits a sync signal to the glasses for a user 1510 based on the request. The infrared signal may be sent automatically after the oriented direction of the glasses for a user 1510 is determined or may be sent when a user manipulates a button of the button portion 1650.
Except for the above description, the content relating to the first driving portion 1600, the second driving portion 1610, the lens portion 1620, and the peripheral circuits 1640, 1650 and 1660 is not significantly different from the content of the first driving portion 900, the second driving portion 910, the lens portion 920, and the peripheral circuits 930, 940 and 950 of
For convenience of description, with reference to
Then the first glasses for a user 1310-1 transmit the received sync signal to the second glasses for a user 1310-2 (S1710). During the process the first glasses for a user 1310-1 can transmit the received sync signal after determining or analyzing whether or not to transmit the received sync signal. Signal processing has been fully explained with reference to
Next, the first glasses for a user 1310-1 use the received sync signal to allow the first driving portion 1400 of
After that, in the first glasses for a user 1310-1, the second driving portion 1410 is operated by the sync signal provided from the first driving portion 1400 to output a voltage to the lens portion 1420 so as to alternatively drive the left and right eye glasses of the lens portion 1420 on/off (S1730 and S1740). The second glasses for a user 1310-2 also are operated in the same way.
Due to the above described process, the first glasses for a user 1310-1 and the second glasses for a user 1310-2 can watch three-dimensional images being displayed on the image display apparatus 1300.
For convenience of description, with reference to
Then, the first glasses for a user 1310-1 transmits the received sync signal to the second, third, and fourth glasses for a user 1310-2, 1310-3, and 1310-4 (S1810). During the process the first glasses for a user 1310-1 can transmit the received sync signal or a new signal generated after a separate signal process is performed.
After that, the first glasses for a user 1310-1 alternately drives the left and right eye glasses on/off based on the received sync signal (S1820).
For example, the first glasses for a user 1310-1 switches input voltage from the outside based on the sync signal, and alternately outputs the desired voltage to the left and right eye glasses, thereby driving them on/off. Such operations have been fully explained in the above description, therefore, further explanation thereof will be omitted.
For convenience of description, with reference to
Next, the glasses for a user 1510 receive a sync signal based on the request from the image display apparatus 1500 (S1910).
After that, the glasses for a user 1510 alternately drives the left and right eye glasses on/off based on the received sync signal (S1920).
Through this process, the glasses for a user 1510 can watch three-dimensional images being displayed on the image display apparatus 1500.
In the above descriptions with respect to various exemplary embodiments, except in the case of
While the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, additional variations and modifications of the exemplary embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims shall be construed to include both the above exemplary embodiments and all such variations and modifications that fall within the spirit and scope of the inventive concepts.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2012-0077188 | Jul 2012 | KR | national |
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/521,939, filed on Aug. 10, 2011 in the United States Patent & Trademark Office and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0077188, filed on Jul. 16, 2012 in the Korean Patent Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61521939 | Aug 2011 | US |