TWI450576B - Image processing device and image processing method - Google Patents

Description

Image processing device and image processing method

The embodiments disclosed in the present invention relate to image depth of field compensation processing, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus and related image processing method that can automatically compensate for depth of field according to the tilt angle.

With the maturity of stereoscopic display technology in recent years, manufacturers of stereoscopic displays have continued to innovate. However, the source of the most important stereoscopic content (3D content) is still insufficient. Although there are already a few stereoscopic imaging systems on the market that can provide stereoscopic content. However, it is still not popular because it is too expensive or not convenient enough to use. In the face of the problem of insufficient stereo content, the current solution is mainly to use the technology of planar to stereo (2D-to-3D) to convert the huge flat video library owned by the current content provider into the body content, and such conversion The quality of the technology usually depends on whether the depth of field of the plane content can be accurately calculated.

However, the factors affecting the depth of field of the planar content do not depend solely on the planar content itself, but also on the viewing angle of the viewing. Therefore, for a handheld electronic device (for example, a lithographic computer), it is easy to be because of the fuselage. The tilt of itself causes a change in the angle of view, which in turn affects the effect of the user viewing the stereoscopic content generated by the planar content.

Therefore, how to avoid the influence of the tilt of the handheld electronic device body on viewing stereoscopic content is still a major issue in this field.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an image processing apparatus and an associated image processing method capable of automatically compensating for depth of field according to an inclination angle are proposed to solve the above problems.

According to a first aspect of the invention, an image processing apparatus is disclosed. The image processing device includes an oblique angle sensing unit and a planar to three-dimensional image processing unit. The tilt angle sensing unit is configured to detect an inclination angle of an image playback device. The planar to three-dimensional image processing unit is coupled to the tilting angle sensing unit for generating a stereoscopic image signal according to the tilting angle and a planar image signal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an image processing method is disclosed. The image processing method includes: detecting a tilt angle of an image playback device; and performing a planar to stereo image processing on the planar image signal according to the tilt angle to generate a stereoscopic image signal.

Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claims to refer to particular elements. It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that hardware manufacturers may refer to the same elements by different nouns. The scope of this specification and the subsequent patent application do not use the difference of the names as the means for distinguishing the elements, but the difference in function of the elements as the criterion for distinguishing. The term "including" as used throughout the specification and subsequent claims is an open term and should be interpreted as "including but not limited to". In addition, the term "coupled" is used herein to include any direct and indirect electrical connection. Therefore, if a first device is coupled to a second device, it means that the first device can be directly electrically connected to the second device or indirectly electrically connected to the second device through other devices or connection means.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. The image processing device 100 is disposed in an image playback device, and the image capture device can be a handheld electronic device (eg, a lithographic computer or the like). The image processing device 100 includes, but is not limited to, an oblique angle. The sensing unit 110 and a planar to stereo image processing unit 120. The tilting angle sensing unit 110 is configured to detect the tilting angle θ of the image capturing device, and the planar toning image processing unit 120 is coupled to the tilting angle sensing unit 110 for using the tilting angle θ and a planar image. The signal 2D_SIG generates a stereoscopic image signal 3D_SIG.

In this embodiment, the tilt angle sensing unit 110 is an accelerometer for detecting the tilt state of the image dialing device (that is, the angle between the image picking device and the horizontal/vertical surface). )The change. However, it should be noted that the tilt angle sensing unit 110 can also be implemented by other electronic devices (eg, gyroscopes, etc.) that can detect the tilt angle. In short, this embodiment is for illustrative purposes only, and is not intended to be a limitation of the invention. In fact, any design variation that can detect the tilt angle should fall within the scope of the present invention.

In addition, the planar to stereo image processing unit 120 may be a depth-image-based rendering (DIBR) unit that automatically compensates the depth of field according to the tilt angle θ. In this embodiment, the planar to stereo image processing The unit 120 uses the tilt angle θ to correct the depth map of the planar image signal 2D_SIG to compensate for the parallax effect caused by the tilt angle θ, for example, when the planar to stereo image processing unit 120 When the 3D image warping operation is performed on the planar image signal 2D_SIG, the coordinates of the synthesized pixel x _i can be expressed as shown in the formula (1):

Where x _i is the coordinate of the pixel to be synthesized (that is, the left eye image or the right eye image); x _c is the coordinate in the intermediate image, that is, the position of the input image; f is the focal length, which is a fixed Constant; t _x is the length of the baseline (ie, the distance between the viewer's left and right eyes); Z is the depth value of the target pixel, and its value is inversely proportional to the grayscale value of the depth of field. In this embodiment, the plane-to-three-dimensional image processing unit 120 additionally offsets the synthesized pixel x _i . Multiply a weight To compensate for the parallax caused by the tilt angle θ, that is, the planar-to-three-dimensional image processing unit 120 automatically compensates the depth of field according to the tilt angle θ to reduce or eliminate the tilt angle θ caused by the generated stereoscopic image signal 3D_SIG. influences.

It should be noted that the planar to three-dimensional image processing unit 120 can also be implemented by using image based rendering (IBR). In short, the present embodiment is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be a limitation of the present invention. The spirit of the present invention is to compensate for the depth of field in a planar to three-dimensional image processing operation using the detected tilt angle. In order to obtain a better viewing effect, any changes and modifications made in accordance with the spirit of the present invention should fall within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of an image processing method of the present invention. This method can be applied to the image processing apparatus 100 shown in Fig. 1. Please note that if substantially the same result is obtained, these steps are not necessarily performed in accordance with the execution order shown in FIG. This method can be summarized briefly as follows:

Step S200: Start.

Step S202: determining whether the tilt state of an image playback device has changed. If there is a change, step S204 is performed; otherwise, returning to step S202 to continue to determine whether the tilt state has changed.

Step S204: Detecting an inclination angle of one of the image playback devices.

Step S206: Perform a planar to stereo image processing on a planar image signal according to the tilt angle to generate a stereoscopic image signal. Next, returning to step S202, it is continued to judge whether or not the tilt state has changed.

Those skilled in the art can easily understand the operation of the steps shown in FIG. 2 after reading the above paragraphs. For detailed description and changes, reference may be made to the foregoing, and for brevity, it will not be repeated here.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made to the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

100. . . Image processing device

110. . . Tilt angle sensing unit

120. . . Plane to stereo image processing unit

1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of an image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of an image processing method of the present invention.

100. . . Image processing device

110. . . Tilt angle sensing unit

120. . . Plane to stereo image processing unit

Claims (10)

An image processing device includes: an oblique angle sensing unit for detecting an inclination angle of an image playback device; and a planar to three-dimensional image processing unit coupled to the tilt angle sensing unit for A stereoscopic image signal is generated according to the tilt angle and a planar image signal. The image processing device of claim 1, wherein the tilt angle sensing unit is an accelerometer. The image processing device of claim 1, wherein the planar to stereo image processing unit is a depth-image-based rendering (DIBR) unit, which automatically compensates according to the tilt angle. Depth of field. The image processing device of claim 1, wherein the image processing device is disposed in the image playback device, and the image playback device is a handheld electronic device. The image processing device of claim 4, wherein the handheld electronic device is a lithographic computer. An image processing method includes: detecting an inclination angle of an image playback device; and performing a planar to stereo image processing on a planar image signal according to the tilt angle to generate a stereoscopic image signal. The image processing method of claim 6, wherein the step of detecting the tilt angle of the image dialing device comprises: using an accelerometer to detect the tilt of the image dialing device angle. The image processing method of claim 6, wherein the planar to stereo image processing is a depth-image-based rendering (DIBR) operation, which automatically compensates the depth of field according to the tilt angle. . The image processing method of claim 6, wherein the image playback device is a handheld electronic device. The image processing method of claim 9, wherein the handheld electronic device is a lithographic computer.