Reducing View Transitions Artifacts In Automultiscopic Displays

Abstract

Automultiscopic displays enable glasses-free 3D viewing by providing both binocular and motion parallax. Within the display field of view, different images are observed depending on the viewing direction. When moving outside the field of view, the observed images may repeat. Light fields produced by lenticular and parallax-barrier automultiscopic displays may have repetitive structure with significant discontinuities between the fields of view. This repetitive structure induces visual artifacts in the form of view discontinuities, depth reversals, and extensive disparities. To overcome this problem, a method modifies the presented light field automultiscopic image content and makes it more repetitive. In the method, a light field is refined using global and local shearing and then the repeating fragments are stitched. The method reduces the discontinuities in the displayed light field and leads to visual quality improvements. Benefits of the method are shown using an automultiscopic display with a parallax barrier and lenticular prints.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 storing multi-view automultiscopic image content in an electronic memory;   performing at least one of reducing and removing the visibility of one or more artifacts from the multi-view automultiscopic image content by modifying the multi-view automultiscopic image content based upon at least one of: shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally, shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally, and stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content; and   based upon the modification of the multi-view automultiscopic image content, providing one or more updated multi-view images with improved visibility as compared with the multi-view image, at least with respect to the one or more artifacts.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising modifying the multi-view automultiscopic image content based upon shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally, shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally, and stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally includes repositioning a plurality of views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein repositioning the plurality of views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content includes adjusting a slope of the multi-view automultiscopic image content at a transition. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally includes:
 dividing the multi-view automultiscopic image content into a plurality of portions of the multi-view automultiscopic image content, and   repositioning a plurality of views of each of the portions of the multi-view automultiscopic image content.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content includes propagating transitions in the multi-view automultiscopic image content into different views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content in different regions. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the multi-view automultiscopic image content includes multi-view frames across a time domain. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 selecting a sample of multi-view frames from the time domain;   performing at least one of reducing and removing the visibility of the one or more artifacts from the sample of multi-view frames by modifying the multi-view automultiscopic image content; and   performing at least one of reducing and removing the visibility of the one or more artifacts from non-selected multi-view frames by interpolating changes from the nearest multi-view frames in the time domain.   
     
     
         9 . A display driver system comprising:
 a memory storing multi-view automultiscopic image content;   an artifact removal module configured to perform at least one of reducing and removing the visibility of one or more artifacts from the multi-view automultiscopic image content by modifying the multi-view automultiscopic image content based upon at least one of: shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally, shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally, and stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content; and   the artifact removal module, based upon the modification of the multi-view automultiscopic image content, being further configured to provide one or more updated multi-view images with improved visibility as compared with the multi-view image, at least with respect to the one or more artifacts.   
     
     
         10 . The display driver system of  claim 9 , wherein the artifact removal module is further configured to modify the multi-view automultiscopic image content by shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally, shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally, and stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content. 
     
     
         11 . The display driver system of  claim 9 , wherein shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally includes repositioning a plurality of views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content. 
     
     
         12 . The display driver system of  claim 11 , wherein repositioning the plurality of views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content includes adjusting a slope of the multi-view automultiscopic image content at a transition. 
     
     
         13 . The display driver system of  claim 9 , wherein shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally includes:
 dividing the multi-view automultiscopic image content into a plurality of portions of the multi-view automultiscopic image content, and   repositioning a plurality of views of each of the portions of the multi-view automultiscopic image content.   
     
     
         14 . The display driver system of  claim 9 , wherein stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content includes propagating transitions in the multi-view automultiscopic image content into different views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content in different regions. 
     
     
         15 . The display driver system of  claim 9 , wherein the multi-view automultiscopic image content includes multi-view frames across a time domain. 
     
     
         16 . The display driver system of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a selection module configured to select a sample of multi-view frames from the time domain;   wherein the artifact removal module is configured to perform at least one of reducing and removing the visibility of the one or more artifacts from the sample of multi-view frames by modifying the multi-view automultiscopic image content and is configured to perform at least one of reducing and removing the visibility of the one or more artifacts from non-selected multi-view frames by interpolating changes from the nearest multi-view frames in the time domain.   
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when loaded and executed by a processor coupled to an apparatus, causes the apparatus to:
 store multi-view automultiscopic image content;   perform at least one of reducing and removing the visibility of one or more artifacts from the multi-view automultiscopic image content by modifying the multi-view automultiscopic image content based upon at least one of: shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally, shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally, and stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content; and   provide one or more updated multi-view images, based upon the modification of the multi-view automultiscopic image content, with improved visibility as compared with the multi-view image, at least with respect to the one or more artifacts.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , the instructions further causing the apparatus to further modify the multi-view automultiscopic image content by shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally, shearing the multi-view automultiscopic image content locally, and stitching the multi-view automultiscopic image content. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , the instructions further causing the apparatus to shear the multi-view automultiscopic image content globally including repositioning a plurality of views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , the instructions further causing the apparatus to reposition the plurality of views of the multi-view automultiscopic image content including adjusting a slope of the multi-view automultiscopic image content at a transition.