Systems and methods for measuring spatial and angular performance of a visual display

1. A system for measuring spatial and angular performance of a flat panel visual display, the system comprising:

a camera;

a flat panel visual display positioned relative to the camera for measurement;

a display support assembly carrying the visual display and configured to rotatably move the visual display relative to the camera; and

a controller operably coupled to the camera and the display support assembly, the controller having a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform operations comprising

capturing a plurality of image measurements from the visual display at a plurality of different view angles with the camera;

creating a list of user-selected points of interest on the visual display;

using image data from the plurality of image measurements of the visual display at the different view angles, calculating tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) for the individual point of interests at each of the view angles, wherein calculating tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) comprises

calculating a location, a size, and a shape of each point of interest for the individual image measurements at each view angle, wherein calculating a location, a size, and a shape of each point of interest comprises

calculating a rotation matrix to transform each point of interest from a first coordinate in a first initial position to a second coordinate in a second location after the visual display has rotated to a different view angle; and

determining the pixels enclosed by each point of interest at each view angle in the first position and, for each pixel

 determining a (x, y, z) position vector relative to a center of rotation of the visual display;

 transforming the (x, y, z) position vector of each pixel using the rotation matrix; and

 projecting the transformed (x, y, z) position vector from the camera location into a view plane normal to the camera and through the center of rotation of the visual display;

calculating the average pixel gray values (R, G, B) for the pixels in each point of interest; and

converting the (R, G, B) values to tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) using a color calibration matrix; and

generating one or more a view angle performance charts for the selected points of interest.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the camera is an imaging photometer having a CCD or CMOS image sensor.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the display support assembly is a goniometer configured to rotatably move the visual display about a horizontal axis and a vertical axis generally transverse to the horizontal axis.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the goniometer has an east polar configuration.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the camera is generally stationary and is positioned to capture a plurality of image measurements of the visual display at a plurality of different view angles as the visual display moves relative to the camera, and wherein the individual image measurements include a measurement of all or generally all of the visual display.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more computer systems to measure spatial and angular performance of a flat panel video display by performing a method, the method comprising:

acquiring image measurements of the visual display at multiple view angles with an imaging photometer;

storing user-selected points of interest on the visual display;

using image data from the image measurements of the visual display at the multiple view angles, calculating tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) for the individual user-selected point of interests at each of the view angles by

calculating a location, a size, and a shape of each user-selected point of interest for the individual image measurements at each view angle, wherein calculating a location, a size, and a shape of each point of interest comprises

calculating a rotation matrix to transform each point of interest from a first coordinate in a first initial position to a second coordinate in a second location after the visual display has rotated to a different view angle; and

determining the pixels enclosed by each point of interest at each view angle in the first position and, for each pixel

determining a (x, y, z) position vector relative to a center of rotation of the visual display;

transforming the (x, y, z) position vector of each pixel using the rotation matrix; and

projecting the transformed (x, y, z) position vector from the camera location into a view plane normal to the camera and through the center of rotation of the visual display;

calculating an average pixel gray values (R, G, B) for the pixels in each point of interest; and

converting the (R, G, B) values to tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) using a color calibration matrix; and

creating a view angle performance radar-plot at one or more of the user-selected points of interest.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein creating a view angle performance radar-plot comprises creating a radar-plot having brightness, color, and/or uniformity characterizations of the visual display as a function of view angle at all display locations.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein creating a view angle performance radar-plot comprises creating a radar-plot having brightness, color, and/or uniformity characterizations of each point on the visual display without approximation.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein storing a list of user-selected points of interest comprises storing a list of generally arcuate points of interest having a defined radius.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein acquiring images of the visual display at multiple view angles comprises (a) selecting a desired step size, and (b) stepping the visual display about both a horizontal axis and a vertical axis and capturing image measurements of the visual display at the individual step locations.

11. One or more computer memories collectively containing a data structure representing spatial and angular performance of a flat panel visual display, the data structure comprising a plurality of image measurements of the visual display at a plurality of different view angles, a list of user-selected points of interest on the visual display, tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) for each of the user-selected points of interest at each of the view angles calculated, at least in part, using image data from the plurality of image measurements of the visual display at the different view angles, interpolated tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) for each of the user-selected points of interest to correct for camera angle to the respective points of interest,

wherein calculating tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) for the individual user-selected point of interests at each of the view angles comprises

calculating a location, a size, and a shape of each user-selected point of interest for the individual image measurements at each view angle, wherein calculating a location, a size, and a shape of each point of interest comprises

calculating a rotation matrix to transform each point of interest from a first coordinate in a first initial position to a second coordinate in a second location after the visual display has rotated to a different view angle, and

determining the pixels enclosed by each point of interest at each view angle in the first position and, for each pixel

determining a (x, y, z) position vector relative to a center of rotation of the visual display,

transforming the (x, y, z) position vector of each pixel using the rotation matrix, and

projecting the transformed (x, y, z) position vector from the camera location into a view plane normal to the camera and through the center of rotation of the visual display,

calculating an average pixel gray values (R, G, B) for the pixels in each point of interest, and

converting the (R, G, B) values to tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) using a color calibration matrix.

12. A method for measuring spatial and angular performance of a flat panel visual display, the method comprising:

capturing a plurality of image measurements from a visual display at a plurality of different view angles, wherein the visual display is supported by a goniometer and the image measurements are captured by a camera positioned relative to the visual display and goniometer;

selecting one or more points of interest on the visual display;

calculating tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) for each point of interest at each of the plurality of view angles, wherein calculating tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) for each point of interest comprises

calculating a location, a size, and a shape of each point of interest for the individual image measurements at each view angle, wherein calculating the location, the size, and the shape of each point comprises

calculating a rotation matrix to transform each point of interest from a first coordinate in a first initial position to a second coordinate in a second location after the visual display has rotated to a different view angle; and

determining the pixels enclosed by each point of interest at each view angle in the first position and, for each pixel

determining a (x, y, z) position vector relative to a center of the goniometer rotation;

transforming the (x, y, z) position vector of each pixel using the rotation matrix; and

projecting the transformed (x, y, z) position vector from the camera location into a view plane normal to the camera and through the center of the goniometer rotation;

calculating the average pixel gray values (R, G, B) for the pixels in each point of interest; and

converting the (R, G, B) values to tristimulus values (X, Y, Z) using a color calibration matrix; and

generating a view angle performance plot for the one or more selected points of interest.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein selecting one or more points of interest on the visual display comprises selecting one or more generally arcuate points of interest having a defined radius.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein generating a view angle performance plot for the one or more selected points of interest comprises generating view angle performance radar-plots at a measurement distance or at normal.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein generating a view angle performance plot for the one or more selected points of interest comprises interpolating the (X, Y, Z) values for the one or more points of interest at each of the plurality of view angles.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein generating a view angle performance plot for the one or more selected points of interest comprises generating a view angle performance radar-plot of spatial uniformity as a function of view angle for the visual display.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein generating a view angle performance plot for the one or more selected points of interest comprises:

(a) generating a two-dimensional grid of test values for the individual (X, Y, Z) values;

(b) interpolating the grid of test values from a first step size to a second smaller step size;

(c) interpolating the grid of test values from step (b) to correct for camera angle such that view angle performance for the individual points of interest will be relative to a direction normal to the visual display; and

(c) plotting the grid of test values from step (c) in a radar-plot to present brightness and/or color data for the one or more points of interest.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein capturing a plurality of image measurements from a visual display comprises capturing the image measurements using an imaging photometer, and wherein the method further comprises:

aligning the imaging photometer and the visual display relative to each other before capturing the image measurements.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein aligning the imaging photometer and the visual display relative to each other comprises:

directing the imaging photometer at a center of the goniometer rotation;

aligning the visual display normal to the imaging photometer; and

recording the distance from the imaging photometer to the center of the goniometer rotation, the distance from the visual display surface to the center of the goniometer rotation, and the size of the visual display.