Image processing method and apparatus for autostereoscopic three-dimensional display

1. A three-dimensional (3D) image providing method comprising:

detecting an eye location of a viewer, the eye location comprising a location of a right eye of the viewer and a location of a left eye of the viewer; and

providing a 3D image based on the detected eye location,

wherein the providing of the 3D image comprises:

determining an image pixel value corresponding to a display pixel included in a display panel;

determining a luminance weight corresponding to the display pixel based on a ray direction of a ray output from the display pixel and the detected eye location;

applying the determined luminance weight to the image pixel value corresponding to the display pixel; and

outputting, through the display pixel, the image pixel value with the determined luminance weight applied thereto,

wherein the determining of the luminance weight further comprises determining the luminance weight based on at least one of a first reference value corresponding to a distance between a pass-through point of the ray and the location of the left eye of the viewer, or a second reference value corresponding to a distance between the pass-through point of the ray and the location of the right eye of the viewer, and

wherein the pass-through point of the ray is a location where the ray crosses a line passing through the location of the left eye of the viewer and the location of the right eye of the viewer, and the pass-through point of the ray is spaced apart from the left eye of the viewer and the right eye of the viewer.

2. The 3D image providing method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the luminance weight comprises determining a predefined luminance weight among a plurality of predefined luminance weights to be the luminance weight, based on the at least one of the first reference value or the second reference value.

3. The 3D image providing method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the luminance weight comprises based on the first reference value being included in a first reference value range that is based on the location of the left eye or the second reference value being included in a second reference value range that is based on the location of the right eye, determining a first luminance weight to be the luminance weight corresponding to the display pixel.

4. The 3D image providing method of claim 3 , wherein the determining of the luminance weight comprises based on the first reference value being outside of the first reference value range and the second reference value being outside of the second reference value range, determining a second luminance weight to be the luminance weight corresponding to the display pixel, and

wherein the first luminance weight is greater than the second luminance weight.

5. The 3D image providing method of claim 3 , wherein a magnitude of the first reference value range is equal to a magnitude of the second reference value range.

6. The 3D image providing method of claim 1 , wherein the first reference value corresponds to a difference between the ray direction and a direction of a line from the display pixel towards the location of the left eye, and

the second reference value corresponds to a difference between the ray direction and a direction of a line from the display pixel towards the location of the right eye.

7. The 3D image providing method of claim 6 , wherein the first reference value is determined based on an angle between the ray direction and the direction of the line from the display pixel towards the location of the left eye, or the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the left eye, and

the second reference value is determined based on an angle between the ray direction and the direction of the line from the display pixel towards the location of the right eye, or the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the right eye.

8. The 3D image providing method of claim 1 , wherein a luminance of the image pixel value to be output through the display pixel is adjusted based on the luminance weight to be applied to the image pixel value.

9. The 3D image providing method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the image pixel value comprises allocating, to the display pixel, an image pixel value of one of a left-view image and a right-view image, based on the detected eye location.

10. The 3D image providing method of claim 9 , wherein the determining of the image pixel value further comprises:

adjusting a left luminance range of image pixels of the left-view image and a right luminance range of image pixels of the right-view image, based on a predefined luminance scaling value; and

adjusting a luminance value of each of the image pixels of the left-view image with the adjusted left luminance range and a luminance value of each of the image pixels of the right-view image with the adjusted right luminance range, based on a predefined crosstalk correction value.

11. The 3D image providing method of claim 10 , wherein the determining of the image pixel value further comprises:

based on the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and a location of the left eye of the viewer being smaller than the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and a location of the right eye of the viewer, allocating the image pixel value of the left-view image with the adjusted left luminance value to the display pixel; and

based on the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the right eye being smaller than the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the left eye, allocating the image pixel value of the right-view image with the adjusted right luminance value to the display pixel.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the 3D image providing method of claim 1 .

13. A three-dimensional (3D) image providing apparatus comprising:

an eye location detector configured to detect an eye location of a viewer, the eye location comprising a location of a right eye of the viewer and a location of a left eye of the viewer;

a processor configured to generate a panel image based on the detected eye location; and

a display panel configured to output a 3D image based on the generated panel image,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a luminance weight corresponding to a display pixel of the display panel based on a ray direction of a ray output from the display pixel and the detected eye location;

apply the determined luminance weight to an image pixel value corresponding to the display pixel; and

generate the panel image based on the image pixel value with the luminance weight applied thereto,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine the luminance weight based on at least one of a first reference value corresponding to a distance between a pass-through point of the ray and the location of the left eye of the viewer, or a second reference value corresponding to a distance between the pass-through point of the ray and the location of the right eye of the viewer, and

wherein the pass-through point of the ray is a location where the ray crosses a line passing through the location of the left eye of the viewer and the location of the right eye of the viewer, and the pass-through point of the ray is spaced apart from the left eye of the viewer and the right eye of the viewer.

14. The 3D image providing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine a predefined luminance weight among a plurality of predefined luminance weights to be the luminance weight corresponding to the display pixel, based on at least one of the first reference value or the second reference value.

15. The 3D image providing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a left luminance range of image pixels of a left-view image and a right luminance range of image pixels of a right-view image, based on a predefined luminance scaling value, and

adjust a luminance value of each of the image pixels of the left-view image based on the adjusted left luminance range and a luminance value of each of the image pixels of the right-view image based on the adjusted right luminance range, based on a predefined crosstalk correction value.

16. The 3D image providing apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to allocate an image pixel value of the left-view image with the adjusted left luminance value to the display pixel, based on the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the left eye of the viewer being smaller than the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the right eye of the viewer, and

allocate an image pixel value of the right-view image with the adjusted right luminance value to the display pixel, based on the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the right eye being smaller than the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the location of the left eye.

17. The 3D image providing apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the display panel comprises a parallax barrier or a lenticular lens.

18. A three-dimensional (3D) image providing method comprising:

detecting a right eye location and a left eye location of a viewer; and

providing a 3D image based on the detected right eye location and the detected left eye location,

wherein the providing of the 3D image comprises:

determining an image pixel value corresponding to a display pixel included in a display panel by allocating an image pixel value of one of a left-view image and a right-view image to the display pixel, based on the detected right eye location and the detected left eye location;

adjusting a left luminance range of image pixels of the left-view image and a right luminance range of image pixels of the right-view image, based on a predefined luminance scaling value; and

adjusting a luminance value of each of the image pixels of the left-view image with the adjusted left luminance range and a luminance value of each of the image pixels of the right-view image with the adjusted right luminance range, based on a predefined crosstalk correction value;

determining a luminance weight corresponding to the display pixel based on a ray direction of a ray output from the display pixel and the detected right eye location and the detected left eye location;

applying the determined luminance weight to the image pixel value corresponding to the display pixel; and

outputting, through the display pixel, the image pixel value with the determined luminance weight applied,

wherein the determining of the luminance weight further comprises determining the luminance weight based on at least one of a first reference value corresponding to a distance between a pass-through point of the ray and the detected left eye location of the viewer, or a second reference value corresponding to a distance between the pass-through point of the ray and the detected right eye location of the viewer, and

wherein the pass-through point of the ray is a location where the ray crosses a line passing through the detected left eye location of the viewer and the detected right eye location of the viewer, and the pass-through point of the ray is spaced apart from the detected left eye location of the viewer and the detected right eye location of the viewer.

19. The 3D image providing method of claim 18 , wherein the determining of the image pixel value further comprises:

based on the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the detected left eye location being smaller than the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the detected right eye location, allocating the image pixel value of the left-view image with the adjusted left luminance value to the display pixel; and

based on the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the detected right eye location being smaller than the distance between the pass-through point of the ray direction and the detected left eye location, allocating the image pixel value of the right-view image with the adjusted right luminance value to the display pixel.