DETECTING DEVICE, DISPLAY DEVICE, AND OBJECT PROXIMITY DISTANCE MEASURING METHOD

1 . A detecting device comprising:

an optical sensor array having light reception anisotropy;

a detection driving section configured to drive said optical sensor array, pick up an image of a detected object, and generate a plurality of different detection images on a basis of said light reception anisotropy; and

a height detecting section configured to receive said plurality of detection images input to the height detecting section, and detect a distance from a sensor light receiving surface of said optical sensor array to said detected object on a basis of magnitude of a positional displacement occurring due to difference in said light reception anisotropy in image parts corresponding to one of a shadow and a reflection of said detected object, the image parts being included in the plurality of input detection images.

2 . The detecting device according to claim 1 , further comprising

a light reception anisotropy imparting section configured to impart different light reception anisotropies within a set of a plurality of optical sensors adjacent to each other in said optical sensor array, the light reception anisotropy imparting section being disposed on a side of said optical sensor array on which side said detected object approaches.

3 . The detecting device according to claim 2 , wherein

said optical sensor array is formed by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of optical sensors to which said light reception anisotropy is imparted by producing wavelength dependence in amounts of received light incident from different directions when the light transmitted by said light reception anisotropy imparting section is received, and

said detection driving section irradiates said detected object with a plurality of pieces of light respectively having different wavelength ranges from each other on a time division basis, performs a plurality of times of image pickup by the light in the different wavelength ranges by controlling each light reception time when reflected light reflected and returned by said detected object is received by said plurality of optical sensors after being transmitted by said light reception anisotropy imparting section in synchronism with the irradiation with said plurality of pieces of light on a time division basis, and generates said plurality of detection images by the plurality of times of image pickup.

4 . The detecting device according to claim 3 , wherein

a part opposed to a light receiving surface of one of said optical sensors in said light reception anisotropy imparting section has a light shielding section and a pair of wavelength selecting filter sections configured to transmit different wavelength ranges on both sides in one direction of the light shielding section, and light reception anisotropy is imparted to said optical sensor by imparting wavelength selectivity to light incident obliquely from one side in said one direction and light incident obliquely from another side in said one direction.

5 . The detecting device according to claim 2 , wherein

said light reception anisotropy imparting section is a light shielding filter having a pattern for each optical sensor, the pattern shielding a part or a whole of each sensor light receiving surface of said plurality of optical sensors adjacent to each other from light on a side on which said detected object approaches, at least one of an arrangement and a shape of the pattern being different for said plurality of optical sensors,

a plurality of optical sensor arrangements in which said light reception anisotropy differs according to difference in degree of light shielding exerted by said pattern of said light shielding filter are defined in said optical sensor array, and

said detection driving section drives said optical sensor array, and generates said plurality of detection images different from each other from said plurality of optical sensor arrangements.

6 . The detecting device according to claim 2 , further comprising

a light irradiating section, wherein

said light reception anisotropy imparting section is a lens array disposed on a light incidence side of said optical sensor array,

a plurality of optical sensor arrangements in which said light reception anisotropy differs are defined in said optical sensor array by arranging said plurality of optical sensors for one lens of said lens array such that optical sensors mainly receiving reflected light reflected by said detected object according to an angle of incidence when said light irradiating section applies light having components in different directions are different within said set, and

said detection driving section drives said optical sensor array, and generates said plurality of detection images different from each other from said plurality of optical sensor arrangements.

7 . The detecting device according to claim 1 , wherein

said height detecting section identifies said image part corresponding to said detected object in each of said plurality of detection images, determines a peak position of an amount of received light of the identified image part in each of said plurality of detection images, and determines said height by operation from a difference between the peak positions of said amounts of received light in said plurality of detection images.

8 . The detecting device according to claim 1 , wherein

said height detecting section binarizes each sensor output included in each of said plurality of detection images according to magnitude relation to a threshold value, identifies the image parts corresponding to said detected object from resulting binarized information, calculates respective barycentric positions of the image parts, and determines said height by operation from a difference between the obtained barycentric positions.

9 . A display device comprising:

a light modulating section configured to modulate incident light according to an input video signal, and output a generated display image;

a display surface for displaying said display image from said light modulating section;

an optical sensor array having light reception anisotropy;

a detection driving section configured to drive said optical sensor array, pick up an image of a detected object in contact with or in proximity to said display surface, and generate a plurality of different detection images on a basis of said light reception anisotropy; and

a height detecting section configured to receive said plurality of detection images input to the height detecting section, and detect a distance from a sensor light receiving surface of said optical sensor array to said detected object on a basis of magnitude of a positional displacement occurring due to difference in said light reception anisotropy in image parts corresponding to one of a shadow and a reflection of said detected object, the image parts being included in the plurality of input detection images.

10 . The display device according to claim 9 , wherein

said detection driving section generates said plurality of detection images by image pickup of said detected object in a period in which said light modulating section is not outputting said display image.

11 . The display device according to claim 9 , wherein

said detection driving section generates said plurality of detection images by image pickup of said detected object by irradiating said detected object with invisible light different from visible light modulated by said light modulating section.

12 . The display device according to claim 9 , wherein

said light modulating section is disposed between said optical sensor array and said display surface,

a color filter for limiting a wavelength range of transmitted light in each part opposed to said optical sensor in said light modulating section is disposed between said light modulating section and said display surface, and

a light shielding section of said color filter is disposed so as to be opposed to a light receiving surface of the optical sensor, and said light reception anisotropy is imparted to said optical sensor array by making a wavelength range of light transmitted by a color filter part adjacent to the light shielding section different for each optical sensor in at least one direction within a sensor arrangement plane.

13 . The display device according to claim 11 , wherein

said detection driving section irradiates said detected object with a plurality of pieces of light respectively having different wavelength ranges from each other on a time division basis, performs a plurality of times of image pickup by the light in the different wavelength ranges by controlling each light reception time when reflected light reflected and returned by said detected object is received by said plurality of optical sensors after being transmitted by said color filter in synchronism with the irradiation with said plurality of pieces of light on a time division basis, and generates said plurality of detection images by the plurality of times of image pickup.

14 . An object proximity distance measuring method comprising:

driving an optical sensor array having light reception anisotropy, picking up an image of a detected object, and generating a plurality of different detection images on a basis of said light reception anisotropy; and

receiving said plurality of input detection images, and measuring a distance from a sensor light receiving surface of said optical sensor array to said detected object on a basis of magnitude of a positional displacement occurring due to difference in said light reception anisotropy in image parts corresponding to one of a shadow and a reflection of said detected object, the image parts being included in the plurality of input detection images.

15 . An object proximity distance measuring method comprising:

picking up an image of a detected object a plurality of times by a combination of optical sensors corresponding to different light reception anisotropies from a plurality of optical sensors within an optical sensor array having the light reception anisotropies; and

receiving a plurality of input detection images obtained by said plurality of times of image pickup, and measuring a distance from a sensor light receiving surface of the optical sensor array to said detected object on a basis of magnitude of a positional displacement occurring due to difference in said light reception anisotropies in image parts corresponding to one of a shadow and a reflection of said detected object, the image parts being included in the plurality of input detection images.

16 . The object proximity distance measuring method according to claim 15 , wherein

each of the plurality of optical sensors within said optical sensor array is an optical sensor provided with said light reception anisotropy by imparting wavelength dependence to amounts of received light incident from different directions, and

in the step of picking up an image of said detected object, said detected object is irradiated with a plurality of pieces of light having respective wavelength ranges different from each other on a time division basis, and light reception times of said plurality of optical sensors are controlled on a time division basis in synchronism with the irradiation with said plurality of pieces of light such that reflected light reflected and returned when said detected object is irradiated with light in a corresponding wavelength range can be received by an optical sensor having a corresponding light reception sensitivity peak.