JP2006145944A - Image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing system that can easily and clearly obtain a super-high resolution image in which no deterioration in image quality is generated at a central boundary portion. <P>SOLUTION: The image processing system has a transmitting section 2 which divides a super-high definition image having a transmission amount, that exceeds a transmission possible amount by a transmission path, into a plurality of portions within the range that does not exceed the transmission possible amount and transmits the plurality of divided images through a plurality of transmission paths; and a receiving section 3 which receives the plurality of the divided images transmitted from the transmitting section 2 and obtains the super-high definition image by combining the plurality of the divided images. The transmitting section 2 has a trimming means 4 which obtains a first divided image by trimming the central section of the super-high definition image with the amount of the image that does not exceed the transmission possible amount of a transmission path 1 and a making-low-resolution means 5 which makes an image lower resolution so that a second divided image, that is residue being obtained by deleting the first divided image from the super-high definition image, to have the same image amount of the first divided image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system that satisfactorily transmits an ultra-high resolution image that far exceeds the resolution of an HDTV image (high vision).

A conventional image processing system will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional image processing system.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of a light receiving element that divides and outputs an ultra-high resolution image into four HDTV images.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional image processing system captures an optically continuous subject light image (hereinafter abbreviated as a subject light image), which is an ultra-high resolution image, and converts it into an electrical signal. An image pickup device 33 that divides and outputs HDTV image signals, a transmission line 34 that transmits four HDTV image signals output from the image pickup device 33 using four transmission cables, and a transmission line 34 that transmits the HDTV image signals. The display device 35 receives four HDTV image signals, converts the received four HDTV image signals into projection images having the same arrangement as the subject light image, and projects and displays them on a screen.

The imaging device 33 includes a lens 20 that forms a subject light image on the imaging unit 21 and a light receiving element that forms a subject light image, divides the light into four pieces, and converts the light into electrical signals. An imaging unit 21 that obtains an electrical signal, converts it into four HDTV image signals, and outputs it, and a viewer 22 that receives and displays one HDTV image signal.
FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a light receiving element used in the imaging unit 21. This light receiving element receives the subject light image formed by the lens 20 by the light receiving parts 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d divided into four parts, and outputs them as electric signals Va, Vb, Vc, and Vd from the respective light receiving parts. To do. In the figure, a vertical driving unit 201 and a horizontal driving unit 203 supply scanning signals for an image 200a, and similarly, a vertical driving unit 201 and a horizontal driving unit 24 supply scanning signals for an image 200b. The driving unit 202 and the horizontal driving unit 204 supply scanning signals for the image 200c, and the vertical driving unit 202 and the horizontal driving unit 203 supply scanning signals for the image 200d. Reference numerals 205a, 205b, 205c and 205d denote signal processing units for shaping the waveform of the image signals and obtaining image signals Va, Vb, Vc and Vd to be output to the outside.

  The transmission path 33 includes four transmission cables 1-4 that transmit four HDTV image signals output from the imaging device 21 and a transmission cable 1 that transmits one HDTV image signal to the viewer 22 of the imaging device 21. -5.

  The display device 35 receives four HDTV image signals transmitted via the transmission cable 1-5, and converts the received four HDTV image signals into a projection image signal Vp having the same arrangement as the subject light image. In addition, an image processing unit that generates one HDTV image signal V2 used for adjusting the imaging position, brightness, and the like of the subject optical image by the viewer 22 of the imaging device 21 from the four HDTV image signals. 23, a projection unit 25 that converts the projection image signal Vp into projection light that is projected onto the screen 24, and a screen 24 on which the projection light is projected.

  In the conventional image processing system, a subject light image is picked up by the image pickup device 33, converted into four HDTV image signals, and supplied to the transmission line 34. In the transmission line 34, the four transmission cables 1-4 are used. Each HDTV image is transmitted to the display device 35 one by one, and the display device 35 synthesizes the four HDTV images transmitted from the transmission path 34 to form a projection image having the same arrangement as the subject light image on the screen 24. Project.

In Patent Document 1, when the subject optical image, which is an ultra-high resolution image as described above, is divided and transmitted as four HDTV images, if four HDTV BNC coaxial cables are used, the actual use will be described. At that time, it is heavy and it is difficult to operate the apparatus, and when an image is transmitted at 150 M or more, the image quality is greatly deteriorated, and it is difficult to keep four HDTV images in a uniform and good condition. It is described that the image quality is kept uniform and good in the transmission path by optically modulating and transmitting the HDTV image.
JP 2004-260706 A

However, when an optically continuous image is divided into four HDTV images, the image is divided into the front, back, left, and right in the center, which causes slight image quality non-uniformity at the center boundary. However, when these four HDTV images are synthesized again and displayed as an optically continuous image, there is a problem that a non-uniform portion of vertical and horizontal lines occurs in the central portion.
In particular, when transmitting four HDTV images, maintaining the uniformity of the four image quality in the transmission unit, the transmission path, and the reception unit is a means for optical modulation and optical transmission described in Patent Document 1. Even if it is used, only the image quality of the transmission path is uniform, and image conversion means increases before and after the transmission path, so that there is a problem that image quality degradation further increases.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides an image processing system that can easily and clearly obtain an ultra-high resolution image that does not cause image quality deterioration at a central boundary portion. The purpose is to do.

The present invention divides an ultra-high-definition image exceeding a transmission amount that can be transmitted by a transmission line into a plurality of ranges within a range that does not exceed the transmission amount that can be transmitted, and the divided divided images are divided into a plurality of transmission lines. In an image processing system comprising: a transmission unit that transmits separately; and a reception unit that receives the plurality of divided images transmitted from the transmission unit and then combines the plurality of divided images to obtain the ultra-high definition image. The transmitter includes trimming means for trimming a central portion of the ultra-high-definition image with an image amount in a range not exceeding the transmittable transmission amount of the transmission path to obtain a first divided image, and the ultra-high-definition image A resolution reducing means for reducing the resolution from the remaining second divided image obtained by removing the first divided image from the second divided image so as to have the same image amount as the first divided image;
An image processing system is provided.

  According to the present invention, an ultra-high-definition image that exceeds the transmission amount that can be transmitted through the transmission line is divided into a plurality of pieces within a range that does not exceed the transmission amount that can be transmitted, and the divided divided images are divided into a plurality of transmission lines. In the image processing system including a transmitting unit that transmits and a receiving unit that receives a plurality of divided images transmitted from the transmitting unit and then combines the plurality of divided images to obtain an ultra-high definition image, the transmitting unit includes: Trimming means for trimming the center portion of the ultra-high definition image with an image amount not exceeding the transmittable transmission amount of the transmission path to obtain the first divided image, and removing the first divided image from the ultra-high definition image And a resolution reducing means for reducing the resolution so that the remaining second divided image has the same image amount as that of the first divided image. Can be easily obtained.

An image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
(Constituent elements that are the same as those in the prior art will be given the same reference numerals and explanation thereof will be omitted.)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display arrangement of images to be transmitted.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of an image processing system using an imaging device in a modification of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an outline of the image processing system using the imaging device. (B) is a diagram showing image division in the imaging device, and (C) is a diagram showing image composition in the display device.

As shown in FIG. 1, an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention has a transmission path 1 for transmitting a plurality of HDTV images and a transmission amount capable of transmitting an ultra-high-definition image exceeding the transmission amount that can be transmitted by the transmission path 1. A transmission unit 2 that divides a plurality of divided images within a range that does not exceed, and transmits the divided divided images to a plurality of transmission paths 1, and receives a plurality of divided images transmitted from the transmission unit 2 via the transmission path 1. After that, the receiving unit 3 is configured to synthesize a plurality of divided images to obtain an ultra high definition image.
The transmission unit 2 includes trimming means 4 for trimming the central portion of the ultrahigh-definition image with an image amount that does not exceed the transmission amount that can be transmitted through the transmission line 1 to obtain a first divided image; The lower resolution means 5 for reducing the resolution so that the image amount of the remaining second divided image excluding the first divided image is the same as that of the first divided image, and the high resolution extraction range setting for setting the trimming range Unit 6, resolution conversion rate calculation unit 7 that calculates the resolution conversion rate used for resolution reduction unit 5, and transmission unit 8 that outputs the first divided image and the second divided image to transmission path 2. .
The receiving unit 3 receives a first divided image and a second divided image from the transmission path 2, and receives a first divided image and a second divided image from the receiving unit 9. An image composition unit 10 that composes a fine image, an image display unit 11 that displays a single ultra-high-definition image synthesized from the image composition unit 10 on a screen or the like, and a high resolution while viewing the image displayed on the screen or the like A high-resolution image extraction range instructing unit 12 for instructing an image range.

The first divided image is obtained by setting the range setting data Pdata set while viewing the image displayed on the screen (not shown) by the high resolution image extraction range instruction unit 12 of the reception unit 3 to the high resolution extraction range of the transmission unit 2. A horizontal direction address Had and a vertical direction address Vad as a high resolution extraction range are generated and sent to the trimming means 4 and sent to the trimming means 4. The image area is trimmed to obtain the first divided image VH0, which is sent to the transmission means 4.
In the first divided image, the display range is trimmed as shown in (1) of FIG. 2A, and the number of horizontal pixels Hn and the number of vertical pixels Vn as shown in (2) of FIG. Set to the image. In the case of an HDTV image, the number of pixels is Hn = 1920 and Vn = 1080.

Next, the second divided image is obtained by reducing the first divided image VH0 from the input image V0, and the high resolution extraction range setting unit 6 sets the ratio Phw between all the pixels of the input image V0 and the range setting data Pdata. The horizontal direction address Hcut and the vertical direction address Vcut are calculated so as to be input to the resolution conversion rate calculation unit 7 and obtain approximately the same number of pixels as the first divided image. The second divided image VL0 having a pixel arrangement state equivalent to that of the first divided image VH0 is generated by thinning out the images obtained by reducing the divided images VH0, and then sent to the transmission unit 4.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the second divided image VL0 is first shown in (1) of FIG. 2B by the horizontal address Hcut and the vertical address Vcut. An image obtained by reducing the first divided image VH0 from the input image V0 at such an address is read out and arranged with intervals as shown in (2) of FIG. 2B, so that (3) in FIG. As a result, a second divided image VL0 having substantially the same number of pixels as the first divided image VH0 is obtained.

  Since the first divided image VH0 and the second divided image VL0 obtained in this way can be handled as HDTV images having substantially the same number of pixels, the transmission means 8 converts them into transmission signals VH1 and VL1. Then, the two HDTV images are transmitted to the transmission line 1 for transmission. In the transmission path 1, the signals VH 1 and VL 1 transmitted from the transmission unit 8 are further transmitted to the receiver 3 using two transmission cables for HDTV image transmission.

  Therefore, in the transmission path 1, the number of image transmission means such as a transmission cable for HDTV image transmission, which conventionally required four systems, can be reduced to two.

In the reception unit 3, the signals VH 1 and VL 1 transmitted from the transmission unit 8 are received by the reception unit 9, reproduced as the first divided image VH 2 and the second divided image VL 2, and input to the image composition unit 10.
The image composition unit 10 enlarges and smoothes the second divided image VL2 to an image in the same range as the subject optical image based on the enlargement ratio CTL calculated from the image extraction range of the high-resolution image extraction range instruction unit 12. I do. Then, the first divided image VH2 and the enlarged and smoothed second divided image VL2 are combined to obtain an ultra-high definition image Vp. Next, this super high definition image Vp is added to the image display unit 11 and projected and displayed on a screen (not shown).

  In this way, an ultra-high-definition image is divided into a high-resolution image and a low-resolution image and transmitted using two transmission cables for HDTV image transmission. The central portion can hold a clear image that does not deteriorate image quality by any of image processing of image division, transmission, and synthesis.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the image displayed by synthesizing the high-resolution image and the low-resolution image on the screen of the image display unit is the image of the central portion that the audience who observes this image pays attention to. The high-resolution image in the range has no image quality deterioration, so it feels clear with high image quality, and from the image range of the low-resolution image that the audience is not paying attention to, it feels a large screen as a whole. It can be recognized as a fine image.
In particular, the conventional image processing by four divisions has vertical lines and horizontal lines in the center portion, and the image quality is significantly reduced. However, the image processing in the center portion to which the audience pays attention by the two-division image processing in the embodiment of the present invention. The image quality of the range can be made high.

Next, a modification of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3A, a modification in the embodiment of the present invention is an image processing system using an imaging device, and captures a subject light image (hereinafter abbreviated as a subject light image) that is an ultra-high-definition image. Then, after converting this into an electrical signal, the imaging device 19 that generates and outputs a first divided image that is a high-resolution image and a second divided image that is a low-resolution image, and the first divided image and the first divided image After receiving the transmission line 1 for transmitting the two divided images and the first divided image and the second divided image transmitted via the transmission line 1, a plurality of divided images are combined to obtain an ultra-high definition image. The receiving unit 3.

The imaging device 19 includes a lens 14 that forms a subject light image on the light receiving element 17 and a transmission amount that can transmit an ultra-high-definition image that exceeds the transmission amount that the transmission path 1 can transmit, similar to the transmission unit 2 of FIG. The image capturing unit 15 is divided into a plurality of divided images within a range that does not exceed, and the divided divided images are transmitted to the plurality of transmission paths 1 and the viewer 16 that displays the captured images.
The imaging unit 15 receives a subject light image, converts it into a first divided image that is a high-resolution image and a second divided image that is a low-resolution image, and outputs the light-receiving element 17, and the high-resolution image shown in FIG. Address generation that combines the functions of the extraction range setting unit 6 and the resolution conversion rate calculation unit 7 to generate addresses Had and Vad for the first divided image and addresses Hcut and Vcut for the second divided image and send them to the light receiving element 17 And a transmission unit 8 that outputs the first divided image and the second divided image to the transmission path 2.
The transmission path 1 and the receiving unit 3 are the same as those shown in FIG.

Then, a subject light image is formed on the light receiving element 17 by the lens 14 as an ultra-high resolution image V0,
From the light receiving element 17, the optical image of the ultra-high resolution image V0 is converted as a first divided image VH by trimming the central portion as it is with addresses Had and Vad as shown in FIG. Then, the entire image of the subject optical image from which the first divided image VH has been deleted is read out by thinning out the pixels of the light receiving element 17 as shown in (1) of FIG. 2B by the addresses Hcut and Vcut. As shown in 3 (B), the second divided image VL has substantially the same number of pixels as the first divided image VH.

In this way, by using a light receiving element that can convert a high-resolution image with no missing pixels at the center and a low-resolution image obtained by thinning out the peripheral pixels into an image with almost the same number of pixels, trimming an ultra-high-definition image Can be done easily.
Effects similar to those of the embodiment can be obtained by the modification of the embodiment of the present invention.

It is a figure which shows the image processing system in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the display arrangement | sequence of the image transmitted. It is a figure which shows the specific Example of the image processing system using the imaging device in the modification of embodiment of this invention, (A) is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the image processing system using an imaging device, B is a diagram illustrating image division in the imaging device, and (C) is a diagram illustrating image composition in the display device. It is a figure which shows the image processing system using the conventional imaging device. It is a figure which shows the structure of the light receiving element used for the conventional image processing system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Transmission path, 2 ... Transmission part, 3 ... Reception part, 4 ... Trimming means, 5 ... Low resolution means, 6 ... High resolution image extraction range setting part, 7 ... Resolution conversion rate calculation unit, 8 ... Transmission means, 9 ... Reception means, 10 ... Image composition unit, 11 ... Image display unit, 12 ... High-resolution image extraction range instruction unit , 13 ... screen, 14 ... lens, 15 ... imaging unit, 16 ... viewer, 17 ... light receiving element, 18 ... address generation unit, 19 ... imaging device

Claims (1)

An ultra-high-definition image that exceeds a transmission amount that can be transmitted by a transmission path is divided into a plurality of pieces within a range that does not exceed the transmission amount that can be transmitted, and the divided divided images are divided into a plurality of transmission paths and transmitted. In an image processing system comprising: a transmission unit; and a reception unit that receives the plurality of divided images transmitted from the transmission unit and then combines the plurality of divided images to obtain the ultra-high definition image.
The transmitter is a trimming unit that trims the central portion of the ultra-high-definition image with an image amount in a range not exceeding the transmittable transmission amount of the transmission path to obtain a first divided image;
A resolution reducing means for reducing the resolution from the remaining second divided image obtained by removing the first divided image from the ultra-high-definition image so as to have the same image amount as the first divided image;
An image processing system comprising:

Images