Method and apparatus for generating enhanced 3d-effects for real-time and offline appplications

Abstract

A method for adjusting and generating enhanced 3D-effects for 2D to 3D image and video conversion applications includes controlling a depth location of a zero parallax plane within a depth field of an image scene to adjust parallax of objects in the image scene, controlling a depth volume of objects in the image scene to one of either exaggerate or reduce 3D-effect of the image scene, controlling a depth location of a segmentation plane within the depth field of the image scene, dividing the objects in the image scene into a foreground group and a background group, selectively increasing or decreasing depth volume of objects in the foreground group, selectively increasing or decreasing depth separation of objects in the foreground group relative to the objects in the background group, and generating an updated depth map file for a 2D-image.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for adjusting and generating enhanced 3D-effects for real time and offline 2D to 3D image and video conversion applications consisting of:
 controlling a depth location of a zero parallax plane within a depth field of an image scene to adjust parallax of objects in the image scene;   controlling a depth volume of objects in the image scene to one of either exaggerate or reduce 3D-effect of the image scene;   controlling a depth location of a segmentation plane within the depth field of the image scene, dividing the objects in the image scene into a foreground group and a background group based on a location of the objects relative to the segmentation plane;   selectively increasing or decreasing depth volume of objects in the foreground group;   selectively increasing or decreasing depth separation of objects in the foreground group relative to the objects in the background group; and   generating an updated depth map file for a 2D-image based upon the controlling, and increasing and decreasing.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising rendering an enhanced 3D-image using the updated depth map. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises a software application running on a computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the computing device comprises one of a server computer, personal computer, tablet computer or smart-phone, graphics processor unit. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a 2D-still image or a streaming 2D-video from a network with an associated depth map. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising reading a 2D-still image or a 2D-video from a file stored on a local or remote storage device with the associated depth map image. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating a depth map for each 2D-still image or a sequence of depth maps for each frame in a 2D-video. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising reading meta-instructions for depth map enhancement for the 2D-image or video from a file stored on a local or remote storage device. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising enabling a user to enhance the depth map through one of a set of graphical user interfaces (GUI), command line instructions, and custom input devices. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein rendering a 3D image comprises one of rendering an anaglyph, stereo-3D or auto-stereo 3D using the enhanced depth map. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising one of displaying generated 3D image or video on and attached 3D display in real time, and storing the 3D image on local or remote storage device(s) for offline viewing. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the generated enhanced depth map as grey scale images on a storage device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing user modifications of the depth map as a sequence of instructions associated with each image in a control file using a pre-defined syntax. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is executed by a dedicated hardware device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is executed by hardware contained in a stand-alone converter box. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is implemented as one of a circuit board, a daughter card or any other plug-in card or module.