1. Global Impact/Potential
3D visual experience has always been an attractive feature to have in many consumer
electronics devices because it gives a fresh and stunning sensation to everyone's lifestyle.
The current display manufacturing technology is well capable to mass produce 3D glasses
and glasses-free solutions. However, the content in 3D is rarely available and most 3D
content is unable to provide viewers with quality and comfortable experience. Moreover,
performing 2D-3D conversion manually using specialized editing software or 3D capturing
systems are heavy investments that can only be afforded by the movie industry, leaving the
mass public with lower quality 3D solutions. Therefore, ASTRI’s aim of this product is to
provide the society with a 3D conversion technology that can:
1. Automatically convert any 2D images into natural, realistic and appealing 3D images
with minimal visually uncomfortable artifacts in real-time
2. Easily be integrated into a great variety of consumer electronics designs and
applications (i.e. home entertainment, personal computing, portable electronics and
even digital signage) in a cost-effective manner
2. Market Potential
ASTRI’s Real-time 2D-to-3D Conversion Platform has already made a great impact to the
entertainment business and consumer electronics market. The Platform has been licensed to
a US-based company to produce a standalone 2D-to-3D converter. This converter allows
home user to convert any 2D source, e.g. blu-ray, video game, TV broadcast, etc., to high
quality 3D content.
There are still many parts in the society that can be benefitted from 2D-3D technology, e.g.
education, digital signage and medical imaging.
Currently, there are many industry partners showing interests using ASTRI’s 2D-to-3D
Conversion Platform, they include:
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Movie Director
o 2D-to-3D movie conversion
TV Broadcasting Company
o Real-time 3D conversion from 2D content for live broadcasting on 3D TV
channel
Hospital Surgeon
o 3D display of Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) with “Glasses-free” 3D TV
Medical Imaging Company
o 3D conversion on surgical imaging
DTV Set-top Box Manufacturer
o Integrated digital TV broadcasting solution with 2D-3D conversion
3. Innovative Features and Functionalities
Although 2D-to-3D conversion products made by other companies can be seen in the public
market, the true innovation of ASTRI’s 2D-to-3D conversion technology lies in its
sophisticated image processing algorithm, as a result of extensive scientific research based
on computer vision. The designed algorithm does not merely create artificial binocular
scenery by shifting the image to the left and right but carefully analyze the image
characteristic to mathematically calculate the best possible depth measures and present the
result as natural, realistic and comfortable 3D scenery on a variety of displays.
This Real-time 2D-to-3D Conversion Platform can further motivate creativity in the
application of computer vision. For example, gesture, human face and object recognition are
valuable features in many areas such as security and surveillance, medical, consumer devices
and digital signage. The proposed platform opens the door for continuous computer vision
research based on the solid foundation of depth extraction through single-eye camera.
The innovative features of this Platform are listed below:
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Instant Conversion
o Highly efficient, or cost effective, design to achieve “Real-time” 2D-to-3D
conversion, up to full HD resolution
Natural 3D Effect
o Innovative algorithm to present natural, realistic and comfortable 3D
scenery
o World-class 3D quality, which is superior than World’s major brands
World’s First Technology
o Real-time 2D-to-3D Video Conversion on “Glasses-free” 3D Display
Scalable 3D Perception
o Adjustable inward/outward 3D effects and depth levels
Ease of Use and High Adaptability
o Support wide range of input and output formats
o Configurable platform for multiple product solutions
4. Feasibility of Implementation
The Real-time 2D-3D Conversion Platform has been designed with ease of implementation in
mind. And it has been proven with the production of the stand-alone converter by the US
partner.
ASTRI’s platform can readily be used as a stand-alone and conveniently portable 2D-3D
converter box. The video link for this setting requires only two HDMI cables and a user
friendly remote control.
The video source can be blu-ray or DVD player, media set top box, laptop or personal
computer that is equipped with HDMI video output.
The target display are 3DTV, Lenticular Display, 3D Computer Monitor, 3D Laptop and 3D
projector that are equipped with HDMI. ASTRI’s platform is designed such that is possible
even traditional 2D displays (i.e. TV, Computer Monitor and projectors) can show 3D effects
as well, using output methods such as the Red/Cyan for 2DTV, Frame sequential with LR
alternating frames for 2D, 120Hz Computer Monitor, and 2 individual HDMI outputs to 2 2D
projectors.
The remote control allows user to easily adjust the level of depth or 3D effect to be
displayed on screen to accommodate with different preferences of individuals.
ASTRI’s technology can be licensed to IC Design customer as a form of Silicon IP to be
integrated into an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or 3D Application Processor
or Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).
For System Design customers, ASTRI can deliver the physical ASIC or FPGA to be utilized in
their target electronics system.
Because of the variety of applications to be supported by this platform, many design
considerations were made to deliver the most versatile solution:
Wide Range of Supported Input Video Formats
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High Definition Video (up to 1080p resolution)
Deep color
RGB4:4:4, YCbCr 4:2:2 / 4:4:4
Wide Range of Output 3D Formats
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Anaglyph output (Red/Cyan, Yellow/Blue etc)
L/R side by side with half horizontal resolutions
Frame interleave with half frame rate (L even, R odd etc)
Frame sequential with LR alternating frames
Lenticular display with different number of views
5. Other Information
Media News
ASTRI’s website
http://www.astri.org/main/?contentnamespace=news_room:event:content:20111124ar1
Website of ICT Awards 2012
http://www.hkictawards.hk/news.asp?MenuID=15717&SupMenuID=0&newsid=97242
Website of Best Lifestyle Award
http://bestlifestyle.ictawards.hk/