AR display with adjustable stereo overlap zone

• US 10,147,235 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2015
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Bell, Cynthia S., Steedly, Drew, Poon, Yarn Chee, Pehserl, Joachim
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US14/964,996
• Publication Number:
  US 20170171538A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: 345 8, 345471, 345619, 345690, 348 36, 348559, 348 E5137, 349113, 715732
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 with head-mounted left-right displays

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for use in a virtual reality environment including a head mounted display device and a processing unit. In examples, the processing unit adjusts an amount by which left and right displayed images overlap each other at a given distance, such as the focal distance, from the head mounted display device.

Claims

1. A system for controlling an amount of overlap of displayed left and right images, the displayed left and right images presenting a virtual environment, comprising:

a head mounted display device including one or more displays for displaying the left and right images; and

a processing unit operatively coupled to the display device, the processing unit configured to;

generate a scene map based at least on data collected by an inertial measurement unit including at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a magnetometer;

determine, based at least on the scene map, at least one of a horizontal distance or a vertical distance between the displayed left and right images; and

shift at least one of a horizontal position or a vertical position of each of the displayed left and right images to alter at least one of a horizontal and vertical overlap of the displayed left and right images at a predefined distance from the head mounted display device, wherein the displayed left and right images are shifted by at least one of one half of the horizontal distance or one half of the vertical distance.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to shift the left and right displayed images to overlap each other at the predefined distance.

3. The system of claim 1, the left displayed image being part of an overall field of native pixels, the overall field of native pixels including a border of pixels around the left displayed image and unused by the displayed image prior to the left image being shifted.

4. The system of claim 3, the processing unit is further configured to shift the left image into the border of pixels around the left displayed image.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the predefined distance is a focal distance at which the left and right displayed images are focused.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising left and right optical lens assemblies through which light from the left and right images passes, at least one lens within at least one of the left and right optical lens assembly defining a focal distance at which at least one of the left and right displayed images are focused.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the predefined distance is the focal distance.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the predefined distance changes with different software applications run by the processing unit, wherein the amount by which the left image is shifted and the amount by which the right image is shifted changes with a change in the predefined distance.

9. A method of displaying left and right images in a system displaying virtual images, the system comprising at least one display for displaying the left and right images and left and right optical lens assemblies through which the left and right images are displayed, method comprising:

determining a focal distance at which the left and right optical assemblies focus the left and right images;

generating a scene map based at least on data collected by an inertial measurement unit including at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a magnetometer;

determining, based at least on the scene map, an overlap of the left and right images at the focal distance; and

horizontally or vertically shifting the left and right images displayed by the at least one display to align horizontally or vertically with each other at the focal distance, wherein the displayed left and right images are shifted by at least one of one half of a horizontal distance or one half of a vertical distance between the left and right images.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising vertically shifting the left and right images displayed by the at least one display to align vertically with each other at the focal distance.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a border of pixels around active pixels used to display the left image, the left image horizontally shifting into the border of pixels.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the focal distance, determining the overlap, and horizontally or vertically shifting the left and right images are performed at a time when the at least one display and the left and right optical lens assemblies are assembled together.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein horizontally or vertically shifting the left and right images is performed at a time when the left and right images are rendered during use of the system displaying virtual images.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising varying the focal distance after a time when the at least one display and the left and right optical lens assemblies have been assembled together.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein horizontally or vertically shifting the left and right images is performed by a mechanical actuator shifting the at least one display.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein horizontally or vertically shifting the left and right images is performed by a software algorithm executed by a processor associated with the at least one display.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein shifting the first image comprises shifting the first image to completely overlap with the second image, the second image shifted in an equal and opposite direction, in the event there are enough pixels in the border to completely shift the first image.

18. A computer readable storage medium for controlling a processor to perform a method of displaying left and right images in a system displaying virtual images, method comprising:

configuring first and second displays to display first and second images, the first and second image creating a 3D stereopsis effect when viewed by left and right eyes, the first display having an overall field of native pixels that is larger than the first image so that a border of pixels exists at least one edge of active pixels used to display the first image, the border of pixels not used to display the first image;

generating a scene map based at least on data collected by an inertial measurement unit including at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a magnetometer;

determining, based at least on the scene map, a distance at which to shift the first and second images to greater overlap each other;

determining an overlap of the first and second images at the distance; and

shifting the first image into the border of pixels to overlap to a greater degree with the second image at the distance, wherein the displayed left and right images are shifted by at least one of one half of a horizontal distance or one half of a vertical distance between the left and right images.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein determining the distance comprises setting a focal distance, the focal distance being the distance at which the first and second images are shifted to overlap each other.