Information processing apparatus and information processing method

• US 10,559,065 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2016
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Okayama, Takahiro, Kondo, Kazuomi, Fukazawa, Ryo
• Primary Examiner(s): Carter, Aaron W
• Application Number:
  US15/559,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20180096461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,469 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0147 comprising a device modifying the resolution of the displayed image
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/00 Image enhancement or restoration
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/10 Segmentation; Edge detection motion-based segmentation G06T7/215
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/174 Facial expression recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0232 Special driving of display border areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes a user information obtaining unit and a high-image-quality area control unit. The user information obtaining unit obtains detected user information on a user, the user information excluding gaze information. The high-image-quality area control unit determines a high-image-quality area on the basis of the user information, a quality of an image displayed in the high-image-quality area being higher than a quality of an image displayed in an area other than the high-image-quality area in an entire area of a display viewed by the user.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to;

obtain user information of a user, wherein

the user information is different from gaze information of the user,

the user information includes at least one of heartbeat information, sweating information, body temperature information, brain-wave information, or speed information of the user, and

the user information is detected by a sensor;

determine a central field of view of the user based on the user information;

determine whether the user information indicates a first state or a second state of the user, wherein an activity level of the user in the second state is higher than that in the first state;

set a size of a high-image-quality area in the second state smaller than that in the first state, wherein

a quality of an image displayed in the high-image-quality area is higher than a quality of an image displayed in an area other than the high-image-quality area in an entire display area; and

control display of the image in the high-image-quality area based on the central field of view.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a size of the central field of view based on the user information.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the processor is further configured to determine an image quality of a surrounding area based on the user information, and

the surrounding area is the area of the entire display area excluding the high-image-quality area.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to:

obtain the gaze information of the user;

calculate a point-of-gaze on the entire display area based on the gaze information; and

calculate a position of the high-image-quality area based on the point-of-gaze.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein at least one of a resolution, a frame rate, a bit color, or a speed of the image displayed in the surrounding area is lower than at least one of a resolution, a frame rate, a bit color, or a speed of the image displayed in the high-image-quality area.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to:

render a high-quality image in the high-image-quality area; and

render a low-quality image in the surrounding area.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to:

change the at least one of the resolution, the frame rate, the bit color, or the speed of the image displayed in the surrounding area based on a type of a rendered image; and

render the low-quality image in the surrounding area based on the change of the at least one of the resolution, the frame rate, the bit color, or the speed of the image displayed in the surrounding area.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to:

calculate a position of a first high-image-quality area based on the point-of-gaze;

calculate a position of a second high-image-quality area based on a center point of the entire display area;

calculate a size of at least the first high-image-quality area based on the user information; and

calculate, as the high-image-quality area, an area including the first high-image-quality area and the second high-image-quality area.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to:

calculate a position of a first high-image-quality area based on the point-of-gaze;

calculate a position of a second high-image-quality area based on a previous point-of-gaze;

calculate a size of at least the first high-image-quality area based on the user information; and

calculate, as the high-image-quality area, an area including the first high-image-quality area and the second high-image-quality area.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user information includes behavior information of a behavior of the user.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user information includes environment information of an environment around the user.

10. An information processing method, comprising:

obtaining user information of a user, wherein

the user information is different from gaze information of the user,

the user information includes at least one of heartbeat information, sweating information, body temperature information, brain-wave information, or speed information of the user, and

the user information is detected by a sensor;

determining a central field of view of the user based on the user information;

determining whether the user information indicates a first state or a second state of the user, wherein an activity level of the user in the second state is higher than that in the first state;

setting a size of a high-image-quality area in the second state smaller than that in the first state, wherein

a quality of an image displayed in the high-image-quality area is higher than a quality of an image displayed in an area other than the high-image-quality area in an entire display area; and

controlling display of the image in the high-image-quality area based on the central field of view.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute operations, the operations comprising:

obtaining user information of a user, wherein

the user information is different from gaze information of the user,

the user information includes at least one of heartbeat information, sweating information, body temperature information, brain-wave information, or speed information of the user, and

the user information is detected by a sensor;

determining a central field of view of the user based on the user information;

determining whether the user information indicates a first state or a second state of the user, wherein an activity level of the user in the second state is higher than that in the first state;

setting a size of a high-image-quality area in the second state smaller than that in the first state, wherein

a quality of an image displayed in the high-image-quality area is higher than a quality of an image displayed in an area other than the high-image-quality area in an entire display area; and

controlling display of the image in the high-image-quality area based on the central field of view.