Augmented reality field of view object follower

• US 10,740,971 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2015
• Issued: 08/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Ramsby, Scott, Thompson, Joe, Osborn, Dan, Wright, Shawn Crispin, Kramp, Brian, Saunders, Megan, Gouin, Forest Woodcroft
• Primary Examiner(s): Lhymn, Sarah
• Application Number:
  US14/745,151
• Publication Number:
  US 20160210784A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,880 Days
• Field of Search: 345619, 345629, 345632, 345633
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0123 comprising devices increasing the field of view
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0134 of stereoscopic type
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0176 characterised by mechanical features
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00

Abstract

A wearable, head-mounted display system includes a near-eye display to display an augmented reality object perceivable at an apparent real world depth and an apparent real world location by a wearer of the head-mounted display system, and a controller to adjust the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object as a function of a field of view (FOV) of the wearer. The function is based on a bounding region of the augmented reality object and one or more overlap parameters between the bounding region of the augmented reality object and the FOV of the wearer.

Claims

1. A wearable, head-mounted display system comprising:

a near-eye display to display an augmented reality object perceivable at an apparent real world location by a wearer of the head-mounted display system; and

a controller to adjust the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object as a function of a field of view (FOV) of the wearer, including moving the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object along with the FOV when the FOV is changing, the function based on a bounding region of the augmented reality object and one or more overlap parameters between the bounding region of the augmented reality object and the FOV of the wearer.

2. The display system of claim 1, wherein the bounding region defines a space of the augmented reality object.

3. The display system of claim 2, wherein the space includes all of the augmented reality object.

4. The display system of claim 2, wherein the space includes less than all of the augmented reality object.

5. The display system of claim 2, wherein the space includes all of the augmented reality object and additional space surrounding the augmented reality object.

6. The display system of claim 1, wherein the one or more overlap parameters define an amount of the bounding region that the controller is to keep within the FOV.

7. The display system of claim 6, wherein the one or more overlap parameters comprise a resting target overlap value between the bounding region and the FOV of the wearer when the FOV changes by less than a threshold amount.

8. The display system of claim 7, wherein the one or more overlap parameters comprise a moving minimum overlap value between the bounding region and the FOV of the wearer when the FOV changes by more than the threshold amount.

9. The display system of claim 8, wherein the resting target overlap value is larger than the moving minimum overlap value, and wherein the controller displays a larger proportion of the bounding region when the FOV is changing by less than the threshold amount relative to when the FOV is changing by more than the threshold amount.

10. The display system of claim 8, wherein the moving minimum overlap value is a negative overlap value, and wherein the controller does not display the augmented reality object when the FOV is changing by more than the threshold amount.

11. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller further adjusts a rotation of the augmented reality object based on the FOV of the wearer.

12. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller adjusts the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object according to one or more spring parameters of a virtual spring function.

13. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller adjusts the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object when the augmented reality object is outside the FOV.

14. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller maintains the augmented reality object at a fixed apparent real world location in response to a request from the wearer.

15. The display system of claim 1, wherein when the FOV of the wearer is changing by more than a threshold amount, the controller displays the augmented reality object at a smaller, first apparent real world size, and when the FOV of the wearer is changing by less than the threshold amount, the controller displays the augmented reality object at a larger, second apparent real world size.

16. The display system of claim 1, wherein the controller maintains the augmented reality object at a fixed proportion of the FOV throughout a range of apparent real world depths of the augmented reality object.

17. A method for a near-eye display, comprising:

defining a bounding region of an augmented reality object;

defining a target amount of overlap between the bounding region and a field of view (FOV) of a wearer of the near-eye display;

defining a minimum amount of overlap between the bounding region and the FOV; and

as the FOV changes, displaying the augmented reality object on the near-eye display to follow the FOV according to the bounding region, target amount of overlap, and minimum amount of overlap.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying the augmented reality object according to one or more spring parameters of a virtual spring function.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising adjusting a rotation of the augmented reality object based on the FOV of the wearer.

20. A wearable, head-mounted display system comprising:

a near-eye display to display an augmented reality object perceivable at an apparent real world location by a wearer of the head-mounted display system; and

a controller to adjust the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object as a function of a field of view (FOV) of the wearer, the function configured to move the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object to follow the FOV when the FOV changes based on a bounding region of the augmented reality object, a target overlap value between the bounding region and the FOV of the wearer when the FOV changes by less than a threshold amount, and a minimum overlap value between the bounding region and the FOV of the wearer when the FOV changes by more than the threshold amount.