Head mount display

• US 20100156836A1
• Filed: 12/16/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Katayama, Shingo
• Granted Patent: US 8,300,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0138 comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera
• 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: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/042 by opto-electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0426 tracking fingers with respect to a virtual keyboard projected or printed on the surface virtual keyboards on touch screens G06F3/04886
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

A HMD photographs at least a portion of a field of view of a user, and detects a hand of the user based on a result of analysis of an imaged image. The HMD performs a control of deciding and displaying a position of an operation part of a virtual operation panel based on a position of the detected hand of the user. A position associated with the hand visible to the user is set as a display position of the virtual operation panel which tracks the position of the hand of the user. The HMD determines whether or not the virtual operation panel is operated based on a contact position of a finger of the user detected by a touch panel, and performs a control corresponding to an operation position of the virtual operation panel when it is determined that the virtual operation panel is operated.

Claims

1. A head mount display comprising:

a display unit which is configured to transmit an ambient light therethrough, and is configured to project an image light corresponding to image data onto an eye of a user in order to allow the user to observe an image corresponding to the image light;

an imaging unit which is configured to image at least a portion of a field of view of the user;

an image analyzing unit which is configured to analyze an image imaged by the imaging unit;

a hand detection unit which is configured to detect a hand of the user based on a result of an analysis performed by the image analyzing unit;

a touch panel which is configured to detect a contact of the hand of the user therewith;

a position definition unit which is configured to define a display position to display a virtual operation panel such that the virtual operation panel tracks the hand of the user which is observed by the user through the display unit;

a display control unit which is configured to control the display unit such that the display unit displays the virtual operation panel at the display position;

an operation determination unit which is configured to determine whether or not the virtual operation panel is operated based on a touch position of a finger of the user detected by the touch panel; and

an operation control unit which is configured to perform a control corresponding to an operation position on the virtual operation panel when the operation determination unit determines that the virtual operation panel is operated, and

wherein the position definition unit defines a first specified portion of the hand of the user as a reference position based on a position of the hand of the user detected by the hand detection unit, and defines a position which always assumes a predetermined positional relationship with the reference position and which is within a display area displayed by the display unit as the display position.

2. A head mount display according to claim 1, wherein the operation determination unit determines whether or not the virtual operation panel is operated based on a position where a second specified portion different from the first specified portion touches the touch panel.

3. A head mount display according to claim 1, wherein the hand detection unit is further configured to detect a size of the hand of the user,

wherein the head mount display further comprises a size selection unit which is configured to select a size of the virtual operation panel based on the size of the hand of the user detected by the hand detection unit, and

wherein the position definition unit is configured to define the display position of the virtual operation panel based on the size of the virtual operation panel selected by the size selection unit.

4. A head mount display according to claim 3, wherein the head mount display further comprises a size memory unit in which size information where the size of the hand of the user and the size of the virtual operation panel corresponding to the size of the hand of the user are associated with each other is stored, and

the size selection unit is configured to select the size of the virtual operation panel based on the size of the hand of the user detected by the hand detection unit and the size information stored in the size memory unit.

5. A head mount display according to claim 1, wherein the head mount display includes a position setting unit which is configured to set a selection-use virtual operation panel at a predetermined display position, and the selection-use virtual operation panel is to select the virtual operation panel for tracking the hand of the user from the plurality of virtual operation panels, and

the display control unit controls the display unit to display the selection-use virtual operation panel.

6. A head mount display according to claim 5, wherein the position definition unit defines the display position of the virtual operation panel which is selected for tracking the position of the hand of the user latest out of a plurality of overlapping virtual operation panels when the plurality of virtual operation panels is set at a position in an overlapping manner.