HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY DEVICE AND IMAGE DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR

• US 20120293407A1
• Filed: 05/18/2012
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Woo Cheol
• Granted Patent: US 9,081,181 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• 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: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 with head-mounted left-right displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2213/002 Eyestrain reduction by processing stereoscopic signals or controlling stereoscopic devices

Abstract

A Head Mounted Display (HMD) device and an image display control method are disclosed. The device includes a display unit including a left display and a right display for a left eye and a right eye for displaying images for the left eye and the right eye, a vital reaction sensor unit including a first vital reaction sensor for the left eye and a second vital reaction sensor for the right eye, detecting vital reaction changes of a user viewing the left display and the right display, and generating, when a vital reaction change is detected, an interruption signal including coordinates of a position at which the vital reaction change is detected, and a control unit for outputting images for the left eye and the right eye to the display unit.

Claims

1. A Head Mounted Display (HMD) device, the device comprising:

a display unit including a left display and a right display for a left eye and a right eye for displaying images for the left eye and the right eye;

a vital reaction sensor unit including a first vital reaction sensor for the left eye and a second vital reaction sensor for the right eye, for detecting vital reaction changes of a user viewing the left display and the right display, and for generating, when a vital reaction change is detected, an interruption signal comprising coordinates of a position at which the vital reaction change is detected; and

a control unit for outputting images for the left eye and the right eye to the display unit, and for adjusting, upon generation of the interruption signal, positions of the images according to the received coordinates and a given offset.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising an optical feedback part, wherein the optical feedback part comprises:

an optical controller for generating image position adjustment data under control of the control unit, and for determining an offset on the basis of feedback data;

a converter for converting the image position adjustment data into a driving signal, and for converting a feedback signal into digital feedback data; and

an actuator for physically moving the optical axis of the display unit according to the driving signal, and for feeding movement distance data back to the converter,

and wherein the optical controller sends an interruption signal comprising an offset value of the moved optical axis on the basis of feedback results.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the control unit segments an original image into a first image for the left eye and a second image for the right eye, and sends the first image and the second image to the display unit.

4. The device of claim 2, further comprising an optical member, wherein the control unit outputs an original image, and

wherein the optical member segments the original image into a first image and a second image through polarization, and sends the first image and the second image to the display unit.

5. The device of claim 3, further comprising a camera unit, wherein the camera unit includes camera modules for the left eye and the right eye to capture a first image and a second image of a target object.

6. The device of claim 3, further comprising a communication unit, wherein the communication unit receives image data through a wireless interface from an external communication environment, and forwards the received image data to the control unit.

7. The device of claim 3, further comprising an external interface unit, wherein the external interface unit receives image data from an external device through short-range communication, and forwards the received image data to the control unit.

8. An image display method for a head mounted display device, the method comprising:

segmenting an image to be displayed into a first image and a second image, and displaying the first image and the second image respectively on a left display and a right display for a left eye and a right eye;

detecting vital reaction changes of a user viewing the left display and the right display through vital reaction sensors assigned respectively to the left eye and the right eye;

generating, when a vital reaction change is detected, an interruption signal comprising coordinates of a position at which the vital reaction changes are detected;

adjusting, upon generation of the interruption signal, positions of the images according to received coordinates and a given offset; and

displaying the adjusted images respectively on the left display and the right display, and adjusting the distance between the left display and the right display so that the distance between optical axes thereof is equal to the interpupillary distance of a user on a basis of the coordinates and the given offset.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the displaying of the first image and the second image comprises segmenting an original image into a first image for the left eye and a second image for the right eye, and sending the first image and second image respectively to the left display and the right display.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the displaying of the first image and the second image comprises segmenting, by an optical member, the original image into a first image and a second image through polarization, and sending the first image and the second image respectively to the left display and the right display.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising capturing, by camera modules for the left eye and the right eye, a first image and a second image of a target object.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the detecting of the vital reaction changes comprises generating, by the vital reaction sensors, coordinates of a position at which no vital reaction change is detected for a preset time.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the detecting of the vital reaction changes is performed by using at least one of an eye tracker, a cornea refraction measurer and a gravity sensor as a vital reaction sensor.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the displaying of the adjusted images comprises adjusting the position of a corresponding image according to the offset and received coordinates, mapping the images according to sensing locations of the left eye and the right eye, displaying the mapped images respectively on the left display and the right display, and repeating these operations.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the adjusting of the positions of the images comprises one of adjusting positions of the left display and the right display by changing coordinates returned through the optical feedback part from the vital reaction sensors according to the same offset value, and adjusting polarization of the optical member.

16. A user input method for a head mounted display device, the method comprising:

segmenting an image having one or more selection items into a first image and a second image, and displaying the first image and the second image respectively on a left display and a right display for a left eye and a right eye;

adjusting positions of the first image and the second image by a given offset according to the interpupillary distance of a user;

detecting vital reaction changes of the user viewing the left display and the right display through vital reaction sensors assigned respectively to the left eye and the right eye;

generating, when a vital reaction change is detected, an interruption signal comprising coordinates of positions of the left eye and the right eye at which the vital reaction change is detected;

constructing an extended coordinate plane according to the image positions already adjusted by the offset so that coordinates of the left eye and the right eye positions are included in the extended coordinate plane;

combining the coordinates of the left eye and the right eye positions into coordinates of a single position on the extended coordinate plane on the basis of the offset; and

identifying positions, on the adjusted images and on the extended coordinate plane, corresponding to the portion at which a user selection input is generated.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the detecting of the vital reaction changes comprises generating, by the vital reaction sensors, coordinates of the left eye and the right eye positions at which no vital reaction change is detected for a preset time.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the constructing of the extended coordinate plane comprises adding the given offset to values of a corresponding axis for a first vital reaction sensor, and forming the set union between axis values changed by the given offset for the first vital reaction sensor and axis values not changed by the given offset for a second vital reaction sensor.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the axis values and the given offset are non-negative integers.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the combining of the coordinates of the left eye and the right eye positions comprises adding the given offset to coordinates obtained by a first vital reaction sensor, and computing an arithmetic average between the adjusted coordinates of the first vital reaction sensor and coordinates obtained by a second vital reaction sensor as coordinates of a single position on the extended coordinate plane.