HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY

• US 20130249787A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Morimoto, Toshiyasu
• Granted Patent: US 9,581,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0118 comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0156 with optionally usable elements
• 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 27/0172 characterised by optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0179 Display position adjusting means not related to the information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883

Abstract

According to an illustrative embodiment, a head-mounted display is provided. The head-mounted display includes a casing having an opening portion; and a movable member movable between a first position in which the movable member covers the opening portion, and a second position in which the movable member does not cover the opening portion.

Claims

1. A head-mounted display, comprising:

a casing having an opening portion; and

a movable member movable between a first position in which the movable member covers the opening portion, and a second position in which the movable member does not cover the opening portion.

2. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 1, wherein the opening portion comprises a first opening portion and a second opening portion.

3. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 1, further comprising an other opening portion, and wherein the movable member does not cover the other opening portion in either of the first position and the second position.

4. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 1, further comprising a detector to detect an indication of an intended mode for the head mounted display, and wherein the movable member moves into one of the first position and the second position in response to the indication detected by the detector

5. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the detector is operable to acquire information about motion of a wearer of the head-mounted display, and the head-mounted display is operable to move the movable member in response to the information acquired by the detector.

6. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 5, wherein the motion of the wearer comprises head movement.

7. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 5, wherein the motion of the wearer comprises eye movement.

8. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the detector is operable to acquire sound information from a wearer of the head-mounted display.

9. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the detector is operable to acquire biological information concerning a wearer of the head-mounted display.

10. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the movable member moves into the first position when the indication indicates that the intended mode is an image display mode, and the movable member moves into the second position when the indication indicates that the intended mode is a peripheral-vision-ensuring mode.

11. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the detector comprises an angular velocity sensor.

12. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the detector comprises an acceleration sensor.

13. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the detector comprises a microphone.

14. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, wherein the detector is operable to detect an angular velocity of the casing and determine an angle of rotation of the casing, and wherein the movable member is switched between the first position and the second position when (i) the detected angular velocity is equal to or larger than a predetermined angular velocity and (ii) the determined angle of rotation is equal to or larger than a predetermined angle.

15. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 4, further comprising a second movable member movable between a third position and a fourth position, wherein the casing further comprises an other opening portion, the second movable member moves into one of the third position and the fourth position in response to the indication detected by the detector, the second movable member covers the other opening portion when the second movable member is in the third position and the movable member is in the first position, and the second movable member does not cover the third opening portion when the second movable member is in the fourth position and the movable member is in the first position.

16. A medical system, comprising:

a head-mounted display,

wherein the head mounted display comprises a casing having an opening portion; and

a movable member movable between a first position in which the movable member covers the opening portion, and a second position in which the movable member does not cover the opening portion.

17. A head-mounted display, comprising:

a casing having an opening portion; and

a shutter switchable between a light-transmitting state for selectively transmitting light incident on the opening portion, and a light-blocking state for blocking light incident on the opening portion.

18. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 17, further comprising a detector to detect an indication of an intended mode for the head mounted display, and wherein the shutter switches between the light-transmitting state and the light-blocking state in response to the indication detected by the detector.

19. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 18, wherein the detector is operable to detect an angular velocity of the casing and determine an angle of rotation of the casing, and wherein the shutter is switched between the light-transmitting state and the light-blocking state when (i) the detected angular velocity is equal to or larger than a predetermined angular velocity and (ii) the determined angle of rotation is equal to or larger than a predetermined angle.

20. The head-mounted display as recited in claim 17, wherein the shutter comprises a liquid crystal shutter.