HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY APPARATUS

• US 20150062000A1
• Filed: 08/22/2014
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: SAITO, Hitoshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,690,371 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• 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 2027/0178 Eyeglass type eyeglass details G02C
• 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: 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 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00

Abstract

When a hand of the user is recognized in an image pickup region of a camera, a head mounted display monitors behavior of the hand in the image pickup region. When the hand of the user in the image pickup region reaches an outer peripheral region forming an outer periphery of the image pickup region, a notification is give to the user.

Claims

1. A head mounted display apparatus in which a virtual image and an outside scene overlap each other and can be visually recognized by a user, the apparatus comprising:

an augmented-reality processing unit that generates image data for displaying the virtual image and allows the user to visually recognize the virtual image such that the virtual image is displayed in a visual field of the user based on the generated image data;

a detecting unit that detects a hand of the user in a predetermined detection region for detecting the hand of the user and detects behavior of the hand of the user in the detection region; and

a notifying unit that gives a notification to the user based on the behavior of the hand of the user detected by the detecting unit when the hand of the user reaches an outer peripheral region forming an outer periphery of the detection region.

2. The head mounted display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the augmented-reality processing unit allows the user to visually recognize the virtual image in a display region corresponding to the detection region, and

when the detecting unit detects the hand of the user in the detection region, the augmented-reality processing unit generates the image data for displaying the virtual image, which is embedded with a partial hand image corresponding to at least a part of the detected hand of the user, and updates a position of the partial hand image in the display region of the virtual image based on a position of the part of the hand in the detection region.

3. The head mounted display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the augmented-reality processing unit generates the image data for displaying the virtual image, which is embedded with a frame shape corresponding to the outer peripheral region forming the outer periphery of the detection region, to allow the user to visually recognize the virtual image.

4. The head mounted display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when the detecting unit detects the hand of the user in the detection region, the augmented-reality processing unit generates the image data for displaying a detection-completed image, which indicates the completion of the detection of the hand of the user, as the virtual image or generates the image data for displaying the virtual image, which is embedded with the detection-completed image, to allow the user to visually recognize the virtual image.

5. The head mounted display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the notifying unit is configured to change a form of the notification to the user and, as the hand of the user in the detection region approaches the outer periphery of the outer periphery region, gives the notification to the user while changing the form of the notification.

6. The head mounted display apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein as the hand of the user in the detection region approaches the outer periphery of the outer periphery region, the notifying unit emits a sound with a higher frequency or emits a sound with a higher volume to give the notification to the user.