Scale Factor based on Viewing Distance

• US 20150091947A1
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rakow, Matthew Allen, Esquivel, Matthew J., Chen, Yining, Wright, Stephen H., Govindarajan, Aditya Vijay, Eshel, Amos, Lo, Che-Wen
• Granted Patent: US 9,715,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/667
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/045 Zooming at least part of an image, i.e. enlarging it or shrinking it
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/373 for modifying the size of the graphic pattern

Abstract

Techniques for scale factor based on viewing distance are described. In at least some embodiments, a viewing distance refers to a distance at which a user typically views and/or is viewing a display device. For instance, different displays can be used in different ways and for different purposes, and thus may have different viewing distances. Techniques discussed herein consider the estimated viewing distance of a particular display in determining a scale factor to be applied to visual elements (e.g., graphics) for output via the particular display. A scale factor, for instance, can specify that visual elements are to zoomed-out or zoomed-in prior to be displayed. As detailed herein, this enables a consistent viewing experience to be maintained across different devices with different display sizes and different viewing distances.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations including;

determining a viewing distance for a display;

ascertaining a pixel density for the display; and

calculating a scale factor to be applied to graphics for the display based on the viewing distance and the pixel density.

2. A system as described in claim 1, wherein said calculating is performed using the equation:

3. A system as described in claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

ascertaining characteristics of the display; and

correlating the characteristics to a predetermined estimated viewing distance for the display.

4. A system as described in claim 3, wherein said ascertaining comprises inspecting an Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) element for the display to determine one or more of the characteristics of the display.

5. A system as described in claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

receiving output from a proximity sensor associated with the display; and

ascertaining based on the output the viewing distance for the display.

6. A system as described in claim 1, wherein said determining comprises:

determining a position of the display; and

estimating the viewing distance for the display based on the position of the display.

7. A system as described in claim 1, wherein the display is part of a computing device that includes an input device attached thereto and that is positionable in different positions relative to the display, said determining comprising determining the viewing distance based on the position of the input device relative to the display.

8. A system as described in claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

receiving an indication that visual content is transitioned from the display to a different display; and

responsive to an indication that the different display is associated with a different scale factor, rescaling the visual content with using different scale factor.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining a viewing distance for a display; and

calculating a scale factor to be applied to graphics for the display based on the viewing distance.

10. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

ascertaining characteristics of the display from an information element associated with the display; and

correlating the characteristics to a predetermined estimated viewing distance for the display.

11. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9, comprising ascertaining a pixel density for the display, wherein said calculating is performed as:

12. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9, wherein said determining comprises:

receiving output from a proximity sensor associated with the display; and

ascertaining based on the output the viewing distance for the display.

13. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9, wherein the display is part of a computing device that includes an input device attached thereto and that is positionable in different positions relative to the display, said determining comprising determining the viewing distance based on the position of the input device relative to the display.

14. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 9, comprising applying the scale factor to the graphics by zooming the graphics based on the scale factor.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

ascertaining characteristics of a display; and

correlating the characteristics to a predetermined estimated viewing distance for the display to be used to calculate a scale factor for graphics to be output via the display.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein said ascertaining comprises inspecting an information element that includes attributes of the display to determine one or more of the characteristics of the display.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein the characteristics comprise one or more of a size or a resolution of the display.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein the characteristics comprise a pixel density of the display, the operations comprising calculating the scale factor as:

19. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein the operations comprise:

calculating the scale factor; and

applying the scale factor to the graphics prior to the graphics being output via the display.

20. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein the operations comprise:

calculating the scale factor; and

rounding the scale factor based on a predefined rounding increment prior to applying the scale factor to the graphics.