Image capturing and displaying apparatus and image capturing and displaying method

• US 7,855,743 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2007
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tsuruta, Masaaki, Sako, Yoichiro, Ito, Taiji, Asukai, Masamichi, Ebisawa, Kan
• Primary Examiner(s): SELBY, GEVELL V
• Application Number:
  US11/843,284
• Publication Number:
  US 20080062297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• Field of Search: 348/222.1, 348/333.01, 348/333.02, 348/345
• US Class Current: 348/333.02
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0138 comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera
• 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 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• 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: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices

Abstract

An image capturing and displaying apparatus is disclosed. The image capturing and displaying apparatus includes an image capturing section, a display section, a user'"'"'s information obtaining section, and a control section. The image capturing section captures an image such that a direction in which a user sees a subject is a direction of the subject. The display section is disposed in front of eyes of the user and displays the image captured by the image capturing section. The user'"'"'s information obtaining section obtains information about a motion and a physical situation of the user. The control section controls an operation of the image capturing section or an operation of the display section corresponding to information obtained by the user'"'"'s information obtaining section.

Claims

1. An image capturing and displaying apparatus, comprising:

image capturing means for capturing an image of a subject in a direction in which a user sees the subject;

display means disposed in front of eyes of the user and for displaying the image captured by the image capturing means;

user information obtaining means for obtaining information about a motion and a physical situation of the user; and

control means for controlling an operation of the image capturing means or an operation of the display means corresponding to information obtained by the user information obtaining means, the control means variably controlling at least one of an image capturing sensitivity of the image capturing means, an infrared image capturing sensitivity of the image capturing means, an ultraviolet image capturing sensitivity of the image capturing means, and a frame rate of the image capturing means.

2. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means determines a user wish or a user situation corresponding to information obtained by the user information obtaining means and controls the operation of the image capturing means or the operation of the display means corresponding to a determined result.

3. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the display means is capable of switching a display state from a through state which is transparent or semitransparent to an image display state in which the image captured by the image capturing means is displayed and vice versa.

4. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a sensor which detects an acceleration, an angular velocity, or a vibration.

5. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a sensor which detects a motion of a head portion of the user, a motion of an arm portion of the user, a motion of a hand of the user, a motion of a leg portion of the user, or a motion of a whole body of the user.

6. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a sensor which detects a non-walking state, a walking state, and a running state of the user.

7. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a visual sensor which detects information of a visual sense of the user.

8. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a sensor which detects a visual line of the user, a focus distance of the user, a dilation of pupils of the user, an eye fundus pattern of the user, or a motion of eyelids of the user as information of a visual sense of the user.

9. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a biological sensor which detects biological information of the user.

10. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a sensor which detects heart rate information, pulse information, perspiration information, brain wave information, galvanic skin response information, blood pressure information, body temperature information, or respiratory activity information as biological information of the user.

11. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is a biological sensor which detects information which represents a tense state of the user or an excited state of the user.

12. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the user information obtaining means is formed as an input section which is capable of inputting at least eye sight information.

13. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls the image capturing means to turn on and off an image capturing operation.

14. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means variably controls the image capturing means to perform image capturing operations from a telescopic image capturing operation to a wide angle image capturing operation.

15. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls a focus distance of the image capturing means.

16. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls an operation of an image capturing lens system of the image capturing means.

17. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls an operation of an image capturing signal processing section which processes a captured image signal obtained by an image sensor of the image capturing means.

18. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the display means is capable of switching a display state from a through state which is transparent or semitransparent to an image display state in which an image captured by the image capturing means is displayed and vice versa, and

wherein the control means controls the display means to switch the display state from the through state to the image display state and vice versa.

19. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls the display means to enlarge or reduce the image displayed thereon.

20. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls the display means to separate the image displayed thereon.

21. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls a display brightness of the image displayed on the display means.

22. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the control means controls a signal process of an image signal displayed on the display means.

23. The image capturing and displaying apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

lighting means for lighting up the subject in the direction of the subject,

wherein the control means controls the lighting means to perform a lighting operation of the lighting means corresponding to information obtained by the user information obtaining means.

24. An image capturing and displaying method of an image capturing and displaying apparatus having image capturing means for capturing an image of a subject in a direction in which a user sees the subject, and display means disposed in front of eyes of the user and for displaying an image captured by the image capturing means, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining information about a motion of the user or a physical situation of the user; and

controlling an operation of the image capturing means or an operation of the display means corresponding to the information obtained at the obtaining information step, the controlling step including at least one of controlling an image capturing sensitivity of the image capturing means, controlling an infrared image capturing sensitivity of the image capturing means, controlling an ultraviolet image capturing sensitivity of the image capturing means, and controlling a frame rate of the image capturing means.