Distortion correction for device display

• US 9,075,429 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2012
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Karakotsios, Kenneth Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): HALEY, JOSEPH R
• Application Number:
  US13/719,611
• Time in Patent Office: 930 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• 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 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0261 in the context of movement of objects on the screen or movement of the observer relative to the screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user

Abstract

A computing device can implement one or more variable tactile elements (e.g., inflatable buttons/keys) overlaying a touchscreen of the device. The tactile elements can cause distortion to a view of content being displayed on the touchscreen underneath the tactile elements, which can decrease visibility of the content to a viewer (e.g., a user of the device). The device can receive information about the sizes, shapes, and/or locations of the tactile elements. Based on this information, the device can render the content in a manner so as to reduce the distortion caused by the tactile elements. In some embodiments, the device can also determine the device'"'"'s orientation relative to the user (e.g., using head and/or facial feature tracking, etc.) and render the content to appear substantially undistorted while changes occur to the user'"'"'s point of view with respect to the device and/or to the device'"'"'s orientation relative to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for distortion correction for device display, comprising:

capturing one or more images using at least one camera of a computing device, the one or more images including at least one of a head or a facial feature of a user of the computing device;

determining an orientation of the computing device relative to the user using at least in part the one or more images including the at least one of the head or the facial feature;

accessing information about at least one deformable tactile element overlaying a display of the computing device, the information indicating at least one of a location, a size, or a shape of the at least one deformable tactile element;

activating the at least one deformable tactile element, wherein the at least one deformable tactile element, when activated, causes an optical distortion to appear with respect to content to be displayed using the display; and

displaying the content to correct at least a portion of the optical distortion, the displaying being based at least in part on a distortion correction algorithm that utilizes at least the orientation of the computing device, relative to the user, and the information about the at least one deformable tactile element.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining orientation information using one or more sensors of the computing device, wherein the determining the orientation of the computing device relative to the user uses at least in part the determined orientation information.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the optical distortion includes at least one of a barrel distortion, a pincushion distortion, a mustache distortion, a tangential distortion, or a perceptive distortion.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the content to correct the at least the portion of the optical distortion further comprises applying an inverse distortion to the content to offset the at least the portion of the optical distortion.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the distortion correction algorithm is based at least in part on a lens distortion model.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accessing information about at least one variable tactile element associated with a display of a computing device, the information indicating at least one of a location, a size, or a shape of the at least one variable tactile element; and

displaying content to correct for at least a portion of an optical distortion caused by the at least one variable tactile element when activated, and the displaying being based at least in part on the information about the at least one variable tactile element;

determining an orientation of the computing device with respect to a user of the computing device, the determining the orientation using at least one of a camera of the computing device to track a position of a feature of the user, an acoustic location sensor to acoustically locate the position of the head of the user, or a sensor to capture orientation information about the computing device, and wherein the displaying the content to correct for the at least the portion of the optical distortion is further based in part on the orientation of the computing device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the displaying the content to correct for the at least the portion of the optical distortion is based at least in part on a distortion correction algorithm.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the distortion correction algorithm is based at least in part on a lens distortion model, the lens distortion model being associated with at least one of Brown'"'"'s distortion model or Brown-Conrady'"'"'s distortion model.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the information about the at least one variable tactile element further indicates that the at least one variable tactile element is at least one inflatable tactile element fillable with a specified material.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the information about the at least one variable tactile element further indicates that the specified material is at least one of a liquid material, a semiliquid material, or a gaseous material.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining an amount of change to the orientation of the computing device with respect to the user; and

modifying the displaying the content based on the amount of change to the orientation of the computing device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining an amount of reflection caused at least in part by the at least one variable tactile element, the amount of reflection reducing visibility of the content; and

modifying the displaying the content to offset at least a portion of the amount of reflection.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the modifying the displaying the content to offset the at least the portion of the amount of reflection comprises modifying at least one of a contrast level associated with the content to be displayed, a brightness level associated with the content to be displayed, or a display size associated with the content to be displayed.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

detecting a background lighting condition associated with an environment in which the computing device is situated; and

modifying the displaying the content based on the background lighting condition.

15. A computing device comprising:

a display screen;

at least one variable tactile element associated with the display screen;

a processor; and

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to;

access information about the at least one variable tactile element, the information indicating at least one of a location, a size, or a shape of the at least one variable tactile element; and

display content to correct for at least a portion of an optical distortion caused by the at least one variable tactile element when activated, and the displaying being based at least in part on the information about the at least one variable tactile element;

one or more sensors configured to facilitate in determining an orientation of the computing device with respect to a user of the computing device, wherein the displaying the content is further based in part on the orientation of the computing device.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least one of a camera configured to track a position of a feature of the user, an acoustic location sensor configured to acoustically locate the position of the feature of the user, a gyroscope configured to capture orientation information about the computing device, or an accelerometer configured to capture orientation information about the computing device.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the at least one variable tactile element associated with the display screen is included with at least one of an interface layer overlaying the display screen or an interface layer integrated with the display screen.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for identifying elements, the instructions when executed by a processor of a computing device causing the computing device to:

access information about at least one variable tactile element associated with a display of the computing device, the information indicating at least one of a location, a size, or a shape of the at least one variable tactile element; and

display content to correct for at least a portion of an optical distortion caused by the at least one variable tactile element when activated, and the displaying being based at least in part on the information about the at least one variable tactile element;

wherein the instructions cause the computing device to further determine an orientation of the computing device with respect to a user of the computing device, wherein the displaying the content is further based in part on the orientation of the computing device.