Eye-fatigue reduction system for head-mounted displays

• US 9,942,532 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2015
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Khabiri, Elham, Kozloski, James R., Pickover, Clifford A.
• Primary Examiner(s): MESSMORE, JONATHAN R
• Application Number:
  US14/931,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20170127040A1
• Time in Patent Office: 889 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0134 of stereoscopic type
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• 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: G06V 40/197 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/144 for flicker reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 with head-mounted left-right displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/363 using image projection screens volumetric display H04N13/388
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/398 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/0081 Depth or disparity estimation from stereoscopic image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2213/002 Eyestrain reduction by processing stereoscopic signals or controlling stereoscopic devices

Abstract

Embodiments include method, systems and computer program products for reducing eye-fatigue for users of binocular head-mounted displays. Aspects include displaying a content item by a display device of the binocular head-mounted display and calculating an estimated eye-fatigue of the user of the binocular head-mounted display. Based on a determination that the estimated eye-fatigue of the user exceeds a threshold level, aspects also include modifying the content item, by the processor, to encourage the user to take an eye-fatigue reduction action and displaying the modified content item by the display device of the binocular head-mounted display.

Claims

1. A computer program product for reducing eye-fatigue for a user of a binocular head-mounted display, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

displaying a content item by a display device of the head-mounted display;

calculating an estimated eye-fatigue of the user of the binocular head-mounted display;

based on a determination that the estimated eye-fatigue of the user exceeds a threshold level, modifying the content item to encourage the user to take an eye-fatigue reduction action that includes inserting an object into the content item having a stereoscopic depth that is greater than a fixed distance; and

displaying the modified content item by the display device of the binocular head-mounted display.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the estimated eye-fatigue of the user is calculated based on measurements of one or more characteristics of the user'"'"'s eyes.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein modifying the content item includes inserting a reference object into the content item that is visible during use of the binocular head-mounted display.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the fixed distance is determined to be at least twice a mean stereoscopic depth of objects in the content item.

5. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the reference object is a rendition of a nose and wherein the reference object is inserted in a center of a field of view of the content item.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the estimated eye-fatigue of the user is calculated based on duration of use of the binocular head mounted display.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein estimated eye-fatigue of the user is calculated based on a mean stereoscopic depth of objects in the content item and a standard deviation of the stereoscopic depth of the objects content item.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the eye-fatigue reduction action includes one or more of focusing on the object inserted in the modified content item and blinking.

9. A system for reducing eye-fatigue of a user of a binocular head-mounted display device, the display device comprising:

a processor in communication with a memory and a display device, the processor configured to;

receive a content item from the memory;

display the content item by the display device of the binocular head-mounted display;

calculate an estimated eye-fatigue of the user of the binocular head-mounted display;

based on a determination that the estimated eye-fatigue of the user exceeds a threshold level, modify the content item to encourage the user to take an eye-fatigue reduction action that includes inserting an object into the content item having a stereoscopic depth that is greater than a fixed distance; and

display the modified content item by the display device of the head-mounted display.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the estimated eye-fatigue of the user is calculated based on measurements of one or more characteristics of the user'"'"'s eyes.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein modifying the content item includes inserting a reference object into the content item that is visible during use of the binocular head-mounted display.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the object inserted into the content items is selected based on a determination of what type of object the user is likely to pay attention to, where the determination is based on one or more characteristics of the user retrieved from a user profile.