Modifying display region for people with macular degeneration

• US 10,805,676 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2017
• Issued: 10/13/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant, Nejat, Mahyar, Shintani, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Volentine, Rebecca A
• Application Number:
  US15/645,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20190014380A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,191 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/513 Processing of motion vectors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440245 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4415 using biometric characteristics of the user, e.g. by voice recognition or fingerprint scanning cryptography using biological data H04L9/3231; authentication in networks using biometric H04L63/0861
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4728 for selecting a Region Of Interest [ROI], e.g. for requesting a higher resolution version of a selected region
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/475 End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection

Abstract

The most active part of a video frame is magnified on a display to accommodate people with eye maladies such as macular degeneration. An area of interest in a video frame is identified, and that area is expanded or magnified to the periphery of the display, where people suffering from macular degeneration can best see. Assuming the viewer sits a benchmark distance from the display, the active part of the image is expanded to fit in what can be seen in the periphery of the display without moving the head left to right and up and down. This may be done by the display recognizing where most of the action is taking place by means of with motion vectors and I-macroblocks, or by allowing the viewer to switch to various predetermined blocks on screen using a remote control.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one video display;

at least one processor to control the video display; and

storage with instructions accessible to the processor to cause the processor to;

identify that a video item of interest received in a central region in a video frame is to be presented in a peripheral region of the video display;

responsive to identifying the video item of interest in a central region in a video frame, present the video item of interest (VII) in the peripheral region of the video display, wherein the VII comprises a video object type and the instructions are executable to receive an identification of the at least one VII at least in part by;

receiving input from at least one user interface (UI) indicating at least one VII, wherein the UI comprises;

a prompt to identify VII;

a list of VII from which one or more VII may be selected, the list including VII comprising someone speaking, an object moving, an object in a particular background;

an entry element to receive input to identify a VII from someone speaking, an object moving, an object in a particular background.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to:

enlarge the VII relative to a size of the VII received in the video frame to render an enlarged VII which is presented in the peripheral region in lieu of presenting the VII received in the video frame in the central region.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to receive an identification of the at least one VII at least in part by:

accessing a data store of default VII, the default VII comprising at least two video object types selected from;

someone speaking, an object moving, an object in a particular background.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to identify, in at least one video frame for presentation on the video display, the VII at least in part by:

selecting a portion of a video frame as the VII responsive to the portion being characterized by one or more motion vectors satisfying a first test.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to identify, in at least one video frame for presentation on the video display, the VII at least in part by:

executing image recognition on at least one video frame to identify a VII.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to:

identify a distance from the video display at which a viewer is located; and

based at least in part on the distance and responsive to identifying the video item of interest in a peripheral region in a video frame, present the video item of interest (VII) in the central region of the video display.

7. A method comprising:

identifying that a viewer of a video display has a central visual impairment;

accessing a data store of default items of interest, the default items of interest comprising at least two video object types selected from;

someone speaking, an object moving, an object in a particular background;

responsive to identifying that the viewer of the video display has a central visual impairment, selecting a first one of the default items of interest on the basis that the first one of the default items of interest is one of;

someone speaking, an object moving, an object in a particular background; and

presenting, in a periphery region of the video display, at least the first one of the default items of interest received in a central region of a video frame.