Systems and methods for differentiating between dominant and weak eyes in 3D display technology

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10033994-B2
Application number	US-201615097129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2016
Priority date	Jan 16, 2013
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

A method of displaying visual information to different viewer-eyes includes receiving eye strength data indicative of a deficiency of a weak viewer-eye with respect to a dominant viewer-eye. The method further includes causing a 3D-display system to display a first perspective of an image to the weak viewer-eye and causing the 3D-display system to display a second perspective of the image to the dominant viewer-eye. A difference between the first perspective and the second perspective is a variation of a display characteristic of one of the first and second perspectives where the variation is made in accordance with the indicated deficiency of the weak viewer-eye.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by a processor to cause a display-control device to:
receive eye-strength data indicative of a deficiency of a weak viewer-eye with respect to a dominant viewer-eye;
cause an autostereoscopic 3D display to display a first perspective of an image to the weak viewer-eye;
cause the 3D display to display a second perspective of the image to the dominant viewer-eye, wherein a difference between the first perspective and the second perspective is a variation of a display characteristic of one of the first and second perspectives, wherein the varied display characteristic comprises a characteristic other than focal length and display direction, and wherein the variation is made in accordance with the indicated deficiency of the weak viewer-eye, wherein making the variation in accordance with the indicated deficiency of the weak viewer-eye comprises:
evaluating a difference in relative eye-strength between the weak viewer-eye and the dominant viewer-eye;
determining whether the evaluated difference in relative eye-strength is larger than a predefined threshold difference in eye-strength; and
in response to determining that the evaluated difference is larger than the threshold difference, making the variation to the display characteristic;

determine whether the evaluated difference in relative eye-strength is larger than any of a plurality of predefined threshold differences in eye-strength; and
in response to determining that the evaluated difference is larger than a particular set of threshold differences of the plurality of threshold differences, make the variation in accordance with the particular set of threshold differences;
wherein the plurality of threshold differences constitute a substantially continuous set of threshold differences in eye-strength, whereby the display characteristic is varied in accordance with incremental changes in the relative eye-strength of the weak viewer-eye.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the 3D display receives the eye-strength data from an externally-connected eye-monitoring system.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the varied display characteristic comprises one of (a) brightness, (b) spatial resolution, (c) sharpness, (d) complexity, (e) image size, (f) image position, (g) peripheral content, (h) spectral content, (i) color saturation, and (j) temporal resolution.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the deficiency of the weak viewer-eye comprises a deficient spatial resolution, and wherein the variation of the display characteristic of one of the first and second perspectives comprises a reduction in spatial resolution of the first perspective.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the display-control device to:
receive eye-strength data indicative of a deficiency of each of one or more other weak viewer-eyes with respect to one or more dominant viewer-eyes;
cause the 3D display to display a first set of perspectives of the image to the one or more other weak viewer-eyes; and
cause the 3D display to display a second set of perspectives of the image to the one or more dominant viewer-eyes, wherein a difference between the first set of perspectives and the second set of perspectives is a variation of a display characteristic of one of the first set and second set of perspectives, and wherein the variation is made in accordance with the indicated deficiency of each of the one or more other weak viewer-eyes.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by a processor to cause a display-control device to:
receive eye-strength data indicative of a deficiency of a weak viewer-eye with respect to a dominant viewer-eye;
cause an autostereoscopic 3D display to display a first perspective of an image to the weak viewer-eye;
cause the 3D display to display a second perspective of the image to the dominant viewer-eye, wherein a difference between the first perspective and the second perspective is a variation of a display characteristic of one of the first and second perspectives, wherein the varied display characteristic comprises a characteristic other than focal length and display direction, and wherein the variation is made in accordance with the indicated deficiency of the weak viewer-eye;
wherein the eye-strength data is received from an integral eye-monitoring system;
wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the integral eye-monitoring system to generate the eye-strength data;
wherein generating the eye-strength data comprises:
receiving an indication regarding a quality of a viewer's perceived 3D effect from the images; and
determining, in accordance with the received indication, data associated with the eye-strength of the weak viewer-eye; and

wherein the 3D display system comprises a gaming system, and wherein the received indication comprises a metric of the viewer's game play performance.

7. A 3D-display system comprising:
a 3D-display screen configured to display a plurality of perspectives of an image to a plurality of viewer-eyes;
a processor;
a computer-readable medium; and
program instruction stored on the computer-readable medium and executable by the processor to cause the processor to:
receive eye-strength data indicative of a deficiency of a weak viewer-eye with respect to a dominant viewer-eye;
cause a 3D-display system to display a first perspective of an image to the weak viewer-eye; and
cause the 3D-display system to display a second perspective of the image to the dominant viewer-eye, wherein a difference between the first perspective and the second perspective is a variation of a display characteristic of one of the first and second perspectives, wherein the varied display characteristic comprises a characteristic other than focal length and display direction, and wherein the variation is made in accordance with the indicated deficiency of the weak viewer-eye;
determine a maximum duration corresponding to an amount of time that the variation can be used without weakening the weak viewer-eye;
track a current duration corresponding to an amount of time that the first perspective, including the variation, has been displayed in a current display-session; and
upon determining that the current duration has surpassed the maximum duration, display the first perspective without the variation.

8. The 3D-display system of claim 7 , further comprising an eye-monitoring system.

9. The 3D-display system of claim 8 , wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the eye-monitoring system to generate the eye-strength data.

10. The 3D-display system of claim 9 , wherein generating the eye-strength data comprises using gaze-tracking data from each of the dominant viewer-eye and the weak viewer-eye to determine the deficiency of the weak viewer-eye.

11. The 3D-display system of claim 9 , wherein generating the eye-strength data comprises monitoring the dilation of the weak viewer-eye to determine the deficiency of the weak viewer-eye.

12. The 3D-display system of claim 7 , wherein the received eye-strength data comprises a user-input indicating the deficiency of the weak viewer-eye.

13. The 3D-display system of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of perspectives are overlaid into a single composite image that is filterable to obtain each perspective.

14. The 3D-display system of claim 7 , wherein making the variation in accordance with the

Assignees

• Elwha Llc

Inventors

• Bathiche Steven
• Chan Alistair K
• Gates William
• Hyde Roderick A
• Ishikawa Muriel Y
• Jung Edward K Y
• Kare Jordin T
• Lanier Jaron
• Manferdelli John L
• Tegreene Clarence T
• Whitmer Charles
• Wood Jr Lowell L

Classifications

• G02B30/27

  involving lenticular arrays · CPC title

• G06F3/013

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N13/383

  for tracking with gaze detection, i.e. detecting the lines of sight of the viewer's eyes · CPC title

• H04N13/366

  using viewer tracking · CPC title

• H04N13/324

  Colour aspects · CPC title