Method for controlling head mounted display, and system for implemeting the method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10115235-B2
Application number	US-201615264529-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2016
Priority date	Jul 14, 2015
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A method for controlling an immersive head mounted display configured to provide a virtual space to a user. The method includes generating a virtual space image that forms a virtual space viewable by the user. The method further includes determining a reference line of sight. The method further includes determining a field-of-view region of the virtual space based on the reference line of sight. The method further includes generating a region of the virtual space image corresponding to the field-of-view region as a field-of-view image having an image quality higher than an image quality of a different portion of the virtual space image.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling an immersive head mounted display (HMD) configured to provide a virtual space to a user, the method comprising:
generating and storing virtual space image data having a first image quality, wherein the virtual space image data is usable for forming a virtual space viewable by the user;
generating a virtual space image, wherein generating the virtual space image comprises reading the previously stored virtual space image data;
determining a reference line of sight;
determining a field-of-view region of the virtual space based on the reference line of sight; and
generating, using a computer, in the field-of-view region, a field-of-view image having a second image quality higher than the first image quality,
wherein generating the virtual space image further comprises reducing a 3D polygon count as compared to the field-of-view image, and
wherein generating the field-of-view image comprises increasing the 3D polygon count of the virtual space image,
wherein the field-of-view image corresponds in size to the field-of-view region,
wherein the virtual space image outside of the field-of-view region is not visible to the user, and
wherein the virtual space image is generated outside the field-of-view region simultaneously with the generating of the field-of-view image.

2. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 1 , further comprising detecting a direction in which the reference line of sight moves,
wherein, when the field-of-view region moves from a first part to a second part of the virtual space image due to movement of the reference line of sight, the field-of-view image is generated in the second part prior to completion of movement of the field-of-view region.

3. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 1 , wherein the field-of-view image is generated so as to cover a predetermined region around the field-of-view region.

4. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 3 , further comprising detecting a direction in which the reference line of sight moves,
wherein the predetermined region is set to increase in the direction in which the reference line of sight moves.

5. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual space image is a 360-degree panoramic image forming a predetermined game space independent of the line-of-sight.

6. A method for controlling an immersive head mounted display (HMD) configured to provide a virtual space to a user, the method comprising:
generating and storing virtual space image data having a first image quality;
generating a virtual space image, based on the virtual space image data;
determining a reference line of sight;
determining a field-of-view region of the virtual space based on the reference line of sight; and
generating, using a computer, in the field-of-view region, a field-of-view image having a second image quality higher than the first image quality,
wherein the field-of-view image is generated by subjecting the virtual space image to texture mapping, wherein
the virtual space image is a 360-degree panoramic image forming a predetermined game space independent of the line-of-sight,
the virtual space image outside of the field-of-view region is not visible to the user,
the field-of-view image corresponds in size to the field-of-view region, and
the virtual space image is generated outside the field-of-view region simultaneously with the generating of the field-of-view image.

7. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 6 , further comprising detecting a direction in which the reference line of sight moves,
wherein, when the field-of-view region moves from a first part to a second part of the virtual space image due to movement of the reference line of sight, the field-of-view image is generated in the second part prior to completion of movement of the field-of-view region.

8. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 6 , wherein the field-of-view image is generated so as to cover a predetermined region around the field-of-view region.

9. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 8 , further comprising detecting a direction in which the reference line of sight moves,
wherein the predetermined region is set to increase in the direction in which the reference line of sight moves.

10. A system for controlling an immersive head mounted (HMD), wherein the system comprises:
memory configured to store instructions; and
a computer connected to the memory, wherein the computer is configured to execute the instructions for:
generating and storing virtual space image data, corresponding to a virtual space image, which has a first image quality and forms a virtual space viewable by the user;
determining a reference line of sight;
determining a field-of-view region of the virtual space based on the reference line of sight; and
generating, in the field-of-view region, a field-of-view image having a second image quality higher than the first image quality,

wherein the field-of-view image is generated by increasing a 3D polygon count of the virtual space image,
wherein the field-of-view image corresponds in size to the field-of-view region,
wherein the virtual space image outside of the field-of-view region is not visible to the user, and
wherein the virtual space image is generated outside the field-of-view region simultaneously with the generating of the field-of-view image.

11. The method for controlling the HMD according to claim 10 , wherein the virtual space image is a 360-degree panoramic image forming a predetermined game space independent of the line-of-sight.

Assignees

• Colopl Inc

Inventors

• Inomata Atsushi

Classifications

• G06T7/0081

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T2207/30242

  Counting objects in image · CPC title

• G06T7/20

  Analysis of motion (motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51) · CPC title

• G06T15/04

  Texture mapping · CPC title

• G06T2207/20112

  Image segmentation details · CPC title