Image generation apparatus and image generation method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10133073-B2
Application number	US-201415033701-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2014
Priority date	Nov 11, 2013
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A position and rotation information acquisition unit 730 acquires information relating to a position and a rotation of the head of a user who wears a head-mounted display unit 100 . A coordinate transformation unit 740 and a panorama image processing unit 750 generate an image to be displayed on the head-mounted display unit using the information relating to the position and the rotation acquired at a certain point of time by the position and rotation information acquisition unit 730 . A correction processing unit 780 corrects the generated image using updated information relating to the position and the rotation at a different point of time.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An image generation apparatus, comprising:
a processor coupled to a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to implement:
an acquisition process to acquire information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation of the head of a user who wears a head-mounted display unit;
an image generation process to generate an image to be displayed on the head-mounted display unit using information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation acquired at a certain point of time by the acquisition process; and
a correction processing process to receive updated information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation at a different point of time from the acquisition process and correct the image generated by the image generation process using the updated information relating to at least one of the position and the rotation,
the image generation process generating the image by performing coordinate transformation for transforming a reference coordinate system of the head-mounted display unit to a movement coordinate system of the head-mounted display unit using information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation acquired at a certain point of time, and
the correction processing process performing, in order to correct the image generated by the image generation process, inverse transformation of the coordinate transformation using the information relating to at least one of the position and the rotation acquired at the certain point of time to return the movement coordinate system to the reference coordinate system once and then performing the coordinate transformation using updated information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation at the different point of time to transform the reference coordinate system into the movement coordinate system again; wherein:

the image generation process generates the image to be displayed on the head-mounted display unit using the information relating to at least one of the position and the rotation in a first frequency; and
the correction processing process receives updated information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation from the acquisition process in a second frequency corresponding to a frame rate of the head-mounted display unit and performs correction of the image generated by the image generation process multiple times within each period of the first frequency using a plurality of the updated information relating to at least one of the position and the rotation received in the second frequency, which is higher than the first frequency.

2. An image generation method, comprising:
acquiring information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation of the head of a user who wears a head-mounted display unit;
generating an image to be displayed on the head-mounted display unit using information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation acquired at a certain point of time by the acquiring; and
receiving updated information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation at a different point of time and correcting the image generated by the generating using the updated information relating to the position and the rotation, generating the image by performing coordinate transformation for transforming a reference coordinate system of the head-mounted display unit to a movement coordinate system of the head-mounted display unit using information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation acquired at a certain point of time,
the receiving and correcting performing, in order to correct the image generated by the generating, inverse transformation of the coordinate transformation using the information relating to at least one of the position and the rotation acquired at the certain point of time to return the movement coordinate system to the reference coordinate system once and then performing the coordinate transformation using updated information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation at a different point of time to transform the reference coordinate system into the movement coordinate system again; wherein:
the generating the image generates the image to be displayed on the head-mounted display unit using the information relating to at least one of the position and the rotation in a first frequency; and
the receiving and correcting receives updated information relating to at least one of a position and a rotation in a second frequency corresponding to a frame rate of the head-mounted display unit and performs correction of the image generated by the generating the image multiple times within each period of the first frequency using a plurality of the updated information relating to at least one of the position and the rotation received in the second frequency, which is higher than the first frequency.

Assignees

• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc
• Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd
• Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd

Inventors

• Oto Tomohiro
• Benson Simon Mark
• Bickerstaff Ian Henry

Classifications

• G06F3/012 Primary

  Head tracking input arrangements · CPC title

• G02B27/017 Primary

  Head mounted · CPC title

• A63F13/25

  Output arrangements for video game devices · CPC title

• G02B2027/0123

  comprising devices increasing the field of view · CPC title

• G02B2027/0187

  slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye · CPC title