Head-mounted display, image display system, information storage device, and method for controlling head-mounted display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016357227-A1
Application number	US-201615244435-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 23, 2016
Priority date	Jun 7, 2012
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A head-mounted display is worn on the head of the user, and allows the user to observe a display image, the head-mounted display including a display section that displays the display image, and a control section that performs a control process that controls the timing at which the display image is displayed on the display section. The control section performs the control process that causes a display period and a non-display period to repeat alternately, and sets one display period to be equal to or less than 600 ms, the display period being a period in which the display image is displayed on the display section, and the non-display period being a period in which the display image is not displayed on the display section.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A head-mounted display that is worn on a head of a user, and allows the user to observe a display image, the head-mounted display comprising:
a display section that displays the display image; a control section that performs a control process that controls a timing at which the display image is displayed on the display section; and a sensor signal acquisition section that acquires a motion sensor signal from a motion sensor that detects a motion of the user, the control section performing the control process that causes a display period and a non-display period to repeat alternately, and determines a display start timing of the display image based on the motion sensor signal acquired from the sensor signal acquisition section, the display period being a period in which the display image is displayed on the display section, and the non-display period being a period in which the display image is not displayed on the display section.

2 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 1 ,
the sensor signal acquisition section acquiring an acceleration sensor signal as the motion sensor signal, and the control section detecting peaks of an acceleration of the motion of the user based on the acceleration sensor signal acquired from the sensor signal acquisition section, and setting a given period that includes an intermediate timing to be the display period, the intermediate timing being a timing between a first peak and a second peak that have been detected.

3 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 1 ,
the sensor signal acquisition section acquiring an acceleration sensor signal as the motion sensor signal, and the control section detecting an acceleration of the motion of the user based on the acceleration sensor signal acquired from the sensor signal acquisition section, and determining whether or not the acceleration has been continuously equal to or less than a given threshold value for a given period, the control section determining the display start timing of the display image, and displaying the display image on the display section from the determined display start timing, when it has been determined that the acceleration has been continuously equal to or less than the given threshold value for the given period, and the control section determining a display end timing of the display image, and causing the display image not to be displayed on the display section at the determined display end timing, when it has been determined that the acceleration has been continuously larger than the given threshold value for the given period.

4 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 1 ,
the control section performing the control process that determines whether or not the user is in a stationary state based on the motion sensor signal, and continuously displays the display image on the display section when it has been determined that the user is in the stationary state.

5 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
an image selection section that selects an icon image from a plurality of icon images displayed on the display section, the sensor signal acquisition section acquiring a first sensor signal and a second sensor signal, the first sensor signal being the motion sensor signal, and the second sensor signal being a sensor signal from a sensor provided to an information terminal device, the display section displaying a selection menu screen in which the plurality of icon images are displayed side by side, and the image selection section performing a process that causes an image among the plurality of icon images to be selected instead of a currently selected icon image among the plurality of icon images based on the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal.

6 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
a display buffer that stores a plurality of the display images; and an image selection section that selects the display image displayed on the display section, the image selection section selecting the display image from the plurality of display images stored in the display buffer based on the motion sensor signal from the sensor signal acquisition section, and the display section displaying the selected display image.

7 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 6 ,
the sensor signal acquisition section acquiring a display timing motion sensor signal that represents a motion of the user during the display period, and a non-display timing motion sensor signal that represents a motion of the user during the non-display period, and the image selection section selecting the display image to be displayed on the display section from the plurality of display images stored in the display buffer based on the display timing motion sensor signal and the non-display timing motion sensor signal.

8 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 7 ,
the image selection section specifying motion information that represents a difference between a direction in which the user faces during the display period and a direction in which the user faces during the non-display period, based on the display timing motion sensor signal and the non-display timing motion sensor signal, and selecting the display image to be displayed on the display section from the plurality of display images stored in the display buffer based on the specified motion information.

9 . The head-mounted display as defined in claim 8 ,
the image selection section selecting an initial display image from the plurality of display images stored in the display buffer as the display image to be displayed on the display section when it has been determined that the difference represented by the motion information is smaller than a given threshold value.

10 . A computer-readable storage device with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a head-mounted display that is worn on a head of a user, and allows the user to observe a display image, to perform steps of:
displaying the display image; performing a control process that controls a timing at which the display image is displayed on a display section of the head-mounted display; acquiring a motion sensor signal from a motion sensor that detects a motion of the user; and performing the control process that causes a display period and a non-display period to repeat alternately, and determines a display start timing of the display image based on the motion sensor signal acquired from a sensor signal acquisition section of the head-mounted display, the display period being a period in which the display image is displayed on the display section, and the non-display period being a period in which the display image is not displayed on the display section.

11 . A method for controlling a head-mounted display that is worn on a head of a user, and allows the user to observe a display image, the method comprising:
displaying the display image; acquiring a motion sensor signal from a motion sensor that detects a motion of the user; and performing a control process that causes a display period and a non-display period to repeat alternately, and determines a display start timing of the display image based on the acquired motion sensor signal, the display period being a period in which the display image is displayed, and the non-display period being a period in which the display image is not displayed.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Sugihara Ryohei
• Tatsuta Seiji
• Tomita Teruo

Classifications

• G09G2310/08

  Details of timing specific for flat panels, other than clock recovery · CPC title

• G09G5/00 Primary

  Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators (image data processing or generation, in general G06T) · CPC title

• G02B2027/0187

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

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title

• G06F3/147

  using display panels · CPC title