Head-mounted display device and control method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017192620-A1
Application number	US-201415325203-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 5, 2014
Priority date	Aug 5, 2014
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a head mounted display (HMD) capable of providing contents to a user in a state of being worn on his or her head, and may include a display unit configured to display a virtual reality image, a sensor configured to recognize objects around the HMD device, and a controller configured to display notification information associated with a preset event when the event occurs, wherein the controller detects an obstacle based on a distance between the HMD device and the recognized object among the recognized objects, and determines a position at which the notification information is displayed based on the detected obstacle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A head mounted display (HMD) device, comprising:
a display unit configured to display a virtual reality image; a sensor configured to recognize objects around the HMD device; and a controller configured to display notification information associated with a preset event when the event occurs, wherein the controller detects an obstacle based on a distance between the HMD device and the recognized object among the recognized objects, and determines a position at which the notification information is displayed based on the detected obstacle when the occurred notification information is notification information that requires a user's interaction.

2 . The HMD device of claim 1 , wherein the controller recognizes a region corresponding to a position of the detected obstacle from the virtual reality image, and displays the notification information in another region excluding the recognized portion.

3 . The HMD device of claim 1 , wherein the controller selects a virtual reality object corresponding to the detected obstacle from the virtual reality image, and displays the notification information in another region excluding a region on the virtual reality image displayed with the selected virtual reality object.

4 . The HMD device of claim 1 , wherein the controller distinguishes and displays notification information that requires a user's interaction and notification information that does not require the user's interaction in a separate manner.

5 . The HMD device of claim 4 , wherein the controller determines whether or not the notification information is notification information that requires the user's interaction based on whether the notification information requires an additional user's check or the notification information unilaterally transfers information to the user.

6 . The HMD device of claim 4 , wherein the notification information that requires the user's interaction is an short messaging service (SMS) or social network service (SNS) message or notification information for notifying an incoming call.

7 . The HMD device of claim 4 , wherein when the notification information is notification information that requires a user's interaction and notification information that does not require the user's interaction, the controller displays them with different perspectives.

8 . The HMD device of claim 4 , wherein in case of the notification information that does not require the user's interaction, the controller displays the notification information in such a manner that a virtual reality image displayed in a region displayed with the notification information can be identified through the region displayed with the notification information.

9 . The HMD device of claim 1 , wherein the controller selects a virtual object corresponding to the detected obstacle from the virtual reality image, and displays the notification information based on a shape of the selected virtual object.

10 . The HMD device of claim 9 , wherein when the selected virtual object is a table or chair, the controller displays the notification information in a shape in which the notification information is placed on the virtual object.

11 . The HMD device of claim 9 , wherein the controller displays the notification information with a graphic object in a shape attached to a surface of a virtual object corresponding to the detected obstacle.

12 . The HMD device of claim 1 , wherein when a position at which the notification information is displayed is determined, the controller further evaluates the importance of a virtual reality image displayed at the determined position to change the position at which the notification information is displayed.

13 . The HMD device of claim 12 , wherein the controller evaluates the importance according to at least one of the movements or display state of virtual objects on a virtual reality image displayed at the determined position, and the types of the virtual objects.

14 . The HMD device of claim 13 , wherein the controller displays the notification information in another region excluding a region on a virtual reality image with an amount of movement of the virtual objects above a preset level based on the evaluated importance or displayed in a state that the virtual objects are close up or a region on a virtual reality image in which the virtual object is displayed as a subtitle or instruction.

15 . The HMD device of claim 1 , wherein the controller detects objects in which a distance between the HMD device and the recognized object corresponds to the user's arm length among the recognized objects as the obstacle.

16 . The HMD device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensing unit configured to sense a current position, wherein the controller stores a result of recognizing at least one object located at a specific place according to the user's selection, and recognizes objects around a current user using the recognition results of the prestored objects when a current position is the specific place as a result of sensing the position.

17 . The HMD device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a camera capable of receiving an image for objects around the user, wherein when the object is recognized and the obstacle is detected based on an image of the received object, the controller selects a virtual object corresponding to a shape of the detected obstacle from a virtual reality image currently displayed on the display unit.

18 . The HMD device of claim 17 , wherein when a virtual object corresponding to a shape of the detected obstacle is not included in the virtual reality image, the controller generates and displays a virtual object corresponding to the shape of the obstacle on the virtual reality image.

19 . The HMD device of claim 17 , wherein the controller determines a position at which notification information is displayed based on a shape of object for each object based on the recognized object.

20 . A control method of a head mounted display (HMD) device, the method comprising:
displaying a virtual reality image, and recognizing objects around a user; detecting objects located within a preset distance among the recognized objects as an obstacle; detecting whether or not a preset event has occurred; and displaying notification information corresponding to the occurred event on the virtual reality image based on a position of the detected obstacle when the preset event has occurred.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Jongho
• Lee Doyoung

Classifications

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• G02B27/02

  Viewing or reading apparatus (stereoscopic systems G02B30/00) · CPC title

• G06F3/04815

  Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional [3D], e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B27/0179

  Display position adjusting means not related to the information to be displayed · CPC title