WO2007094152A1 - Wearable display - Google Patents

Abstract

A wearable display comprises a display unit for displaying an image, a recognizing unit for recognizing the use history of the display unit, and determining unit for determining the rate of variation of the quality of image according to the use history. While displaying an image of the quality corresponding to the characteristics of the user’s eyes, the power consumption is decreased and a long-time use is achieved. The determining unit may determines the initial value used when the image quality is varied depending on the use history. The wearable display may further comprise a detecting unit for detecting the ambient environment of the display unit. The determining unit may determine the rate of variation of at least one of the density, tone, sharpness and brightness of the image as the image quality. The recognizing unit may recognize at least one of the number of uses as the use history and the total use time of the display unit. The recognizing unit may recognize as the use history the elapsed time from the previous use of the display unit to the present use. The wearable display may further comprise a receiving unit for receiving a user command to vary the image quality to a predetermined image quality.

Description

 Specification

 Wear Love Nore Display

 Technical field

 The present invention relates to a wearable display that can be worn on a user's head.

 Background art

 In recent years, technologies related to so-called wearable displays such as head-mounted displays have been considered. In the invention of Patent Document 1, the brightness of an electronic image is adjusted to an optimum brightness with respect to the brightness of the outside world, so that it can be used for a long time with less power consumption.

 Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-300451

 Disclosure of the invention

 Problems to be solved by the invention

[0003] However, in the invention of Patent Document 1 described above, since the initial value of the brightness of the electronic video is set according to the brightness of the outside world, there are cases where display according to the user cannot be performed. For example, a user who is accustomed to using a wearable display and can observe a dark display even when the outside world is bright may give an excessively bright display. An object of the wearable display of the present invention is to enable long-time use by reducing power consumption while displaying an image having an image quality according to the characteristics of a user's eyes. Means for solving the problem

[0004] The wearable display of the present invention determines a display unit for displaying an image, a recognition unit for recognizing a use history of the display unit, and a ratio for changing the image quality of the image based on the use history. And a determination unit.

 Preferably, the determination unit may further determine an initial value for changing the image quality based on the use history.

[0005] Preferably, the information processing apparatus further includes a detection unit that detects a surrounding environment of the display unit, and the determination unit may determine the initial value based on the use history and the surrounding environment. Preferably, the determination unit includes the image density, color tone, and sharpness as the image quality.

It is also possible to determine the rate at which at least one of the brightness changes.

 Preferably, the recognizing unit may recognize at least one of the number of times the display unit is used and a cumulative usage time as the usage history.

 [0006] Preferably, the recognizing unit may recognize an elapsed time from the previous use of the display unit to the current use of the display unit as the use history.

 Preferably, a receiving unit that receives a user instruction to change the image quality to a predetermined image quality may be further provided.

 The invention's effect

 [0007] According to the wearable display of the present invention, it is possible to display an image having an image quality according to the characteristics of the user's eyes and reduce power consumption to enable long-term use. Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a top external view of a wearable display 100. FIG.

 FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of wearable display 100.

 FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of wearable display 100.

 BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1A is a top external view of wearable display 100. FIG. The wearable display 100 includes an image display unit 101, a support arm 102 that supports the image display unit 101, an arm storage unit 103, and headphones 104 and 105 as shown in FIG. 1A. The image display unit 101 includes a transmissive LCD, an image display element 111 such as a backlight or an organic EL display, and an optical (not shown) such as a magnifying lens that magnifies and projects the image of the image display element 111 to the user's eyes. System. Note that as the image display element, an image display element such as a reflective LCD or other self-luminous element may be used. The image display unit 101 is formed integrally with the support arm 102. As shown in FIG. 1B, the display unit 101 can be rotated manually or automatically in the direction of the arrow b with the connecting portion with the support arm 102 as the rotation axis a. The support arm 102 can move by sliding in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Image display unit 101 and support The arm 102 is disposed at a position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1A when observing an image, and is disposed at a position indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1A when not observing the image. As a result, the image display unit 101 is arranged in the vicinity of the arm storage unit 103 in a case other than the time of image observation, and does not block the user's view.

 The arm storage unit 103 includes a feeding position sensor 112 and a control circuit 113 therein. The image display unit 101 includes an ambient illuminance sensor 114, an eyeball incident light amount sensor 115, a rotation position sensor 116, and an iris sensor 117 on the outside or inside. In addition, the headphones 104 include a temperature sensor 118 inside.

 The feeding position sensor 112 is provided in the vicinity of the support arm 102 and detects the position of the display unit 101 by detecting the feeding position of the support arm 102. The ambient illuminance sensor 114 is provided outside the display unit 101 (on the side opposite to the user's eyes) and detects ambient illumination. The eyeball incident light amount sensor 115 is provided inside the display unit 101 (a position facing the user's eye) and detects the amount of light incident on the user's eyeball.

 In the rotational position sensor 116, a known encoder is provided at a connection portion between the display unit 101 and the support arm 102, and detects the rotational position of the display unit 101. The iris sensor 117 is provided inside the display unit 101 (a position facing the user's eye) at a position facing the user's eye, and acquires an iris image of the user's eye using an imaging device. Note that the iris sensor 117 is disposed at a position that does not hinder the user from observing the display element 111. The temperature sensor 118 is provided in the vicinity of a position where the headphones 104 come into contact with the user's ears, and detects the temperature. Then, according to the detection result, it is detected whether the headphones 104 are in contact with the user's auricle, and whether the wearable display 100 is worn on the user's head is detected.

 [0012] Each sensor described above has a configuration similar to that of a known technique, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

 The control circuit 113 is connected to each unit, controls each unit, and acquires information detected by each sensor described above.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of wearable display 100. The control circuit 113 includes an image processing unit 120, a display processing unit 121, an audio processing unit 122, a CPU 123, and a memory 124. The image processing unit 120 acquires image information from the outside and performs predetermined image processing. The display processing unit 121 acquires the image information after the image processing by the image processing unit 120, performs predetermined display processing, and outputs it to the display element 111. The sound processing unit 122 acquires sound information from the outside, performs predetermined sound processing, and outputs the sound information to the speakers 104 and 105. The CPU 123 controls each of the image processing unit 120, the display processing unit 121, and the audio processing unit 122, and acquires information detected by each sensor described above.

 [0013] Wearable display 100 includes operation unit 125 such as a button in addition to the components described in FIG. The operation unit 125 may be provided in the main body of the wearable display 100, or may be provided in a remote controller or the like that can be connected to the wearable display 100 by wire or wireless. The CPU 123 is connected to the memory 124 and detects the state of the operation unit 125.

 [0014] In addition, the transmission source of the image information and the sound information may be provided in the form of a memory or a recording medium in the main body of the wearable display 100, and is connected to the wearable display 100 via a wire or wirelessly. May be provided!

 The operation of wearable display 100 having the above-described configuration will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG.

The wearable display 100 according to the present embodiment includes an automatic mode that automatically displays an image having an image quality according to the characteristics of the user's eyes. The automatic mode is set by a user operation via the operation unit 125. Below, wearable display when automatic mode is set

100 operations will be explained.

 In step S1, the CPU 123 determines whether or not the image display unit 101 of the wearable display 100 is in a use state where the image can be observed. The CPU 123 determines whether or not the image display unit 101 is in a use state according to the detection results of the feeding position sensor 112, the rotation position sensor, and the temperature sensor 118. The CPU 123 waits until it is determined that the image display unit 101 is in use, and when it is determined that the image display unit 101 is in use, the CPU 123 starts measurement of the use time by a clock (not shown) in the CPU 123, and step S2 Proceed to As described above, when the image display unit 101 is determined to be in use, more accurate use history (details will be described later) can be obtained by starting measurement of use time.

[0016] In step S2, the CPU 123 recognizes the usage history. Usage history is displayed as an image This includes the usage status such as the number of times the unit 101 has displayed an image, the cumulative usage time, and the wearable display 1 00 last time used. Every time an image is displayed on the image display unit 101, it is recorded in the usage history memory 124.

 [0017] In step S3, the CPU 123 detects the state of the iris. The CPU 123 analyzes the iris image of the user's eye acquired by the iris sensor 117 through the image processing unit 120 and detects the iris state.

 In step S4, the CPU 123 determines whether or not the power to change the image quality of the image displayed on the display element 111 is sufficient. Based on the usage history recognized in step S2 and the iris state detected in step S3, the CPU 123 determines whether or not it is the power to change the image quality of the image displayed on the display element 111. The usage history can determine how familiar the user is with the wearable display 100. The CPU 123 determines whether or not to change the image quality according to such a determination result.

 [0018] Further, as the state of the iris, the display start force is also analyzed by analyzing the time until the iris starts to change and the amount of change of the iris when the iris becomes dark, thereby improving the user's ability to adapt to light and dark. Judgment can be made.

 If the CPU 123 determines that the image quality of the image is to be changed, the CPU 123 proceeds to step S5. On the other hand, when determining that the image quality of the image is not changed, the CPU 123 ends the series of processes. As a result, the display element 111 displays an image with a predetermined image quality. The predetermined image quality may be predetermined by the CPU 123 or specified by the user.

 In step S 5, the CPU 123 detects the surrounding environment according to the detection results of the ambient illuminance sensor 114 and the eyeball incident light amount sensor 115. The CPU 123 can detect the surrounding environment more accurately by obtaining the difference between the detection results of the ambient illuminance sensor 114 and the eyeball incident light amount sensor 115.

In step S6, the CPU 123 determines the initial value of image quality and the rate of change based on the usage history recognized in step S2 and the surrounding environment detected in step S5. The image quality includes elements of image density, color tone, sharpness, and brightness. CPU123 each For an element, the initial value of image quality and the rate of change are determined.

 First, the initial value will be described. The density is preferably determined to be higher than a predetermined density as the user is not used to the wearable display 100 (determined by the usage history). In addition, the brighter the surrounding environment is, the better it is to determine a higher concentration than a predetermined concentration.

 Regarding the color tone, it is preferable that the user is used to use the wearable display 100! / !!, and is determined to be stronger than a predetermined color tone. In addition, it is preferable that the brightness is determined to be stronger than a predetermined color tone as the surrounding environment is brighter.

 [0021] It is preferable that the sharpness is determined to be larger than a predetermined predetermined sharpness as the user gets used to the wearable display 100! Further, it is preferable that the brightness be determined to be larger than a predetermined sharpness as the surrounding environment is brighter. As for the brightness, it is preferable that the user is used to use the wearable display 100 and is determined to be brighter than a predetermined brightness as the user gets used to the wearable display 100! Further, it is preferable that the brighter the surrounding environment, the brighter the predetermined brightness is determined. This is because the brighter the surrounding environment, the greater the difference between the initial value and the predetermined image quality, so the time required for image quality change is shortened by increasing the rate of change.

 [0022] Next, the rate of change will be described. The rate of change is the degree of how close the image quality is when displayed without changing the image quality relative to the initial value of the image quality. In terms of image density, color tone, sharpness, and brightness, it is preferable to determine the rate of change as small as the user is not used to using the wearable display 100. In addition, the brighter the surrounding environment, the greater the rate of change is preferably determined.

 The CPU 123 determines the initial value of the image quality and the rate of change according to a predetermined formula or table. Then, the determined initial value of image quality and the rate of change are recorded in the memory 124 as usage history. The recorded initial value of the image quality and the rate of change may be used for determining whether or not the image quality is changed in subsequent use (see step S4). Further, in subsequent use, it may be used when determining the initial value of image quality and the rate of change.

[0024] In step S7, the CPU 123 executes the original image with respect to the image displayed with the initial image quality. Start changing the image quality back to the image. For the density, color tone, and brightness, the CPU 123 controls the display processing unit 121 to start changing the image quality, and for the sharpness, the image processing unit 120 is controlled to start changing the image quality.

 In step S8, the CPU 123 determines whether or not it has received the interruption instruction. The interruption instruction is given by a user operation via the operation unit 125. When the user wants to interrupt the automatic mode being executed by the wearable display 100, the user can issue an interruption instruction via the operation unit 125.

When CPU 123 receives the interruption instruction, it proceeds to step S9. On the other hand, if the interruption instruction is not received, the CPU 123 proceeds to step S10 described later.

 In step S9, the CPU 123 controls each unit and changes the image to a predetermined image quality.

 In step S10, the CPU 123 determines whether or not the image quality change has been completed. When the CPU 123 determines that the change in image quality has been completed, the CPU 123 ends the series of processes. When the change in the image quality is completed, the image is displayed on the display element 111 with a predetermined image quality. On the other hand, if it is determined that the image quality change has not ended, the CPU 123 returns to step S8.

 [0026] As described above, according to the present embodiment, a display unit that displays an image, a recognition unit that recognizes a usage history, and a rate at which the image quality of the image is changed is determined based on the usage history. A part. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the power consumption and display the image for a long time while displaying an image having an image quality according to the characteristics of the user's eyes.

 Further, according to the present embodiment, the initial value when changing the image quality is determined based on the usage history. Therefore, by determining an appropriate initial value according to the characteristics of the user's eyes, it is possible to realize a change in image quality according to the characteristics of the user's eyes.

 In addition, according to the present embodiment, the detection unit that detects the surrounding environment of the display unit is provided, and the above-described initial value is determined based on the usage history and the surrounding environment. Therefore, by determining the initial value in consideration of the surrounding environment, it is possible to realize a change in image quality in accordance with the use situation.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the image quality is low in image density, color tone, sharpness, and brightness. Determine the rate at which at least one is changed. Therefore, by changing a plurality of elements at the same time, it is possible to display an image that is easier for the user to observe. As a result, the time required for changing the image quality of the image can be shortened.

 [0028] According to the present embodiment, as the use history, at least one of the number of uses and the accumulated use time, which is the number of times the image can be observed by the image display unit, is recognized. Therefore, it is possible to infer whether the user has become accustomed to using the wearable display 100! /, And to determine the characteristics of the user's eyes.

 Further, according to the present embodiment, as the use history, the wearable display is used for the observation of the image by the image display unit, and the elapsed time until the current use is recognized. Therefore, it can be estimated whether the user is accustomed to using the wearable display 100, and the characteristics of the user's eyes can be determined.

[0029] According to the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus further includes a reception unit that receives a user instruction to change the image quality to a predetermined image quality. Therefore, an image with a predetermined image quality can be displayed promptly according to the user's request.

 In the present embodiment, in step S4 in FIG. 3, the determination is made based on either one of the forces shown in the example of determining whether or not the image quality is changed based on the use history and the iris state. It is also good. Further, the determination may be made in consideration of other conditions.

In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which the initial value of image quality and the rate of change are determined based on the usage history and the surrounding environment in step S6 of FIG. A configuration may be made based on the determination. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which considers other conditions and determines. In the present embodiment, an example in which the interruption instruction is received in step S8 in FIG. 3 is shown, but a configuration in which the interruption instruction is received at another timing may be employed.

[0031] In addition, various sensors other than those described in this embodiment are provided, and step S1 (determination of wearing), step S3 (detection of iris state), and step S4 (determination of whether to change the image quality) in FIG. ), Step S5 (detection of surrounding environment), and step S6 (determination of initial value and change rate) may be performed.

In addition, the method for determining the initial value and the rate of change described in step S6 of FIG. 3 is an example. Prefer to determine the term value and the rate of change.

[0032] In addition, the order of processing in the flowchart described in FIG. 3 may be changed as appropriate.

 In this embodiment, the example in which the image quality is changed according to the change rate determined before the start of the image quality change is shown. However, after the image quality change is started, the change rate is changed over time. It is good also as composition changed. For example, the iris state may be analyzed based on the detection result of the iris sensor 117, and the degree of eye fatigue may be estimated to change the rate of change over time.

[0033] When a plurality of users share wearable display 100, a configuration may be adopted in which a usage history is recorded for each user.

 Further, in the present embodiment, the present invention can be similarly applied to a wearable display having an image display unit on both sides in the example in which the image display unit is provided on only one side.

 Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to shapes other than the wearable display 100 described in the present embodiment.

Claims

The scope of the claims  [1] a display for displaying images;  A recognition unit for recognizing the use history of the display unit;  A wearable display comprising: a determining unit that determines a rate of changing the image quality of the image based on the usage history! /.  [2] For the wearable display according to claim 1,  The determination unit further determines an initial value when changing the image quality based on the use history.  Wearable display characterized by that. [3] In the wearable display according to claim 2,  A detection unit for detecting a surrounding environment of the display unit;  The determination unit determines the initial value based on the use history and the surrounding environment.  Wearable display characterized by that. [4] For the wearable display according to claim 1,  The determining unit determines a ratio of changing at least one of the density, color tone, sharpness, and brightness of the image as the image quality.  Wearable display characterized by that. [5] In the wearable display according to claim 1,  The recognizing unit recognizes at least one of the usage count and the accumulated usage time of the display unit as the usage history.  Wearable display characterized by that. [6] In the wearable display according to claim 1,  The recognizing unit recognizes an elapsed time from the last use of the display unit to the current use as the use history.  Wearable display characterized by that. [7] In the wearable display according to claim 1, A reception unit that receives a user instruction to change the image quality to a predetermined image quality; Wearable display characterized by that.