GB2571286A

GB2571286A - Virtual reality

Info

Publication number: GB2571286A
Application number: GB1802888.6A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Cerrato Maurizio
Original assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc
Current assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc
Priority date: 2018-02-22
Filing date: 2018-02-22
Publication date: 2019-08-28
Also published as: GB201802888D0

Abstract

A virtual reality system comprises a head mountable display (HMD) 1400 by which images of a virtual environment are displayed to a user 1500 wearing the HMD. An image generator (480, Fig. 11) is configured to produce pictures according to a virtual camera position having a virtual camera height (1210, Fig. 12) in a virtual environment. The image generator is also arranged to derive the virtual camera height from data indicative of the actual height (1230, Fig. 12) of the user in the real-world environment. Cameras may be used to capture images of the user so as to enable the system to use proxy indicators of a person’s height, these indicators being the operator’s arm length 1520 or arm span 1530. The user’s height may be input manually. The system is configured to detect image portions related to the user’s body or to the background.

Description

Field of the Disclosure

This disclosure relates to virtual reality systems and methods.

Description of the Prior Art

The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

A head-mountable display (HMD) is one example of a head-mountable apparatus for use in a virtual reality system in which an HMD wearer views a virtual environment. In an HMD, an image or video display device is provided which may be worn on the head or as part of a helmet. Either one eye or both eyes are provided with small electronic display devices.

Some HMDs allow a displayed image to be superimposed on a real-world view. This type of HMD can be referred to as an optical see-through HMD and generally requires the display devices to be positioned somewhere other than directly in front of the user's eyes. Some way of deflecting the displayed image so that the user may see it is then required. This might be through the use of a partially reflective mirror placed in front of the user's eyes so as to allow the user to see through the mirror but also to see a reflection of the output of the display devices. In another arrangement, disclosed in EP-A-1 731 943 and US-A-2010/0157433, a waveguide arrangement employing total internal reflection is used to convey a displayed image from a display device disposed to the side of the user's head so that the user may see the displayed image but still see a view of the real world through the waveguide. Once again, in either of these types of arrangement, a virtual image of the display is created (using known techniques) so that the user sees the virtual image at an appropriate size and distance to allow relaxed viewing. For example, even though the physical display device may be tiny (for example, 10 mm x 10 mm) and may be just a few millimetres from the user's eye, the virtual image may be arranged so as to be perceived by the user at a distance of (for example) 20 m from the user, having a perceived size of 5 m x 5m.

Other HMDs, however, allow the user only to see the displayed images, which is to say that they obscure the real world environment surrounding the user. This type of HMD can position the actual display devices in front of the user's eyes, in association with appropriate lenses or other optical components which place a virtual displayed image at a suitable distance for the user to focus in a relaxed manner - for example, at a similar virtual distance and perceived size as the optical see-through HMD described above. This type of device might be used for viewing movies or similar recorded content, or for viewing so-called virtual reality content representing a virtual space surrounding the user. It is of course however possible to display a real-world view on this type of HMD, for example by using a forward-facing camera to generate images for display on the display devices.

Although the original development of HMDs and virtual reality was perhaps driven by the military and professional applications of these devices, HMDs are becoming more popular for use by casual users in, for example, computer game or domestic computing applications.

The foregoing paragraphs have been provided by way of general introduction, and are not intended to limit the scope of the following claims. The described embodiments, together with further advantages, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Various aspects and features of the present disclosure are defined in the appended claims and within the text of the accompanying description and include at least a head mountable apparatus such as a display and a method of operating a head-mountable apparatus as well as a computer program.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 schematically illustrates an HMD worn by a user;

Figure 2 is a schematic plan view of an HMD;

Figure 3 schematically illustrates the formation of a virtual image by an HMD;

Figure 4 schematically illustrates another type of display for use in an HMD;

Figure 5 schematically illustrates a pair of stereoscopic images;

Figures 6 and 7 schematically illustrate a user wearing an HMD connected to a Sony® PlayStation 3® games console;

Figure 8 schematically illustrates a change of view of user of an HMD;

Figures 9a and 9b schematically illustrate HMDs with motion sensing;

Figure 10 schematically illustrates a position sensor based on optical flow detection;

Figure 11 schematically illustrates image processing carried out in response to a detected position or change in position of an HMD;

Figure 12 schematically illustrates a virtual environment;

Figures 13a and 13b schematically illustrate views within the virtual environment;

Figure 14 schematically illustrates a virtual reality system;

Figure 15 schematically illustrates a user of an HMD viewing a virtual environment; Figures 16 and 17 schematically illustrate virtual reality systems; and

Figure 18 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a method.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to Figure 1, a user 10 is wearing an HMD 20 (as an example of a generic head-mountable apparatus or virtual reality apparatus). The HMD comprises a frame 40, in this example formed of a rear strap and a top strap, and a display portion 50.

Note that the HMD of Figure 1 may comprise further features, to be described below in connection with other drawings, but which are not shown in Figure 1 for clarity of this initial explanation.

The HMD of Figure 1 completely (or at least substantially completely) obscures the user's view of the surrounding environment. All that the user can see is the pair of images displayed within the HMD.

The HMD has associated headphone audio transducers or earpieces 60 which fit into the user's left and right ears 70. The earpieces 60 replay an audio signal provided from an external source, which may be the same as the video signal source which provides the video signal for display to the user's eyes. A boom microphone 75 is mounted on the HMD so as to extend towards the user’s mouth.

The combination of the fact that the user can see only what is displayed by the HMD and, subject to the limitations of the noise blocking or active cancellation properties of the earpieces and associated electronics, can hear only what is provided via the earpieces, mean that this HMD may be considered as a so-called “full immersion” HMD. Note however that in some embodiments the HMD is not a full immersion HMD, and may provide at least some facility for the user to see and/or hear the user’s surroundings. This could be by providing some degree of transparency or partial transparency in the display arrangements, and/or by projecting a view of the outside (captured using a camera, for example a camera mounted on the HMD) via the HMD’s displays, and/or by allowing the transmission of ambient sound past the earpieces and/or by providing a microphone to generate an input sound signal (for transmission to the earpieces) dependent upon the ambient sound.

A front-facing camera 122 may capture images to the front of the HMD, in use. A Bluetooth® antenna 124 may provide communication facilities or may simply be arranged as a directional antenna to allow a detection of the direction of a nearby Bluetooth transmitter.

In operation, a video signal is provided for display by the HMD. This could be provided by an external video signal source 80 such as a video games machine or data processing apparatus (such as a personal computer), in which case the signals could be transmitted to the

HMD by a wired or a wireless connection 82. Examples of suitable wireless connections include

Bluetooth® connections. Audio signals for the earpieces 60 can be carried by the same connection. Similarly, any control signals passed from the HMD to the video (audio) signal source may be carried by the same connection. Furthermore, a power supply 83 (including one or more batteries and/or being connectable to a mains power outlet) may be linked by a cable 84 to the HMD. Note that the power supply 83 and the video signal source 80 may be separate units or may be embodied as the same physical unit. There may be separate cables for power and video (and indeed for audio) signal supply, or these may be combined for carriage on a single cable (for example, using separate conductors, as in a USB cable, or in a similar way to a “power over Ethernet” arrangement in which data is carried as a balanced signal and power as direct current, over the same collection of physical wires). The video and/or audio signal may be carried by, for example, an optical fibre cable. In other embodiments, at least part of the functionality associated with generating image and/or audio signals for presentation to the user may be carried out by circuitry and/or processing forming part of the HMD itself. A power supply may be provided as part of the HMD itself.

Some embodiments of the disclosure are applicable to an HMD having at least one electrical and/or optical cable linking the HMD to another device, such as a power supply and/or a video (and/or audio) signal source. So, embodiments of the disclosure can include, for example:

(a) an HMD having its own power supply (as part of the HMD arrangement) but a cabled connection to a video and/or audio signal source;

(b) an HMD having a cabled connection to a power supply and to a video and/or audio signal source, embodied as a single physical cable or more than one physical cable;

(c) an HMD having its own video and/or audio signal source (as part of the HMD arrangement) and a cabled connection to a power supply; or (d) an HMD having a wireless connection to a video and/or audio signal source and a cabled connection to a power supply.

If one or more cables are used, the physical position at which the cable 82 and/or 84 enters or joins the HMD is not particularly important from a technical point of view. Aesthetically, and to avoid the cable(s) brushing the user’s face in operation, it would normally be the case that the cable(s) would enter or join the HMD at the side or back of the HMD (relative to the orientation of the user’s head when worn in normal operation). Accordingly, the position of the cables 82, 84 relative to the HMD in Figure 1 should be treated merely as a schematic representation.

Accordingly, the arrangement of Figure 1 provides an example of a head-mountable display system comprising a frame to be mounted onto an observer’s head, the frame defining one or two eye display positions which, in use, are positioned in front of a respective eye of the observer and a display element mounted with respect to each of the eye display positions, the display element providing a virtual image of a video display of a video signal from a video signal source to that eye of the observer.

Figure 1 shows just one example of an HMD. Other formats are possible: for example an HMD could use a frame more similar to that associated with conventional eyeglasses, namely a substantially horizontal leg extending back from the display portion to the top rear of the user's ear, possibly curling down behind the ear. In other (not full immersion) examples, the user's view of the external environment may not in fact be entirely obscured; the displayed images could be arranged so as to be superposed (from the user's point of view) over the external environment. An example of such an arrangement will be described below with reference to Figure 4.

In the example of Figure 1, a separate respective display is provided for each of the user's eyes. A schematic plan view of how this is achieved is provided as Figure 2, which illustrates the positions 100 of the user's eyes and the relative position 110 of the user's nose. The display portion 50, in schematic form, comprises an exterior shield 120 to mask ambient light from the user's eyes and an internal shield 130 which prevents one eye from seeing the display intended for the other eye. The combination of the user's face, the exterior shield 120 and the interior shield 130 form two compartments 140, one for each eye. In each of the compartments there is provided a display element 150 and one or more optical elements 160. The way in which the display element and the optical element(s) cooperate to provide a display to the user will be described with reference to Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 3, the display element 150 generates a displayed image which is (in this example) refracted by the optical elements 160 (shown schematically as a convex lens but which could include compound lenses or other elements) so as to generate a virtual image 170 which appears to the user to be larger than and significantly further away than the real image generated by the display element 150. As an example, the virtual image may have an apparent image size (image diagonal) of more than 1 m and may be disposed at a distance of more than 1 m from the user's eye (or from the frame of the HMD). In general terms, depending on the purpose of the HMD, it is desirable to have the virtual image disposed a significant distance from the user. For example, if the HMD is for viewing movies or the like, it is desirable that the user's eyes are relaxed during such viewing, which requires a distance (to the virtual image) of at least several metres. In Figure 3, solid lines (such as the line 180) are used to denote real optical rays, whereas broken lines (such as the line 190) are used to denote virtual rays.

An alternative arrangement is shown in Figure 4. This arrangement may be used where it is desired that the user's view of the external environment is not entirely obscured. However, it is also applicable to HMDs in which the user's external view is wholly obscured. In the arrangement of Figure 4, the display element 150 and optical elements 200 cooperate to provide an image which is projected onto a mirror 210, which deflects the image towards the user's eye position 220. The user perceives a virtual image to be located at a position 230 which is in front of the user and at a suitable distance from the user.

In the case of an HMD in which the user's view of the external surroundings is entirely obscured, the mirror 210 can be a substantially 100% reflective mirror. The arrangement of Figure 4 then has the advantage that the display element and optical elements can be located closer to the centre of gravity of the user's head and to the side of the user's eyes, which can produce a less bulky HMD for the user to wear. Alternatively, if the HMD is designed not to completely obscure the user's view of the external environment, the mirror 210 can be made partially reflective so that the user sees the external environment, through the mirror 210, with the virtual image superposed over the real external environment.

In the case where separate respective displays are provided for each of the user's eyes, it is possible to display stereoscopic images. An example of a pair of stereoscopic images for display to the left and right eyes is shown in Figure 5. The images exhibit a lateral displacement relative to one another, with the displacement of image features depending upon the (real or simulated) lateral separation of the cameras by which the images were captured, the angular convergence of the cameras and the (real or simulated) distance of each image feature from the camera position.

Note that the lateral displacements in Figure 5 could in fact be the other way round, which is to say that the left eye image as drawn could in fact be the right eye image, and the right eye image as drawn could in fact be the left eye image. This is because some stereoscopic displays tend to shift objects to the right in the right eye image and to the left in the left eye image, so as to simulate the idea that the user is looking through a stereoscopic window onto the scene beyond. However, some HMDs use the arrangement shown in Figure 5 because this gives the impression to the user that the user is viewing the scene through a pair of binoculars. The choice between these two arrangements is at the discretion of the system designer.

In some situations, an HMD may be used simply to view movies and the like. In this case, there is no change required to the apparent viewpoint of the displayed images as the user turns the user's head, for example from side to side. In other uses, however, such as those associated with virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) systems, the user's viewpoint needs to track movements with respect to a real or virtual space in which the user is located.

Figure 6 schematically illustrates an example virtual reality system and in particular shows a user wearing an HMD connected to a Sony® PlayStation 3® games console 300 as an example of a base device. The games console 300 is connected to a mains power supply 310 and (optionally) to a main display screen (not shown). A cable, acting as the cables 82, 84 discussed above (and so acting as both power supply and signal cables), links the HMD 20 to the games console 300 and is, for example, plugged into a USB socket 320 on the console 300. Note that in the present embodiments, a single physical cable is provided which fulfils the functions of the cables 82, 84. In Figure 6, the user is also shown holding a pair of hand-held controller 330s which may be, for example, Sony® Move® controllers which communicate wirelessly with the games console 300 to control (or to contribute to the control of) game operations relating to a currently executed game program.

The video displays in the HMD 20 are arranged to display images generated by the games console 300, and the earpieces 60 in the HMD 20 are arranged to reproduce audio signals generated by the games console 300. Note that if a USB type cable is used, these signals will be in digital form when they reach the HMD 20, such that the HMD 20 comprises a digital to analogue converter (DAC) to convert at least the audio signals back into an analogue form for reproduction.

Images from the camera 122 mounted on the HMD 20 are passed back to the games console 300 via the cable 82, 84. Similarly, if motion or other sensors are provided at the HMD 20, signals from those sensors may be at least partially processed at the HMD 20 and/or may be at least partially processed at the games console 300. The use and processing of such signals will be described further below.

The USB connection from the games console 300 also provides power to the HMD 20, according to the USB standard.

Figure 6 also shows a separate display 305 such as a television or other openly viewable display (by which it is meant that viewers other than the HMD wearer may see images displayed by the display 305) and a camera 315, which may be (for example) directed towards the user (such as the HMD wearer) during operation of the apparatus. An example of a suitable camera is the PlayStation Eye camera, although more generally a generic “webcam”, connected to the console 300 by a wired (such as a USB) or wireless (such as WiFi or Bluetooth) connection.

The display 305 may be arranged (under the control of the games console) to provide the function of a so-called “social screen”. It is noted that playing a computer game using an HMD can be very engaging for the wearer of the HMD but less so for other people in the vicinity (particularly if they are not themselves also wearing HMDs). To provide an improved experience for a group of users, where the number of HMDs in operation is fewer than the number of users, images can be displayed on a social screen. The images displayed on the social screen may be substantially similar to those displayed to the user wearing the HMD, so that viewers of the social screen see the virtual environment (or a subset, version or representation of it) as seen by the HMD wearer. In other examples, the social screen could display other material such as information relating to the HMD wearer’s current progress through the ongoing computer game. For example, the HMD wearer could see the game environment from a first person viewpoint whereas the social screen could provide a third person view of activities and movement of the HMD wearer’s avatar, or an overview of a larger portion of the virtual environment. In these examples, an image generator (for example, a part of the functionality of the games console) is configured to generate some of the virtual environment images for display by a display separate to the head mountable display.

Figure 7 schematically illustrates a similar arrangement (another example of a virtual reality system) in which the games console is connected (by a wired or wireless link) to a socalled “break out box” acting as a base or intermediate device 350, to which the HMD 20 is connected by a cabled link 82, 84. The breakout box has various functions in this regard. One function is to provide a location, near to the user, for some user controls relating to the operation of the HMD, such as (for example) one or more of a power control, a brightness control, an input source selector, a volume control and the like. Another function is to provide a local power supply for the HMD (if one is needed according to the embodiment being discussed). Another function is to provide a local cable anchoring point. In this last function, it is not envisaged that the break-out box 350 is fixed to the ground or to a piece of furniture, but rather than having a very long trailing cable from the games console 300, the break-out box provides a locally weighted point so that the cable 82, 84 linking the HMD 20 to the break-out box will tend to move around the position of the break-out box. This can improve user safety and comfort by avoiding the use of very long trailing cables.

It will be appreciated that the localisation of processing in the various techniques described in this application can be varied without changing the overall effect, given that an HMD may form part of a set or cohort of interconnected devices (that is to say, interconnected for the purposes of data or signal transfer, but not necessarily connected by a physical cable). So, processing which is described as taking place “at” one device, such as at the HMD, could be devolved to another device such as the games console (base device) or the break-out box. Processing tasks can be shared amongst devices. Source signals, on which the processing is to take place, could be distributed to another device, or the processing results from the processing of those source signals could be sent to another device, as required. So any references to processing taking place at a particular device should be understood in this context. Similarly, where an interaction between two devices is basically symmetrical, for example where a camera or sensor on one device detects a signal or feature of the other device, it will be understood that unless the context prohibits this, the two devices could be interchanged without any loss of functionality.

As mentioned above, in some uses of the HMD, such as those associated with virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) systems, the user's viewpoint needs to track movements with respect to a real or virtual space in which the user is located.

This tracking is carried out by detecting motion of the HMD and varying the apparent viewpoint of the displayed images so that the apparent viewpoint tracks the motion.

Figure 8 schematically illustrates the effect of a user head movement in a VR or AR system.

Referring to Figure 8, a virtual environment is represented by a (virtual) spherical shell 250 around a user. This provides an example of a virtual display screen (VDS). Because of the need to represent this arrangement on a two-dimensional paper drawing, the shell is represented by a part of a circle, at a distance from the user equivalent to the separation of the displayed virtual image from the user. A user is initially at a first position 260 and is directed towards a portion 270 of the virtual environment. It is this portion 270 which is represented in the images displayed on the display elements 150 of the user's HMD. It can be seen from the drawing that the VDS subsists in three dimensional space (in a virtual sense) around the position in space of the HMD wearer, such that the HMD wearer sees a current portion of VDS according to the HMD orientation.

Consider the situation in which the user then moves his head to a new position and/or orientation 280. In order to maintain the correct sense of the virtual reality or augmented reality display, the displayed portion of the virtual environment also moves so that, at the end of the movement, a new portion 290 is displayed by the HMD.

So, in this arrangement, the apparent viewpoint within the virtual environment moves with the head movement. If the head rotates to the right side, for example, as shown in Figure 8, the apparent viewpoint also moves to the right from the user's point of view. If the situation is considered from the aspect of a displayed object, such as a displayed object 300, this will effectively move in the opposite direction to the head movement. So, if the head movement is to the right, the apparent viewpoint moves to the right but an object such as the displayed object 300 which is stationary in the virtual environment will move towards the left of the displayed image and eventually will disappear off the left-hand side of the displayed image, for the simple reason that the displayed portion of the virtual environment has moved to the right whereas the displayed object 300 has not moved in the virtual environment.

Figures 9a and 9b schematically illustrated HMDs with motion sensing. The two drawings are in a similar format to that shown in Figure 2. That is to say, the drawings are schematic plan views of an HMD, in which the display element 150 and optical elements 160 are represented by a simple box shape. Many features of Figure 2 are not shown, for clarity of the diagrams. Both drawings show examples of HMDs with a motion detector for detecting motion of the observer’s head.

In Figure 9a, a forward-facing camera 322 is provided on the front of the HMD. This may be the same camera as the camera 122 discussed above, or may be an additional camera.

This does not necessarily provide images for display to the user (although it could do so in an augmented reality arrangement). Instead, its primary purpose in the present embodiments is to allow motion sensing. A technique for using images captured by the camera 322 for motion sensing will be described below in connection with Figure 10. In these arrangements, the motion detector comprises a camera mounted so as to move with the frame; and an image comparator operable to compare successive images captured by the camera so as to detect inter-image motion.

Figure 9b makes use of a hardware motion detector 332. This can be mounted anywhere within or on the HMD. Examples of suitable hardware motion detectors are piezoelectric accelerometers or optical fibre gyroscopes. It will of course be appreciated that both hardware motion detection and camera-based motion detection can be used in the same device, in which case one sensing arrangement could be used as a backup when the other one is unavailable, or one sensing arrangement (such as the camera) could provide data for changing the apparent viewpoint of the displayed images, whereas the other (such as an accelerometer) could provide data for image stabilisation.

Figure 10 schematically illustrates one example of motion detection using the camera 322 of Figure 9a.

The camera 322 is a video camera, capturing images at an image capture rate of, for example, 25 images per second. As each image is captured, it is passed to an image store 400 for storage and is also compared, by an image comparator 410, with a preceding image retrieved from the image store. The comparison uses known block matching techniques (socalled “optical flow” detection) to establish whether substantially the whole image has moved since the time at which the preceding image was captured. Localised motion might indicate moving objects within the field of view of the camera 322, but global motion of substantially the whole image would tend to indicate motion of the camera rather than of individual features in the captured scene, and in the present case because the camera is mounted on the HMD, motion of the camera corresponds to motion of the HMD and in turn to motion of the user’s head.

The displacement between one image and the next, as detected by the image comparator 410, is converted to a signal indicative of motion by a motion detector 420. If required, the motion signal is converted by to a position signal by an integrator 430.

As mentioned above, as an alternative to, or in addition to, the detection of motion by detecting inter-image motion between images captured by a video camera associated with the HMD, the HMD can detect head motion using a mechanical or solid state detector 332 such as an accelerometer. This can in fact give a faster response in respect of the indication of motion, given that the response time of the video-based system is at best the reciprocal of the image capture rate. In some instances, therefore, the detector 332 can be better suited for use with higher frequency motion detection. However, in other instances, for example if a high image rate camera is used (such as a 200 Hz capture rate camera), a camera-based system may be more appropriate. In terms of Figure 10, the detector 332 could take the place of the camera 322, the image store 400 and the comparator 410, so as to provide an input directly to the motion detector 420. Or the detector 332 could take the place of the motion detector 420 as well, directly providing an output signal indicative of physical motion.

Other position or motion detecting techniques are of course possible. For example, a mechanical arrangement by which the HMD is linked by a moveable pantograph arm to a fixed point (for example, on a data processing device or on a piece of furniture) may be used, with position and orientation sensors detecting changes in the deflection of the pantograph arm. In other embodiments, a system of one or more transmitters and receivers, mounted on the HMD and on a fixed point, can be used to allow detection of the position and orientation of the HMD by triangulation techniques. For example, the HMD could carry one or more directional transmitters, and an array of receivers associated with known or fixed points could detect the relative signals from the one or more transmitters. Or the transmitters could be fixed and the receivers could be on the HMD. Examples of transmitters and receivers include infra-red transducers, ultrasonic transducers and radio frequency transducers. The radio frequency transducers could have a dual purpose, in that they could also form part of a radio frequency data link to and/or from the HMD, such as a Bluetooth® link.

Figure 11 schematically illustrates image processing carried out in response to a detected position or change in position of the HMD.

As mentioned above in connection with Figure 10, in some applications such as virtual reality and augmented reality arrangements, the apparent viewpoint of the video being displayed to the user of the HMD is changed in response to a change in actual position or orientation ofthe user’s head.

With reference to Figure 11, this is achieved by a motion sensor 450 (such as the arrangement of Figure 10 and/or the motion detector 332 of Figure 9b) supplying data indicative of motion and/or current position to a required image position detector 460, which translates the actual position of the HMD into data defining the required image for display. An image generator 480 accesses image data stored in an image store 470 if required, and generates the required images from the appropriate viewpoint for display by the HMD. The external video signal source can provide the functionality of the image generator 480 and act as a controller to compensate for the lower frequency component of motion of the observer’s head by changing the viewpoint of the displayed image so as to move the displayed image in the opposite direction to that of the detected motion so as to change the apparent viewpoint of the observer in the direction ofthe detected motion.

For example, the image generator 480, which may be embodied as part of the games console 300, provides an example of an image generator configured to generate images of the virtual environment for display to the user.

In some examples, the images may be a so-called first person view of the virtual environment. That is to say, the view provided to the wearer to the HMD is the view which that person would have if he were an occupant himself of the virtual environment. So, the view is from the player’s own position within the virtual environment.

Figure 12 schematically illustrates an issue which can occur in the generation of such first person point of view images. In Figure 12, a part of a virtual environment includes a virtual house 1200, purely as an example. This is intended to be a representation in the virtual environment of an actual house having a height, in the virtual environment, equivalent to that of a normal residential house (for example, 10 metres).

The height, within the virtual environment, of a virtual camera 1210, 1220 is significant when it comes to providing a natural view of the virtual environment having a user height 1230. If the height or elevation of the virtual camera (such as the virtual camera 1220) is significantly different to the user’s own height, the user may receive an unnatural impression that the user is either taller than or shorter than his normal stature. This can be disconcerting for the user and can be unpleasant in the context of playing a game or otherwise engaging with a virtual environment wearing an HMD. If, however, the virtual camera is set at a height or elevation 1240 similar to the height 1230 of the user (in this example, a camera at the virtual height of the virtual camera 1210) then the appearance of the generated images of the virtual environment can be much more natural for the wearer of the HMD.

Figures 13A and 13B schematically illustrate this difference in terms of example images of a door 1250 of Figure 12.

In Figure 13A, the door 1250 is viewed from an unnaturally tall position so that the virtual camera is looking down on the door. This could be disconcerting for a user of a normal or average stature.

In Figure 13B, a lower virtual camera height is in use and, at least to a user of an average stature, the door 1250 appears much more normal than that of Figure 13A.

Therefore, in example embodiments, the image generator mentioned above is configured to generate the images according to a virtual camera position having a virtual camera height in the virtual environment.

Figure 14 schematically illustrates a virtual reality system or apparatus comprising: an HMD 1400 which may include an orientation detector 1405, for example of the type discussed above with reference to Figures 9A-11, one or more user controls 1410, a data processor 1420 such as a game engine, an image processor 1430, a camera 1440 and optionally a social screen 1450 of the type discussed above. Storage media 1480 is optionally provided to store (and to allow retrieval by the data processor of) displayable content and/or game data.

In use, the user wears the HMD 1400 and can operate the one or more controls or controllers 1410. Examples of suitable user controls include the controller 330 shown in Figures 6 and 7. The game engine 1420 provides images and other content such as audio content to the HMD via a wired or wireless connection 1460 and receives input from the controllers 1410 via the connection 1460 or via the camera 1440.

The camera 1440 is directed towards the HMD and/or controllers in use. The camera 1440 can therefore capture a current position and/or orientation of the HMD 1400 and a current position and/or orientation of the controllers 1410, each of which is detected from the captured images by the image processor 1430. These captured positions and/or orientations can be used to control data processing operations of the game engine 1420, such as game control operations.

Similarly, the orientation detector 1405 can provide orientation information (such as data defining a current orientation and/or data defining a detected change in orientation) to the data processor 1420 via the link 1460.

Therefore, in examples, there are various types of control input to the game engine 1420, such as control inputs 1470 derived by the image processor 1430 from captured images captured by the camera 1440 and/or control inputs received from the controls 1410 via the wired or wireless connection 1460. The image processor 1430 provides an example of an image processor to detect, from one or more images captured by the camera 1440, one or more of: (i) a current orientation of the HMD 1400; and (ii) a current location of the HMD 1400. The game engine 1420 provides an example of a data processor to direct a data processing function according to the detection by the image processor. In some examples, the data processing function is a gameplay function.

In example arrangements to be discussed below, the image generator is configured to derive the virtual camera height from data indicative of the actual height of the user currently wearing the HMD.

A profile memory 1490 stores data indicative of the actual height of the user wearing the HMD. According to examples to be discussed below, the profile memory can be populated, for example, by the image processor 1430 based on information (such as an approximation of the user’s real height) derived from images captured by the camera 1440. Alternatively, or in addition, the profile memory 1490 can be populated by data from the controls 1410. The profile memory 1490 may store data indicative of the height only of the user currently wearing the HMD, or may provide data indicative of the height of two or more users from which the current user can be identified (for example by a game-playing user name, user selection by user controls, face recognition or the like) and the appropriate height data obtained from the profile memory.

The data indicative of the actual height of the user is provided to the data processor 1420 which acts as an image generator configured to generate images of the virtual environment, this process involving deriving a virtual camera height from the data indicative of the actual height of the user and generating the images according to that of the virtual camera height.

Therefore, Figure 14 provides an example having a camera 1440 to capture images of the user wearing the HMD and an image processor 1430 to generate the data indicative of the actual height in dependence upon at least one dimension (for example, real height) of the user’s body in the captured images.

Figure 15 schematically illustrates this process, in which the camera 1440 captures images of the user 1500 wearing the HMD 1400. The image processor 1430, from the captured images, can identify one or more of: the user’s height 1510, the user’s arm length 1520 and the user’s arm span 1530 (shown in Figure 15 with the arms retracted by the maximum arm span throughout gameplay can be detected).

The arm length 1520 and/or the arm span 1530 can be used as a proxy for user height, in that a long arm or a wide span can indicate a tall user, for example by a mapping in a look-up table held by the image processor 1430. Note that the profile memory 1490 could store one or both of these (in their role as proxies for user height) as well as or indeed instead of the user’s height, given that the approximation of the users height can be derived from one or both of them.

In another arrangement, the controls 1410 provide a user input to enable the user to input data indicative of the actual height of the user, for example using a data input menu or screen from which the user can select his height from a selection of height ranges.

As discussed above, the profile memory 1490 provides a memory to store the data indicative of the actual height of the user as at least a part of profile data associated with that user.

The profile memory 1490 can also store profile data indicative of one or more other physical aspects of the user, such as other physical dimensions, flexibility, propensity to move and the like, and the image generator (embodied by the data processor 1420, for example) can be configured to generate the images independence upon the data indicative of one or more other physical aspects of the user.

The camera 1440 may be a two-dimensional camera or may be a depth or threedimensional camera. The image processor 1430 can be configured to detect image portions relating to the user’s body by one or more of: the image portions moving; and/or the image portions not relating to background image material. For example, the image processor 1430 may be configured to detect as background image material, one or more of: initially calibrated background image material; image material which remains static; and image material having a greater depth than other image material.

An example of a depth camera is a stereoscopic camera, but other types of cameras using structured infrared light (for example, a projected grid of infrared light from which depth information can be acquired using an infrared sensor) are also capable of detecting the depth parameter of image material in a captured image.

In situations where a depth camera is used, the image processor 1430 can detect the user’s height 1510 from the image height of the captured image of the user (for example, identified using the body part identification techniques discussed above, as a function of the depth 1540, being the distance between the camera 1440 and the user 1500. In the case of a two-dimensional camera, the image processor 1430 can detect the user’s height 1510 as a function of the image height of the user 1500 as captured and the image size of reference dimensions such as the size of one or more reference objects such as a hand-held controller 1550 in the image.

Figures 16 and 17 provide examples of the processors described above, to illustrate the manner by which the profile data is extracted from the profile memory 1490 in each case.

In Figure 16, the profile memory 1490 is populated at least in part by control inputs by the controls 1410 acting as an example of user interface controls. In Figure 17, the profile memory 1490 is populated at least in part by the image processor 1430 acting as an example of a detector 1700.

In each case, a game engine, for example embodied by the data processor 1420, obtains profile data 1720 from the profile memory 1490 by the game engine 1710 issuing a query 1730, for example representing the enquiry “what is the height of the current user of the HMD?”. The query 1730 and the response 1720 can be embodied according to a standardised or common interface or API (application programming interface) so that whichever game software or other virtual representation is running on the game engine 1710, the user height data and/or any other data can be obtained from the profile memory 1490 via the common API.

Figure 18 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a virtual reality processing method comprising:

generating (at a step 1800) images of a virtual environment for display to a user wearing a head mountable display (HMD) according to a virtual camera position having a virtual camera height in the virtual environment;

deriving (at a step 1810) the virtual camera height from data indicative of the actual height of the user wearing the HMD; and displaying (at a step 1820) the generated images to the user wearing the HMD.

It will be appreciated that example embodiments can be implemented by computer software operating on a general purpose computing system such as a games machine. In these examples, computer software, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out any of the methods discussed above is considered as an embodiment of the present disclosure. Similarly, embodiments of the disclosure are provided by a non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium which stores such computer software.

It will also be apparent that numerous modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the disclosure may be practised otherwise than as specifically described herein.

Claims

1. A virtual reality system comprising:

a head mountable display (HMD) by which images of a virtual environment are displayed to a user wearing the HMD; and an image generator configured to generate the images according to a virtual camera position having a virtual camera height in the virtual environment;

the image generator being configured to derive the virtual camera height from data indicative of the actual height of the user wearing the HMD.

2. A system according to claim 1, comprising:

a camera to capture images of the user wearing the HMD; and an image processor to generate the data indicative of the actual height in dependence upon at least one dimension of the user’s body in the captured images.

3. A system according to claim 2, in which the at least one dimension comprises at least one of:

the user’s height;

the user’s arm length; and the user’s arm span.

4. A system according to claim 1, comprising a user input to enable the user to input the data indicative of the actual height of the user.

5. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a memory to store the data indicative of the actual height of the user as at least a part of profile data associated with that user.

6. A system according to claim 5, in which the memory is configured to store profile data indicative of one of more other physical aspects of the user; and the image generator is configured to generate the images in dependence upon the data indicative of one of more other physical aspects of the user.

7. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the image generator is configured to generate the images for display to the user so as to represent the virtual environment from the user’s point of view.

8. A system according to claim 2 or claim 3, in which the camera is a depth camera.

9. A system according to claim 8, in which the image processor is configured to detect image portions relating to the user’s body by one or more of:

the image portions moving;

the image portions not relating to background image material.

10. A system according to claim 9, in which the image processor is configured to detect, as background image material, one or more of:

initially calibrated background image material;

image material which remains static; and image material having a greater depth than other image material.

11. A virtual reality processing method comprising:

generating images of a virtual environment for display to a user wearing a head mountable display (HMD) according to a virtual camera position having a virtual camera height in the virtual environment;

deriving the virtual camera height from data indicative of the actual height of the user wearing the HMD; and displaying the generated images to the user wearing the HMD.

12. Computer software which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of claim 11.

13. A machine-readable, non-transitory storage medium which stores computer software according to claim 12.

Intellectual

Property

Office

Application No: GB1802888.6 Examiner: Dr Fabio Noviello

Claims searched: 1-13 Date of search: 30 July 2018

Patents Act 1977: Search Report under Section 17

Documents considered to be relevant:

Category Relevant to claims Identity of document and passage or figure of particular relevance X 1-13 US 9443352 Bl (GLOVER ET AL.), Abstract, Figures (esp. 1), Description (esp. Column 12, Line 60 to Column 13, Line 10). X 1-13 JP201784214 A (CANON), Abstract, Figures (esp. 2), Description (esp. Paragraphs 0027, 0063, 0074, 0075). X 1, 4-13. US 2017/0358138 Al (DACK ET AL.), Abstract, Figures, Description (esp. Paragraph 0021).