KR20220127503A - Apparatus and method for motion sickness reduction - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for reducing motion sickness and a control method thereof. The control method of the device for reducing motion sickness according to the present invention comprises the steps of: creating a virtual glasses layer; combining externally received or previously stored VR content with the virtual glasses layer; and providing VR combined content combined with the VR content, wherein the virtual glasses layer may include a virtual liquid serving as a horizontal line.

Description

Apparatus and control method for motion sickness reduction {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MOTION SICKNESS REDUCTION}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for reducing motion sickness and a method for controlling the same, and more particularly, to an apparatus for minimizing the occurrence of motion sickness for a viewer in providing VR content, and a method for controlling the same.

Recently, various methods of providing image content have been proposed, and a representative one is to use a head mounted display (HMD).

That is, when a predetermined image is displayed after the face, especially around the eyes, is sealed like an HMD, it is widely used because it can maximize the viewer's immersion.

In particular, if VR (Virtual Reality) is implemented by attaching a gyroscope sensor to the HMD, it has the advantage of providing a virtual reality experience to viewers.

However, the biggest problem in providing video content for virtual reality is that viewers may feel motion sickness.

In other words, although there is a difference for each person, if you watch VR content for a long time, you may feel dizziness or motion sickness symptoms little by little.

The reason why the symptoms of dizziness or motion sickness occur is that the viewer's viewing point (viewing position, etc.) moves but the body does not move, resulting in a mismatch between the information on the balance of the vestibular system and the time.

Therefore, a method for resolving the difference between the balance information of the vestibular system and the visual information, which is the main cause of VR motion sickness, is being requested.

Patent Publication No. 10-2019-0068880

The present invention has been devised to solve the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for minimizing dizziness or motion sickness experienced by VR users and a method for controlling the same.

In order to achieve the above object, there is provided an apparatus for reducing motion sickness according to the present invention, comprising: a layer generating unit for generating a virtual glasses layer; a coupling unit for combining VR content received from the outside or previously stored with the virtual glasses layer; and a combined content providing unit for providing the combined VR content combined in the combining unit, wherein the virtual glasses layer includes a virtual liquid serving as a horizontal line.

Here, a posture determination unit for determining the viewing inclination posture of the VR combined content viewer; The layer generating unit may control the horizontal line formed by the virtual liquid included in the virtual glasses layer to be changed according to the viewing tilting posture of the viewer determined by the posture determining unit.

Here, the virtual glasses layer includes a left-eye glasses layer and a right-eye glasses layer, and the coupling unit combines the left-eye VR content and the left-eye glasses layer among the VR contents, and the right-eye VR content among the VR contents and the right eye glasses layer.

a colorblindness test unit that provides colorblindness test content and receives a response signal to the viewer's colorblindness test content; and a color selector configured to select an identifiable color according to the determined type of colorblindness when it is determined that the viewer is colorblind according to the response signal received by the colorblindness test unit, wherein the layer generating unit is selected by the colorblindness selector. The virtual liquid may be configured with an identifiable color to be included in the virtual glasses layer.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the control method of the motion sickness reduction apparatus according to the present invention comprises the steps of: creating a virtual glasses layer; combining VR content received from the outside or previously stored with the virtual glasses layer; and providing the combined VR combined content, wherein the virtual glasses layer may include a virtual liquid serving as a horizontal line.

Here, determining the viewing tilt posture of the VR combined content viewer; The method may further include controlling a horizontal line formed by the virtual liquid included in the virtual glasses layer to be changed according to the determined viewing inclination posture of the viewer.

Here, the virtual glasses layer includes a left eye glasses layer and a right eye glasses layer, and in step (b), the left eye VR content and the left eye glasses layer among the VR contents are combined, and the right eye among the VR contents You can combine the VR content for the right eye with the glasses layer for the right eye.

Here, providing color blindness test content; The method further comprising the step of receiving a response signal to the viewer's colorblindness test content, and when it is determined that the viewer is colorblind according to the received viewer's response signal, selecting an identifiable color according to the determined type of colorblindness, and selecting the colorblindness The virtual liquid may be configured with the identified identifiable color to be included in the virtual glasses layer.

As described above, according to the present invention, viewers who watch VR content can enjoy VR content for a long time without feeling motion sickness.

That is, since the virtual liquid included in the virtual glasses layer performs a horizontal line display function, the inclination felt by the vestibular organ coincides with the inclination felt by the eyes, and thus the possibility of motion sickness is greatly reduced.

In particular, since a color considering color blindness is selected in configuring the virtual glasses layer for motion sickness reduction, viewers with color blindness may not feel motion sickness even if they enjoy VR content for a long time.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an entire system including a motion sickness reduction device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of the motion sickness reducing device of Figure 1,
3 is a view showing an example of a virtual glasses layer,
4 is a view showing a process of creating VR combined content by combining VR content and virtual glasses layer;
5 is a view showing an example of VR combined content generated when the user turns his/her head left and right;
6 is a view showing an example of VR combined content generated when the user tilts his head left and right,
7 is a control flowchart of the motion sickness reducing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, each embodiment according to the present invention is merely an example for helping understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In particular, the present invention may be composed of a combination of at least any one of individual components, individual functions, or individual steps included in each embodiment.

In particular, for convenience, some of the claims include an alphabet such as '(a)', but the alphabet does not define the order of each step.

In addition, each signal referred to in each embodiment according to the present invention may mean one signal transmitted by one connection, etc., but may also mean a series of signal groups transmitted for the purpose of performing a specific function to be described later. . That is, in each embodiment, a plurality of signals transmitted at a predetermined time interval or transmitted after receiving a response signal from a counterpart device may be expressed as one signal name for convenience.

The configuration of the entire system including the motion sickness reducing device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 1 .

The entire system of FIG. 1 shows a user viewing device 200 and a motion sickness reducing device 100, wherein the user viewing device 200 allows a user to view a predetermined image, and in this embodiment, an HMD (Head) Mounted Display), for example, to reproduce an image received from the outside by being mounted on the user's face.

That is, the user viewing device 200 receives and reproduces an image from the motion sickness reducing device 100 , and is provided with various sensors to detect the user's behavior and transmits the sensed information to the motion sickness reducing device 100 . carry out

For example, the user viewing apparatus 200 may include a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, and the like to detect the user's head rotation direction or head tilt direction, and transmit it to the motion sickness reduction apparatus 100 .

Since the function of the HMD 200 performing such a function corresponds to a known technology, a more detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, as described above, the motion sickness reducing apparatus 100 performs a function of minimizing the occurrence of motion sickness among users viewing the corresponding image by performing a predetermined process on the image reproduced by the user viewing apparatus 200 as described above.

In the present embodiment, the motion sickness reducing device 100 also performs a function of providing image content to the user viewing device 200, but the device (not shown) that actually provides the image content to the user viewing device 200 is separate. may be configured, and in this case, the motion sickness reducing apparatus 100 may perform only image processing for motion sickness reduction.

An example of a specific functional block of the motion sickness reducing apparatus 100 is shown in FIG. 2 .

As shown in the figure, the motion sickness reducing device 100 includes a layer generating unit 1100 , a combining unit 120 , a combined content providing unit 130 , a posture determining unit 140 , a color blindness test unit 150 , and a color line. It may be configured to include a government 160 and a storage unit 170 .

Here, the storage unit 170 stores applications, contents, and various data necessary for the operation of the motion sickness reducing device 100 , and also stores contents and data newly created or received from the outside during the motion of the motion sickness reducing device 100 . perform the function

Meanwhile, the posture determining unit 140 performs a function of determining the posture of a viewer of VR content (or VR combined content to be described later).

For example, the posture determining unit 140 may determine the posture of the viewer viewing the VR content, such as turning or lowering the head.

At this time, the posture determining unit 140 may collect information sensed by various sensors mounted on the user viewing device 200 to determine whether the viewer has a tilted posture and the degree of the tilted state during viewing.

The color-blindness test unit 150 provides color-blindness test content and receives a response signal to the viewer's color-blindness test content.

For example, the color-blindness test unit 150 provides text, etc. made of colors that are indistinguishable to people who are color-blind, to the motion sickness reducing device 100 in the form of an image or a video, and provides the user's It may perform a function of receiving a response (eg, a response in which a number or text recognized by viewing color-blindness test content is entered).

Here, the color-blindness test content may be provided by the motion sickness reduction device 100 directly to the user viewing device 200, or as described above, a separate content providing device (not shown) transmits the content to the user viewing device 200 as described above. ), the motion sickness reduction device 100 may control the transmission to the user viewing device 200 via the corresponding content providing device, and in this case, the user's response may also be received via the corresponding content providing device. .

The color selection unit 160 performs a function of selecting at least one color among components included in the virtual glasses layer 111 to be described later.

For example, when it is determined that the viewer is colorblind according to the response signal of the viewer received by the colorblindness tester 150 , the color selector 160 may select an identifiable color according to the determined type of colorblindness.

Here, the identifiable color may be for the virtual liquid 113 of the glasses layer 111, which will be described later, or may be each color for distinguishing the virtual liquid 113 from the virtual glasses frame 112. .

The layer generator 1100 performs a function of generating the virtual glasses layer 111 .

Here, the virtual glasses layer 111 is a layer including a predetermined eyeglass frame 112 shape as shown in FIG. 3 , and the reason for expressing a 'layer' here is a separate other This is because it is provided as a layer. Further, as will be described later, the glasses layer 111 is formed on a layer higher than the VR content (that is, at least a part of the VR content It is also because it can be placed to cover).

In particular, the virtual glasses layer 111 includes not only the glasses frame 112 but also the virtual liquid 113 serving as a horizontal line.

That is, referring to FIG. 3 , it can be seen that the virtual liquid 113 is half filled along the periphery of the spectacle frame 112 .

The function of the virtual liquid 113 is, for example, that the liquid 113 in the real bottle always maintains a horizontal line even if the bottle is tilted.

That is, the layer generating unit 1100 changes the horizontal line formed by the virtual liquid 113 included in the virtual glasses layer 111 according to the viewing tilting posture of the viewer determined by the posture determining unit 140 (as if it were a horizontal line). It can be changed to appear to keep the ).

For example, when the viewer tilts his/her head to the left while wearing the HMD 200, the virtual liquid 113 included in the virtual glasses layer 111 is rotated in the opposite direction to cause the viewer to rotate the virtual liquid ( 113) is to feel as if the actual liquid 113 (eg, liquid 113 in an inclined bottle) that maintains a horizontal line.

In particular, when an identifiable color is selected by the color selection unit 160 according to the color blindness test result, the layer generating unit 1100 configures the virtual liquid 113 with the identifiable color and includes it in the virtual glasses layer 111 . can make it happen

That is, the layer generating unit 1100 causes the virtual liquids 113 of different colors to be included in the glasses layer 111 according to the color blindness test result.

The size of the spectacle frame 112 included in the virtual spectacles layer 111 shown in FIG. 3 may be changed according to a user's request.

On the other hand, the combiner 120 performs a function of generating VR combined content by combining the VR content received from the outside or previously stored with the virtual glasses layer 111 .

For example, when VR content is stored in the storage unit 170 , the combining unit 120 may extract the VR content from the storage unit 170 and then combine it with the virtual glasses layer 111 , or As described above, when there is a separate device that provides actual content to the user viewing device 200 , the coupling unit 120 may receive the VR content from the device and then combine it with the glasses layer 111 .

For example, when the virtual glasses layer 111 generated by the layer generating unit 1100 includes the left eye glasses layers 111 and 111a and the right eye glasses layers 111 and 111b, the combining unit 120 ) may combine the left-eye VR content layer and the left-eye glasses layers 111 and 111a among VR contents, and combine the right-eye VR content layer and the right eye glasses layers 111 and 111b among VR contents.

As described above, the process of combining each VR content layer for the left eye and the VR content layer for the right eye with the glasses layers 111 and 111a for the left eye and the glasses layers 111 and 111b for the right eye, respectively, is illustrated in FIG. 4 .

The content finally combined in FIG. 4 shows an example in which the same VR combined content is generated for the left eye and the right eye when the left eye and the right eye are the same.

The combined content providing unit 130 performs a function of providing the combined VR content combined in the combining unit 120 .

For example, when the device for reducing motion sickness 100 directly transmits VR content to the user viewing device 200 , the combined content providing unit 130 views the VR combined content in which the VR content and the glasses layer 111 are combined. may be transmitted to the device 200 .

As another example, if there is a separate content providing device that provides VR content to the user viewing device 200 , the combined content providing unit 130 corresponds to the VR combined content in which the VR content and the glasses layer 111 are combined. It may be provided to the content providing device to be delivered to the user viewing device 200 .

5 and 6 show examples of VR-combined content viewed whenever a viewer wearing an HMD (ie, user viewing device) 200 turns their head.

First, FIG. 5 shows an example in which the viewer turns his/her head left and right.

That is, when the viewer turns his head to the left while wearing the HMD 200, the VR combined content as shown in FIG. 5 (a) is displayed on the corresponding HMD 200, and when the viewer turns his head to the right VR-combined content as shown in FIG. 5( b ) is displayed on the corresponding HMD 200 .

Referring to FIG. 5 , it can be seen that when the viewer turns his head, the position of the VR content moves, but the position of the glasses layer 111 is fixed. In other words, viewers have the illusion of having glasses in front of their eyes and watching VR content through the glasses.

Meanwhile, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the viewer slightly turns their head left and right.

That is, when the viewer turns their head to the left by 45 degrees while wearing the HMD 200 , the VR combined content as shown in FIG. 6 ( a ) is displayed on the corresponding HMD 200 , and the viewer turns their head to the right When rotated by 45 degrees, VR combined content as shown in FIG. 6( b ) is displayed on the corresponding HMD 200 .

Referring to FIG. 6 , the position of the VR content moves when the viewer turns his/her head, but the position of the glasses layer 111 is fixed as in FIG. 5 . Furthermore, in FIG. 6 , the virtual liquid 113 included in the glasses layer 111 rotates along the glasses frame 112 as the viewer tilts the head.

6 (a) is a VR-combined content generated when a viewer wearing the HMD 200 tilts his/her head in a 45 degree direction to the left, and FIG. 6 (b) shows a viewer wearing the HMD 200 in a right 45 degree direction It is VR-combined content that is created when you tilt your head toward .

That is, in the case of Figure 6 (a), the viewer tilted his head to the left feels that the VR content and the virtual glasses frame 112 in the VR combined content are tilted to the left, but the virtual liquid 113 is maintaining a horizontal state. , in the case of Figure 6 (b), the viewer tilted his head to the right feels as if the VR content and the virtual glasses frame 112 in the VR combined content are tilted to the right, but the virtual liquid 113 is maintaining a horizontal state.

Hereinafter, an overall control process of the motion sickness reducing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 7 .

In describing the present embodiment, it is assumed that the motion sickness reducing device 100 directly transmits VR content to the user viewing device 200 as an example.

When receiving the content providing request signal from the viewer (step S1), the motion sickness reducing apparatus 100 first transmits a color blindness test image to the user viewing apparatus 200 (step S3).

For example, the motion sickness reducing apparatus 100 sequentially transmits an image for discriminating red-green color blindness that cannot distinguish red from green and an image for discriminating yellow-blue color blindness that cannot distinguish yellow and blue to the user viewing device 200 . While sending, you can request a response from the user.

Then, after receiving the user response (step S5), the motion sickness reduction apparatus 100 determines whether the user is colorblind and the type of colorblindness (step S7). An identifiable color is selected (step S9).

That is, a color that can be identified even though the user is color blind is selected.

Thereafter, the motion sickness reducing device 100 changes the colors of the virtual liquid 113 and the virtual spectacle frame 112 by a combination of a selected identifiable color (step S11), in which the motion sickness reducing device 100 is changed in real time It is also possible to change the identifiable color by considering the color of the VR content.

That is, the motion sickness reduction apparatus 100 changes the colors of each virtual eyeglass frame 112 and the virtual liquid 113 so that the viewer can distinguish all of the VR content, the virtual eyeglass frame 112, and the virtual liquid 113. will be.

Next, the motion sickness reduction device 100 combines the virtual glasses layer 111 including the virtual glasses frame 112 and the virtual liquid 113 with the requested VR content (step S13), and reduces these VR combined contents from motion sickness to the device 100 .

Accordingly, the user using the user viewing device 200 not only watches the VR content requested by the user, but has the illusion of having glasses placed in front of his/her eyes and watching VR content through the glasses, especially When one's head is tilted through the movement of the virtual liquid 113 formed along the eyeglass frame 112 , the tilted state can be visually felt by the function of maintaining the horizontal state of the virtual liquid 113 .

That is, by matching the motion information by the vestibular organ with the motion information by the visual information according to the movement of the viewer, it is possible to minimize the occurrence of motion sickness symptoms that may occur when watching VR content for a long time.

Meanwhile, in the above-described embodiment, the motion sickness reduction function is performed in the device that provides content to the user viewing device 200 as an example, but it goes without saying that the motion sickness reduction function may be implemented in the user viewing device 200 . In this case, the user viewing device 200 itself becomes the motion sickness reducing device 100 .

In particular, in the above-described embodiment, the process in which the VR content requested by the user and the VR combined content in which the virtual glasses layer is combined is displayed on the user viewing device 200 has been mainly described. VR content with layers removed may be provided.

Furthermore, the motion sickness reduction device 100 transmits the VR content layer and the virtual glasses layer to the user viewing device 200 before combining the VR content layer and the virtual glasses layer. Layers can be combined to display. In this case, if there is a user's request, the user viewing device 200 may display only VR content that is not combined with the virtual glasses layer.

That is, the release of any one of the respective layers may be performed dynamically.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, although it is not described separately whether the VR content is 2D content or 3D content, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to 3D content as well as 2D content.

In this case, the processing algorithm applied to the 3D content may be similarly applied to the above-described virtual glasses layer.

For example, a 3D content technology that performs different image processing on the left eye image and the right eye image to feel a three-dimensional effect is also applied to the virtual glasses layer, so that the virtual glasses frame and virtual liquid included in the left eye glasses layer, and the right eye glasses layer The virtual spectacle frame and the virtual liquid included in may not be the same.

Since the 3D image processing technology itself for creating a three-dimensional effect is only known, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, it goes without saying that the process of performing each of the above-described embodiments may be performed by a program or application stored in a predetermined recording medium (eg, computer-readable). Here, the recording medium includes an electronic recording medium such as a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic recording medium such as a hard disk, and an optical recording medium such as a compact disk (CD).

In this case, the program stored in the recording medium may be executed on hardware such as a computer or smart phone to perform each of the above-described embodiments. In particular, at least one of the functional blocks of the motion sickness reducing device according to the present invention described above may be implemented by such a program or application.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but can be practiced with various modifications and modifications within the scope without departing from the gist of the present invention. It will be apparent that such modifications and variations are included in the present invention provided they fall within the scope of the appended claims.

100: motion sickness reducing device 200: user viewing device
110: layer generating unit 120: combining unit
130: combined content providing unit 140: posture determination unit
150: color blindness test unit 160: color selection unit
170: storage

Claims (10)

(a) generating a virtual glasses layer;
(b) combining VR content received from the outside or previously stored with the virtual glasses layer;
(c) providing VR combined content combined in step (b),
The control method of the motion sickness reduction device, characterized in that the virtual glasses layer includes a virtual liquid serving as a horizontal line. According to claim 1,
(d) determining the viewing tilt posture of the VR combined content viewer;
(e) motion sickness reduction, characterized in that it further comprises the step of controlling to change the horizontal line formed by the virtual liquid included in the virtual glasses layer according to the viewing tilt posture of the viewer determined in step (d) How to control the device. According to claim 1,
The virtual glasses layer includes a left eye glasses layer and a right eye glasses layer,
In step (b), the left eye VR content and the left eye glasses layer are combined among the VR contents, and the right eye VR content and the right eye glasses layer are combined among the VR contents. Way. According to claim 1,
(f) providing color blindness test content;
(g) receiving a response signal to the viewer's color blindness test content;
In step (a), when it is determined that the viewer is color blind according to the response signal of the viewer received in step (g), an identifiable color is selected according to the determined type of color blindness, and the virtual color is selected as the identifiable color. A method of controlling a motion sickness reduction device, characterized in that the liquid is configured to be included in the virtual glasses layer. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 4. An application program stored in a computer-readable recording medium in combination with hardware to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 4. a layer generating unit generating a virtual glasses layer;
a coupling unit for combining VR content received from the outside or previously stored with the virtual glasses layer;
Including a combined content providing unit that provides the combined VR combined content in the combining unit,
The device for reducing motion sickness, characterized in that the virtual glasses layer includes a virtual liquid serving as a horizontal line. 8. The method of claim 7,
a posture determination unit for determining the viewing tilt posture of the VR-combined content viewer;
wherein the layer generating unit controls a horizontal line formed by the virtual liquid included in the virtual glasses layer to change according to the viewing tilting posture of the viewer determined by the posture determining unit. 8. The method of claim 7,
The virtual glasses layer includes a left eye glasses layer and a right eye glasses layer,
The coupling unit combines the VR content for the left eye and the glasses layer for the left eye among the VR contents, and combines the VR content for the right eye and the glasses layer for the right eye among the VR contents. 8. The method of claim 7,
a colorblindness test unit that provides colorblindness test content and receives a response signal to the viewer's colorblindness test content;
When it is determined that the viewer is colorblind according to the response signal received by the colorblind test unit, the colorblindness tester further comprises a color selection unit for selecting an identifiable color according to the determined type of colorblindness;
The layer generating unit composes the virtual liquid with the identifiable color selected by the color selection unit so as to be included in the virtual glasses layer.

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