Gaze-Based Control System for Immersive Virtual Reality Media
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users find interacting with virtual reality media content using traditional input methods, such as buttons and mice, to be burdensome and detractive from the immersive experience, as it requires physical controls that disrupt the natural engagement with the virtual world.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a gaze-based control system that allows users to navigate and interact with virtual reality media content by directing their gaze at specific targets within the immersive environment, using techniques like eye-tracking and gaze reticles to detect and respond to user attention, enabling hands-free and intuitive control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional input methods (buttons, mice, keyboards) are used for user interaction, then user input can be detected and processed, but user immersion and convenience are reduced due to the need for physical controls that disrupt natural engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical input devices (buttons, mice, keyboards) with a gaze-based control system that uses eye tracking technology. The system detects user gaze direction and duration to identify selections, substituting physical mechanical interactions with optical detection of eye movements and瞳孔 changes, thereby eliminating the need for hands-on controls and enhancing immersion.
2Reliability
If physical controls are required for interaction, then user input detection is reliable, but the immersive experience is detracted by disrupting natural engagement with the virtual world
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system that bridges the gap between natural human behavior and digital input detection. The eye tracking system acts as a mediator, translating involuntary physiological responses (gaze direction, pupil dilation, blink patterns) into reliable digital signals for user input, maintaining both accuracy and immersion by working with rather than against natural human behavior.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables users to interact with the virtual environment using their natural physiological functions (eye movements and reactions) without requiring learned skills or physical manipulation. The user's own biological responses serve as the input mechanism, eliminating the need to adapt to external control devices and thereby maintaining immersive engagement.
3Ease of operation
If gaze-based control is implemented, then user immersion and convenience are enhanced through hands-free interaction, but the system complexity and detection requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The eye tracking system is designed to perform multiple detection functions simultaneously: determining gaze direction, measuring pupil dilation, detecting blink patterns, and identifying fixation duration. This multi-functional approach consolidates several detection requirements into a single integrated system, managing complexity by having one system accomplish multiple measurement tasks that would otherwise require separate sensors and processing channels.
Data Source
AI summary
An exemplary virtual reality media system presents a field of view of an immersive virtual reality world on a display screen of a media player device associated with a user. The field of view includes content of the immersive virtual reality world and dynamically changes in response to user input provided by the user as the user experiences the immersive virtual reality world. Additionally, the virtual reality media system detects that a gaze of the user is directed for a predetermined amount of time at a gaze target included within the field of view. In response to the detection, the virtual reality media system presents an interactive user interface associated with the gaze target. The interactive user interface is presented within the field of view together with the content of the immersive virtual reality world. Corresponding methods and systems are also described.