Gaze-Driven Graphics Rendering for Visual Discontinuity Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Interactive content rendering processes, such as draw calls and frame rate synchronization, can cause user discomfort and nausea due to sudden changes in texture or resolution, especially when processing burdens increase with detailed virtual elements, leading to a break in immersion.
Innovation Solution
A graphics rendering apparatus and method that uses gaze tracking to determine the user's attention area on the screen, executing computationally expensive processes like rendering, frame rate synchronization, and garbage collection in regions less noticeable to the user, such as corners or during blinks, to minimize visual disruptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the number of draw calls is increased to improve rendering detail and realism, then the visual quality of virtual elements improves, but the processing burden increases causing frame rate to decrease and user immersion to break
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different rendering qualities to different regions of the display screen based on user gaze detection. High-detail rendering with multiple draw calls is applied only to regions where the user is looking, while lower-detail rendering is applied to other regions. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining high frame rates overall while preserving rendering detail where it matters most to the user experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the number of draw calls and rendering detail level based on real-time gaze tracking. When the user looks at a particular region, the system increases the number of draw calls for that region; when the user looks elsewhere, the system reduces the number of draw calls. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to optimize between rendering detail and frame rate continuously.
2Manufacturing precision
If texture and resolution changes are applied to improve virtual element detail, then the visual realism improves, but sudden changes cause jarring visual experiences and user discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs texture and resolution changes in advance during periods when the user is least likely to notice, such as when the user is looking at different regions or during natural attention transitions. By preparing and applying these changes before the user's attention shifts, the system minimizes the likelihood of sudden, jarring visual transitions while still achieving high texture resolution when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent exploits the user's natural attentional patterns and gaze behavior to their advantage. By detecting where the user is looking and using that information to timing texture changes, the system converts the potential harm of sudden visual changes into a benefit by synchronizing changes with the user's attentional state, making them less noticeable and more immersive.
3Manufacturing precision
If computationally expensive rendering processes are executed to improve visual quality, then the rendering detail improves, but user immersion breaks due to noticeable processing disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies high-quality rendering processes locally only to the region of the display screen where the user is currently gazing. Computationally expensive processes such as detailed shading, texturing, and lighting are concentrated in the gaze region, while other regions use simplified rendering. This maintains rendering quality where the user cares most while minimizing overall processing disruption to user immersion.
Solution Approach 2:
The rendering quality is dynamically adjusted based on real-time gaze detection. When the user's gaze shifts, the system dynamically redirects computationally expensive rendering processes to follow the gaze, ensuring high rendering quality is always available where the user is looking while adapting the processing load to maintain smooth user experience and immersion.
Data Source
AI summary
A graphics rendering apparatus, comprising: a rendering unit configured to render image content for display on a display screen; an input unit configured to receive one or more images of one or both eyes of a user; and a gaze tracking unit configured to determine, based on one or more of the received images, a region of the display screen towards which a gaze of the user is directed; wherein the rendering unit is configured to execute, in dependence upon the determined region of the display screen, one or more computational processes that are expected to cause a visual discontinuity to occur within at least a part of the image content, wherein the rendering unit is configured to execute the one or more computational processes with respect to one or more parts of the image content that correspond to one or more regions of the display screen that are different from the determined region of the display.