See-Through HMD Display Adjusting Transparency for Situational Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
See-through head-mounted displays (HMDs) often struggle to balance the presentation of visual elements with the need for users to maintain awareness of their surroundings, particularly in dynamic environments, where displayed information can be distracting and impair the user's view of physical objects.
Innovation Solution
The HMD system intelligently reacts to sensor data by adjusting the visibility of visual elements based on detected events, such as user movement or context, allowing for graduated responses that increase transparency, reduce size, or remove elements to prioritize the user's environment awareness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If visual elements are displayed on the HMD, then information presentation capability is improved, but user awareness of surroundings deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The HMD display dynamically adjusts its transparency and visual element visibility based on real-time sensor data detecting user state (e.g., movement, orientation). When motion is detected indicating the user needs to attend to surroundings, the display automatically reduces opacity or removes visual elements, creating a time-varying adaptation that resolves the contradiction between information presentation and situational awareness.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the display transparency is increased to improve surroundings visibility, then safety is improved, but information visibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic transparency adjustment where the display alternates between opaque and transparent states based on detected user activity. During stationary periods, the display remains opaque to maximize information visibility. When movement or orientation changes are detected, transparency increases to prioritize safety and surroundings visibility, then returns to opaque state when the user stabilizes, thereby adaptively resolving the visibility contradiction.
Solution Approach 2:
The HMD employs periodic sensing and response cycles where sensor data is continuously monitored at defined intervals. The display transparency is adjusted in periodic response to detected events (movement, orientation change), creating a rhythm of information presentation followed by situational awareness periods. This periodic action allows the system to alternately optimize for information visibility and safety without permanent compromise to either function.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
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AI summary
Embodiments of the present invention are directed toward allowing a see-through HMD to intelligently react to sensor and other input to adjust how visual elements showing video are displayed. The HMD can react to different sensor input in different ways, enabling the HMD to provide graduated responses based on the degree and type of sensor input received. These responses may further be based on a determination of the context of the user to help ensure an intelligent, appropriate response.