Head-Mounted Display Fovea-Adaptive Resolution Rendering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional head-mounted displays waste resources by emitting high resolution images outside the fovea region of the human eye, where they cannot be perceived, due to constant resolution presentation across the retina, leading to inefficient use of power, memory, and processing time.
Innovation Solution
A head-mounted display generates composite content at retinal resolution by dividing an image into a high resolution inset portion, a transitional portion, and a background portion, with the controller adjusting resolutions to match the fovea and non-fovea regions of the eye, and combining these using a peripheral and high resolution inset display to create a seamless image.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If high resolution images are emitted across the entire retina, then visual acuity in the fovea region is improved, but resource consumption (power, memory, processing time) increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different resolution qualities to different regions of the display corresponding to different regions of the retina. The fovea region receives high resolution images while the peripheral regions receive lower resolution images, matching the varying visual acuity across the retina. This resolves the contradiction by optimizing resource allocation to match actual visual perception needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the display area into multiple regions corresponding to different retinal zones (fovea and peripheral regions). Each segment is rendered at an appropriate resolution level, with the high resolution portion directed to the fovea region and lower resolution portions to peripheral regions, thereby reducing overall computational resources while maintaining perceived visual quality.
2Measurement precision
If high resolution images are emitted across the entire retina, then visual acuity is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system processes and emits high resolution images only for the fovea region where visual acuity is required, while using lower resolution for peripheral regions. This selective processing approach maintains visual quality where needed while significantly reducing the total processing time required for the entire image.
Solution Approach 2:
The image processing is segmented into different resolution levels corresponding to different retinal regions. The high resolution processing is applied only to the small fovea region while peripheral regions use lower resolution processing, thereby reducing overall processing time while maintaining visual acuity where it matters most.
3Area of stationary object
If constant resolution is used across the entire display, then visual coverage is maximized, but resource efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements variable resolution across different display areas, with high resolution in the fovea region and lower resolution in peripheral regions. This approach maintains adequate visual coverage across the entire field of view while optimizing energy consumption by matching resolution to actual visual perception capabilities in each region.
Solution Approach 2:
The display area is segmented into high resolution and low resolution zones corresponding to fovea and peripheral retinal regions. This segmentation allows the system to provide comprehensive visual coverage while avoiding the energy waste of rendering high resolution images in peripheral regions where the human eye cannot perceive the detail.
Data Source
AI summary
A head-mounted display (HMD) divides an image into a high resolution (HR) inset portion at a first resolution, a peripheral portion, and a transitional portion. The peripheral portion is downsampled to a second resolution that is less than the first resolution. The transitional portion is blended such that there is a smooth change in resolution that corresponds to a change in resolution between a fovea region and a non-fovea region of a retina. An inset region is generated using the HR inset portion and the blended transitional portion, and a background region is generated using the downsampled peripheral portion. The inset region is provided to a HR inset display, and the background region is provided to a peripheral display. An optics block combines the displayed inset region with the displayed background region to generate composite content.