HMD Attention Cues via Gaze Tracking and External Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Head-mounted display (HMD) devices obstruct the user's eyes, making it difficult to interact effectively with people in the physical environment, leading to potential miscommunication due to the lack of clear attention cues.
Innovation Solution
The HMD device incorporates a camera to capture the surrounding environment, an electronic display to render media content, and sensors to track the user's gaze, outputting attention cues based on the direction of gaze and media content to indicate attentiveness to objects or people in the field of view.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If HMD device displays immersive media content covering user's eyes, then immersive experience is improved, but social interaction and communication with physical environment persons is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system consisting of external cameras, displays, and eye-tracking sensors that mediate between the user's immersive experience and social interaction needs. The camera captures the user's eye movements and the external display shows these gaze patterns to others, allowing social communication without breaking the immersive experience. This intermediary mechanism resolves the contradiction by enabling both functions simultaneously through a third-party system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If HMD device obfuscates user's eyes with display, then virtual environment immersion is improved, but ability to indicate attention to physical objects is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a visual copy of the user's eye gaze behavior and displays it externally. Instead of directly showing the physical eyes (which are obscured), the system captures eye movement data and generates a visual representation (copy) that others can see. This copy conveys the same attention information that would naturally come from visible eyes, resolving the information loss while maintaining immersion.
3Area of stationary object
If HMD device renders full-field media content, then field-of-view coverage is improved, but awareness of surrounding environment is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system establishes a feedback loop where external cameras continuously monitor the user's eye movements and gaze direction, and this information is fed back to external observers in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the user to maintain full immersive field-of-view coverage while others remain aware of the user's attention and environmental interactions through the continuous gaze information stream.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure provides methods, devices, and systems for indicating an attentiveness of a user of a head-mounted display (HMD) device. The HMD device may include a camera configured to capture images of the surrounding environment, an electronic display configured to display the images captured by the camera, and one or more sensors configured to track a direction of gaze of the user. In some aspects, the HMD device may output an attention cue based on the images displayed on the electronic display and the user's direction of gaze. The attention cue may indicate an attentiveness of the user to a person or object in the surrounding environment. In some implementations, the attention cue may be output via an attention indicator disposed on an outer surface of the HMD device. In some other implementations, the attention cue may be output via a communication interface that communicates with another HMD device.