Main Beam Direction Determination for Head-Mounted Displays

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing wireless communication technologies fail to efficiently determine the main beam direction during gaming, leading to potential communication disruptions due to the lack of consideration for the user's head movement bias, which affects the narrowing down of main beam direction candidates.

Innovation Solution

A main beam direction determination device and method that includes an image acquisition unit, region specification unit, secondary candidate selection unit, and main beam direction determination unit, which acquires images of a user wearing a head-mounted display, specifies a region corresponding to the user's head posture in a vertical direction, and selects secondary candidates for main beam directions within this region, thereby determining the optimal communication direction.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If the main beam direction is determined from among all possible candidates without narrowing down, then the determination accuracy is high, but the determination time becomes long

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemain beam direction determination accuracyVSAvoidmain beam direction determination time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the determination process into two stages: first narrowing down candidates based on head movement bias to create a reduced candidate set, then determining the final main beam direction from this smaller set. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by reducing the search space without sacrificing final determination accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent performs preliminary narrowing down of main beam direction candidates based on head movement bias before the actual determination. This preliminary action reduces the number of candidates that need to be evaluated, thereby reducing determination time while maintaining the ability to select the most accurate direction from the pre-filtered candidates.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Loss of time

If the candidates of main beam directions are narrowed down without considering head movement bias, then the determination time is reduced, but the determination accuracy deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemain beam direction determination timeVSAvoidmain beam direction determination accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies different selection criteria based on the specific situation: it narrows down candidates specifically in the direction where head movement bias occurs (vertical direction for jumping/squatting, horizontal direction for neck tilting), while maintaining broader coverage in other directions. This localized approach reduces time in critical areas without unnecessarily limiting accuracy in areas where head movement is less likely.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

3Reliability

If the main beam direction determination is performed frequently to maintain communication quality, then the communication quality is maintained, but the processing load increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication qualityVSAvoidprocessing load
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary narrowing down of main beam direction candidates based on head movement bias before actual communication determination. This preliminary action reduces the number of candidates that need to be evaluated during frequent determinations, thereby reducing processing load while maintaining the ability to select the most accurate direction for sustained communication quality.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3396869B1Main beam direction determination device, main beam direction determination method, and program
Publication Date: 2020.12.16 SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC
  • EP3396869B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3396869B1 patent drawingFigure 2A~2B
  • EP3396869B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Provided are a main beam direction determination device, a main beam direction determination method, and a program that are capable of performing narrowing down of candidates of main beam directions in view of the fact that there is a bias in directions in which a head of a user moves in a situation in which the user plays a game. According to the present invention, an image acquisition unit (72) acquires an image that includes a figure of the user wearing a head-mounted display. A narrowed-down region specification unit (76) specifies, within the image, a region that includes a figure of the head of the user when a posture of the user stretches in a vertical direction. A secondary candidate sector selection unit (78) selects, from among primary candidates of a plurality of the main beam directions, secondary candidates that are directions made to be correspondent to positions within the region. A sector-level sweep processing execution unit (80) determines, from among the secondary candidates, a main beam direction for communication with the head-mounted display. The region has a projection part.