360-Degree Video Guidance Interface for Attention Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of 360-degree videos often feel lost and miss important moments due to the lack of guidance on where to direct their attention, leading to a suboptimal viewing experience.
Innovation Solution
A non-interruptive user interface is provided that allows users to select a future Field of View (FoV) and includes overlays of icons representing selectable cameras and regions of interest, using picture-in-picture and text hints to guide attention to specific objects or scenes, enabling greater user control over the media consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users are given complete freedom to view 360-degree videos without guidance, then immersive experience is improved, but users feel lost and miss important moments
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by providing navigation hints and guidance before users potentially miss important moments. The interface proactively indicates regions of interest and important events ahead of time, allowing users to adjust their viewing direction in advance rather than reacting after missing content.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary navigation system that mediates between the immersive 360-degree environment and the user's attention. This intermediary layer provides subtle visual cues, icons, and guidance elements that help users orient themselves without breaking immersion, acting as a bridge between freedom of movement and directed attention.
2Ease of operation
If navigation guidance is provided to help users focus on specific regions, then users do not feel lost, but the viewing experience becomes interruptive
Solution Approach 1:
The navigation guidance is applied locally rather than globally - subtle cues are provided only in specific regions where important content exists, rather than overwhelming the entire view. The interface adapts its complexity locally, adding guidance elements only where needed to help users focus on particular objects or events.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial guidance rather than complete direction - providing just enough navigation information to help users find important moments without fully controlling their viewing experience. The guidance is subtle and optional, allowing users to ignore it if they prefer to explore freely, thus avoiding excessive intervention.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple cameras and regions of interest are overlaid on the video, then user control over media consumption is improved, but the interface becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The overlay system serves multiple functions simultaneously - it displays regions of interest, indicates important events, provides navigation hints, and allows user interaction all within a single integrated interface layer. This multi-functional approach consolidates what could be multiple separate controls into one universal interface element.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses simplified visual representations (icons, markers, and indicators) that copy or represent the actual 3D spatial information in a 2D overlay format. These visual copies provide intuitive guidance without requiring complex controls, as the icons naturally map to their corresponding regions in the 360-degree environment.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving content that includes a 360-degree video, determining that guidance is enabled with respect to the content, obtaining an input responsive to determining that the guidance is enabled, and obtaining the guidance with respect to a playback of the content, where the obtained guidance is based on the input. Other embodiments are disclosed.