Passthrough Video Fallback for Head-Mounted Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Head-mounted devices face challenges in maintaining a stable passthrough video feed when subsystems crash, leading to visual discomfort for the user due to potential system failures or instabilities.
Innovation Solution
The device incorporates dedicated and auxiliary computation blocks for processing the passthrough video stream, with a fallback mechanism that automatically switches to a reliable video feed by bypassing or deactivating failing auxiliary blocks, relying on dedicated blocks to maintain a stable output, and uses watchdog timers and error detection to manage system failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the head-mounted device uses multiple auxiliary computation blocks to enhance video processing capabilities, then the video processing quality is improved, but the system reliability deteriorates when subsystems crash
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into dedicated computation blocks and auxiliary computation blocks. The dedicated blocks handle essential video feed processing to ensure basic functionality and stability, while auxiliary blocks provide enhanced processing capabilities. This segmentation allows the system to maintain core functionality even when auxiliary blocks fail.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a fallback mechanism that prepares alternative processing paths in advance. When auxiliary computation blocks crash, the system can switch to using only dedicated computation blocks, ensuring continuous operation. This prior cushioning prevents system failure and maintains reliability.
2Reliability
If the device restarts failing components upon crash, then the system can recover from errors, but the visual quality of the video feed degrades and user comfort is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
A fallback mechanism acts as an intermediary between the failing auxiliary computation blocks and the video output. When crashes occur, this intermediary redirects the video processing path to use only dedicated computation blocks, avoiding the need to restart failing components and preventing visual quality degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system prepares alternative processing paths in advance through the fallback mechanism. Instead of restarting failing components which causes visual degradation, the system has pre-configured backup paths that maintain visual quality and user comfort while ensuring system recovery.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the device processes video feed through multiple subsystems for enhanced functionality, then the video processing capability is improved, but the complexity of managing system failures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments computation blocks into dedicated and auxiliary categories with clearly defined roles. Dedicated blocks handle essential processing while auxiliary blocks provide enhanced functionality. This segmentation simplifies failure management by establishing a clear hierarchy and fallback path.
Solution Approach 2:
The fallback mechanism is configured in advance to handle failure scenarios. When subsystems fail, the system automatically switches to using only dedicated computation blocks, simplifying failure management without requiring complex real-time decision-making or_restart procedures.
Data Source
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AI summary
A head-mounted device is provided that includes one or more cameras configured to acquire a raw video feed and one or more displays configured to present a passthrough video feed to a user. Generation of the passthrough video feed can involve processing the raw video feed using an image signal processor and auxiliary compute blocks. One or more of the auxiliary compute blocks can be bypassed in response to detecting one or more failures associated with the auxiliary compute blocks. Configured and operated in this way, the head-mounted device can fall back to a more reliable passthrough video feed without having to power cycle the head-mounted device when a failure occurs.