Periocular Tracking for Mixed Reality Display Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies face challenges in providing a realistic and immersive visual experience due to the potential misalignment and movement of head-mounted displays relative to the user's head, leading to unstable imaging and eye strain.
Innovation Solution
A wearable device with an inward-facing imaging system tracks periocular features to determine the relative position of the display to the user's face, adjusting rendering locations and parameters to maintain alignment, and uses machine learning to assess fit and detect removal of the device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If head-mounted display is worn by user, then virtual reality experience is provided, but misalignment and movement relative to user's head occurs causing unstable imaging
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the rendering location of virtual objects based on real-time tracking of periocular features. The display position is continuously monitored and adjusted to compensate for head movements, making the system adaptive rather than static. This resolves the contradiction by allowing the display to move with the user's head while maintaining stable imaging.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses an inward-facing imaging system to continuously monitor the user's periocular region and provide feedback about display position relative to the user's face. This feedback loop enables real-time correction of misalignment, ensuring stable imaging despite head movements. The machine learning model processes this feedback to determine fit quality and trigger adjustments.
2Reliability
If display position is adjusted to compensate for movement, then imaging stability is improved, but device complexity increases due to tracking and adjustment mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The inward-facing imaging system serves multiple functions: it tracks periocular features for position determination, assesses device fit quality, and detects device removal. By using a single imaging system for multiple purposes, the patent reduces overall system complexity while maintaining imaging stability through tracking and adjustment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the user's own facial features (periocular region) as the tracking target, eliminating the need for external tracking markers or complex external sensors. The device tracks itself relative to the user's face using the inward-facing camera, simplifying the tracking mechanism while maintaining accuracy.
3Measurement precision
If machine learning model assesses fit continuously, then fit quality is determined accurately, but processing energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs fit assessment based on periocular feature tracking data that is already being collected for position determination. Rather than implementing a completely separate continuous monitoring system, the patent utilizes existing tracking data to assess fit quality, reducing redundant processing and energy consumption while maintaining accurate fit determination.
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable device can include an inward-facing imaging system configured to acquire images of a user's periocular region. The wearable device can determine a relative position between the wearable device and the user's face based on the images acquired by the inward-facing imaging system. The relative position may be used to determine whether the user is wearing the wearable device, whether the wearable device is optimally fit to the user, and/or whether an adjustment to a rendering location of a virtual object can be made to compensate for a deviation of the wearable device from its normal resting position relative to the user's face.