Peripheral Image Compression for Gaze-Tracked VR Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing demand for high visual display capabilities in devices like gaming devices, video display devices, and virtual/augmented reality systems leads to higher image data sizes and transmission bandwidth requirements, which traditional display and transmission technologies cannot adequately satisfy, especially due to varying optimal resolution densities and the need for efficient data processing in head-mounted displays.
Innovation Solution
The method involves color-specific compression of image data in peripheral regions, where a primary region is maintained at full or high resolution, and secondary and tertiary regions are compressed differently based on expected user focus, using an Image Data Transmission Manager system to encode and decode image data, reducing bandwidth and processing demands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If image data is transmitted at full resolution across the entire display panel, then visual display capability is improved, but transmission bandwidth requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The display panel is divided into multiple regions (first region, second region, third region) with different resolution levels. The image data transmission manager selectively transmits full-resolution data only to the first region while transmitting compressed or lower-resolution data to the second and third regions, thereby reducing overall transmission bandwidth while maintaining visual quality where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the display panel are assigned different quality levels based on their importance. The first region (likely corresponding to the foveal vision area) receives high-quality full-resolution image data, while the second and third regions (peripheral areas) receive lower-quality compressed data, optimizing the balance between visual capability and bandwidth consumption.
2Measurement precision
If image data size is increased for higher resolution display, then visual realism is improved, but computing usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The image data is segmented into different resolution components corresponding to different display regions. The image data transmission manager processes and transmits only the necessary resolution levels for each region, reducing the total computing load for encoding, transmitting, and decoding image data while maintaining visual realism in critical areas.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of applying full compression or full resolution uniformly across the entire image, the system applies partial compression selectively to specific regions. The first region maintains full resolution without compression, while the second and third regions apply varying degrees of compression, optimizing the balance between visual realism and computing efficiency.
3Quantity of substance
If compression is applied to reduce image data size, then transmission bandwidth is reduced, but image quality in compressed regions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different quality levels to different regions of the image based on their visual importance. The first region maintains high image quality with minimal or no compression, while the second and third regions accept lower quality due to their peripheral nature. This local quality approach reduces overall image data size while preserving quality where it matters most.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the compression level and resolution for different regions based on their importance and the viewer's likely focus. The image data transmission manager can adaptively allocate bandwidth and processing resources, ensuring that critical regions maintain high quality while less critical regions use compression to reduce data size.
Data Source
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AI summary
Techniques are described for controlling image display via compression of image data in some image regions while performing less or no compression in other (e.g., peripheral view) regions, with color-specific compression preserving chromatic aberration compensation. Such techniques may be used with display panel(s) of a head-mounted display device used for virtual reality display. A primary region of an image at which to encode and display data at a highest resolution level may be determined by tracking a gaze of a user, while other secondary regions may be selected to be surrounding or other outside the primary region. In the secondary regions, image data for a first (e.g., green) color channel may be encoded at a first compression level for a first resolution level lower higher than for other second color channels, and HDR data may be compressed at higher compression levels than the color-specific data.