Binocular fixation imaging method and apparatus

Abstract

A controller that may implement variation of the content of binocular images which may depend upon which region of a binocular image a viewer is fixating. An aspect of the present disclosure may include locally controlling the viewer's perceived depth impression which may depend on where in perceived depth in an image the viewer is fixating. This may enable the perceived depth to be optimized across the image for quality and performance reasons.

1 . A binocular imaging system, comprising:
 a display for presenting a left eye image and a right eye image perceptually simultaneously, wherein the left eye image has an associated left eye field of view of the display and the right eye image has an associated right eye field of view of the display;   a gaze tracking element that identifies at least one or both gaze directions of the left eye and the right eye; and   an image controller that:
 calculates a region of binocular interest (RBI) in scene space using information from the gaze tracking element and scene depth measurement information; 
 determines whether the RBI has changed; and 
 alters the displayed left and right eye images. 
   
     
     
         2 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 1 , wherein altering the displayed left and right eye images further comprises affecting the local image depth content in the region of binocular interest. 
     
     
         3 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 1 , wherein the region of binocular interest comprises a three dimensional region in which varies in location based on the gaze direction of one or both of the left and right eyes. 
     
     
         4 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 1 , wherein the image controller alters a subsequently displayed binocular image in response to a change in the region of binocular interest between a currently displayed binocular image and the subsequently displayed binocular image. 
     
     
         5 . A method for varying binocular image content, comprising:
 displaying a current binocular image;   using input from the current binocular image a first information from a gaze tracker and scene depth measurement information to calculate a region of binocular interest (RBI) in scene space;   determining whether the region of binocular interest has changed;   generating a subsequently displayed binocular image; and   making the currently displayed image, the subsequently displayed binocular image.   
     
     
         6 . The method for varying binocular image content of  claim 5 , further comprising receiving a second information from the gaze tracker, a second scene depth measurement information, and a second input from the current binocular image, to calculate the region of binocular interest in scene space when the region of binocular interest has not substantially changed. 
     
     
         7 . The method for varying binocular image content of  claim 5 , further comprising determining a region of binocular fixation in display space (RBF d ) by using gaze tracking information from a viewer watching a displayed binocular image. 
     
     
         8 . The method for varying binocular image content of  claim 7 , further comprising providing an image controller for calculating an equivalent region of binocular fixation in a scene space (RBF s ) by using the region of binocular fixation in display space (RBF d ). 
     
     
         9 . The method for varying binocular image content of  claim 8 , wherein determining whether the region of binocular interest has changed further comprises using the region of binocular fixation in display space (RBF d ) and the equivalent region of binocular fixation in the scene space (RBF s ). 
     
     
         10 . The method for varying binocular image content of  claim 7 , further comprising changing the region of binocular interest based on scene changes while the region of binocular fixation in display space does not substantially change. 
     
     
         11 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 1 , where the image controller further calculates a scene depth mapping for mapping a scene depth range to a perceived depth budget when the RBI has changed. 
     
     
         22 . A binocular imaging system, comprising:
 a device for presenting left- and right-eye imagery perceptually simultaneously;   a head-mounted gaze tracking element that identifies at least one or both gaze directions of a viewer's left eye and right eye; and   an image controller that:
 calculates a region of binocular interest (RBI) using information from the head-mounted gaze tracking element and scene depth measurement information; 
 determines whether the RBI has changed; and 
 alters a perceived depth of the left- and right-eye imagery. 
   
     
     
         23 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 22 , wherein the system comprises a plurality of head-mounted gaze tracking elements for identifying at least one or both gaze directions of the left eye and right eye of a plurality of viewers viewing respective left- and right-eye imagery. 
     
     
         24 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 22 , wherein the image controller further calculates a scene depth mapping for mapping a scene depth range to a perceived depth budget when the RBI has changed. 
     
     
         25 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 24 , wherein altering the perceived depth of the left- and right-eye imagery comprises adjusting an inter-axial camera separation based on the scene depth mapping. 
     
     
         26 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 24 , wherein altering the perceived depth of the left- and right-eye imagery comprises dividing a scene into multiple regions based at least in part on the RBI, wherein at least two regions of the multiple regions are located at different scene depths and comprise differing amounts of perceived depth allocation. 
     
     
         27 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 24 , wherein altering the perceived depth of the left- and right-eye imagery comprises dividing a scene into multiple regions based at least in part on the RBI, wherein at least two regions of the multiple regions are distributed laterally in scene space relative to a corresponding display plane in display space and comprise differing amounts of perceived depth allocation. 
     
     
         28 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 22 , wherein altering the perceived depth of the left- and right-eye imagery comprises generating binocular imagery with at least one region having substantially no stereoscopic separation. 
     
     
         29 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 22 , wherein the image controller further:
 uses the information from the gaze tracking element to identify a region of binocular fixation in display space (RBF d );   determines an equivalent region of binocular fixation in scene space (RBF s ) based on the RBF d ; and   calculates the region of binocular interest (RBI) in scene space using the RBF s  and the scene depth measurement information.   
     
     
         30 . The binocular imaging system of  claim 30 , wherein the RBI substantially encompasses objects that fall in a three-dimensional volume in scene space that is a super-set of the RBF s .