Virtual and augmented reality systems and methods
Inventors
Rodriguez, Jose Felix • Perez, Ricardo Martinez
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-12462410-B2
Publication Date
2025-11-04
Expiration Date
Abstract
A virtual reality (VR) and/or augmented reality (AR) display system is configured to control a display using control information that is embedded in or otherwise included with imagery data to be presented through the display. The control information can indicate depth plane(s) and/or color plane(s) to be used to present the imagery data, depth plane(s) and/or color plane(s) to be activated or inactivated, shift(s) of at least a portion of the imagery data (e.g., one or more pixels) laterally within a depth plane and/or longitudinally between depth planes, and/or other suitable controls.
Core Innovation
The document describes a virtual or augmented reality display system that renders imagery for multiple depth planes and displays virtual objects across those depth planes. A display controller receives rendered virtual or augmented reality imagery data from a graphics processor in frames that include at least one virtual object presented in multiple frames, and controls display based at least in part on control information embedded in the rendered imagery data. The embedded control information indicates a shift, including a longitudinal shift, to apply to the virtual object when displaying the rendered imagery data.
The embedded longitudinal shift causes the at least one virtual object to be displayed in a first depth plane in a first frame and in a second depth plane in a second frame. The document further describes shifts that can include lateral pixel shifts within a depth plane and longitudinal shifts between depth planes. It also describes longitudinal shifts that account for virtual depth planes formed by weighted blending of multiple depth planes, with optional scaling, and shifts applied based on user head pose to govern the displayed depth-plane appearance.
The document further describes how the control information is encoded in the rendered imagery data, including encoding control data in video frames by appending or replacing rows or embedding the control data into pixel bits. It also describes associating depth-plane indicator data with depth-plane sequences to split light-field video into depth-plane sequences. In addition, the document describes deactivating selected depth planes or color fields for power savings, stacked waveguide display concepts, light-field display timing across frames or sub-frames, and dynamically refreshing only portions of a transparent AR display without re-rendering.
Claims Coverage
The partial set includes two independent claims: one directed to a system and one directed to a method. Across these independent claims, the main inventive features include receiving rendered imagery data with embedded control information, displaying imagery for a plurality of depth planes, and using embedded control information indicating a longitudinal shift to place a virtual object in different depth planes across different frames.
Embedded control information for longitudinal depth-plane shift of virtual objects
A virtual or augmented reality display system receives rendered virtual or augmented reality imagery data from a graphics processor, where the rendered imagery data includes at least one virtual object to be presented in both a first frame and a second frame, and controls the display based at least in part on control information embedded in the rendered imagery data, wherein the embedded control information indicates at least one shift including a longitudinal shift to apply to the at least one virtual object when displaying the rendered imagery data to cause the at least one virtual object to be displayed in a first depth plane in the first frame and in the second depth plane in the second frame.
Embedded control information for longitudinal depth-plane shift during depth-plane displaying
A method in a virtual or augmented reality display system that receives rendered virtual or augmented reality imagery data from a graphics processor, where the rendered imagery data includes at least one virtual object to be presented in both a first frame and a second frame, and displays the imagery for a plurality of depth planes based at least in part on control information embedded in the rendered imagery data, wherein the embedded control information indicates at least one shift including a longitudinal shift to apply to the at least one virtual object when displaying the rendered imagery data to cause the at least one virtual object to be displayed in the first depth plane in the first frame and in the second depth plane in the second frame.
Both independent claims center on embedding control information in rendered imagery data and using that embedded information to apply a longitudinal shift so a virtual object is displayed in different depth planes in different frames.
Stated Advantages
Power consumption reductions by deactivating selected depth planes or inactive color fields.
Documented Applications
Virtual or augmented reality display systems and methods that display imagery for a plurality of depth planes using embedded control information in rendered frames.
Transparent AR display that dynamically refreshes only portions of a display.
Light-field display where control data supports splitting light-field frames into depth-plane sequences.
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