US 12,141,339 B2
Image generation apparatus and information presentation method
Junichi Muramoto, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 17/439,014
Filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Apr. 16, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/016648
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 14, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/218131, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 29, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-082183 (JP), filed on Apr. 23, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0147138 A1, May 12, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 3/01 (2006.01); G02B 27/00 (2006.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01); G06T 19/00 (2011.01)
CPC G06F 3/012 (2013.01) [G02B 27/0093 (2013.01); G02B 27/0101 (2013.01); G02B 27/017 (2013.01); G02B 27/0179 (2013.01); G06T 19/006 (2013.01); G02B 2027/014 (2013.01); G02B 2027/0187 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An image generation apparatus comprising:
a viewpoint information acquisition section adapted to acquire, on a basis of movement of a head of a user wearing a head-mounted display, information regarding a viewpoint of the user;
a real space information acquisition section adapted to acquire, on a basis of information from a sensor that detects a state of a real space where the user is present, information regarding the state of the real space in which the user is located;
a viewpoint control section adapted to control a viewpoint used for generating an image displayed on the head-mounted display, where the image includes objects of a virtual space;
an image generation section adapted to generate the image representing a target in a field of view corresponding to the viewpoint, the image to be displayed on the head-mounted display; and
an output section adapted to output the generated image to the head-mounted display, wherein:
in response to control inputs from the user, the viewpoint control section controllably moves the viewpoint, and the image generation section consequently changes the image based on the moved viewpoint: (i) from the user's viewpoint to another person's viewpoint that is different from the user's viewpoint, and (ii) from the other person's viewpoint back to the user's viewpoint,
when the viewpoint moves from the user's viewpoint to the other person's viewpoint, the image that is displayed to the user changes from a state in which an object representing the user in the real space does not appear in the field of view to a state in which the object representing the user appears in the field of view along with the objects of the virtual space, and
the viewpoint control section further determines, as the other person's viewpoint, a viewpoint where a position or direction indicated by the information provider comes within the field of view, and the image generation section arranges a graphics representing the position or direction in the space to be displayed and generates an image representing the space to be displayed in the field of view corresponding to the other person's viewpoint.