Spatially-correlated multi-display human-machine interface
A human-machine interface involves plural spatially-coherent visual presentation surfaces at least some of which are movable by a person. Plural windows or portholes into a virtual space, at least some of which are handheld and movable, are provided by using handheld and other display devices. Aspects of multi-dimensional spatiality of the moveable window (e.g., relative to another window) are determined and used to generate images. As one example, the moveable window can present a first person perspective “porthole” view into the virtual space, this porthole view changing based on aspects of the moveable window's spatiality in multi-dimensional space relative to a stationary window. A display can present an image of a virtual space, and an additional, moveable display can present an additional image of the same virtual space. Technology is used to determine aspects of the spatiality of the display devices in the physical world, and use the determined spatiality to affect the images displayed on the displays. For example, determined spatiality of the movable display relative to another display can be used to provide relative spatiality of images the two displays present to enhance the user's immersive perception. The movable display can context-switch between pointer functionality and spatial functionality depending on whether it is pointing toward a stationary display.
1. An immersive spatial human-machine interface comprising:
at least one handheld display movable in free space;
an arrangement configured to determine at least some aspects of the attitude of the movable handheld display;
at least one additional display; and
at least one graphical image generator operatively coupled to the handheld display and the additional display, the at least one graphical image generator generating images of a virtual space for display by the handheld display and the additional display,
wherein the at least one graphical image generator generates images of different perspectives viewed from a same virtual location for display by the handheld display and the additional display, at least some of said images generated at least in part in response to the determined attitude aspects to provide spatial correlation between the handheld display and additional display images and thereby enhance the immersive spatiality of the human-machine interface.
2. The interface of claim 1 wherein during a mode when the handheld display and additional display images are similar, the at least one graphical image generator substitutes other images and/or information for display by the handheld display.
3. The interface of claim 2 wherein during a mode when the perspective for the handheld display and the perspective for the additional display is substantially the same or close, the at least one graphical image generator substitutes other images and/or information for display by the handheld display.
4. The interface of claim 1 wherein the additional display comprises a stationary display, and the at least one graphical image generator does not practically alter, except for possible marginal lookaround perspective shifts, the rendering perspective for images generated for the stationary display based on the determined attitude aspects.
5. The interface of claim 4 wherein the at least one graphical image generator alters the rendering perspective for images generated for the stationary display in cases of marginal look-about perspective shifts.
6. An immersive spatial human-machine interface comprising:
at least one handheld display movable in free space;
an arrangement configured to determine at least some aspects of the attitude of the movable handheld display;
at least one additional display; and
at least one graphical image generator operatively coupled to the handheld display and the additional display, the at least one graphical image generator generating different images from a common or nearby location within a virtual space for respective display by the handheld display and the additional display,
wherein the at least one graphical image generator generates images for different viewing directions from the common or nearby location within the virtual space for display by the handheld display and the additional display, at least the images generated for display by the movable display being responsive to the determined attitude aspects to provide spatial correlation between the images displayed by the handheld and additional displays and thereby enhance the immersive spatiality of the human-machine interface.
7. The interface of claim 6 , wherein an image for the handheld display represents at least a part of the virtual space which is not represented in an image for display by the additional display.
8. The interface of claim 6 , wherein the graphical image generator generates images of a reference viewing directions for display by the additional display and an image of a different/free/arbitrary viewing direction which alters according to the determined attitude aspects for display by the handheld display, the different/free/arbitrary viewing direction being based on the reference direction.
9. The interface of claim 8 wherein the graphical image generator generates images for display by each of the handheld display and the additional display so that an image for the handheld display represents at least a part of the virtual space which is not represented in an image for display by the additional display when the determined attitude aspects are out of the range corresponding to the additional display.
10. The interface of claim 6 wherein the graphical image generator generates images for display by each of the handheld display and the additional display so that an image for the handheld display represents at least a part of the virtual space which is not represented in an image for display by the additional display when the determined attitude aspects correspond to a predetermined attitude.
11. The interface of claim 6 , wherein the graphical image generator generates images for display by the handheld display using a virtual camera for the handheld display and images for display by the additional display using a virtual camera for the additional display, and wherein the graphical image generator alters the viewing direction of the virtual camera for the handheld display according to the determined attitude aspects substantially without altering the viewing direction of the virtual camera for the additional display.
12. The interface of claim 11 , wherein the position of the virtual camera for the handheld display and the position of the virtual camera for the additional display are substantially the same.
13. The interface of claim 12 , wherein the virtual camera position is determined based on the position of a player object, which is changed by an operation of a player.
14. The interface of claim 6 , wherein the graphical image generator communicates wirelessly with the handheld display.
15. The interface of claim 6 , wherein the graphical image generator is a single information processing unit, and wherein the information processing unit generates substantially simultaneously both images for the handheld display and images for the additional display.
16. The interface of claim 6 wherein the additional display comprises a stationary display, and the graphical image generator does not alter the rendering viewpoint for images generated for the stationary display based on the determined attitude aspects.
17. The interface of claim 6 wherein the movable display comprises a MARG sensor arrangement to determine attitude.
18. The interface of claim 6 wherein the graphical image generator modifies projection viewpoint in response to the determined attitude aspects of the movable display.
19. The interface of claim 6 wherein the handheld display is enclosed in a housing, and the arrangement is disposed within the housing.
20. The interface of claim 6 wherein the handheld display comprises a touch display.
21. The interface of claim 6 wherein the arrangement includes at least one magnetometer.
22. The interface of claim 6 wherein the arrangement includes at least one element selected from (a) accelerometer, (b) gyroscope, (c) magnetometer, (d) optical, (e) ultrasonic, (f) infrared.
23. The interface of claim 6 wherein the arrangement is outside-looking-in.
24. The interface of claim 6 wherein the arrangement is inside-looking-out.
25. The interface of claim 6 wherein the movable handheld display displays a 3D movable patch of the virtual space that is spatially correlated with the image displayed by the additional display.
26. The interface of claim 6 wherein the movable handheld display displays 3D images.