Head-mounted display and position gap adjustment method

1. A head-mounted display comprising:

a display which displays a three-dimensional (3D) video image;

a position obtaining unit configured to measure a position of an inner corner or outer corner of an eye of a viewer with respect to the display;

a standard position storage unit configured to obtain and store, as a standard position relating to the position, the position of the inner corner or outer corner of the eye measured by the position obtaining unit, in calibration for determining the standard position;

a position gap detecting unit configured to detect, as a position gap, a difference between (i) a position of the inner corner or outer corner of the eye of the viewer who is viewing content with respect to the display, which is newly measured by the position obtaining unit, and (ii) the standard position of the viewer stored in the standard position storage unit; and

an image processing unit configured to perform, when the position gap is detected by the position gap detecting unit, image processing on the 3D video image to be displayed on the display, to rotated or parallely move the 3D video image according to the detected position gap;

wherein the position gap detecting unit is configured to detect, as the position gap, a position gap resulting from rotation of the head-mounted display with a nose of the viewer being a pivot point, and in the detection, a downward rotation of a right side of the head-mounted display is a rotation around a point on a right raised surface of the viewer's nose, and a downward rotation of a left side of the head-mounted display is a rotation around a point on a left raised surface of the viewer's nose;

wherein the position obtaining unit includes a camera which captures an image of the inner corner of the eye; and

wherein the position gap detecting unit is configured to detect the position gap by calculating a rotation amount of the head-mounted display using a relative position from the pivot point that is a part of the raised surface of the nose of the viewer to a position of the camera.

2. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 ,

wherein the position obtaining unit includes a sensor which measures a relative position of a pupil of the viewer and the display, and

the head-mounted display further comprises a calibration unit configured to determine the standard position based on the relative position measured by the sensor in a state where the 3D video image is not displayed on the display, and store the determined standard position in the standard position storage unit.

3. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 ,

wherein the image processing unit is configured to rotate each of an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye which constitute the 3D video image, and move each of the images in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction.

4. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 ,

wherein the image processing unit is further configured to perform image processing for displaying, on the display, one of the image for a right eye and the image for a left eye which constitute the 3D video image, as an image for both of the right and left eyes.

5. The head-mounted display according to claim 4 ,

wherein the position obtaining unit is configured to measure the position for each of the right eye and the left eye of the viewer,

the standard position storage unit is configured to store the standard position for each of the right and left eyes of the viewer,

the position gap detecting unit is configured to detect the position gap for each of the right and left eyes of the viewer, and

the image processing unit is configured to perform the image processing on an image for one of the right and left eyes which has a smaller one of the position gaps for each of the right and left eyes of the viewer detected by the position gap detecting unit.

6. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 ,

wherein the image processing unit is configured to (i) perform image processing for displaying, on the display, one of the image for a right eye and the image for a left eye which constitute the 3D video image, as an image for both of the right and left eyes when an amount of the position gap detected by the position gap detecting unit exceeds a predetermined value, and (ii) perform image processing to rotate each of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye, and move each of the images in a horizontal direction and in a vertical direction when the amount of the position gap detected by the position gap detecting unit does not exceed the predetermined value.

7. The head-mounted display according to claim 6 ,

wherein the image processing unit is configured to (i) divide the position gap detected by the position gap detecting unit into rotation and movement in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction, (ii) perform image processing for displaying, on the display, one of the image for the right eye and the image for the left eye, as an image for both of the right and left eyes when an angle of the rotation exceeds a predetermined value, and (iii) perform image processing to rotate each of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye, and move each of the images in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction when the angle of the rotation does not exceed the predetermined value.

8. The head-mounted display according to claim 1 ,

wherein the position gap detecting unit is configured to detect the position gap using, as the standard position, a position of the inner corner or outer corner of the eye positioned close to the center of the image captured by the camera.

9. A head-mounted display position gap adjustment method for adjusting a position gap of a three-dimensional (3D) video image displayed on a head-mounted display, the method comprising:

displaying a 3D video image on a display;

measuring a position of an inner corner or outer corner of an eye of a viewer with respect to the display;

obtaining and storing, as a standard position relating to the position, the position of the inner corner or outer corner of the eye measured in the measuring, in calibration for determining the standard position relating to the position;

detecting, as a position gap, a difference between (i) a position of the inner corner or outer corner of the eye of the viewer who is viewing content with respect to the display, which is newly measured in the measuring, and (ii) the standard position of the viewer stored in the standard position storage unit; and

performing, when the position gap is detected in the detecting, image processing on the 3D video image to be displayed on the display to rotate or parallely move the 3D video image according to the detected position gap;

wherein the detecting involves detecting, as the position gap, a position gap resulting from rotation of the head-mounted display with a nose of the viewer being a pivot point, and in the detection, a downward rotation of a right side of the head-mounted display is a rotation around a point on a right raised surface of the viewer's nose, and a downward rotation of a left side of the head-mounted display is a rotation around a point on a left raised surface of the viewer's nose;

wherein the measuring involves using a camera to capture an image of the inner corner of the eye; and

wherein, in the detecting, detection of the position gap involves calculating a rotation amount of the head-mounted display using a relative position from the pivot point that is a part of the raised surface of the nose of the viewer to a position of the camera.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for use in a computer, the recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon for adjusting a position gap of a three-dimensional (3D) video image displayed on a head-mounted display, the program causing the computer to execute

the steps included in the position gap adjustment method according to claim 9 .