Head-mountable display system

1. A head mountable display (HMD) system comprising:

a detector configured to detect a first illumination level in a first one of a display image for display to a user via an HMD and an ambient environment around the HMD; and

a controller configured to control a second illumination level in a second one of the display image for display to a user via an HMD and the ambient environment around the HMD, according to the detection.

2. A system according to claim 1 , in which:

the controller is configured to respond to a reduction in illumination as detected by the detector, to control a reduction in the second illumination level controlled by the controller; and to respond to an increase in illumination as detected by the detector, to control an increase in the second illumination level controlled by the controller.

3. A system according to claim 1 , comprising:

a head-mountable display to display the display image.

4. A system according to claim 1 , in which:

the detector is configured to detect the first illumination level in the ambient environment around the HMD; and

the controller is configured to control the second illumination level in the display image for display to the user via the HMD.

5. A system according to claim 4 , in which:

the detector comprises an optical detector mounted on the HMD.

6. A system according to claim 4 , in which:

the detector comprises a filter to filter the detected illumination levels.

7. A system according to claim 4 , further comprising:

a games console configured to generate display images;

in which the controller is configured to control operation of the games console so as to vary in-game illumination of the generated display images.

8. A system according to claim 1 , in which:

the detector is configured to detect the first illumination level in the display image for display to the user via the HMD; and

the controller is configured to control the second illumination level in the ambient environment around the HMD.

9. A system according to claim 8 , further comprising:

a games console configured to generate display images;

in which the detector is configured to detect in-game illumination of the generated display images.

10. A system according to claim 8 , in which:

the detector comprises a filter to filter the detected illumination levels.

11. A system according to claim 8 , in which the controller comprises:

a data link to a lighting controller; and

a command generator to generate lighting control commands for transmission to the lighting controller.

12. A system according to claim 11 , in which the data link is a wireless data link.

13. A system according to claim 1 , in which the controller is configured to vary the second illumination level only during one or both of an initial period of usage and a last period of usage of the HMD by the user.

14. A system according to claim 13 , in which the controller is configured to decrease a degree of variation of the second illumination level during an initial period of usage so that after a predetermined period, no variation is applied.

15. A system according to claim 13 , in which the controller is configured to increase a degree of variation of the second illumination level during a last period of usage.

16. A lighting system comprising:

the HMD system according to claim 11 ; and

a lighting controller connectable to one or more controllable light sources and connected to a respective data link to receive lighting control commands from the HMD system.

17. A method comprising:

detecting, by a detector, a first illumination level in a first one of a display image for display to a user via an HMD and an ambient environment around the HMD; and

controlling, by a controller, a second illumination level in a second one of the display image for display to a user via an HMD and the ambient environment around the HMD, according to the detection.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform the method of claim 17 .