HCC: CGV: Small: Eyeglass-Style Multi-Layer Optical See-Through Displays for Augmented Reality

二十多年来，研究人员已经展示了增强现实(AR)的潜力，它可以将计算机图形转变为人类视觉的日常扩展，可以增强医疗、制造、维护、智能办公和导航等各种应用。然而，如今公众或行业几乎没有使用增强现实技术。调查人员认为，这种差异很大程度上是因为缺乏合适的高性能和广泛适用的增强现实显示器来部署应用程序。当今市场上性能最好的AR显示器，光学透视式头戴式显示器(HMD)，通常缺乏四个阻碍其广泛使用的关键特性：宽视场、非遮挡、支持相互遮挡以及保存大多数深度线索。据调查人员所知，现有的或拟议中的显示器都没有展示所有这些功能，甚至大多数功能。这个项目采用了一种截然不同的光学透明设计方法，在接近普通眼镜的紧凑外形中提供了所有四个缺失的品质。这种方法依赖于遵循新兴计算显示领域原则的多层显示体系结构，计算显示是一种简单的光学设备，其功能和复杂性通常取决于软件。该项目将现有的多层优化技术从桌面3D显示器应用到光学透视式HMD，同时探索新的方法，如感知误差度量、使用多层遮挡蒙版和视场区域优先级。这些知识将被用来建造光学透明显示器的原型，同时应对诸如校准、跟踪、计算复杂性和延迟等挑战。这种方法的性能将在模拟、校准相机和人类观察者中进行强有力的测试和评估。目标设备将改变增强现实，允许社会利用AR研究的各种应用程序集。拟议的设计是一种截然不同的光学透视式显示器方法，它使用空间光调制器和软件优化来取代传统的反射、折射和衍射光学。在不使用透镜的情况下，在距离人眼所能容纳的距离较近的显示器上产生聚焦图像的能力将被调查。还将研究用于图像形成和遮挡遮挡的显示组件的共享。研究人员还将探索使用多层优化来创建多焦点图像，对不同区域进行优先排序，以便于眼睛跟踪。广泛的影响：研究和实践表明，增强现实有望改善医疗、可访问性、工作人员效率和通信等不同领域。然而，到目前为止，公众或行业对增强现实的使用很少。该项目将带来一种高性能的增强现实显示器，这是使该领域变得实用并让公众从多年具有远见的增强现实研究中获益的迫切需要。该项目开发的科学技术将向更多类别的研究人员开放增强现实的使用，类似于最近商品深度传感器的发展为科学研究提供了新的机会。

For over two decades, researchers have shown the potential of augmented reality (AR) to transform computer graphics into an everyday extension of human vision that can enhance such diverse applications as medicine, manufacturing, maintenance, smart offices, and navigation. However, there is virtually no use of augmented reality by the public or industry today. The investigators believe that this discrepancy is due largely to the lack of suitable high performance and widely applicable augmented reality displays on which applications can be deployed. The most capable AR displays available today, optical see-through head-mounted displays (HMDs), generally lack four key qualities that prevent their widespread use: wide field-of-view, non-encumbering, support for mutual occlusion, and preservation of most depth cues. The investigators know of no existing or proposed displays that feature all, or even most, of these capabilities. This project takes a radically different approach to optical see-through design that offers the potential to deliver all four missing qualities in a compact form factor that approaches ordinary glasses. The approach relies on a multi-layer display architecture that follows the principles of the emerging field of computational displays - simple optical devices whose functionality and complexity generally lies in software. This project applies existing multi-layer optimization techniques from desktop 3D displays to optical see-through HMDs, while exploring new approaches such as perceptual error metrics, the use multiple layers for occlusion masks, and field of view zone prioritization. This knowledge will be used to build prototype optical see-through displays while handing such challenges as calibration, tracking, computational complexity, and latency. The performance of this approach will be robustly tested and evaluated in simulation, with calibrated cameras, and with human viewers. The target device will transform augmented reality, allowing society to take advantage of the diverse set of applications that have been studied in AR. The proposed design is a radically different approach to optical see-through displays that uses spatial light modulators and software optimization to replace conventional reflective, refractive, and diffractive optics. The ability to produce a focused image on a display placed closer than the eye can accommodate without the use of lenses will be investigated. Sharing of display components for both image formation and occlusion masking will also be researched. The investigators will also explore the use of multi-layer optimization to create multi-focal imagery, prioritize different areas over the viewer's field of view, and facilitate eye tracking.Broader Impacts: Research and practice have shown the promise of augmented reality to improve such diverse areas as medicine, accessibility, worker efficiency and communications. However, to date there is very little use of augmented reality by the public or industry. This project will lead to a high performance augmented reality display that is badly needed to make the field practical and allow the public to reap the benefits of years of visionary augmented reality research. The science and technology developed in this project will open the use of augmented reality to a wider class of researchers, similar to how the recent development of the commodity depth sensor has permitted new opportunities for scientific inquiry.