Natural perspective projections for head-mounted displays

The display units integrated in today's head-mounted displays (HMDs) provide only a limited field of view (FOV) to the virtual world. In order to present an undistorted view to the virtual environment (VE), the perspective projection used to render the VE has to be adjusted to the limitations caused by the HMD characteristics. In particular, the geometric field of view (GFOV), which defines the virtual aperture angle used for rendering of the 3D scene, is set up according to the display field of view (DFOV). A discrepancy between these two fields of view distorts the geometry of the VE in a way that either minifies or magnifies the imagery displayed to the user. It has been shown that this distortion has the potential to affect a user's perception of the virtual space, sense of presence, and performance on visual search tasks. In this paper, we analyze the user's perception of a VE displayed in a HMD, which is rendered with different GFOVs. We introduce a psychophysical calibration method to determine the HMD's actual field of view, which may vary from the nominal values specified by the manufacturer. Furthermore, we conducted two experiments to identify perspective projections for HMDs, which are identified as natural by subjects--even if these perspectives deviate from the perspectives that are inherently defined by the DFOV. In the first experiment, subjects had to adjust the GFOV for a rendered virtual laboratory such that their perception of the virtual replica matched the perception of the real laboratory, which they saw before the virtual one. In the second experiment, we displayed the same virtual laboratory, but restricted the viewing condition in the real world to simulate the limited viewing condition in a HMD environment. We found that subjects evaluate a GFOV as natural when it is larger than the actual DFOV of the HMD--in some cases up to 50 percent--even when subjects viewed the real space with a limited field of view.     

Measurement methods for LCoS displays

Abstract— Two measurement methods to characterize uniformity and the absolute cell gap of LCoS images will be reviewed. These are simple to use in a production environment and have allowed major improvements in manufacture to be achieved. For the purpose of this paper, the liquid‐crystal mode used is the 45° normally black mode.     

Gaze point estimation on curved display by using session level calibration for flat screen displays

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The advantages of curved screen displays find their place in populations everyday life, therefore it is important to adapt the existing eye tracking systems for...     

Shape from texture for smooth curved surfaces in perspective projection

Projective distortion of surface texture observed in a perspective image can provide direct information about the shape of the underlying surface. Previous theories have generally concerned planar surfaces; this paper presents a systematic analysis of first- and second-order texture distortion cues for the case of a smooth, curved surface. In particular, several kinds of texture gradients are analyzed and are related to surface orientation and surface curvature. The local estimates obtained from these cues can be integrated to obtain a global surface shape, and it is shown that the two surfaces resulting from the well-known tilt ambiguity in the local foreshortening cue typically have qualitatively different shapes. As an example of a practical application of the analysis, a shape-from-texture algorithm based on local orientation-selective filtering is described, and some experimental results are shown.     

Pressure condition for lattice Boltzmann methods on domains with curved boundaries

We propose a lattice Boltzmann algorithm for an average pressure boundary condition at outlets in pipe flow systems. The advantage of this boundary condition is that only the average pressure is used to recover the non-trivial flow fields. The asymptotic analysis shows that this algorithm works for general curved boundaries and renders a second order accurate velocity and a first order accurate pressure approximation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes solution. Here, we verify the accuracy by numerical simulations of a Poiseuille flow and a less symmetric flow with non-trivial pressure field in channels inclined with arbitrary angle, and flows in a pipe with three outlets.     

Advanced methods for displays and remote control of robots

An in-depth evaluation of the usability and situation awareness performance of different displays and destination controls of robots are presented. In two experiments we evaluate the way information is presented to the operator and assess different means for controlling the robot. Our study compares three types of displays: a “blocks” display, a HUD (head-up display), and a radar display, and two types of controls: touch screen and hand gestures. The HUD demonstrated better performance when compared to the blocks display and was perceived to have greater usability compared to the radar display. The HUD was also found to be more useful when the operation of the robot was more difficult, i.e., when using the hand-gesture method. The experiments also pointed to the importance of using a wide viewing angle to minimize distortion and for easier coping with the difficulties of locating objects in the field of view margins. The touch screen was found to be superior in terms of both objective performance and its perceived usability. No differences were found between the displays and the controllers in terms of situation awareness. This research sheds light on the preferred display type and controlling method for operating robots from a distance, making it easier to cope with the challenges of operating such systems.     

Factors influencing the design of perspective flight path displays for guidance and navigation

Many types of modern commercial aircraft are equipped with an Electronic Flight Instrument System, comprising several programmable displays. The flexibility in information presentation of these systems offers the possibility to improve the pilot-aircraft interface significantly. Future concepts, such as enhanced and synthetic vision, will further increase these possibilities. To benefit from this, research into new display concepts is being performed to allow the pilot to operate in a four-dimensional (4D) air-traffic environment, to provide improved spatial and navigational awareness, and to enable a better transition from supervisory to manual control. A possible display format is the so-called perspective flight path display, which originated approximately 40 years ago. The design of perspective flight path displays for guidance and short-term navigation requires the specification of several parameters. Suitable values for these parameters depend on requirements with respect to range and resolution of the required information, the properties of the positioning and attitude determination system, and the abilities of the human operator with respect to perception, interpretation and evaluation of information. In this paper, a review of the various factors to be considered in the design of perspective flight path displays is presented. The relations between the guidance/short-term navigation task-related requirements and the design parameters of a perspective flight path display are discussed, and the consequences of the differences between today's guidance displays and perspective flight path displays for algorithms controlling the display symbology are explained.     

Probabilistic sensitivity analysis methods for general decision models

Probabilistic sensitivity analysis has previously been described for the special case of dichotomous decision trees. We now generalize these techniques for a wider range of decision problems. These methods of sensitivity analysis allow the analyst to evaluate the impact of the multivariate uncertainty in the data used in the decision model and to gain insight into the probabilistic contribution of each of the variables to the decision outcome. The techniques are illustrated using Monte Carlo simulation on a trichotomous decision tree. Application of these powerful tools permits the decision analyst to investigate the structure and limitations of more complex decision problems with inherent uncertainties in the data upon which the decisions are based. Probabilistic sensitivity measures can provide guidance into the allocation of resources to resolve uncertainty about critical components of medical decisions.     

Two general methods for dynamizing decomposable searching problems

We define two classes of decomposable searching problems and consider ways of efficiently dynamizing them. For the first class, DD, we show that both insertions and deletions can be processed efficiently. For the second class, MD, we exploit a merge technique to obtain better insertion times. We also give a number of examples of problems to which the methods apply, including the dynamic maintenance of quadtrees and of the common intersection of finitely many halfspaces in the plane.     

Iterative methods for solving extended general mixed variational inequalities

In this paper, we introduce and consider a new class of mixed variational inequalities involving four operators, which are called extended general mixed variational inequalities. Using the resolvent operator technique, we establish the equivalence between the extended general mixed variational inequalities and fixed point problems as well as resolvent equations. We use this alternative equivalent formulation to suggest and analyze some iterative methods for solving general mixed variational inequalities. We study the convergence criteria for the suggested iterative methods under suitable conditions. Our methods of proof are very simple as compared with other techniques. The results proved in this paper may be viewed as refinements and important generalizations of the previous known results.     

Modeling and analysis of touch on flexible ultra-thin touch sensor panels for AMOLED displays employing finite element methods

The work employs the finite element method (FEM) to model the touch on the flexible ultra-thin touch sensor panel for analyzing touch characteristics and signals. Touch sensor panel readout circuits typically depend on touch signals to determine whether the touch sensor panel is touched or not. However, the ultra-thin touch sensor panel encountered a problem which cannot correctly recognize touch points on this type of touch sensor panel (TSP) on active-matrix organic light emitting diodes (AMOLED) displays since its electrical characteristics are different from the one of the conventional TSP. The modeling techniques for the flexible ultra-thin touch sensor panel on an AMOLED display is used to analyze touch signals from the influence of the thickness of top over layer of the flexible ultra-thin TSP and to observe the variations of mutual capacitance from touch on the flexible ultra-thin TSP. When the flexible ultra-thin touch sensor panel with the thickness of the top over layer less than the threshold thickness of the top over layer is on multi-touch, the phenomenon of the ghost points are generated. The simulation to find the threshold thickness of the top over layer based on the FEM model is conducted, and the simulation results show the top layer thickness should be larger than 107 µm to eliminate the ghost points. Furthermore, a new solution that is an optimization of the electrode pattern of transmitters and receivers in the ultra-thin touch sensor panel to further minimize the threshold thickness of the top over layer of TSP without changing the physical structure of TSP is proposed. The results conducted by using this proposed solution show that TSP top over layer threshold thickness can be reduced to 65 µm without appearance of the ghost points.

     

A general framework for the evaluation of symbol recognition methods

Performance evaluation is receiving increasing interest in graphics recognition. In this paper, we discuss some questions regarding the definition of a general framework for evaluation of symbol recognition methods. The discussion is centered on three key elements in performance evaluation: test data, evaluation metrics and protocols of evaluation. As a result of this discussion we state some general principles to be taken into account for the definition of such a framework. Finally, we describe the application of this framework to the organization of the first contest on symbol recognition in GREC’03, along with the results obtained by the participants.     

A general extending and constraining procedure for linear iterative methods

Algebraic reconstruction techniques (ARTs), on both their successive and simultaneous formulations, have been developed since the early 1970s as efficient ‘row-action methods’ for solving the image-reconstruction problem in computerized tomography. In this respect, two important development directions were concerned with, first, their extension to the inconsistent case of the reconstruction problem and, second, their combination with constraining strategies, imposed by the particularities of the reconstructed image. In the first part of this paper, we introduce extending and constraining procedures for a general iterative method of an ART type and we propose a set of sufficient assumptions that ensure the convergence of the corresponding algorithms. As an application of this approach, we prove that Cimmino's simultaneous reflection method satisfies this set of assumptions, and we derive extended and constrained versions for it. Numerical experiments with all these versions are presented on a head phantom widely used in the image reconstruction literature. We also consider hard thresholding constraining used in sparse approximation problems and apply it successfully to a 3D particle image-reconstruction problem.     

D-Convergence of general linear methods for stiff delay differential equations

This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of delay differential equations (DDEs). We focus on the error behaviour of general linear methods for stiff DDEs. A restricted type of interpolation procedure is considered for general linear methods. D-convergence properties of general linear methods with this interpolation procedure are investigated. Some extant results are unified.     

A general RBDO decoupling approach for different reliability analysis methods

There are available in the literature several papers on the development of methods to decouple the reliability analysis and the structural optimization to solve RBDO problems. Most of them focused on strategies that employ the First Order Reliability Method (FORM) to approximate the reliability constraints. Despite of all these developments, one limitation prevailed: the lack of accuracy in the approximation of the reliability constraints due to the use of FORM. Thus, in this paper, a novel approach for RBDO is presented in order to overcome such a limitation. In this approach, we use the concept of shifting vectors, originally developed in the context of the Sequential Optimization and Reliability Assessment (SORA). However, the shifting vectors are found and updated based on a novel strategy. The resulting framework is able to use any technique for the reliability analysis stage, such as Monte Carlo simulation, second order reliability methods, stochastic polynomials, among others. Thus, the proposed approach overcomes the aforementioned limitation of most of RBDO decoupling techniques, which required the use of FORM for reliability analysis. Several examples are analyzed in order to show the effectiveness of the methodology. Focus is given on examples that are poorly solved or even cannot be tackled by FORM based approaches, such as highly nonlinear limit state functions comprised by a maximum operator or problems with discrete random variables. It should be remarked that the proposed approach was not developed to be more computationally efficient than RBDO decoupling strategies based FORM, but to allow the utilization of any, including more accurate, reliability analysis method.     

Multidimensional ARKN methods for general oscillatory second-order initial value problems

Based on B-series theory, the order conditions of the multidimensional ARKN methods are presented for the general multi-frequency and multidimensional oscillatory second-order initial value problems by Wu et al. (2009). These multidimensional ARKN methods exactly integrate the multi-frequency and multidimensional unperturbed oscillators. In this paper, we pay attention to the analysis of the concrete multidimensional ARKN methods for the general multi-frequency oscillatory second-order initial value problems whose right-hand side functions depend on both  y$y$and  y^′$y^{\prime }$ (the class of physical problems which fall within its scope is broader). Numerical experiments are carried out to show that the new multidimensional ARKN methods are more efficient compared with some well-known methods for dealing with the oscillatory problems in the scientific literature.     

New methods for matching 3-d objects with single perspective views

In this paper we analyze the ability of a computer vision system to derive properties of the three-dimensional (3-D) physical world from viewing two-dimensional (2-D) images. We present a new approach which consists of a model-based interpretation of a single perspective image. Image linear features and linear feature sets are backprojected onto the 3-D space and geometric models are then used for selecting possible solutions. The paper treats two situations: 1) interpretation of scenes resulting from a simple geometric structure (orthogonality) in which case we seek to determine the orientation of this structure relatively to the viewer (three rotations) and 2) recognition of moderately complex objects whose shapes (geometrical and topological properties) are provided in advance. The recognition technique is limited to objects containing, among others, straight edges and planar faces. In the first case the computation can be carried out by a parallel algorithm which selects the solution that has received the largest number of votes (accumulation space). In the second case an object is uniquely assigned to a set of image features through a search strategy. As a by-product, the spatial position and orientation (six degrees of freedom) of each recognized object is determined as well. The method is valid over a wide range of perspective images and it does not require perfect low-level image segmentation. It has been successfully implemented for recognizing a class of industrial parts.     

Toward on-chip datacenters: a perspective on general trends and on-chip particulars

Due to economical reasons, the traditional philosophy in data centers was to scale out, rather than scaling up. However, the advances in CMP technology enabled chip multiprocessors to become more prevalent and they are expected to become more affordable and power-efficient in the coming years. Current trend towards more densely packaged systems and increasing demand for higher performance push the market towards placing datacenters on highly powerful chips that have many cores on a single platform. However, increasing the number of cores on a single chip brings along very important problems to be addressed at the chip level regarding the use of shared resources and QoS satisfaction. After briefly exploring current datacenter perspective, this paper captures the current state of the art in the field of chip multiprocessors through a detailed discussion of different studies that pave the way to the datacenters on-chip. Finally, a number of open research issues are highlighted with the intention of inspiring new contributions and developments in the field of datacenters on-chip.