JP7713337B2 - Presence display device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a presence presentation device that presents the presence of an object to a user.

In recent years, advances in AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) technologies have made it possible for users in remote locations to feel as if they are sharing the same space by wearing AR glasses or a head-mounted display (HMD) (Non-Patent Document 1).

Currently available AR glasses and HMDs do not have sufficient viewing angle and resolution for human visual functions, making it difficult to draw attention to people or information that is temporarily out of the field of view. To address this issue, a method is known in which an arrow or a map of the entire space is displayed within the field of view to visually indicate the area to which attention should be directed. A first prior art has also been proposed that effectively utilizes the localization of sound, which is a vibration transmitted through the air, to indicate the presence of a person outside the field of view (Non-Patent Document 2). A second prior art has also been proposed that indicates the walking direction by presenting vibrations in eight directions around the head and torso (Non-Patent Document 3).

Yoshino et al., "360-degree video sharing system within the same area," Proceedings of the 2019 Annual Conference of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers, 111D-4, 2019. Ouchi et al., "Development of Sound Spatial Games for the Visually Impaired Using Virtual Auditory Display Technology," Entertainment Computing Symposium (EC2017), pp. 348-351, 2017. Amemiya et al., "Development of an indoor walking navigation system utilizing the effectiveness of active exploration in traction direction perception," IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, 97(2), pp. 260-269, 2014-02

However, with the first conventional technology described above, when the content involves highly immersive video and audio, it is difficult to direct the user's attention by localizing the sound. Also, with the second conventional technology described above, the vibration stimulus source is in direct contact with the user, making it difficult to direct the user's attention to an object that is far from the user's body.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a presence indication device that can indicate the presence of an object.

To solve the above-mentioned problems, the presence presentation device of the present invention is equipped with a non-contact skin stimulation unit that generates non-contact skin stimulation that stimulates the skin without contact, and is a presence presentation device that presents to the user the presence of a virtual object in a virtual space or a real object in a real space using the non-contact skin stimulation, and is configured to include a virtual object position calculation unit, a real object position measurement unit, a presence presentation area setting unit, and a presence presentation control unit.

According to this configuration, the multiple non-contact skin stimulation sections are arranged at regular intervals around the user.
The virtual object position calculation unit calculates the position of the virtual object relative to the user.
The real object position measurement unit measures the position of a real object relative to a user.

The presence presentation area setting unit sets in advance, in the virtual space, a presence presentation area, which is an area for presenting a presence, outside the user's effective visual field.
The presence presentation control unit determines whether or not the virtual object or the real object has entered the presence presentation area based on the positions of the virtual object and the real object, and drives the non-contact skin stimulation unit that is closest to the virtual object or real object that has entered the presence presentation area.
The non-contact cutaneous stimulation unit applies a noise stimulus to the user as a non-contact cutaneous stimulus.
The presence presentation control unit stops output of noise stimuli to the non-contact skin stimulation unit closest to the virtual object or real object that has entered the presence presentation area, and causes the other non-contact skin stimulation units to output noise stimuli.

In this way, the presence presentation device uses non-contact skin stimulation to present the presence of an object present around the user in a virtual space or in real space. This allows the presence presentation device to direct the user's attention to an object in an AR or VR environment.

The present invention makes it possible to present the presence of an object.

1A and 1B are external views of the presence indication device according to the first embodiment, in which FIG. 1A shows the device as seen from the front side, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an appearance presentation device according to a first embodiment. FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a non-contact skin stimulation unit in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining setting of a presence presentation area in the first embodiment. 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an appearance indication object correspondence table; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining presentation of a presence in the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the appearance indication device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an appearance presentation device according to a second embodiment. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining presentation of a presence in the second embodiment.

Each embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, each embodiment described below is intended to embody the technical concept of the present invention, and unless otherwise specified, the present invention is not limited to the following. In addition, the same symbols are used for the same means, and descriptions thereof may be omitted.

First Embodiment
[Structure of the Presence Display Device]
The structure of an appearance presentation device 1 according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The presence presentation device 1 uses non-contact cutaneous stimulation to present the presence of a virtual object in a virtual space or a real object in a real space to a user U. As shown in Fig. 1(a) and Fig. 1(b), the presence presentation device 1 includes a main body 2, a plurality of non-contact cutaneous stimulation units 3 (3 ₁ to 3 ₄ ), and headphones 4.

Here, the term "presence" refers to the sensation that some object is present, regardless of whether it can be visually recognized or not, and includes the sense of presence described below.
Furthermore, a sense of presence is the sensation that a visually recognizable object is actually there.

Non-contact skin stimulation means stimulating the skin without contact, and is sometimes called non-contact tactile stimulation. For example, non-contact skin stimulation can be acoustic radiation pressure from ultrasound, wind pressure from blowing air, a warm sensation from infrared rays, or a cold sensation from a spray. In FIG. 1, the non-contact skin stimulation generated by the presence presentation device 1 is indicated by the symbol α.

Moreover, an object refers to a person, an animal, or an object that exists in a virtual space or a real space. When a plurality of users U share the same virtual space, the avatars (incarnations) of the users U are also included in the objects.
Moreover, the virtual space refers to a virtual three-dimensional space generated by the presence presentation device 1. Hereinafter, an object that exists in the virtual space may be referred to as a virtual object. It goes without saying that this virtual object does not actually exist around the user U in the real space.
Moreover, the real space refers to a three-dimensional space in which the user U actually exists. Hereinafter, an object that exists in the real space may be referred to as a real object.

The main body 2 functions as a VR display device, such as a general HMD. In this embodiment, the main body 2 stereoscopically displays a virtual space according to the position and posture of the user U using a two-eye method. The main body 2 also controls the non-contact skin stimulation unit 3, which will be described later. For example, the main body 2 has a goggle-like shape, and is attached to the head of the user U by a belt 2A.

The non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 applies non-contact skin stimulation to the user U. In this embodiment, four non-contact skin stimulation units 3 ₁ to 3 ₄ are arranged to surround the back of the head of the user U via a frame 3A. The non-contact skin stimulation units 3 are arranged at a certain distance from the head of the user U so as not to come into contact with the skin of the user U. The non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 has a cylindrical shape and incorporates a real object position measurement unit 30 and a non-contact skin stimulation unit 31, which will be described later (FIG. 2).

The headphones 4 reproduce audio signals in accordance with the stereoscopic images displayed by the main body 2. The headphones 4 are positioned to cover both ears of the user U, similar to general headphones.

The presence presentation device 1 may also include controllers for the right and left hands (not shown). These controllers allow the user U to perform various actions in the virtual space by changing the position of the controller or by pressing various buttons.

[Configuration of the appearance display device]
The configuration of the presence presentation device 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Here, the configuration of the non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 will be described first, and then the configuration of the main body 2 will be described.

<Non-contact skin stimulation unit>
2, the non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 includes a real object position measurement section 30 and a non-contact skin stimulation section 31. In this embodiment, all of the non-contact skin stimulation units 3 ₁ to 3 ₄ have the same configuration.

The real object position measuring unit 30 measures the position (distance and direction) of the real object relative to the user U. That is, the real object position measuring unit 30 measures the distance between the real object and the user U, and the direction of the real object relative to the user U. Here, the real object position measuring unit 30 is a distance measuring device having directionality. For example, the real object position measuring unit 30 can be a ToF (Time of Flight) type distance measuring device using laser, ultrasonic waves, or infrared rays. Then, the real object position measuring unit 30 outputs the measured position to the presence presentation control unit 25.

The non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 generates a non-contact skin stimulation α that stimulates the skin without contact in response to a command from the presence presentation control unit 25. In this embodiment, the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 applies to the user U one or a combination of two or more of the following as the non-contact skin stimulation α: acoustic radiation pressure from ultrasonic waves, wind pressure from blowing air, a warm sensation from infrared rays, or a cool sensation from spraying. The type of non-contact skin stimulation α to be used can be set arbitrarily. For example, the user U may select the non-contact skin stimulation α according to his or her own preferences, or the content creator may select the non-contact skin stimulation α according to the content of the content. Note that in this embodiment, all non-contact skin stimulation units 31 generate the same type of non-contact skin stimulation α.

<<Measurement range of real objects>>
The measurement range β of the real object in the non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, four non-contact skin stimulation units 3 ₁ to 3 ₄ are arranged at regular intervals to surround the back of the head of the user U. Therefore, the four non-contact skin stimulation units 31 ₁ to 31 ₄ are arranged at regular intervals around the user U. In this embodiment, the non-contact skin stimulation units 31 ₁ to 31 ₄ are arranged toward the back of the head of the user U so that the non-contact skin stimulations α ₁ to α ₄ can be transmitted to the back of the head of the user U. In addition, the four real object position measurement units 30 ₁ to 30 ₄ are arranged radially around the user U so as to correspond to the non-contact skin stimulation units 31 ₁ to 31 _4. As described above, the real object position measurement unit 30 has directivity in the measurement range β of the real object. Therefore, the real object position measurement units 30 ₁ to 30 ₄ are arranged toward the opposite side of the back of the head of the user U so that the positions of real objects existing around the user U can be measured.

In the rightmost non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 ₁ , the real object position measurement section 30 ₁ measures a measurement range β ₁ to the left rear of the user U. Then, in the non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 ₁ , when a real object enters the measurement range β ₁ of the real object position measurement section 30 ₁ , the non-contact skin stimulation section 31 ₁ generates a non-contact skin stimulation α ₁ .

In the second non-contact skin stimulation unit ₃₂ from the right, the real object position measurement unit ₃₀₂ measures a measurement range _β2 on the left side of the center behind the user U. Then, in the non-contact skin stimulation unit ₃₂ , when a real object enters the measurement range _β2 of the real object position measurement unit ₃₀₂ , the non-contact skin stimulation unit ₃₁₂ generates a non-contact skin stimulation _α2 .

In the third non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 ₃ from the right, the real object position measurement unit 30 ₃ measures a measurement range β ₃ on the right side of the center behind the user U. Then, in the non-contact skin stimulation unit 3 ₃ , when a real object enters the measurement range β ₃ of the real object position measurement unit 30 ₃ , the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 ₃ generates a non-contact skin stimulation α ₃ .

In the leftmost non-contact cutaneous stimulation unit ₃₄ , the real object position measurement unit ₃₀₄ measures a measurement range _β4 to the right rear of the user U. Then, in the non-contact cutaneous stimulation unit ₃₄ , when a real object enters the measurement range _β4 of the real object position measurement unit ₃₀₄ , the non-contact cutaneous stimulation unit ₃₁₄ generates a non-contact cutaneous stimulation _α4 .

In this way, the non-contact skin stimulation units 3 ₁ to 3 ₄ share the measurement ranges β ₁ to β ₄ of the real object, and apply the non-contact skin stimulations α ₁ to α ₄ in directions corresponding to the measurement ranges β ₁ to β _4. This allows the user U to recognize the direction of the real object even if the real object is not within the effective field of view from the direction in which the non-contact skin stimulations α ₁ to α ₄ are applied. At this time, it is preferable that the non-contact skin stimulation units 3 reduce overlap of the measurement ranges β of the real object so that the user U can accurately recognize the direction of the real object.

<Main body>
Returning to FIG. 2, the configuration of the main body 2 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2 , the main body 2 includes a position and orientation detection unit 20, a virtual space display unit 21, a virtual space display control unit 22, a virtual object position calculation unit 23, a presence presentation area setting unit 24, a presence presentation control unit 25, and a memory unit 26.

The position and orientation detection unit 20 detects the position and orientation of the user U. In other words, the position and orientation detection unit 20 detects the position and orientation of the presence presentation device 1 worn by the user U as the position and orientation of the user U. For example, like a typical HMD, the position and orientation detection unit 20 is configured with one or more of a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or an infrared camera. Then, the position and orientation detection unit 20 outputs the detected position and orientation of the user U to the virtual space display control unit 22.

The virtual space display unit 21 displays the virtual space. For example, the virtual space display unit 21 is a small flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display that displays images for the right eye and images for the left eye, similar to a typical HMD.

The virtual space display control unit 22 causes the virtual space display unit 21 to display a virtual space according to the position and posture of the user U input from the position and posture detection unit 20. Here, the virtual space display control unit 22 generates a virtual space according to the position and posture of the user U, and causes the virtual space display unit 21 to display the generated virtual space as a stereoscopic image.

The position and orientation detection unit 20, the virtual space display unit 21, and the virtual space display control unit 22 provide the functions of an HMD 27. With this configuration, the presence presentation device 1 can realize a VR display, making the user U feel as if a virtual world or object is present right in front of him or her.

The virtual object position calculation unit 23 calculates the position (distance and direction) of a virtual object relative to the user U. In this embodiment, the virtual object position calculation unit 23 calculates the position of a virtual object relative to the user U in the virtual space displayed by the virtual space display control unit 22. Here, the 3DCG scene of the virtual space describes information such as the shape and coordinates of the user U or an avatar representing the user U, and the shape and coordinates of each virtual object. Therefore, the virtual object position calculation unit 23 can calculate the position of the virtual object by referring to this information. Then, the virtual object position calculation unit 23 outputs the calculated position to the presence presentation control unit 25 via the virtual space display control unit 22.

The presence presentation area setting unit 24 is configured to set a presence presentation area outside the effective field of view in advance based on the position of the user U. Here, the user U operates a controller (not shown) to set a presence presentation area of any size in the presence presentation area setting unit 24.

<< Effective visual field and presence display area >>
The effective visual field V and the presence indication area K will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
Here, the effective visual field V refers to the range in which the user U wearing the presence presentation device 1 can visually recognize the virtual space, in other words, the range of the virtual space that is visible to the user U. In this embodiment, the effective visual field V is equal to the visual field of the HMD. In the example of Fig. 4, the effective visual field V is a fan-shaped area that spreads out by 120 degrees from the front of the user U, and its diameter is 10 meters from the user U.

The presence presentation area K is an area in which a presence is presented. In other words, the presence presentation device 1 presents the presence of objects located within the presence presentation area K, but does not present the presence of objects located outside the presence presentation area K. In this embodiment, it is a semicircular area that surrounds the user U, excluding the effective visual field V. In the example of FIG. 4, the diameter of the presence presentation area K is shorter than the diameter of the effective visual field V, and is 5 meters from the user U.

4 illustrates virtual objects T _V (T _V1 to T _V3 ) and real objects T _R. The virtual objects T _V and real objects T _R will be described in detail later.

Returning to FIG. 2, the description of the configuration of the main body 2 will be continued.
The presence presentation control unit 25 determines whether or not the virtual object _TV or the real object _TR has entered the presence presentation area K, based on the positions of the virtual object _TV and the real object _TR . Then, the presence presentation control unit 25 drives the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 that is closest to the virtual object _TV or real object _{TR that} has entered the presence presentation area K.

In this embodiment, the presence presentation control unit 25 refers to the presence presentation object correspondence table stored in the memory unit 26 and controls the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31. In addition, the presence presentation control unit 25 updates the presence presentation object correspondence table in the memory unit 26 as necessary.

The storage unit 26 is a storage device such as a memory, HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or SSD (Solid State Drive) that stores the presence indication object correspondence table.

<<Table for Presence Display Objects>>
The appearance indicating object correspondence table 250 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
The presence indicating object correspondence table 250 is a table for managing whether or not to indicate the presence of a virtual object T _V and a real object T _R. As shown in Fig. 5(a) , the presence indicating object correspondence table 250 has four data items: an ID 251, a type 252, a position 253, and a flag 254.

The ID 251 represents identification information that uniquely identifies the virtual object T _V and the real object T _R. In the example of Fig. 4, the ID of the virtual object T _V1 is '001', the ID of the virtual object T _V2 is '002', the ID of the virtual object T _V3 is '003', and the ID of the real object T _R is '004'.

The type 252 indicates the type of the object, that is, whether the object is a virtual object T _V or a real object T _R. Specifically, in the type 252, 'V' indicates a virtual object, and 'R' indicates a real object. In the example of Fig. 4, the types of the virtual objects T _V1 to T _V3 are 'V', and the type of the real object T _R is 'R'.

The position 253 represents the position of the virtual object T _V or real object T _R relative to the user U. Here, the position 253 can be described by the relative distance and direction between the virtual object T _V or real object T _R and the user U. The position 253 may also be described in an absolute coordinate system with the user U as the origin.

The flag 254 is a flag indicating whether or not the virtual object T _V and the real object T _R are in the presence presentation area K. Specifically, in the flag 254, 'T' indicates that they are in the presence presentation area K, and 'F' indicates that they are not in the presence presentation area K. In the example of Fig. 4, the flags of the virtual objects T _V1 and T _V2 are 'F', the flag of the virtual object T _V3 is 'T', and the flag of the real object T _R is 'F'.

<<First example of a market indication>>
Returning to FIG. 4, a first example of appearance presentation will be described.
As shown in Fig. 4, in the virtual space generated by the presence presentation device 1, three virtual objects _TV1 to _TV3 exist around the user U. Here, the virtual objects _TV1 and _TV3 are not within the effective field of view V, but the virtual object _TV2 is within the effective field of view V. In addition, another user who shares the same virtual space as the user U exists as a real object _TR . This real object _TR is also not within the effective field of view V. In other words, the user U wearing the presence presentation device 1 can only see the virtual object _TV2 , and cannot see the virtual objects _TV1 , _TV3 , or the real object _TR .

The real object position measuring units 30 ₁ to 30 ₄ measure the position of the real object _TR relative to the user U in each of the measurement ranges β ₁ to β ₄ ( FIG. 3 ). Note that in FIG. 4 , in order to make the drawing easier to see, only the measurement range β ₃ is illustrated among the measurement ranges β ₁ to β ₄ in FIG. 3 . Here, since the real object _TR is within the measurement range β ₃ , the real object position measuring unit 30 ₃ measures the position of the real object _TR relative to the user U. Then, the real object position measuring unit 30 ₃ outputs the position of the real object _TR to the presence presentation control unit 25.

The presence presentation control unit 25 compares the position input from the real object position measurement unit ₃₀₃ with the position of the presence presentation area K, and determines whether or not the real object _TR is within the presence presentation area K. In the example of FIG. 4 , the presence presentation control unit 25 determines that the real object _TR is not within the presence presentation area K.

Next, the presence presentation control unit 25 writes information about the real object _TR in the presence presentation object correspondence table 250 in the storage unit 26. As shown in Fig. 5(a) , the presence presentation control unit 25 sets the ID of the real object _TR to '004', the type of the real object _TR to 'R', the position of the real object _TR measured by the real object position measuring unit ₃₀₃ to '...', and the flag of the real object _TR to 'F'.

Here, since the flag for the real object _TR in the presence exhibiting object correspondence table 250 is 'F', the presence exhibiting control unit 25 does not drive any of the non-contact skin stimulation units 31 ₁ to 31 ₄ and does not exhibit the presence of the real object _TR to the user U.

Next, the virtual object position calculation unit 23 calculates the positions of the virtual objects _V1 to _TV3 relative to the user U. Then, the virtual object position calculation unit 23 outputs the positions of the virtual objects _TV1 to _TV3 to the presence presentation control unit 25 via the virtual space display control unit 22.

The presence presentation control unit 25 compares the position input from the virtual object position calculation unit 23 with the position of the presence presentation area K, and determines whether or not each of the virtual objects _TV1 to _TV3 is within the presence presentation area K. In the example of Fig. 4, the presence presentation control unit 25 determines that the virtual objects _TV1 and _TV2 are not within the presence presentation area K, while determining that the virtual object _TV3 is within the presence presentation area K.

Next, the presence presentation control unit 25 writes information on the virtual objects _TV1 to _TV3 in the presence presentation object correspondence table 250 in the storage unit 26. As shown in Fig. 5(a) , the presence presentation control unit 25 sets the ID of the virtual object _TV1 to '001', the type of the virtual object _TV1 to 'V', the position of the virtual object _TV1 calculated by the virtual object position calculation unit 23 to '...', and the flag of the virtual object _TV1 to 'F'. Furthermore, the presence presentation control unit 25 sets the ID of the virtual object _TV2 to '002', the type of the virtual object _TV2 to 'V', the position of the virtual object _TV2 calculated by the virtual object position calculation unit 23 to '...', and the flag of the virtual object _TV2 to 'F'. Furthermore, the presence presentation control unit 25 sets the ID of the virtual object _TV3 to '003', the type of the virtual object _TV3 to 'V', the position of the virtual object _TV3 calculated by the virtual object position calculation unit 23 to '...', and the flag of the virtual object _TV3 to 'T'.

For example, by setting in advance the positions of the non-contact skin stimulation units _31-1 to _31-4 in the virtual space, the presence presentation control unit 25 can determine the non-contact skin stimulation unit _31-1 to _31-4 that is closest to each virtual object T _V in the virtual space. Here, since the flag for virtual object T _V3 is 'T' in the presence presentation object correspondence table 250, the presence presentation control unit 25 drives the non-contact skin stimulation unit _31-3 that is closest to virtual object T _V3 , and presents the presence of virtual object T _V3 to the user U.

Note that the presence presentation control unit 25 may increase the intensity of the non-contact skin stimulation α generated by the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 as the virtual object _T.sub.V gets closer to the user U. For example, the presence presentation control unit 25 subtracts the distance between the user U and the virtual object _T.sub.V from the radius of the presence presentation region K, and generates the non-contact skin stimulation α with an intensity proportional to the result of the subtraction.

On the other hand, since the flags of the virtual objects _TV1 and _TV2 are 'F' in the presence exhibiting object correspondence table 250, the presence exhibiting control unit 25 does not drive any of the non-contact skin stimulation units _31-1 to _31-4 , and does not exhibit the presence of the virtual objects _TV1 and _TV2 to the user U.

<<Second example of market indication>>
A second example of the appearance presentation will be described with reference to FIG.
In this second example, it is assumed that the real object _TR has entered the presence presentation area K. Note that a description of the virtual objects _TV1 to _TV3 will be omitted.

The real object position measuring units 30 ₁ to 30 ₄ measure the position of the real object _TR relative to the user U in the respective measurement ranges β ₁ to β ₄ ( FIG. 3 ). Here, since the real object _TR is within the measurement range β ₃ , the real object position measuring unit 30 ₃ measures the position of the real object _TR relative to the user U. Then, the real object position measuring unit 30 ₃ outputs the position of the real object _TR to the presence presentation control unit 25.

The presence presentation control unit 25 compares the position input from the real object position measurement unit ₃₀₃ with the position of the presence presentation area K, and determines whether or not the real object _TR has entered the presence presentation area K. In the example of FIG. 6 , the presence presentation control unit 25 determines that the real object _TR has entered the presence presentation area K.

Next, the presence presentation control unit 25 writes information about the real object _TR in the presence presentation object correspondence table 250 in the storage unit 26. As shown in Fig. 5(b) , the presence presentation control unit 25 sets the ID of the real object _TR to '004', the type of the real object _TR to 'R', the position of the real object _TR measured by the real object position measuring unit ₃₀₃ to '...', and the flag of the real object _TR to 'T'.

Here, since the flag of the real object _TR in the presence indicating object correspondence table 250 is 'T', the presence indicating control unit 25 drives the non-contact skin stimulation unit ₃₁₃ that is closest to the real object _TR , and indicates the presence of the real object _TR to the user U. At this time, the presence indicating control unit 25 may increase the intensity of the non-contact skin stimulation α generated by the non-contact skin stimulation unit ₃₁₃ as the real object _TR is closer to the user U. For example, the presence indicating control unit 25 subtracts the distance between the user U and the real object _TR from the radius of the presence indicating region K, and generates the non-contact skin stimulation α with an intensity proportional to the result of the subtraction.

In the above description, the presence indicating object correspondence table 250 manages whether or not a virtual object _TV or a real object _TR is in the presence indicating area K using the flag 254, but this is not limiting. For example, the presence indicating control unit 25 may add a record of a virtual object _TV or a real object _TR that has entered the presence indicating area K to the presence indicating object correspondence table 250. Furthermore, the presence indicating control unit 25 may delete a record of a virtual object _TV or a real object _TR that has left the presence indicating area K from the presence indicating object correspondence table 250.

[Operation of the Presence Display Device]
The operation of the appearance indication device 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, in step S1, the presence presentation area setting unit 24 sets in advance a presence presentation area K, which is an area for presenting a presence, outside the effective field of view V, based on the position of the user U.
In step S2, the virtual object position calculation unit 23 calculates the position of the virtual object T _V with respect to the user U.

In step S3, the real object position measuring unit 30 measures the position of the real object _TR with respect to the user U.
In step S4, the presence indication control unit 25 stores information on the real object _TR and the virtual object _TV in the presence indication object correspondence table 250 in the storage unit 26.

In step S5, the presence presentation control unit 25 determines whether the real object _TR and the virtual object _TV are within the presence presentation area K or not.
When the real object _TR and the virtual object _TV are inside the presence presentation area K (Yes in step S5), the presence presentation control unit 25 proceeds to the process of step S6.
When the real object _TR and the virtual object _TV are not within the presence presentation area K (No in step S5), the presence presentation control unit 25 proceeds to the process of step S7.

In step S6, the presence presentation control unit 25 drives the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 that is closest to the real object _TR and virtual object _TV that have entered the presence presentation area K. At this time, the presence presentation control unit 25 may increase the intensity of the non-contact skin stimulation α generated by the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 as the real object _TR or virtual object _TV is closer to the user U.

In step S7, the appearance presentation device 1 determines whether or not to end the processing. For example, when the user U turns off the power switch of the appearance presentation device 1, the appearance presentation device 1 determines to end the processing.
If the processing is not to be ended (No in step S7), or after the processing in step S6 is ended, the appearance presentation device 1 returns to the processing in step S2.

[Action and Effects]
As described above, the presence presentation device 1 according to the first embodiment presents the presence of an object present around the user in a virtual space or in a real space using the non-contact skin stimulation α. This allows the presence presentation device 1 to direct the attention of the user U to the object in a VR environment. Furthermore, since the presence presentation device 1 indicates the distance between the object and the object by the strength of the non-contact skin stimulation α, it becomes easier to direct the attention of the user U to the object.

Furthermore, the presence presentation device 1 can use any one of acoustic radiation pressure, wind pressure, warmth, or coldness, or a combination of two or more of these, as the non-contact skin stimulation α. In other words, the presence presentation device 1 can arbitrarily select the non-contact skin stimulation α according to the type of object or content, thereby improving the sense of realism.

Second Embodiment
[Configuration of the appearance display device]
With reference to FIG. 8, the configuration of an appearance presentation device 1B according to the second embodiment will be described with respect to differences from the first embodiment.

In the first embodiment, the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 closest to the object is described as presenting the non-contact skin stimulation. That is, in the first embodiment, it is indicated that the object exists in the direction in which the non-contact skin stimulation α is presented.
In response to this, each non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 presents a weak noise stimulus, and the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31 closest to the object stops providing the weak noise stimulus. That is, in the second embodiment, this indicates that an object exists in a direction in which the non-contact skin stimulus is not being presented.
That is, in the first embodiment, the non-contact skin stimulus α that explicitly indicates the presence of an object is presented from that direction, whereas in the second embodiment, when no object is present, a weak noise stimulus that represents the presence arising from the environment around the user U is presented.

8, the presence presentation device 1B includes a main body 2B, a plurality of non-contact skin stimulation units 3B (3B ₁ to 3B ₄ ), and headphones 4 (FIG. 1). Here, the configuration of the non-contact skin stimulation units 3B will be described first, and then the configuration of the main body 2B will be described.

The non-contact skin stimulation unit 3B includes a real object position measuring section 30 and a non-contact skin stimulation section 31B. In this embodiment, all of the non-contact skin stimulation units 3B ₁ to 3B ₄ have the same configuration. Note that the real object position measuring section 30 is the same as in the first embodiment, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

The non-contact skin stimulation unit 31B generates a noise stimulus as a non-contact skin stimulus that stimulates the skin without contact in response to a command from the presence presentation control unit 25B. In this embodiment, the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31B applies a weak noise stimulus (e.g., acoustic radiation pressure from ultrasound generated from a random waveform signal such as white noise or pink noise) to the user U. In other respects, the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31B is similar to the first embodiment, so further description will be omitted.

The main body 2 includes a position and orientation detection unit 20, a virtual space display unit 21, a virtual space display control unit 22, a virtual object position calculation unit 23, a presence presentation area setting unit 24, a presence presentation control unit 25B, and a storage unit 26. Note that the other means than the presence presentation control unit 25B are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore descriptions thereof will be omitted.

The presence presentation control unit 25B stops output of noise stimulation to the non-contact skin stimulation unit 31B that is closest to the virtual object T _V or real object T _R that has entered the presence presentation area K. In addition, the presence presentation control unit 25B outputs noise stimulation to the other non-contact skin stimulation units 31B.

<Third example of price indication>
A third example of appearance presentation will be described with reference to FIG.
In this third example, it is assumed that the real object _TR has entered the presence presentation area K. Note that a description of the virtual objects _TV1 to _TV3 will be omitted.

The real object position measuring units 30 ₁ to 30 ₄ (FIG. 8) measure the position of the real object _TR relative to the user U in each of the measurement ranges β ₁ to β _4. Here, since the real object _TR is within the measurement range β ₃ , the real object position measuring unit 30 ₃ measures the position of the real object _TR relative to the user U. Then, the real object position measuring unit 30 ₃ outputs the position of the real object _TR to the presence presentation control unit 25B.

The presence presentation control unit 25B compares the position input from the real object position measurement unit ₃₀₃ with the position of the presence presentation area K, and determines whether or not the real object _TR has entered the presence presentation area K. In the example of Fig. 9, the presence presentation control unit 25B determines that the real object _TR has entered the presence presentation area K. Then, the presence presentation control unit 25B writes information about the real object _TR into the presence presentation object correspondence table 250 in the storage unit 26, as in the first embodiment.

Here, since the flag of real object _TR in the presence indicating object correspondence table 250 is 'T', the presence indicating control unit 25B stops outputting the noise stimulus γ to the non-contact skin stimulation unit ₃₁₃ that is closest to real object _TR . On the other hand, the presence indicating control unit 25B outputs the noise stimulus γ to the other non-contact skin stimulation units ₃₁₁ , ₃₁₂ , and ₃₁₄ .

[Action and Effects]
As described above, the presence presentation device 1B according to the second embodiment can direct the attention of the user U to an object in a VR environment, similar to the first embodiment. Furthermore, the presence presentation device 1B stops the noise stimulus γ in the direction in which the object exists, thereby making it possible to broaden the range of content expression.

Although the embodiment has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes design modifications and the like within the scope of the present invention.
In the above embodiment, the number of non-contact skin stimulation parts is four, but the present invention is not limited to this. In other words, the number of non-contact skin stimulation parts may be two or more.

In the above-described embodiment, all non-contact skin stimulation units are described as generating the same type of non-contact skin stimulation, but this is not limited to the above. In other words, each non-contact skin stimulation unit may generate a different type of non-contact skin stimulation.

In the above embodiment, the presence indication device is described as being applied to a VR display device such as an HMD, but is not limited to this. For example, the presence indication device can also be applied to an AR display device such as AR glasses.

Reference Signs 1, 1B Appearance presentation device 2 Main body section 2A Belt 3, 3B Non-contact skin stimulation unit 3A Frame 4 Headphones 20 Position and orientation detection section 21 Virtual space display section 22 Virtual space display control section 23 Virtual object position calculation section 24 Appearance presentation area setting section 25, 25B Appearance presentation control section 26 Storage section 30 Real object position measurement section 31, 31B Non-contact skin stimulation section 250 Appearance presentation object correspondence table 251 ID
252 Type 253 Position 254 Flag K Presence presentation area U User _T Real object T _V Virtual object V Effective field of view α Non-contact skin stimulation β Measurement range γ Noise stimulation

Claims (5)

A presence presentation device comprising: a non-contact skin stimulation unit that generates a non-contact skin stimulation that stimulates the skin without contact; and presenting a presence of a virtual object in a virtual space or a real object in a real space to a user by using the non-contact skin stimulation,
The non-contact skin stimulation units are arranged at regular intervals around the user,
a virtual object position calculation unit that calculates a position of the virtual object with respect to the user;
a real object position measurement unit for measuring a position of the real object relative to the user;
a presence presentation area setting unit that preliminarily sets, in the virtual space, a presence presentation area, which is an area in which the presence is presented, outside an effective visual field of the user;
a presence presentation control unit that determines whether or not the virtual object or the real object has entered the presence presentation area based on the positions of the virtual object and the real object, and drives the non-contact skin stimulation unit that is closest to the virtual object or real object that has entered the presence presentation area;
Equipped with
The non-contact skin stimulation unit applies a noise stimulus to the user as the non-contact skin stimulus,
The presence presentation control unit stops output of the noise stimulus to the non-contact skin stimulation unit that is closest to the virtual object or real object that has entered the presence presentation area, and outputs the noise stimulus to the other non-contact skin stimulation units . The presence display device according to claim 1, characterized in that the non-contact skin stimulation unit applies to the user one of acoustic radiation pressure, wind pressure, a warm sensation, or a cold sensation, or a combination of two or more of these, as the non-contact skin stimulation. a position and orientation detection unit for detecting a position and orientation of the user;
a virtual space display unit that displays the virtual space;
a virtual space display control unit that causes the virtual space display unit to display the virtual space according to the position and posture of the user,
3 . The presence presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein the virtual object position calculation unit calculates a position of the virtual object with respect to the user in the virtual space displayed by the virtual space display control unit. 4 . The real object position measurement unit includes:
It is a directional range finder,
4. The sign presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein the non-contact skin stimulation units are arranged radially around the user so as to correspond to the non-contact skin stimulation units. 5. The appearance presentation device according to claim 1 , wherein the appearance presentation device is an AR display device or a VR display device.