CN-121979374-A - Electronic device, control method thereof, computer program product, and storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses an electronic device, a control method thereof, a computer program product and a storage medium. The electronic apparatus includes a first detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a left eye of a user who views the first display unit, a second detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a right eye of a user who views the second display unit, and a control unit for performing control to change either one of the first detection unit or the second detection unit from a first state to a second state in which power consumption is smaller than the first state, if a predetermined condition is satisfied.

Inventors

• SUGITA JUN

Assignees

• 佳能株式会社

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20251024

Priority Date

20241030

Claims (12)

1. 1. An electronic device, comprising: a first detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a left eye of a user viewing the first display unit; A second detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a right eye of a user viewing the second display unit; A control unit configured to perform control to change either one of the first detection unit or the second detection unit from a first state to a second state in which power consumption is smaller than the first state, in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied.
2. 2. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a calculation unit for performing control to switch between the first mode and the second mode depending on whether the predetermined condition is satisfied, and In the case where the predetermined condition is not satisfied, in the first mode, a line-of-sight position obtained when the user is viewing the subject displayed on the display unit with both eyes is calculated using the detection result obtained by the first detection unit and the detection result obtained by the second detection unit, and In the case where the predetermined condition is satisfied, in the second mode, a line-of-sight position obtained when the user is viewing the subject displayed on the display unit with both eyes is calculated using detection results obtained by detection units other than the either of the first detection unit or the second detection unit.
3. 3. The electronic device according to claim 1, Wherein the computing unit detects the line-of-sight position of the left eye of the user in the first display unit based on the detection result obtained by the first detecting unit, and detects the line-of-sight position of the right eye of the user in the second display unit based on the detection result obtained by the second detecting unit, and Wherein the control unit determines whether the predetermined condition is satisfied based on the distances between the sight line position of the left eye of the user and the sight line position of the right eye of the user, each calculated by the calculation unit.
4. 4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs control so that both the first detection unit and the second detection unit enter the first state, in a case where the predetermined condition is not satisfied.
5. 5. The electronic device according to claim 1, Wherein the first state is a state in which the line of sight is detected based on a first detection period, and Wherein the second state is a state in which the line of sight is detected based on a second detection period that is slower than the first detection period.
6. 6. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the control unit performs the first processing at a position based on any one of the line-of-sight position of the left eye of the user or the line-of-sight position of the right eye of the user, each calculated by the calculation unit.
7. 7. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the first process is a process for displaying an item indicating a line-of-sight position on the first display unit or the second display unit.
8. 8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit performs control to perform the second processing at a position based on a line-of-sight position obtained when the user is viewing the subject displayed on the display unit with both eyes.
9. 9. The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein the second process is a process for selecting the subject.
10. 10. A control method for an electronic apparatus including a first detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a left eye of a user viewing a first display unit and a second detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a right eye of a user viewing a second display unit, the control method comprising: control is performed to change either one of the first detection unit or the second detection unit from a first state to a second state in which power consumption is smaller than the first state, in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied.
11. 11. A computer program product comprising computer programs/instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a control method for an electronic device comprising a first detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a left eye of a user viewing a first display unit and a second detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a right eye of a user viewing a second display unit, the control method comprising: control is performed to change either one of the first detection unit or the second detection unit from a first state to a second state in which power consumption is smaller than the first state, in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied.
12. 12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a control method for an electronic device including a first detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a left eye of a user viewing a first display unit and a second detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a right eye of a user viewing a second display unit, the control method comprising: control is performed to change either one of the first detection unit or the second detection unit from a first state to a second state in which power consumption is smaller than the first state, in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied.

Description

Electronic device, control method thereof, computer program product, and storage medium Technical Field The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, a control method thereof, a computer program product, and a storage medium. Background Recently, electronic devices using line-of-sight information about a user as a user interface have been used in various fields, examples of which include Head Mounted Displays (HMDs). Some HMDs can use Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR). In particular, in the case where the user wears the HMD and then uses VR content, the user can have an experience in a virtual space (VR space) in which a virtual object is displayed, for example, as if the user had entered the virtual space. Further, in a case where the user wears the HMD and then uses AR content, the user can add digital content (e.g., an object such as a character) that does not exist in reality to the real space (AR space), thereby having an experience as if the user perceived the existence of something that does not exist in the real world. Japanese patent laid-open No. 2024-109785 describes a head-mounted display in which two gaze tracking devices for monitoring respective gaze directions of the left and right eyes of a user are arranged. The user can use the head-mounted display described in japanese patent laid-open No. 2024-109785 and select a virtual object in the VR space or an object in the AR space based on the respective directions of the line of sight of the left and right eyes of the user. In this case, since two gaze tracking devices are used to monitor the respective gaze directions of the left and right eyes of the user, the head mounted display consumes a large amount of power. Disclosure of Invention An object of the present disclosure is to reduce power consumption of an electronic device when performing gaze detection on a user. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic apparatus includes a first detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a left eye of a user viewing a first display unit, a second detection unit for detecting a line of sight of a right eye of a user viewing a second display unit, and a control unit for performing control to change any one of the first detection unit and the second detection unit from a first state to a second state in which power consumption is smaller than the first state if a predetermined condition is satisfied. Features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description of the embodiments is by way of example. Drawings Fig. 1A and 1B are perspective views showing an example of the appearance of a Head Mounted Display (HMD) according to a first embodiment. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the HMD according to the first embodiment. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a line-of-sight detection principle. Fig. 4A is a schematic view of an eyeball image formed by the light receiving lens, and fig. 4B is a schematic view of the luminance distribution in the region α shown in fig. 4A. Fig. 5 is a flowchart concerning the line-of-sight detection process according to the first embodiment. Fig. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing a method of calculating a line-of-sight position obtained when a user looks at an object with both eyes according to the first embodiment. Fig. 7 is a flowchart concerning the mode switching process according to the first embodiment. Fig. 8A and 8B are diagrams showing timings of performing predetermined processing operations based on a line of sight in the respective modes according to the first embodiment. Fig. 9A and 9B are flowcharts concerning the mode switching process according to the second embodiment. Detailed Description Various embodiments, features and aspects of the disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, a Head Mounted Display (HMD) is described as an example of an electronic device that performs gaze detection. The video image viewed by the user through the HMD is referred to as an "external video image (three-dimensional (3D) space)". As an example, a case is described in which when an external video image including a subject is captured using an image capturing apparatus included in the HMD, the HMD selects the subject based on the line of sight of the user. However, the present disclosure may also be applied to a case where the HMD selects a virtual object in a Virtual Reality (VR) space based on the user's line of sight, for example, when worn on the user's head, or a case where the HMD selects an object in an Augmented Reality (AR) space based on the user's line of sight, when worn on the user's head. < First embodiment > Fig. 1A and 1B are perspective views showing an example of the appearance of the HMD 100 according to the first embodiment, wherein fig. 1A is a perspective view seen fro