US-12619300-B2 - Viewing direction

Abstract

The specification describes an apparatus comprising: means for determining a change in head direction of a user within a first predefined time period; means for determining a first predicted head direction based on said change in head direction; means for determining a change in torso direction of a user within a second predefined time period; and means for modifying the first predicted head direction to a second predicted head direction based, at least in part, on the change in torso direction.

Inventors

• Miikka Tapani Vilermo
• Lasse Juhani Laaksonen
• Arto Juhani Lehtiniemi

Assignees

• NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20241106

Priority Date

20231107

Claims (18)

1. 1 . An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: determine a change in head direction of a user within a first predefined time period; determine a first predicted head direction based on said change in head direction; determine a change in torso direction of a user within a second predefined time period; modify the first predicted head direction to a second predicted head direction based, at least in part, on the change in torso direction; determine that the first predicted head direction is more than ninety degrees from a reference direction; and based on determining that the first predicted head direction is more than ninety degrees from the reference direction, determine a first predicted torso direction based on the change in torso direction, wherein the second predicted head direction is determined further based on a combination of the first predicted head direction and the first predicted torso direction.
2. 2 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first predicted head direction is modified towards the direction of the change in torso direction for determining the second predicted head direction.
3. 3 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to: allocate resources of a video for transmission via a network based, at least in part, on the second predicted head direction, wherein the resources comprise at least one of a bitrate or a resolution of the video.
4. 4 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the allocating comprises allocating a higher amount of resources for transmission of one or more parts of the video corresponding to the second predicted head direction relative to an amount of resources for transmission of one or more other parts of the video.
5. 5 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the video comprises at least one of an immersive video, a spherical video, a virtual reality video, a 360-degree video, or a 180-degree video.
6. 6 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the modifying is performed based on a determination of whether the change in torso direction is higher than a first threshold.
7. 7 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the change in head direction or the change in torso direction is determined using one or more inertial measurement units.
8. 8 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second predicted head direction is further determined based on at least one of movement(s) of the user's leg(s) or movement(s) of the user's hand(s).
9. 9 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to: determine a difference between a current head direction and a current torso direction; based on said difference being larger than a first threshold, determine a gaze direction to be farther to a reference direction in comparison to the current head direction; and based on said difference being smaller than the first threshold, determine the gaze direction to be closer to the reference direction in comparison to the current head direction.
10. 10 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to: determine a cursor direction based, at least in part, on the gaze direction.
11. 11 . An apparatus as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to: enable selection of user interface elements based, at least in part, on the cursor direction.
12. 12 . A method comprising: determining a change in head direction of a user within a first predefined time period; determining a first predicted head direction based on said change in head direction; determining a change in torso direction of a user within a second predefined time period; modifying the first predicted head direction to a second predicted head direction based, at least in part, on the change in torso direction; determining that the first predicted head direction is more than ninety degrees from a reference direction; and based on determining that the first predicted head direction is more than ninety degrees from the reference direction, determining a first predicted torso direction based on the change in torso direction, wherein the second predicted head direction is determined further based on a combination of the first predicted head direction and the first predicted torso direction.
13. 13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the first predicted head direction is modified towards the direction of the change in torso direction for determining the second predicted head direction.
14. 14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising: allocating resources of a video for transmission via a network based, at least in part, on the second predicted head direction, wherein the resources comprise at least one of a bitrate or a resolution of the video.
15. 15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the allocating comprises allocating a higher amount of resources for transmission of one or more parts of the video corresponding to the second predicted head direction relative to an amount of resources for transmission of one or more other parts of the video.
16. 16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the video comprises at least one of an immersive video, a spherical video, a virtual reality video, a 360-degree video, or a 180-degree video.
17. 17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the modifying is performed based on a determination that the change in torso direction is higher than a first threshold.
18. 18 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: determining a change in head direction of a user within a first predefined time period; determining a first predicted head direction based on said change in head direction; determining a change in torso direction of a user within a second predefined time period; modifying the first predicted head direction to a second predicted head direction based, at least in part, on the change in torso direction; determining that the first predicted head direction is more than ninety degrees from a reference direction; and based on determining that the first predicted head direction is more than ninety degrees from the reference direction, determining a first predicted torso direction based on the change in torso direction, wherein the second predicted head direction is determined further based on a combination of the first predicted head direction and the first predicted torso direction.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to United Kingdom patent application number 2317042.6, filed on Nov. 7, 2023, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIELD The present application relates to a predicted head direction in relation to video transmission. BACKGROUND Video transmission based on predicted head direction is known. There remains a need for improvement in this field. SUMMARY In a first aspect, this specification provides an apparatus comprising: means for determining a change in head direction of a user within a first predefined time period; means for determining a first predicted head direction based on said change in head direction; means for determining a change in torso direction of a user within a second predefined time period; and means for modifying the first predicted head direction to a second predicted head direction based, at least in part, on the change in torso direction. In some examples, the change in head direction corresponds to a head movement degree of a movement of a user's head from in relation to a reference direction. In some examples, the first predicted head direction is modified towards the direction of the change in torso direction for determining the second predicted head direction. Some examples include means for allocating resources of a video for transmission via a network based, at least in part, on the second predicted head direction, wherein the resources comprise at least one of a bitrate or a resolution of the video. In some examples, the allocating comprises allocating a higher amount of resources for transmission of one or more parts of the video corresponding to the second predicted head direction relative to an amount of resources for transmission of one or more other parts of the video. In some examples, the video comprises at least one of an immersive video, a spherical video, a virtual reality video, a 360-degree video, or a 180-degree video. In some examples, the modifying is performed based on a determination of whether the change in torso direction is higher than a first threshold. Some examples include means for performing, if the first predicted head direction is more than ninety degrees relative to a reference direction: determining a first predicted torso direction based on the change in torso direction within a third predefined time period, wherein the second predicted head direction is determined further based on a combination of the first predicted head direction and the first predicted torso direction. In some examples, at least one of the change in head direction and the change in torso direction is determined using one or more inertial measurement units (e.g. one or more of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers). In some examples, the second predicted head direction is further determined based on at least one of movement(s) of the user's leg(s) or movement(s) of the user's hand(s). Some examples include: means for determining a difference between a current head direction and a current torso direction; means for, if said difference is larger than a first threshold, determining a gaze direction to be farther to a reference direction in comparison to the current head direction; means for, if said difference is smaller than the first threshold, determining the gaze direction to be closer to the reference direction in comparison to the current head direction. Some examples include: means for determining a cursor direction based, at least in part, on the gaze direction. Some examples include: means for enabling selection of user interface elements based, at least in part, on the cursor direction. The means may comprise: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the performance of the apparatus. In a second aspect, this specification describes a method comprising: determining a change in head direction of a user within a first predefined time period; determining a first predicted head direction based on said change in head direction; determining a change in torso direction of a user within a second predefined time period; and modifying the first predicted head direction to a second predicted head direction based, at least in part, on the change in torso direction. In some examples, the change in head direction corresponds to a head movement degree of a movement of a user's head from in relation to a reference direction. In some examples, the first predicted head direction is modified towards the direction of the change in torso direction for determining the second predicted head direction. Some examples may further comprise allocating resources of a video for transmission via a network based, at least in part, on the second predicted head direction, wherein the resources comprise at least one of a bitrate or a resolution of the video. In some e