Facilitating rearward visibility by controlling eye direction in HMD viewing of panoramic images

Abstract

The development of HMDs for home use has progressed, and many people can now enjoy VR easily at home. Most VR services for 360-degree image viewing are used in a seated position. However, it is difficult for humans to look rearward in a seated position while rotating the neck and hips [1]. Although it is easy to look rearward when sitting in a swivel chair, it has been reported that the rotation of the seat surface amplifies the user's body movements and increases sensory discrepancy when viewing a 360-degree video with an HMD [2]. In this paper, we propose a new method that enables rearward visibility while sitting in a chair. The direction in which you are looking is called the eye direction. A rearward scenery that is different from the actual eye direction will be presented on the HMD to enable to look rearward without lifting the hips.