Spatiotemporal Image Quality of Virtual Reality Head Mounted Displays

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) head mounted displays (HMDs) require both high spatial resolution and fast temporal response. However, methods to quantify the VR image quality in the spatiotemporal domain when motion exists are not yet standardized. In this study, we characterize the spatiotemporal capabilities of three VR devices: the HTC VIVE, VIVE Pro, and VIVE Pro 2 during smooth pursuit. A spatiotemporal model for VR HMDs is presented using measured spatial and temporal characteristics. Among the three evaluated headsets, the VIVE Pro 2 improves the display temporal performance using a fast 120 Hz refresh rate and pulsed emission with a small duty cycle of 5%. In combination with a high pixel resolution beyond 2k x 2k per eye, the VIVE Pro 2 achieves an improved spatiotemporal performance compared to the VIVE and VIVE Pro in the high spatial frequency range above 8 cycles per degree during smooth pursuit. The result demonstrates that reducing the display emission duty cycle to less than 20% is beneficial to mitigate motion blur in VR HMDs. Frame rate reduction (e.g., to below 60 Hz) of the input signal compared to the display refresh rate of 120 Hz yields replicated shadow images that can affect the image quality under motion. This work supports the regulatory science research efforts in development of testing methods to characterize the spatiotemporal performance of VR devices for medical use.

OLED lifetime simulation for VR displays

“…However, due to the unique driving methods and optical system losses in VR displays, the actual luminance of the display panel must be driven much higher than the headset's output target. In order to minimize perceived motion blur the display is run at a low persistence mode, where pixels are only emitting for less than 10% of the total frame time at typical panel refresh rates [4,5,12]. Therefore the display must then be driven over 10 times the target time-averaged luminance value.…”