A taxonomy of mixed reality visual display

Search this Article

Author(s)

Abstract

This paper focuses on Mixed Reality (MR)visual displays, a particular subset of Virtual Reality (VR)related technologies that involve the merging of real and virtual worlds somewhere along the "virtuality continuum" which connects completely real environments to completely virtual ones. Probably the best known of these is Augmented Reality (AR), which refers to all cases in which the display of an otherwise real environment is augmented by means of virtual (computer graphic) objects. The converse case on the virtuality continuum is therefore Augmented Virtuality (AV). Six classes of hybrid MR display environments are identified. However, an attempt to distinguish these classes on the basis of whether they are primarily video or computer graphics based, whether the real world is viewed directly or via some electronic display medium, whether the viewer is intended to feel part of the world or on the outside looking in, and whether or not the scale of the display is intended to map orthoscopically onto the real world leads to quite different groupings among the six identified classes, thereby demonstrating the need for an efficient taxonomy, or classification framework, according to which essential differences can be identified. The 'obvious' distinction between the terms "real" and "virtual" is shown to have a number of different aspects, depending on whether one is dealing with real or virtual objects, real or virtual images, and direct or non-direct viewing of these. An (approximately) three dimensional taxonomy is proposed, comprising the following dimensions : Extent of World Knowledge ("how much do we know about the world being displayed?"), Reproduction Fidelity ("how 'realistically' are we able to display it?"), and Extent of Presence Metaphor ("what is the extent of the illusion that the observer is present within that world?").

Journal

  • IEICE Trans. Inf. & Sys., D

    IEICE Trans. Inf. & Sys., D E77(12), 1321-1329, 1994

    The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers

Cited by:  45

Codes

  • NII Article ID (NAID)
    110003209335
  • NII NACSIS-CAT ID (NCID)
    AA10826272
  • Text Lang
    ENG
  • Article Type
    Journal Article
  • ISSN
    09168532
  • Data Source
    CJPref  NII-ELS 
Page Top