Mr. Ukai delivering a lecture on the "Effects of Image on Living Bodies" (rotational eye movements)

The study session was held with the theme of "Aiming for Comfortable 3D Images," inviting six lecturers from universities and research institutions to provide lectures on this theme. The lecture's contents included "Human's 3D perception" and "3D Display with Less Feeling of Fatigue." These lectures presented the latest research results in all fields regarding the relations between images and living bodies. Prior to the study session, the Safety/Guidelines section meeting was held to report on the current activities. There were 34 members at the study session for a total of 50 people attending.

I would like to report on the current activities and future plans of our consortium. We had the opportunity to convey our messages as the 3D Consortium at the International Display Workshop (IDW) that was held in Fukuoka in early December and at the Japan Optics Association's Annual Academic Lecture Meeting that was held in Shizuoka.


3D Technology Changes Our Lives

Yesterday, the Yomiuri-Todai Intellectual Structure Symposium was held at Tokyo University's Yasuda Kodo Auditorium with the theme of '3D Technology Changes Our Lives.'Let me explain some of the key issues discussed at the symposium. Assistant professor Ken Ito of Tokyo University, who is an associate member of our consortium, was the main chairperson at the symposium, and keynote lectures were delivered by Hiroshi Komiyama, vice president of Tokyo University, and Takemochi Ishii, professor emeritus of Tokyo University.

In his lecture, Professor Komiyama pointed out that each field is subdivided while information is overflowing in our society, preventing us from seeing the whole picture and thus requiring intellectual structuring. He mentioned that the intellectual structuring also includes 3D representations. Professor Ishii presented concepts called 'Parallel Reality' and 'Cubital.'Parallel Reality is the hypothesis that something can occur by constant parallel observation of different places. Cubital (solid) was introduced as a new future concept that sees objects beyond dimensions as opposed to the two-dimensional world of digital.

After the symposium, there was a panel discussion where Mr. Mikio Katayama, chairman of our consortium, participated to present some messages for the symposium. His first message was about the mission of our consortium, which consists of over 150 corporations and groups working toward sound development of the 3D market. He continued to report that all these corporations and groups had combined their know-how and started to take firm steps necessary to create the market. Chairman Katayama also spoke about 3D representations and the effectiveness exclusively provided by 3D, and about promoting 3D utilization in education, medicine, science, and other fields. He proposed that this would be a harmonious coexistence of nature and humans. In addition, he stated that our consortium would like, next year to put more effort than ever into collaboration between business and academia in order to implement these activities. As a representative from the 3D Consortium, Chairman Katayama concluded his presentation at the panel discussion by stating the vision that Japan should communicate to the entire world and move forward as the front runner in 3D.

Panel Discussion held at the Yomiuri-Todai Intellectual Structure Symposium

The opinion was also expressed that new 3D displays would be effective for nurturing top athletes through image training used in sports medicine. For your information, the contents of these lectures will be posted on a website related to Yomiuri and also broadcast on a special channel.


Starting Events for the Year 2004

Our future schedule includes the "PAGE 2004", which will be held by the Japan Association of Graphic Arts Technology (JAGAT) from February 4th to February 6th, 2004. JAGAT has been observing the activities of the 3D consortium, and they have offered us a display area free of charge at PAGE 2004. As our display concept, we are planning on using an easy-to-understand form to show the individual stages where 3D contents are created, edited, and displayed. We would also like to include 3D printing so that many people will become interested in 3D. This event is positioned as the starting event for the year 2004.

We will hold the annual general meeting of our consortium on February 24th and are planning to present commemorative lectures and symposiums. We are also preparing some projects based on new ideas for these symposiums. The reality, however, is that there are very few live-action 3D contents that exactly fit our purposes or provide great impressions for the audience. Therefore, for example, we are thinking about asking Stereo Club Tokyo, the picture group that is an associate member of our consortium, to take photographs exclusively focused on 3D pictures for the exhibition. We hope that these activities will promote better understanding of 3D representations and energize the 3D market.


Expanding from Kyoto to Every Prefecture

Finally, I would also like to report on the subsequent development for our approach to the Digital SOSUI Network, which is being promoted by Kyoto Prefecture. Professor Takashi Matsuyama of Kyoto University, who is an associate member of our consortium, introduced us to the Network, and we made presentations as the 3D Consortium. We participated in their kick-off event, which was an exhibition, in November, and we explained about the potential of 3D to the Governor and other top officials from the prefectural government. Above all, it was really meaningful for us that we were able to be involved in such a grand project from the very beginning.

We proposed to approach the Digital SOSUI Network as an example of the direction of our 3D Consortium member activities, and we were able to reach the starting line. Now, we would like to move into a new phase to promote the active utilization of 3D. Therefore, we would like to ask all of our members to propose concrete ideas and practical contents. The project in Kyoto, however, is only an example, and every prefecture is planning to promote similar activities in line with the e-Japan Priority Policy. Now, we would like to recognize the project as an entry point into the e-Japan Priority Policy, which is a theme that will enable us to cross-develop our activities.

That is all for my report on our current activities as an introduction to today's study session. Thank you very much for your kind attention.

First, I would like to confirm the definitions of Distance and Depth. Distance is the interval between the observer and the object, and this interval is the absolute distance. Depth is the interval between two or more objects, and this interval is the relative distance. Correct perception of these two distances establishes 3-dimensional spatial perception. Among the optical clues for perceiving these distances and the clues that do not require pattern recognition, there are static perceptions including adjustment, convergence and divergence, and binocular parallax, and dynamic perceptions including motion parallax and the Pulfrich effect. As to the clues that require pattern recognition, there are static recognitions including the size of a known object, size of its retinal image, density gradient of the texture, masking or overlapping, shading, linear perspective, and atmospheric perspective, and there are dynamic recognitions including kinetic depth effect and rotational stereoscopic view.

Among these recognitions, we need to pay attention to the binocular parallax, which is emphasized for the stereoscopic display. The binocular parallax can produce depth recognition, but it cannot present any clues for distance information. In addition, dissociation with adjustment will occur when depth information is presented. Nearly 10% of people have no or weak ability of binocular parallax. These people use many other optical clues beside the binocular parallax for their daily visual experiences. Therefore, they are not aware that they have abnormalities in their binocular parallax. For this reason, using only binocular parallax for stereoscopic display may cause another discrimination problem.

Humans are gifted with many cognitive abilities for recognizing distance and depth. From these abilities, humans are able to combine multiple abilities and to add movement to static information, because humans are constantly moving, in order to recognize 3-dimentional space with more reality.

We comparatively surveyed the effects caused by 2D and 3D images on visual functions by using visual function checks and questionnaires. The survey results indicated that 3D displays had more effects on visual functions including eye positioning, accommodation near point, and adjustment ability when compared to 2D displays, and there were many complaints about eye strain, eye pain, and watery eye. It was also found that the visual fatigue was healed by resting. Based on these results, it can be thought that visual function checks and questionnaires are effective for evaluating 3D displays.

According to our experiments, 3D images cause more visual fatigue than 2D images. Are there any solutions for this problem? As an approach to the solution, we can propose a display method with less adjustment and smaller convergence difference and a method that moves the screen with convergence.

There are possibilities for less fatiguing 3D displays when assorted problems are solved, but practical solutions still await future research and development. Due to these factors, we feel that creative ideas that go beyond conventional technologies are required.

Eye strain and motion sickness largely rely on subjective evaluation. Therefore, we tried to evaluate them more scientifically by experimenting on the difference in changes between TV monitors and head mounted displays (HMD), and carrying out a factor analysis on the questionnaire results. We discovered that HMD was worse for both eye strain and motion sickness. In addition, objective measurements of 3D images revealed that adjustment reactions were made while viewing and listening, and convergence was slightly smaller than the required amount. The discrepancy between adjustment and convergence was small, but there was a discrepancy between the required adjustment amount and adjustment reaction, which may be considered as a cause of eye strain.

Next, various measurements on rotational eye movement were conducted. The data indicates that dizziness will frequently occur due to its relation to motion sickness, which is easily caused by rotating images. Real-time measurements of pupils and eye movements during image viewing were also carried out. The measurements revealed that pupils reacted with the autonomic nervous system in addition to the reaction to the brightness of the image. This result means that pupils open when excited and constrict when at complete rest.

We are developing an eye movement measuring device for field use, and are gradually producing positive results.

The effects of image stimuli on living bodies are related to televisions, game machines, personal computers, 3D theaters, VR systems, devices such as mobile phones with televisions, prolonged staring, flickering lights, spatial patterns, optical flows, contradictions with vestibular sensations, unnatural stereoscopic views, and mental and psychological conditions. These stimuli can cause a number of symptoms including ophthalmologic symptoms, general malaise complaints with the autonomic nervous system, photosensitive epilepsy, VDT syndrome, stresses, kinetosis, and physiological changes.

The control of the autonomic nervous system changes while reflecting the mental and psychological conditions. A comprehensive analysis is required as the autonomic nervous system has complicated interrelations. We measure the nervous system with noninvasive and easy-to-measure parameters of circulatory and respiratory systems.

Generally, the pressure reflex system works properly at a complete rest, and presents a close cross-correlation between blood pressure and heart rate. The maximum cross-correlation factor (- max) and the coherency between them are prominent. As opposed to that, if image stimuli are provided, either the loop gain changes or heart rate fluctuates independently of the blood pressure and vice versa, resulting in the _ max and coherency to decline. In addition, the _ max and coherency may possibly be applied to evaluating the motion sickness during the experiment of viewing shaking images.

Next, we carried out another experiment where images that may cause strong emotional responses were simultaneously presented to multiple test subjects. The results proved that the _ max, using brain wave transmission time instead of directly measuring the blood pressure, could also be used for the evaluation.

Our future development is focused on promoting multiple simultaneous experiments, resolving the low time resolution of _ max, and constructing a system simultaneously capable of monitoring and rating various digital image contents.

As to the VDT Syndrome, the occupational health guidelines were drawn up in 1985. They were revised and the new guidelines were published in 2002. In addition, the ITC guidelines for PSE were drawn up in the UK in 1994. The Pokemon Incident in Japan triggered the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters to impose self-regulation in 1998. In the UK, the ITC guidelines were revised in 2001, and movements toward TV picture safety guidelines were observed from 2002 to 2003.

The high-performance large-screen images, multifunctional mobile phones, and penetration of the Internet will require us to create new guidelines for our health protection. The project of safe images for maintaining our health will not find any solutions, unless foundations are established by collaborations between experts from various fields including national and public research institutions, national and private universities, and image-related manufacturers.

This project is aiming at developing an automatic risk-degree evaluator based on the guideline database. For that purpose, we need to build software for risk-degree judgment rules and impact determination rules by carrying out experiments on test subjects, investigating the effects caused by image viewing with medical checking methods, and analyzing the effects on living bodies.

The automatic risk-degree evaluator will enable the creators to transmit safe images that have the impact they are intended to have. In addition, audiences can also enjoy viewing safe images.

The purpose of the standard authentication research and development project is to develop living-body safety evaluation methods for images, and to establish the international standard for the methods. We will systematically collect data in order to further develop our current knowledge on the physiological and mental effects of Optically-Stimulated Epileptic Seizure, Motion Sickness, and other symptoms. The effects on living bodies to be considered include Photosensitive Epilepsy (PSE), motion sickness, and eye strain caused by 3D images. For the later half of the project, the effects caused by image patterns on motion sickness will be investigated. The purpose of this research is to determine what kind of conflicts between visual information and non-visual information concerning body movements cause the motion sickness. We also need to figure out methods to isolate factors such as predictability. For these purposes, it is necessary to clarify the effects caused by visual movement patterns on the motion sickness, and to search the methods for objectively measuring the motion sickness caused by information discrepancies. The first experiment is the "Effects of Visual Movement Patterns on Motion Sickness," the second is the "Effects of Image Patterns on Motion Sickness," and the third is the "Motion Sickness and Rotational Eye Movement." After these experiments have been completed, the experiment reports will be presented.

The Safety/Guidelines Section meeting was held prior to the study session. The research records of the six lecturers and their contributions to the 3D guidelines were presented. Most of the members believe that they had nearly finished acquiring the basic knowledge through this study session, and they expressed their strong opinion that we should promote more practical activities in the future.

For our activities in 2004, another opinion mentioned that we should create practical guidelines for the members, and carry out activities to confirm the safety of 3D displays by having the displays used on a long-term basis for lectures in appropriate medical education fields.