Microsoft Patents A Mobile Display That Changes Content Depending On The Distance From User's Eye

Today an interesting Microsoft patent application titled “Changing between display device viewing modes” went public. When we are trying to view a large image or maps on our mobile device, we often zoom-in/zoom-out because the display is very small to show the actual content in its native size.

This patent tries to solve this issue by allowing display to show different the content in various modes depending on different parameters. For example, when viewing a large image, when user has the mobile display farther from his eye, it may show a zoomed out view, and when the user moves this display towards the eye, he will be presented with zoomed-in view.  This is enabled by the input from motion and image sensors.

Read the abstract after the break.

Abstract:

Embodiments that relate facilitating the viewing of images on a mobile device are disclosed. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a mobile device including a display screen and an image display system configured to selectively switch between a first viewing mode in which an image comprising a first amount of visual information is displayed at a first apparent distance from the display screen and a second viewing mode in which an image comprising a second, different amount of visual information is displayed at a second apparent distance from the display screen. The mobile device further includes a controller in communication with the image display system, wherein the controller is configured to switch between the first viewing mode and the second viewing mode.

Source: USPTO