In the first week of January a European patent filing from Microsoft was published covering automatic display adjusting based on viewing angles. Microsoft's patent covers mechanism for automatically correcting perspective of displayed information based on the orientation of the display device. It's an interesting idea because the content on the screen could be also be altered to provide users the best viewing angles if you're on a tight seated airplane or use a notebook attachment on a wheelchair. Whether this is idea that Apple would consider in the future is unknown at this time.

According to Microsoft, a user can identify a screen orientation where the displayed information does not need perspective correction. The system can monitor changes to the display orientation, and when the orientation changes, the system can measure the distance to a user's eye or calculate the distance based on measured data.

Based on the distance, a correction factor can be calculated. An area in the display where corrected information will be displayed is identified. The currently displayed information is corrected based on the correction factor and displayed in the identified display area.

Microsoft's patent FIG. 3 below illustrates example geometries for displayed information on a tilted screen; FIG. 8 illustrates an example method for display information correction. 

Although the portability in computing devices have let users take powerful computational capability with them and work in virtually any location, the portability in computing devices have also created issues for users to deal with. For example, many environments do not have comfortable space to work in. Anyone who has tried to utilize a laptop while flying coach class on an airplane has encountered an environment where the laptop screen can neither be placed at a comfortable viewing distance nor at a comfortable viewing angle. Such viewing angles cause skewed perspectives when viewing information on the display of the device.

Similarly, where orientation is dictated by other factors, such as attachment to a wheelchair or other mobility device in a location where the display can't easily be reached.

The invention provides a method to identify display orientations that minimize perceived perspective distortion and then automatically corrects the displayed information to mitigate perspective distortion based on changes in orientation away from the identified orientation. Sensors can measure the orientation of the screen relative to the user and detect changes away from the orientation that minimizes perceived perspective. The changes can the identify a set of parameters that describe the relative orientation and calculate correction factors based on one or more parameters in the set.  

Microsoft filed their international patent in late December and published on January 07, 2021. To review the full patent click here.