A taxonomy of mixed reality visual displays

Abstract

Mixed Reality (MR) visual displays, a particular subset of Virtual Reality (VR) related technologies, involve the merging of real and virtual worlds somewhere along the 'virtuality continuum' which connects completely real environments to completely virtual ones. Augmented Reality (AR), probably the best known of these, 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 quite different groupings are possible and this demonstrates the need for an efficient taxonomy, or classification framework, according to which essential differences can be identified. An approximately three-dimensional taxonomy is proposed comprising the following dimensions: extent of world knowledge, reproduction fidelity, and extent of presence metaphor.