10‐4: Optimizing Photon‐to‐Photon Latency in MR Headset Video See‐Through: Design Guidelines and Tuning Strategies

In the application of mixed reality (MR) headsets where virtual and real environments are integrated, the Photon𠈐to𠈐Photon (PTP) latency in the Video See𠈐Through (VST) segment is inevitable. This latency causes sensory discomfort and motion mismatch, reducing the immersive experience during use. Therefore, achieving stable and low PTP latency is a critical challenge in the development of MR headsets. This study is based on the implementation of VST technology and analyzes the impacts of frequency and phase changes in camera shooting, image processing, and image rendering on PTP latency through simulation. The findings are validated by empirical measurements on popular MR headsets such as Apple Vision Pro, Pico4, and Meta Quest3. The results indicate that to optimize the latency performance of VST, it is essential to ensure the consistency of frequency and stability of phases across different processing stages. Furthermore, this paper proposes a set of monitoring and adaptive tuning methods and demonstrates the process of tuning PTP latency through case studies.