Patent Application
20140071163
Augmented reality devices may be used in a variety of real-world environments and contexts to provide a view of the real-world that is augmented by holographic objects and other virtual reality information. Such devices may have access to vast amounts of virtual reality information that may be presented to a user. Depending upon the real-world environment and/or context in which an augmented reality device is being used, presenting too much virtual reality information may annoy or overwhelm a user, making the information difficult to process. In other situations presenting too little virtual reality information may frustrate a user, leading to a less-than-satisfactory user experience.
User interest in certain virtual reality information, such as a particular holographic object, may fluctuate over time. Additionally, changing environmental factors may cause a current level of detail or manner of presentation of a holographic object to be inappropriate or undesirable for a user. Further, different users may have different preferences or comfort levels with respect to the amount and/or manner of presentation of virtual reality information via an augmented reality device.
To address the above issues, a holographic object presentation system for presenting a holographic object having a selective information detail level and related methods are provided. In one example, a holographic object presentation program may receive user behavior information and physical environment information. The holographic object presentation program may adjust the selective information detail level of the holographic object to an adjusted information detail level based on one or more of the user behavior information and the physical environment information. The holographic object presentation program may then provide the holographic object at the adjusted information detail level to an augmented reality display program, with the holographic object configured to be displayed on a display device by the augmented reality display program.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
The holographic object presentation program 14 may include one or more holographic objects having various and selective information detail levels. It will be appreciated that an information detail level of a holographic object may correspond to an amount of visual information presented by or with the holographic object, including but not limited to, various image resolution levels, colors, brightness levels, descriptive visual detail levels, image forms and shapes, textual information, etc.
In one example and as shown in
In one example, the holographic object presentation system 10 may include an augmented reality display program 32 that may be stored in mass storage 18 of the computing device 22. The augmented reality display program 32 may generate a virtual environment 34 for display on a display device, such as the head-mounted display (HMD) device 38. The virtual environment 34 may include one or more virtual object representations, such as holographic objects. In some examples, the virtual environment 34 may be generated to provide an augmented reality experience in the form of an interactive video game, motion picture experience, or other suitable electronic game or experience. In another example, the augmented reality display program 32 may be stored remotely and may be accessed by the computing device 22 over a network 40 to which the computing device is operatively connected.
The computing device 22 may take the form of a desktop computing device, a mobile computing device such as a smart phone, laptop, notebook or tablet computer, network computer, home entertainment computer, interactive television, gaming system, or other suitable type of computing device. Additional details regarding the components and computing aspects of the computing device 22 are described in more detail below with reference to
The computing device 22 may be operatively connected with the HMD device 38 using a wired connection, or may employ a wireless connection via WiFi, Bluetooth, or any other suitable wireless communication protocol. Additionally, the example illustrated in
The computing device 22 also may be operatively connected with one or more additional devices via network 40. In one example, the computing device 22 may communicate with a server 42 and a mobile device 46. Network 40 may take the form of a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), wired network, wireless network, personal area network, or a combination thereof, and may include the Internet.
With reference to
The transparent display 50 may also be configured to enable a user to view a real-world object in the physical environment through one or more partially transparent pixels that are displaying a virtual object representation. In one example, the transparent display 50 may include image-producing elements located within lenses 204 (such as, for example, a see-through Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display). As another example, the transparent display 50 may include a light modulator on an edge of the lenses 204. In this example, the lenses 204 may serve as a light guide for delivering light from the light modulator to the eyes of a user.
In other examples, transparent display 50 may support selective filtering of light received from the physical environment before reaching an eye of a user wearing the HMD device 200. Such filtering may be performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis or on groups of pixels. In one example, transparent display 50 may include a first display layer that adds light in the form of one or more illuminated pixels, and a second display layer that filters ambient light received from the physical environment. These layers may have different display resolution, pixel density, and/or display capabilities.
The HMD device may also include various systems and sensors. For example, and with reference also to the HMD device 38 in
The HMD device 200 may also include an optical sensor system 58 that utilizes at least one outward facing sensor 212, such as an optical sensor. Outward facing sensor 212 may detect movements within its field of view, such as gesture-based inputs or other movements performed by a user or by a person within the field of view. Outward facing sensor 212 may also capture image information and depth information from a physical environment and real-world objects within the environment. For example, outward facing sensor 212 may include a depth camera, a visible light camera, an infrared light camera, and/or a position tracking camera. In some examples, outward facing sensor 212 may include one or more optical sensors for observing visible spectrum and/or infrared light from real-world lighting conditions in the physical environment. Such sensors may include, for example, a charge coupled device image sensor.
As noted above, the HMD device 200 may include depth sensing via one or more depth cameras. Each depth camera may include left and right cameras of a stereoscopic vision system, for example. Time-resolved images from one or more of these depth cameras may be registered to each other and/or to images from another optical sensor such as a visible spectrum camera, and may be combined to yield depth-resolved video.
In some examples, a depth camera may take the form of a structured light depth camera configured to project a structured infrared illumination comprising numerous, discrete features (e.g., lines or points). The depth camera may be configured to image the structured illumination reflected from a scene onto which the structured illumination is projected. A depth map of the scene may be constructed based on spacings between adjacent features in the various regions of an imaged scene.
In other examples, a depth camera may take the form of a time-of-flight depth camera configured to project a pulsed infrared illumination onto a scene. This depth camera may be configured to detect the pulsed illumination reflected from the scene. Two or more of these depth cameras may include electronic shutters synchronized to the pulsed illumination. The integration times for the two or more depth cameras may differ, such that a pixel-resolved time-of-flight of the pulsed illumination, from the source to the scene and then to the depth cameras, is discernable from the relative amounts of light received in corresponding pixels of the two depth cameras. The HMD device 200 may also include an infrared projector to assist in structured light and/or time of flight depth analysis.
In other examples, gesture-based and other motion inputs from the user 52 and/or persons in the physical environment may also be detected via one or more depth cameras. For example, outward facing sensor 212 may include two or more optical sensors with known relative positions for creating depth images. Using motion results from these optical sensors with known relative positions, such depth images may evolve over time.
Outward facing sensor 212 may capture images of a physical environment in which the user 52 is situated. As discussed in more detail below, such images may be part of physical environment information 60 that may be received by the HMD device 38 and provided to the computing device 22. In one example, the augmented reality display program 32 may include a 3D modeling system that uses such input to generate a virtual environment 34 that models the physical environment that is captured.
The HMD device 200 may also include a position sensor system 62 that utilizes one or more motion sensors 216 to enable position tracking and/or orientation sensing of the HMD device 200, and determine a position of the HMD device within a physical environment. As one example, position sensor system 62 may comprise an inertial measurement unit configured as a six-axis or six-degree of freedom position sensor system. This example position sensor system may, for example, include three accelerometers and three gyroscopes to indicate or measure a change in location of the HMD device 200 within three-dimensional space along three orthogonal axes (e.g., x, y, z), and a change in an orientation of the HMD device about the three orthogonal axes (e.g., roll, pitch, yaw).
Position sensor system 62 may support other suitable positioning techniques, such as GPS or other global navigation systems. For example, position sensor system 62 may include a wireless receiver (e.g., a GPS receiver or cellular receiver) to receive wireless signals broadcast from satellites and/or terrestrial base stations. These wireless signals may be used to identify a geographic location of the HMD device 200.
Positioning information obtained from wireless signals received by the HMD device 200 may be combined with positioning information obtained from the motion sensors 216 to provide an indication of location and/or orientation of the HMD device 200. While specific examples of position sensor systems have been described, it will be appreciated that other suitable position sensor systems may be used.
Motion sensors 216 may also be employed as user input devices, such that a user may interact with the HMD device 200 via gestures of the neck and head, or even of the body. Non-limiting examples of motion sensors include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, and an orientation sensor, which may be included as any combination or subcombination thereof.
The HMD device 200 may also include one or more microphones 220. In some examples, and as described in more detail below, microphones 220 may receive audio input from a user and/or audio input from a physical environment around the user. Additionally or alternatively, one or more microphones separate from the HMD device 200 may be used to receive audio input.
The HMD device 200 may also include a controller 224 having a logic subsystem and a data-holding subsystem, as discussed in more detail below with respect to
It will be appreciated that the HMD device 200 and related sensors and other components described above and illustrated in
With reference now also to
It will be appreciated that in some examples the holographic object presentation program 14 may receive the holographic object 36 at the default information detail level from the memory 26 of computing device 22. In other examples the holographic object 36 may be received via network 40 from sources external to the computing device 22, such as the server 42 or the mobile device 46.
With reference now to
As shown in
With reference again to
As explained in more detail below, based on one or more of the user behavior information 74 and the physical environment information 60, the holographic object presentation system 10 may adjust the selective information detail level of the holographic object 36 to an adjusted information detail level represented in holographic object 36′. The holographic object presentation system 10 may then provide the holographic object 36′ at the adjusted information detail level to the augmented reality display program 32, with the holographic object 36′ configured to be displayed on the HMD device 200.
In one example and with reference to
In one example, the holographic object presentation program 14 may detect in eye-tracking information received from the eye-tracking system 54 that the user 52 is gazing at the globe 234. Based on detecting the user's gaze, the holographic object presentation program 14 may increase the default information detail level of the globe 234 from the low information detail level to the medium information detail level corresponding to a globe 234′ with landmass and body of water outlines, as shown in
With reference now to
With continued reference to the table 68, a second trigger may be defined as a user looking away from a holographic object at which the user had been gazing. When this trigger is detected, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the object to a medium level of detail. A third trigger may be defined as a user having looked away from the holographic object for more than 3 seconds. When this trigger is detected, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the object to a low level of detail. A fourth trigger may be defined as a user interacting with a different holographic object. When this trigger is detected, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the previous object to a minimum level of detail.
It will be appreciated that the second, third and fourth triggers described above may correspond to a decreasing interest trigger suggesting that the user's interest in the object is decreasing. It will also be appreciated that many other types of triggers, associated user behavior information 74 and/or physical environment information 60, and values associated with a trigger may be utilized.
In another example, two or more developer-defined conditions may be associated with each developer-defined trigger, with each condition corresponding to a particular information detail level. With reference now to
Regarding the second trigger, when the user looks away from the object, if the condition detected is daylight then the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the object to the medium level of detail. If the condition detected is dark, then the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the object to the low level of detail. Regarding the third trigger, when the user has looked away from the object for more than 3 seconds, if the condition detected is daylight then the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the object to the low level of detail. If the condition detected is dark, then the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the object to the minimum level of detail. Regarding the fourth trigger, when the user interacts with another holographic object, regardless of whether the condition detected is daylight or dark, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail of the previous object to the minimum level of detail.
Advantageously, in this example a developer may further control the information detail levels of a holographic object based on physical environment conditions a user may be experiencing. It will be appreciated that many other types of conditions may be utilized to adjust information detail levels. Such conditions may include, but are not limited to, other user behaviors, other physical environment conditions such as noise level and weather, number and/or proximity of other objects or persons, physiological state of a user, number and/or proximity of other holographic objects in the virtual environment, etc.
In another example, one or more user-defined settings may be associated with a developer-defined trigger, with each user-defined setting determining a parameter for adjusting the information detail level of a holographic object. In one example and with reference to
With continued reference to
In another example of an increasing interest trigger, and with reference again to
In another example of an increasing interest trigger, and with reference again to
In still another example of an increasing interest trigger, the holographic object presentation program 14 may detect a verbal cue in speech recognition information received from the microphone 220 that suggests an increasing interest level of the user in the globe 234. For example, the user 52 may say, “How beautiful the earth looks.” Based on detecting such a verbal cue, the holographic object presentation program 14 may increase the default information detail level of the globe 234. It will be appreciated that many other examples of verbal cues may be detected and used to infer an increasing interest of the user 52 in the globe 234.
In another example, one or more developer-defined holographic object behavioral states may be provided for a holographic object. With reference to
It will be appreciated that the developer-defined holographic object behavioral states may be invoked by a variety of user behaviors, physical environment conditions, virtual environment parameters, and/or other factors. It will also be appreciated that many different forms of developer-defined holographic object behavioral states may be provided for a variety of holographic objects.
In other examples, the holographic object presentation system 10 may use the physical environment information 60 received from a physical environment 230 to adjust the selective information detail level of the holographic object 36 to an adjusted information detail level of holographic object 36′. In one example where the physical environment information 60 includes physical object proximity information, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail level of a holographic object to a lower detail level when another person moves within a specified distance from the user 52 such as, for example, within a 3 foot radius.
In another example where the physical environment information 60 includes external audio information, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail level of a holographic object to a lower detail level when audio information that may be of importance to a user is detected. In one example, such audio information may include an announcement in an airport regarding a user's scheduled flight. In another example where the physical environment information 60 includes physical object speed information, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the information detail level of a holographic object to a lower detail level when an external object is detected as travelling toward the user 52 at a speed above a threshold. In one example, where a real-world baseball is detected as travelling toward the user 52 at a speed above 15 km/hr, the holographic object presentation program 14 may adjust the selective information detail level of the holographic object 36 to a lower detail level. It will be appreciated that many other examples of physical environment information 60 may be used to adjust the selective information detail level of the holographic object 36 to an adjusted information detail level, whether a higher or lower detail level.
In some examples, a lower information detail level may correspond to a higher transparency of the holographic object as compared to a higher information detail level. Similarly, a higher information detail level may correspond to a higher opacity of the holographic object as compared to a lower information detail level. In other examples, adjusting the information detail level of a holographic object may include changing the form or shape of the holographic object. For example, a minimum information detail level of a person may correspond to a stick figure icon, while a low detail information level of that person may correspond to a two-dimensional figure with a face.
With reference to
At 324 the method may include detecting a decreasing interest trigger in one or more of speech recognition information, eye-tracking information, head pose information, user movement information and user gesture information. At 328 the method may also include receiving physical environment information 60.
At 332 the method may include adjusting the selective information detail level of the holographic object to an adjusted information detail level based on one or more of the user behavior information 74 and the physical environment information 60. In one example, at 336 the method may include increasing the selective information detail level of the holographic object based on detecting an increasing interest trigger. For example, at 340 the method may include increasing the selective information detail level of the holographic object as a user gazes at the holographic object. In another example, at 344 the method may include increasing the selective information detail level of the holographic object as a user moves toward the holographic object. In still another example, at 348 the method may include increasing the selective information detail level of the holographic object when a user gestures toward the holographic object.
In another example, at 352 the method may include decreasing the selective information detail level of the holographic object based on detecting a decreasing interest trigger.
At 356 the method may include adjusting the selective information detail level of the holographic object to a first adjusted information detail level when a first condition is met. At 360 the method may include adjusting the selective information detail level of the holographic object to a second adjusted information detail level when a second condition is met. At 364 the method may include providing the holographic object at an adjusted information detail level to an augmented reality display program 32 for display on the HMD device 200.
As shown in
Logic subsystem 404 may include one or more physical devices configured to execute one or more instructions. For example, the logic subsystem may be configured to execute one or more instructions that are part of one or more applications, services, programs, routines, libraries, objects, components, data structures, or other logical constructs. Such instructions may be implemented to perform a task, implement a data type, transform the state of one or more devices, or otherwise arrive at a desired result.
The logic subsystem 404 may include one or more processors that are configured to execute software instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the logic subsystem may include one or more hardware or firmware logic machines configured to execute hardware or firmware instructions. Processors of the logic subsystem may be single core or multicore, and the programs executed thereon may be configured for parallel or distributed processing. The logic subsystem may optionally include individual components that are distributed throughout two or more devices, which may be remotely located and/or configured for coordinated processing. One or more aspects of the logic subsystem may be virtualized and executed by remotely accessible networked computing devices configured in a cloud computing configuration.
Data-holding subsystem 408 may include one or more physical, non-transitory devices configured to hold data and/or instructions executable by the logic subsystem 404 to implement the herein described methods and processes. When such methods and processes are implemented, the state of data-holding subsystem 408 may be transformed (e.g., to hold different data).
Data-holding subsystem 408 may include removable media and/or built-in devices. Data-holding subsystem 408 may include optical memory devices (e.g., CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray Disc, etc.), semiconductor memory devices (e.g., RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.) and/or magnetic memory devices (e.g., hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, MRAM, etc.), among others. Data-holding subsystem 408 may include devices with one or more of the following characteristics: volatile, nonvolatile, dynamic, static, read/write, read-only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, and content addressable. In some embodiments, logic subsystem 404 and data-holding subsystem 408 may be integrated into one or more common devices, such as an application specific integrated circuit or a system on a chip.
It is to be appreciated that data-holding subsystem 408 includes one or more physical, non-transitory devices. In contrast, in some embodiments aspects of the instructions described herein may be propagated in a transitory fashion by a pure signal (e.g., an electromagnetic signal, an optical signal, etc.) that is not held by a physical device for at least a finite duration. Furthermore, data and/or other forms of information pertaining to the present disclosure may be propagated by a pure signal.
Display subsystem 412 may be used to present a visual representation of data held by data-holding subsystem 408. Display subsystem 412 may include, for example, the transparent display 50 of the HMD device 200. As the above described methods and processes change the data held by the data-holding subsystem 408, and thus transform the state of the data-holding subsystem, the state of the display subsystem 412 may likewise be transformed to visually represent changes in the underlying data. The display subsystem 412 may include one or more display devices utilizing virtually any type of technology. Such display devices may be combined with logic subsystem 404 and/or data-holding subsystem 408 in a shared enclosure, or such display devices may be peripheral display devices.
Communication subsystem 416 may be configured to communicatively couple computing device 400 with one or more networks, such as network 40, and/or one or more other computing devices. Communication subsystem 416 may include wired and/or wireless communication devices compatible with one or more different communication protocols. As nonlimiting examples, the communication subsystem 416 may be configured for communication via a wireless telephone network, a wireless local area network, a wired local area network, a wireless wide area network, a wired wide area network, etc. In some embodiments, the communication subsystem may allow computing device 400 to send and/or receive messages to and/or from other devices via a network such as the Internet.
Sensor subsystem 420 may include one or more sensors configured to sense different physical phenomenon (e.g., visible light, infrared light, sound, acceleration, orientation, position, etc.) as described above. For example, the sensor subsystem 420 may comprise one or more eye-tracking sensors, image sensors, microphones, motion sensors such as accelerometers, touch pads, touch screens, and/or any other suitable sensors. Sensor subsystem 420 may be configured to provide observation information to logic subsystem 404, for example. As described above, observation information such as eye-tracking information, image information, audio information, ambient lighting information, depth information, position information, motion information, and/or any other suitable sensor data may be used to perform the methods and processes described above.
The term “program” may be used to describe an aspect of the holographic object presentation system 10 that is implemented to perform one or more particular functions. In some cases, such a program may be instantiated via logic subsystem 404 executing instructions held by data-holding subsystem 408. It is to be understood that different programs may be instantiated from the same application, service, code block, object, library, routine, API, function, etc. Likewise, the same program may be instantiated by different applications, services, code blocks, objects, routines, APIs, functions, etc. The term “program” is meant to encompass individual or groups of executable files, data files, libraries, drivers, scripts, database records, etc.
It is to be understood that the configurations and/or approaches described herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specific embodiments or examples are not to be considered in a limiting sense, because numerous variations are possible. The specific routines or methods described herein may represent one or more of any number of processing strategies. As such, various acts illustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated, in other sequences, in parallel, or in some cases omitted. Likewise, the order of the above-described processes may be changed.
The subject matter of the present disclosure includes all novel and nonobvious combinations and subcombinations of the various processes, systems and configurations, and other features, functions, acts, and/or properties disclosed herein, as well as any and all equivalents thereof.
