Patent Application
20200159040
The present application relates generally to the field of headsets with head mounted displays (HMD), including to virtual/augmented/mixed reality/extended reality and peripheral attachments of the head mounted display.
Current virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR); Extended Reality (XR), (hereinafter jointly referred to as “VR”) users suffer greatly from so called “VR sickness” and/or dizziness which is motion sickness caused by the dilemma of the perceived moving horizon and lifelike sensations of the movement in the eyes juxtaposed with a more or less stationary inner ear. The sensory conflict or incongruent sensory inputs between the eyes and the inner ears throws off the sense of proprioception which maintains the feedback loop between the brain and one's body positions.
The application refers to VR headset and HMD throughout. The VR headset and HMD may be integrated into a single unit. Thus, the use of the terms VR headset and HMD in combination does not constitute a requirement for two separable structures or units. The VR headset and/or the HMD may be configured as a compact package or module such that only a single discrete unit or module is provided. Thus, as used in the application the term “VR headset and HMD” is intended to be directed to either two separate units or a single unit for providing the user with a VR experience.
Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a face conforming structure that helps reduce motion sickness and extend time in which a VR headset and HMD may be comfortably used. The face conforming structure may include a nose piece.
The inventions disclosed herein include a method of reducing VR sickness of a user of a VR headset and HMD, the method comprising the steps of: increasing cranofacial contact of the VR headset and HMD to the user using a face conforming structure; maintaining a sense of proprioception of the user via added support for the VR headset and HMD from the front of the user's face using the face conforming structure; and stabilizing of the VR headset and HMD to the face of the user in all directions using the face conforming structure by allowing the VR headset and HMD to rest on and compress the face conforming structure.
The features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, and the accompanying exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, which are briefly described below.
Described herein is an invention for supporting from the front of the face, including from the nose, any headsets including a head mounted display (HMD), including, but not limited to VR headsets, VR glasses, VR goggles, VR screens, or other VR hardware worn on, or attached to, the head, and providing at least a visual indication of a VR environment such as phones mounted on a frame or other devices with a VR capable screen. A goal of the invention is to substantially reduce VR sickness by adding actual or imagined stability to maintain the body's sense of proprioception via added support for the VR headset and HMD from the front of the face, specifically the nasal bone, to stabilize the VR experience from all sides of the head including the front, top and back. The method and apparatus disclosed herein aids in reducing VR sickness in part by minimizing movement of the VR headset and HMD relative to the virtual environment, in part by providing tactile sensory feedback from the front of the face, and especially the nasal bone, cheeks and orbital bones, to help establish a spatial reference point of the head relative to the virtual environment, and in part by providing a visual reference to help establish a spatial reference point of the head relative to the virtual environment.
It has already been shown that adding a virtual “soft” nose within the virtual environment may minimize the VR sickness for some high intensity games. In one study, participants were able to engage with high movement games for longer periods without VR sickness when a “virtual nose” was embedded in the 3D environment. It is believed that the virtual nose helps the brain establish a sense of spatial location of the head relative to the VR scenery. In the real world, the nose is always visible, even though it is ignored unless consciously viewed. It is believed that the brain, in part, expects this constant reference, and without it, loses some sense of the location of the head and body relative to the environment. Without the virtual nose, the brain sees only a moving image, with no visual reference to the head. An embodiment of the invention disclosed herein furthers this concept by introducing additional physical support from the nose for the VR headset and HMD. For example, a face conforming structure may include a nose piece for a VR headset and HMD that provides support for the headset up from the nose with the purpose of reducing the intensity of VR sickness by stabilizing the VR experience of movement from the front of the face, and by linking the perception of movement to an actualized stationary source of weight.
In other embodiments, the face conforming structure may provide support to the VR headset and HMD from the user's orbital bone structure. The face conforming structure associated with the VR headset and HMD may be configured to match the orbital bones around the eyes. In additional to matching the user's orbital bone structure, as mentioned above, the face conforming structure may also be matched with the cheeks and/or nose structure of the user.
In one disclosed embodiment, the face conforming structure for a VR headset and HMD may be made from any suited material such as, but not limited to, silicone, rubber, foam, elastic, Velcro, conductive fabric and conductive thread and fabric or cloth of all types or any combination of such materials and may be be attached to the VR headset and HMD to lend support to the VR headset and HMD
In another embodiment the face conforming structure comprises a nose piece that may be clipped directed over the nose or strapped over the nose from the back of the head, made from any suitable material and is thick enough to hold up a VR headset and HMD such that the nose supports the VR headset and HMD via the nose piece.
In another embodiment, the face conforming structure is integrated into a VR headset and HMD to provide for support of the VR headset and HMD from the face nose, cheek and orbital bones as the face conforming structure is integrated into the frame of the VR headset and HMD.
In another embodiment, the face conforming structure may be attached to a VR headset and HMD and made from any suitable material such as, but not limited to, silicone, rubber, foam, elastic, Velcro, conductive fabric and conductive thread and fabric or cloth of all types or any combination of such materials in order to provide support to the VR headset and HMD via the face of the user.
In another embodiment the face conforming structure may be clipped directed over the face or strapped over the face from the back of the head, made from any suitable material such as, but not limited to, silicone, rubber, foam, elastic, Velcro, conductive fabric and conductive thread and fabric or cloth of all types. combination of such materials and is thick enough to hold up a VR headset and HMD such that the user's face supports the VR headset and HMD via the face conforming structure.
In another embodiment, the face conforming structure comprises a complete VR headset and HMD manufactured with support of the VR headset and HMD rom the face and face conforming structure integrated into the frame of the VR headset and HMD.
The nose piece 1 may also include a harder bridge portion 40 and softer wing potions 41 (See
The shape of the face conforming structure including both the face conforming structure surrounding the eyes and/or the nose piece described above, may be developed based on a contour scan or image of the corresponding user's face. The contour scan allows three-dimensional topographical data of the user's face to be captured. The data may be used to create a face conforming structure that can be manufactured using any known manufacturing techniques, for example, additive manufacturing. The manufacturing process may either directly print the face confirming structure or print a mold of the face conforming structure, in which the mold can be injected with different materials to create the face confirming structure. Facial recognition software may also be used to derive the three-dimensional topographical data of the users face from an image. 3D printers and other printers, including, but not limited to laser printers and CNCs or future incarnations of these current printers and prototyping machines that may be used to create the face conforming structure 20, or create a mold so that the custom face conforming structure 20 may be casted. Other methods may be used to create the user's face conforming structure, for example a soft silicone based material may be applied to the user's face and removed to create the contour mold of the user's face. The mold is then used to cast the face conforming structure for the user. Other methods include facial recognition via Machine Learning and AI to determine the predominant differences in facial structures by clustering images to create composites of the main variations of facial structures that the user can match to best fit the user's face, which they can self-select based on the primary facial clusterings that most closely provide the “best fit” for more than one standard size, that most VR companies have yet to address. The clustering customization process is something that does not currently exist as of the time of this application.
The face conforming structure (including the nose piece) may be customized and personalized for a specific user using 3D scanner used to map facial recognition otherwise, as well as algorithms trained on customized annotated data to locate specific points of contact of the face conforming structure 20 specific to the intended user of the face conforming structure. Thus, a method may be employed where the user performs a facial scan at a first location and the facial scan data is transmitted or exported and imported into a variety of software programs that allow for 3D rendering of any kind of scan 3D or otherwise—including facial. These files can then be manipulated as needed and manufactured in different locations where there exists specialized custom face conforming expertise and access to appropriate software and hardware to render a physical manifestation of the invention/s.
The face conforming structure 20 may also be selected by a user from a ready-made inventory. The different sizes and shapes of the face conforming structure stored in the ready-made inventory may be developed to ensure that each available version of the face conforming structure functions to reduce the VR sickness and enhance VR experiences, directly addressing current issues that arise from use of existing VR headsets and HMDs.
The different sizes and shapes of the face conforming structure may also be created to clustering facial data to arrive at several different face configurations for face conforming structures. The facial data may be clustered based on the data so that users have similar facial features may select the same face conforming structure out of the available inventory. The clustering of the facial data may be accomplished, for example, by using algorithms and statistical analysis. The clustering may produce groups of facial structures having similar characteristics based on for example, ethnicity, genetics, gender norms, etc. Thus, a system may be employed that includes having a predetermined number of specialized (i.e., specific size and shape) face conforming structures 20 that may be produced and customized to fit these groups or clusters of facial structures. The nose piece may be one example of a face conforming structure that may be stored in an inventory of different sizes and shapes.
The face conforming structure 20 may be attached to the VR headset and HMD 10 via attachment mechanisms 21. The attachment mechanisms may include hook and loop fasteners (Velcro) or other means to attach the face conforming structure 20 to the housing 18 such as, for example, snap lock, clips, magnets or other suitable attaching mechanisms. The face conforming structure 20 may be made of silicone based or other suitable material.
It should be noted that the term “exemplary” as used herein to describe various embodiments is intended to indicate that such embodiments are possible examples, representations, and/or illustrations of possible embodiments (and such term is not intended to connote that such embodiments are necessarily extraordinary or superlative examples).
To the extent that the application discloses the connection of two or more structures, the term connection is not limiting. For example, such joining or connection is not limited to the embodiments disclosed herein. Such joining may be stationary (e.g., permanent) or moveable (e.g., removable or releasable). Such joining may be achieved with the two structures or the two structures and any additional intermediate structures being integrally formed as a single unitary body with one another or with the two structures or the two structures and any additional intermediate structures being attached to one another.
References herein to the positions of elements (e.g., “top,” “bottom,” “above,” “below,” etc.) are merely used to describe the orientation of various elements in the FIGURES. It should be noted that the orientation of various elements may differ according to other exemplary embodiments, and that such variations are intended to be encompassed by the present disclosure.
It is important to note that the construction and arrangement of the VR headset and HMD is illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter described herein. For example, elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements, the position of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied, and the nature or number of discrete elements or positions may be altered or varied. The order or sequence of any process or method steps may be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments. Other substitutions, modifications, changes and omissions may also be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the various exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/770,740, filed on Nov. 21, 2018. The foregoing provisional application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62770740 | Nov 2018 | US |
