Patent Application
20130342570
Mixed reality is a technology that allows virtual imagery to be mixed with a real world physical environment. In a mixed reality system using, for example, smart phones with built in cameras, virtual images are superimposed onto real world environments using positioning data in the phones. However, superimposing images in this manner does not require reconciling the superimposed image with the real world environment or other images. In many cases, these mixed reality systems do not present a view of interaction of the virtual elements and the real world beyond the virtual images presented.
Technology is described herein which provides various embodiments for implementing a mixed reality environment using a see-through, mixed reality display device. The mixed reality environment has one or more virtual objects and one or more real objects which exist within the view of the device. Each of the real and virtual have a commonly defined set of attributes that are understood by the mixed reality system allowing the system to manage relationships and interaction between virtual objects and other virtual objects, and virtual and real objects. A common object definition with a common set of attributes is used to create individual instances of both real and virtual objects.
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 as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The technology described herein includes a see-through, mixed reality display device providing a mixed reality environment wherein one or more virtual objects and one or more real objects exist within the view of the device. Each of the real and virtual have a commonly defined set of attributes that are understood by the mixed reality system allowing the system to manage relationships and interaction between virtual objects and other virtual objects, and virtual and real objects.
A common object definition with a common set of attributes is used to create individual instances of both real and virtual objects. An object identifier identifies object structures, which may be non-unique, statistically unique, or unique to the object definition. Instances of objects are created by the display system and may also be specifically identified and may be non-unique, statistically unique, or unique. Each object structure and object instance is associated with a person, object or environment, and can be accessed in physical space by reference to spatial coordinates. The attributes of the object contain properties used to generate and maintain virtual objects in the real world environment, and provide functions to the virtual objects. A system filter allows interpretation of object interactions which may conflict with user preferences for the user of the system.
See through head mounted display device 2, which in one embodiment is in the shape of eyeglasses in a frame 115, is worn on the head of a user so that the user can see through a display, embodied in this example as a display optical system 14 for each eye, and thereby have an actual direct view of the space in front of the user. The use of the term “actual direct view” refers to the ability to see real world objects directly with the human eye, rather than seeing created image representations of the objects. For example, looking through glass at a room allows a user to have an actual direct view of the room, while viewing a video of a room on a television is not an actual direct view of the room. Based on the context of executing software, for example, a gaming application, the system can project images of virtual objects, sometimes referred to as virtual images or holograms, on the display that are viewable by the person wearing the see-through display device while that person is also viewing real world objects through the display.
Frame 115 provides a support for holding elements of the system in place as well as a conduit for electrical connections. In this embodiment, frame 115 provides a convenient eyeglass frame as support for the elements of the system discussed further below. In other embodiments, other support structures can be used. An example of such a structure is a visor, hat, helmet or goggles. The frame 115 includes a temple or side arm for resting on each of a user's ears. Temple 102 is representative of an embodiment of the right temple and includes control circuitry 136 for the display device 2. Nose bridge 104 of the frame includes a microphone 110 for recording sounds and transmitting audio data to processing unit 4.
One or more remote, network accessible computer system(s) 12 may be leveraged for processing power and remote data access. An example of hardware components of a computing system 12 is shown in
Additionally, in some embodiments, the applications executing on other see through head mounted display systems 10 in same environment or in communication with each other share data updates in real time, for example object identifications and occlusion data like an occlusion volume for a real object, in a peer-to-peer configuration between devices or to object management service executing in one or more network accessible computing systems.
The shared data in some examples may be referenced with respect to one or more referenced coordinate systems accessible to the device 2. In other examples, one head mounted display (HMD) device may receive data from another HMD device including image data or data derived from image data, position data for the sending HMD, e.g. GPS or IR data giving a relative position, and orientation data. An example of data shared between the HMDs is depth map data including image data and depth data captured by its front facing cameras 113, object identification data, and occlusion volumes for real objects in the depth map. The real objects may still be unidentified or have been recognized by software executing on the HMD device or a supporting computer system, e.g. 12 or another display system 10.
An example of an environment is a 360 degree visible portion of a real location in which the user is situated. A user may be looking at a subset of his environment which is his field of view. For example, a room is an environment. A person may be in a house and be in the kitchen looking at the top shelf of the refrigerator. The top shelf of the refrigerator is within his display field of view, the kitchen is his environment, but his upstairs bedroom is not part of his current environment as walls and a ceiling block his view of the upstairs bedroom. Of course, as he moves, his environment changes. Some other examples of an environment may be a ball field, a street location, a section of a store, a customer section of a coffee shop and the like. A location can include multiple environments, for example, the house may be a location. The user and his friends may be wearing their display device systems for playing a game which takes place throughout the house. As each player moves about the house, his environment changes. Similarly, a perimeter around several blocks may be a location and different intersections provide different environments to view as different cross streets come into view. In some instances, a location can also be an environment depending on the precision of location tracking sensors or data.
In the illustrated embodiment of
The axis 178 formed from the center 166 of rotation through the cornea center 164 to the pupil 162 is the optical axis of the eye. A gaze vector 180 is sometimes referred to as the line of sight or visual axis which extends from the fovea through the center of the pupil 162. The fovea is a small area of about 1.2 degrees located in the retina. The angular offset between the optical axis computed and the visual axis has horizontal and vertical components. The horizontal component is up to 5 degrees from the optical axis, and the vertical component is between 2 and 3 degrees. In many embodiments, the optical axis is determined and a small correction is determined through user calibration to obtain the visual axis which is selected as the gaze vector.
For each user, a virtual object may be displayed by the display device at each of a number of predetermined positions at different horizontal and vertical positions. An optical axis may be computed for each eye during display of the object at each position, and a ray modeled as extending from the position into the user eye. A gaze offset angle with horizontal and vertical components may be determined based on how the optical axis is to be moved to align with the modeled ray. From the different positions, an average gaze offset angle with horizontal or vertical components can be selected as the small correction to be applied to each computed optical axis. In some embodiments, a horizontal component is used for the gaze offset angle correction.
The gaze vectors 180l and 180r are not perfectly parallel as the vectors become closer together as they extend from the eyeball into the field of view at a point of gaze which is effectively at infinity as indicated by the symbols 181l and 181r. At each display optical system 14, the gaze vector 180 appears to intersect the optical axis upon which the sensor detection area 139 is centered. In this configuration, the optical axes are aligned with the inter-pupillary distance (IPD). When a user is looking straight ahead, the IPD measured is also referred to as the far IPD.
When identifying an object for a user to focus on for aligning IPD at a distance, the object may be aligned in a direction along each optical axis of each display optical system. Initially, the alignment between the optical axis and user's pupil is not known. For a far IPD, the direction may be straight ahead through the optical axis. When aligning near IPD, the identified object may be in a direction through the optical axis, however due to vergence of the eyes at close distances, the direction is not straight ahead although it may be centered between the optical axes of the display optical systems.
Techniques for automatically determining a user's IPD and automatically adjusting the STHMD to set the IPD for optimal user viewing, are discussed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/221,739 entitled “Gaze Detection In A See-Through, Near-Eye, Mixed Reality Display”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/221,707 entitled “Adjustment Of A Mixed Reality Display For Inter-Pupillary Distance Alignment”; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/221,662 entitled “Aligning Inter-Pupillary Distance In A Near-Eye Display System”, all of which are hereby incorporated specifically by reference.
In general,
Some examples of electronically provided instructions are instructions displayed by the microdisplay 120, the processing unit 4 or audio instructions through speakers 130 of the display device 2. There may be device configurations with an automatic adjustment and a mechanical mechanism depending on user preference or for allowing a user some additional control.
In an exemplary display device 2, a detection area of at least one sensor is aligned with the optical axis of its respective display optical system so that the center of the detection area is capturing light along the optical axis. If the display optical system is aligned with the user's pupil, each detection area of the respective sensor is aligned with the user's pupil. Reflected light of the detection area is transferred via one or more optical elements to the actual image sensor of the camera in this example illustrated by dashed line as being inside the frame 115.
In one example, a visible light camera (also commonly referred to as an RGB camera) may be the sensor. An example of an optical element or light directing element is a visible light reflecting mirror which is partially transmissive and partially reflective. The visible light camera provides image data of the pupil of the user's eye, while IR photodetectors 152 capture glints which are reflections in the IR portion of the spectrum. If a visible light camera is used, reflections of virtual images may appear in the eye data captured by the camera. An image filtering technique may be used to remove the virtual image reflections if desired. An IR camera is not sensitive to the virtual image reflections on the eye.
In other examples, the at least one sensor is an IR camera or a position sensitive detector (PSD) to which the IR radiation may be directed. For example, a hot reflecting surface may transmit visible light but reflect IR radiation. The IR radiation reflected from the eye may be from incident radiation of illuminators, other IR illuminators (not shown) or from ambient IR radiation reflected off the eye. In some examples, sensor may be a combination of an RGB and an IR camera, and the light directing elements may include a visible light reflecting or diverting element and an IR radiation reflecting or diverting element. In some examples, a camera may be small, e.g. 2 millimeters (mm) by 2 mm.
Various types of gaze detection systems are suitable for use in the present system. In some embodiments which calculate a cornea center as part of determining a gaze vector, two glints, and therefore two illuminators will suffice. However, other embodiments may use additional glints in determining a pupil position and hence a gaze vector. As eye data representing the glints is repeatedly captured, for example at 30 frames a second or greater, data for one glint may be blocked by an eyelid or even an eyelash, but data may be gathered by a glint generated by another illuminator.
Control circuitry 136 provide various electronics that support the other components of head mounted display device 2. More details of control circuitry 136 are provided below with respect to
The display device 2 provides an image generation unit which can create one or more images including one or more virtual objects. In some embodiments a microdisplay may be used as the image generation unit. A microdisplay assembly 173 in this example comprises light processing elements and a variable focus adjuster 135. An example of a light processing element is a microdisplay 120. Other examples include one or more optical elements such as one or more lenses of a lens system 122 and one or more reflecting elements such as reflective elements 124a and 124b in
Mounted to or inside temple 102, the microdisplay 120 includes an image source and generates an image of a virtual object. The microdisplay 120 is optically aligned with the lens system 122 and the reflecting element 124 or reflecting elements 124a and 124b as illustrated in the following Figures. The optical alignment may be along an optical path 133 including one or more optical axes. The microdisplay 120 projects the image of the virtual object through lens system 122, which may direct the image light, onto reflecting element 124 which directs the light into lightguide optical element 112 as in
The variable focus adjuster 135 changes the displacement between one or more light processing elements in the optical path of the microdisplay assembly or an optical power of an element in the microdisplay assembly. The optical power of a lens is defined as the reciprocal of its focal length, e.g. 1/focal length, so a change in one effects the other. The change in focal length results in a change in the region of the field of view, e.g. a region at a certain distance, which is in focus for an image generated by the microdisplay assembly 173.
In one example of the microdisplay assembly 173 making displacement changes, the displacement changes are guided within an armature 137 supporting at least one light processing element such as the lens system 122 and the microdisplay 120 in this example. The armature 137 helps stabilize the alignment along the optical path 133 during physical movement of the elements to achieve a selected displacement or optical power. In some examples, the adjuster 135 may move one or more optical elements such as a lens in lens system 122 within the armature 137. In other examples, the armature may have grooves or space in the area around a light processing element so it slides over the element, for example, microdisplay 120, without moving the light processing element. Another element in the armature such as the lens system 122 is attached so that the system 122 or a lens within slides or moves with the moving armature 137. The displacement range is typically on the order of a few millimeters (mm). In one example, the range is 1-2 mm. In other examples, the armature 137 may provide support to the lens system 122 for focal adjustment techniques involving adjustment of other physical parameters than displacement. An example of such a parameter is polarization.
For more information on adjusting a focal distance of a microdisplay assembly, see U.S. patent Ser. No. 12/941,825 entitled “Automatic Variable Virtual Focus for Augmented Reality Displays,” filed Nov. 8, 2010, having inventors Avi Bar-Zeev and John Lewis and which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In one example, the adjuster 135 may be an actuator such as a piezoelectric motor. Other technologies for the actuator may also be used and some examples of such technologies are a voice coil formed of a coil and a permanent magnet, a magnetostriction element, and an electrostriction element.
There are different image generation technologies that can be used to implement microdisplay 120. For example, microdisplay 120 can be implemented using a transmissive projection technology where the light source is modulated by optically active material, backlit with white light. These technologies are usually implemented using LCD type displays with powerful backlights and high optical energy densities. Microdisplay 120 can also be implemented using a reflective technology for which external light is reflected and modulated by an optically active material. The illumination is forward lit by either a white source or RGB source, depending on the technology. Digital light processing (DLP), liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) and Mirasol® display technology from Qualcomm, Inc. are all examples of reflective technologies which are efficient as most energy is reflected away from the modulated structure and may be used in the system described herein. Additionally, microdisplay 120 can be implemented using an emissive technology where light is generated by the display. For example, a PicoP™ engine from Microvision, Inc. emits a laser signal with a micro mirror steering either onto a tiny screen that acts as a transmissive element or beamed directly into the eye (e.g., laser).
The display optical system 14 in this embodiment has an optical axis 142 and includes a see-through lens 118 allowing the user an actual direct view of the real world. In this example, the see-through lens 118 is a standard lens used in eye glasses and can be made to any prescription (including no prescription). In another embodiment, see-through lens 118 can be replaced by a variable prescription lens. In some embodiments, see-through, near-eye display device 2 will include additional lenses.
The display optical system 14 further comprises reflecting reflective elements 124a and 124b. In this embodiment, light from the microdisplay 120 is directed along optical path 133 via a reflecting element 124a to a partially reflective element 124b embedded in lens 118 which combines the virtual object image view traveling along optical path 133 with the natural or actual direct view along the optical axis 142 so that the combined views are directed into a user's eye, right one in this example, at the optical axis, the position with the most collimated light for a clearest view.
A detection area of a light sensor is also part of the display optical system 14r. An optical element 125 embodies the detection area by capturing reflected light from the user's eye received along the optical axis 142 and directs the captured light to the sensor 134r, in this example positioned in the lens 118 within the inner frame 117r. As shown, the arrangement allows the detection area 139 of the sensor 134r to have its center aligned with the center of the display optical system 14. For example, if sensor 134r is an image sensor, sensor 134r captures the detection area 139, so an image captured at the image sensor is centered on the optical axis because the detection area 139 is. In one example, sensor 134r is a visible light camera or a combination of RGB/IR camera, and the optical element 125 includes an optical element which reflects visible light reflected from the user's eye, for example a partially reflective mirror.
In other embodiments, the sensor 134r is an IR sensitive device such as an IR camera, and the element 125 includes a hot reflecting surface which lets visible light pass through it and reflects IR radiation to the sensor 134r. An IR camera may capture not only glints, but also an infra-red or near infra-red image of the user's eye including the pupil.
In other embodiments, the IR sensor 134r is a position sensitive device (PSD), sometimes referred to as an optical position sensor. The depiction of the light directing elements, in this case reflecting elements, 125, 124, 124a and 124b in
As discussed in
In one embodiment, if the data captured by the sensor 134 indicates the pupil is not aligned with the optical axis, one or more processors in the processing unit 4 or the control circuitry 136 or both use a mapping criteria which correlates a distance or length measurement unit to a pixel or other discrete unit or area of the image for determining how far off the center of the pupil is from the optical axis 142. Based on the distance determined, the one or more processors determine adjustments of how much distance and in which direction the display optical system 14r is to be moved to align the optical axis 142 with the pupil. Control signals are applied by one or more display adjustment mechanism drivers 245 to each of the components, e.g. display adjustment mechanism 203, making up one or more display adjustment mechanisms 203. In the case of motors in this example, the motors move their shafts 205 to move the inner frame 117r in at least one direction indicated by the control signals. On the temple side of the inner frame 117r are flexible sections 215a, 215b of the frame 115 which are attached to the inner frame 117r at one end and slide within grooves 217a and 217b within the interior of the temple frame 115 to anchor the inner frame 117 to the frame 115 as the display optical system 14 is move in any of three directions for width, height or depth changes with respect to the respective pupil.
In addition to the sensor, the display optical system 14 includes other gaze detection elements. In this embodiment, attached to frame 117r on the sides of lens 118, are at least two (2) but may be more, infra-red (IR) illuminators 153 which direct narrow infra-red light beams within a particular wavelength range or about a predetermined wavelength at the user's eye to each generate a respective glint on a surface of the respective cornea. In other embodiments, the illuminators and any photodiodes may be on the lenses, for example at the corners or edges. In this embodiment, in addition to the at least 2 infra-red (IR) illuminators 153 are IR photodetectors 152. Each photodetector 152 is sensitive to IR radiation within the particular wavelength range of its corresponding IR illuminator 153 across the lens 118 and is positioned to detect a respective glint. As shown in
In
In this example, the display adjustment mechanism 203 in bridge 104 moves the display optical system 14r in a horizontal direction with respect to the user's eye as indicated by directional symbol 145. The flexible frame portions 215a and 215b slide within grooves 217a and 217b as the system 14 is moved. In this example, reflecting element 124a of an microdisplay assembly 173 embodiment is stationery. As the IPD is typically determined once and stored, any adjustment of the focal length between the microdisplay 120 and the reflecting element 124a that may be done may be accomplished by the microdisplay assembly, for example via adjustment of the microdisplay elements within the armature 137.
Lightguide optical element 112 transmits light from microdisplay 120 to the eye of the user wearing head mounted display device 2. Lightguide optical element 112 also allows light from in front of the head mounted display device 2 to be transmitted through lightguide optical element 112 to the user's eye thereby allowing the user to have an actual direct view of the space in front of head mounted display device 2 in addition to receiving a virtual image from microdisplay 120. Thus, the walls of lightguide optical element 112 are see-through. Lightguide optical element 112 includes a first reflecting element 124 (e.g., a mirror or other surface). Light from microdisplay 120 passes through lens system 122 and becomes incident on reflecting element 124. The reflecting element 124 reflects the incident light from the microdisplay 120 such that light is trapped inside a planar, substrate comprising lightguide optical element 112 by internal reflection.
After several reflections off the surfaces of the substrate, the trapped light waves reach an array of selectively reflecting surfaces 126. Note that only one of the five surfaces 126 to prevent over-crowding of the drawing. Reflecting surfaces 126 couple the light waves incident upon those reflecting surfaces out of the substrate into the eye of the user. More details of a lightguide optical element can be found in United States Patent Application Publication 2008/0285140, Ser. No. 12/214,366, published on Nov. 20, 2008, “Substrate-Guided Optical Devices” incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In one embodiment, each eye will have its own lightguide optical element 112.
In the embodiments of
In the embodiments above, the specific number of lenses shown are just examples. Other numbers and configurations of lenses operating on the same principles may be used. Additionally, in the examples above, only the right side of the see-through, near-eye display device 2 are shown. A full near-eye, mixed reality display device would include as examples another set of lenses 116 and/or 118, another lightguide optical element 112 for the embodiments of
Note that some of the components of
Camera interface 216 provides an interface to the two physical environment facing cameras 113 and each eye sensor 134 and stores respective images received from the cameras 113, 134 in camera buffer 218. Display driver 220 will drive microdisplay 120. Display formatter 222 may provide information, about the virtual image being displayed on microdisplay 120 to one or more processors of one or more computer systems, e.g. 4, 210 performing processing for the augmented reality system. Timing generator 226 is used to provide timing data for the system. Display out 228 is a buffer for providing images from physical environment facing cameras 113 and the eye cameras 134 to the processing unit 4. Display in 230 is a buffer for receiving images such as a virtual image to be displayed on microdisplay 120. Display out 228 and display in 230 communicate with band interface 232 which is an interface to processing unit 4.
Power management unit 202 includes voltage regulator 234, eye tracking illumination driver 236, variable adjuster driver 237, photodetector interface 239, audio DAC and amplifier 238, microphone preamplifier and audio ADC 240, temperature sensor interface 242, display adjustment mechanism driver(s) 245 and clock generator 244. Voltage regulator 234 receives power from processing unit 4 via band interface 232 and provides that power to the other components of head mounted display device 2. Illumination driver 236 controls, for example via a drive current or voltage, the illuminators 153 to operate about a predetermined wavelength or within a wavelength range. Audio DAC and amplifier 238 receives the audio information from earphones 130. Microphone preamplifier and audio ADC 240 provides an interface for microphone 110. Temperature sensor interface 242 is an interface for temperature sensor 138. One or more display adjustment drivers 245 provide control signals to one or more motors or other devices making up each display adjustment mechanism 203 which represent adjustment amounts of movement in at least one of three directions. Power management unit 202 also provides power and receives data back from three axis magnetometer 132A, three axis gyro 132B and three axis accelerometer 132C. Power management unit 202 also provides power and receives data back from and sends data to GPS transceiver 144.
The variable adjuster driver 237 provides a control signal, for example a drive current or a drive voltage, to the adjuster 135 to move one or more elements of the microdisplay assembly 173 to achieve a displacement for a focal region calculated by software executing in a processor 210 of the control circuitry 13, or the processing unit 4, or both. In embodiments of sweeping through a range of displacements and, hence, a range of focal regions, the variable adjuster driver 237 receives timing signals from the timing generator 226, or alternatively, the clock generator 244 to operate at a programmed rate or frequency.
The photodetector interface 239 performs any analog to digital conversion needed for voltage or current readings from each photodetector, stores the readings in a processor readable format in memory via the memory controller 212, and monitors the operation parameters of the photodetectors 152 such as temperature and wavelength accuracy.
In one embodiment, wireless communication component 346 can include a Wi-Fi enabled communication device, Bluetooth communication device, infrared communication device, etc. The USB port can be used to dock the processing unit 4 to a secondary computing device in order to load data or software onto processing unit 4, as well as charge processing unit 4. In one embodiment, CPU 320 and GPU 322 are the main workhorses for determining where, when and how to insert images into the view of the user.
Power management circuit 306 includes clock generator 360, analog to digital converter 362, battery charger 364, voltage regulator 366, see-through, near-eye display power interface 376, and temperature sensor interface 372 in communication with temperature sensor 374 (located on the wrist band of processing unit 4). An alternating current to digital converter 362 is connected to a charging jack 370 for receiving an AC supply and creating a DC supply for the system. Voltage regulator 366 is in communication with battery 368 for supplying power to the system. Battery charger 364 is used to charge battery 368 (via voltage regulator 366) upon receiving power from charging jack 370. Device power interface 376 provides power to the display device 2.
The system described above can be used to add virtual images to a user's view such that the virtual images are mixed with real images that the user see. In one example, the virtual images are added in a manner such that they appear to be part of the original scene. Examples of adding the virtual images can be found U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/112,919, “Event Augmentation With Real-Time Information,” filed on May 20, 2011; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/905,952, “Fusing Virtual Content Into Real Content,” filed on Oct. 15, 2010; both applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
To provide a mixed reality environment wherein virtual objects rendered by a display device interact with real objects in the field of view of a user, an object-centric tracking system is implemented. The object-centric tracking system uses a standard definition for each instance of a real world object and a rendered virtual object. This allows each processing unit 4 and computing system 12 to understand and process objects, both real and virtual, in a manner that is consistent across all devices and allows each rendering device to perform the calculations to render correct interactions between the objects in the field of view.
a illustrates a scenario by two users 702 and 704 each wearing a see through head mounted display device share a view of a physical environment 750. User 702 has a view of a virtual object 710 and a real object 720. Virtual object 710 is a rendered, three dimensional holographic object provided by the see through head mounted display device 2. Real object 720 is a physical, real world object, which is shown in this example to be a plant. Both the virtual object 710 and the real object 720 have properties and behaviors. For a physical object, physical properties and behaviors are well known and understood. For example, the plant has a volume, a weight, a mass, and reactions as forces such as gravity are applied to it. That is, if you push the plant it will move until the forces of friction and gravity restrict its movement; if you drop the plant from a particular height it will fall to the ground.
Virtual object 710 may have properties which are defined by the system rendering the object. That is, the object 710 will behave in one of a number of different manners as outlined in
In accordance with the technology, both the virtual object 710 and the real object 720 are defined using a common object definition used to create individual instances of each object. Instances of each object can be displayed and manipulated by display systems 10 alone, in conjunction with peer-connected systems 10, or through an object management service. Each virtual and each real object in the operating environment—the user field of view and environment—of a system 10 is characterized using the same definition structure, allowing individual systems to handle interactions between virtual objects and other virtual objects, and virtual objects and real objects, which are within the purview of the system.
For example, if the virtual monster object 710 runs across the room and into the plant, several scenarios are possible. In one scenario, the monster may run through the plant. In another scenario, the monster may hit the plant like hitting a wall and be knocked over. In yet another scenario, the monster may knock over the plant, which may be illustrated by the system generating a virtual plant and showing it knocked over while obfuscating the real object. Each of these scenarios, as well as other possible scenarios, can be determined and generated for a viewing user (e.g. users 702 and 704) based on the object definitions.
User 702 and 704 may be in wireless communication as illustrated by signal 725. Communication between users 702 and 704 may be peer-to-peer or may be provided via a centralized object management service that tracks instances of objects for users in various environments. It may be understood that there may be multiple users in a single physical environment, and the use of two users in this particular example is merely illustrative.
It should be further recognized that once an object definition for a real object is created, a virtual object equivalent to that real object may be created. For example, if a real object is defined for a real dog, that real object definition can be converted to a virtual object based on the characteristics recognized for the dog. Physical characteristics can be input based on device inputs to create shape, texture and other physical elements, while behaviors and physical actions of the dog can be understood from a generic object definition, or added as recognized by the system.
Object 820 is a responsive virtual object. The responsive virtual object moves with touch and registers location and user contact when a user's hand, for example, engages the object. Object 820 responds when it is interacted with and is active. The object is touchable; that is, the user can touch the object and move it, and supports basic interactions and animations. It may have programmable characteristics and behaviors that are parallel to but not necessarily restricted to reality or real based objects.
Object 830 is a third object type and comprises a functional object. The function of the object is an action or response that controls, for example, a secondary element. The function may be a virtual or a real world action. However, the type of interaction with the functional object 830 may not necessarily have any relation to a real world interaction. In the example shown at 830, object 830 turned on a light. Interaction with object 830 triggers a programmed response based on the gestural interaction with the object.
Object 840 is a smart object. Smart objects can have an independent reaction to a user interaction, and can include a retained memory from the last interaction. The smart object when interacted with in the example shown on
Finally, object 850 which is a complex object. The complex object triggers a complex chain of events or commands, in a manner much like a traditional computer. For example, object 850 displays a bank statement when touched. A complex object 850 may have all the functionality of a traditional computer and may become in any form. The object 850 is fully interactive and is constantly aware and analyzing its environment.
As discussed below, objects are created based on a definition accessed by an object identifier. The object identifier may be a non-unique, statistically unique, or unique identifier for an object or a class of objects. Each instance of an object can be registered relative to a person, object or environment to allow that instance to be both rendered in space and found by other objects.
It may be understood that where a user allows personal information such as location, biometric or identification information to be used by the system 10, the user may be asked to take an affirmative action before the data is collected. In addition or in the alternative, a user may be provided with the opportunity take an affirmative action to prevent the collection of data before that data is collected. This consent may be provided during an initialization phase of the system 10.
At step 1002, the user's location, orientation, and gaze within the display device to are determined. The user's gaze, orientation and location will determine the user's field of view and what objects are within the user's field of view and may be within the user's potential field of view in his surrounding environment. It may be understood that the user's location may be a relative location. That is, the location may not be a location relative to any world positioning system, but may be registered to a local environment where the user is located or relative to the user himself. At 1004, the physical environment is determined. One method for determining the physical environment involves mapping the user's real world environment using data gathered by the see through head mounted display device 2. This mapping step can determine the physical boundaries of the user's environment as well as determining which objects are within the physical environment. At step 1006, real objects and virtual objects within user environment are determined. Step 1006 can be performed by using data gathered by display device 2 from which real items within the user's environment are identified. Alternatively, a stored environment known to contain certain real and virtual objects ban be used. For example, if the user is sitting in the user's living room, it is likely that the user's previous definition of this environment will be known and can be used by the display device 2. That is, the furniture will likely not have moved, the television will remain in the same place, and the table and chairs will also be in the same positions they were before. Even slight movements of these physical objects could be recognized by the system. Once real objects in the environment are known and identified, the real world objects are mapped to real world object definitions. Object definitions are described below with respect to
Once all real world objects are identified at 1006, virtual objects for rendering in the user environment at 1006 are determined. The determination of virtual objects at 1006 may occur in a number of ways. In one embodiment, virtual objects are provided by an application running within the processing device for of the display system. Different applications may allow users to use virtual objects in different ways. In one example, virtual objects can be displayed to allow users to play games or interact with virtual monsters such as those shown in
As noted briefly above, each real object and each virtual object is characterized in the system by an object definition. The object definition is addressed by an object identifier. The object definition is used to create an instance of each object to the see through head mounted display device. In certain embodiments, each instance is assigned an identifier which may be non-unique, statistically unique, or unique and the instance of the object is registered to the global object management service. In other cases, the instance of this object may be non-unique, statistically unique, or unique to the rendering system (each display system comprising a see through head mounted display to and processing device for) and can be shared with other systems either through the object management system, or on a peer to peer basis
Once the virtual objects are determined at 1006, the virtual objects which may to be rendered in an user field of view are determined at 1008. Not all virtual objects in a user environment may be rendered in a user field of view. Whether an object is to be rendered depends on where the user is looking and their position relative to the virtual objects. Once field of view objects are determined at 1008, objects are rendered in the mixed reality view by device 2 at step 1010. At 1012, the system then handles interactions based on object rules and system filters as described below.
Object interaction comprises the interactions between virtual objects and real world objects, and virtual objects and other virtual objects. Real objects interact with real objects in known manners and in ways that cannot be altered by a display system. It will be understood that a display system can obfuscate the view of interactions of real objects, but cannot control them. However, when a virtual object encounters a real object, or a virtual object encounters another virtual object, collisions and occlusions may occur. This requires the display system to handle interactions between these objects by knowing where the positions are, and the properties of the object.
At step 1020, data from one or more sensory devices on the display device 2 is received. At 1025, one or more real objects in the field of view of the sensors are identified and assigned to the environment. Identification of objects at 1025 comprises assigning the object definition and creating an instance of a real world object definition such as that shown at
At 1025, a determination is made as to whether a local definition of a real object is accessible to a system 10. As illustrated in
At 1112, a determination is made as to whether another user's virtual objects are within a given user's field of view. Within a particular see through head mounted display device (step 1102) other users (such as the two users shown in
Based on the definition of the objects set forth in
As such, the interaction filter interprets object attributes at the rendering level of the device. The interaction filter in one embodiment makes no changes to the attributes of the object instance, merely the interpretation of the attributes to a particular user.
As shown in the embodiment of
Operating system 1202 provides the underlying structure to allow hardware elements in the processing unit 4 to interact with the higher level functions of the functional components shown in
Eye tracking engine 1204 tracks the user gaze with respect to movements of the eye relative to the device 2. Eye tracking engine 1204 can identify the gaze direction or a point of gaze based on people position and eye movements and determine a command or request.
Gesture recognition engine 1206 can identify actions performed by a user indicating a control or command to an executing application 1250. The action may be performed by a body part of a user e.g. a hand or a finger, but also may include a eye blink sequence. In one embodiment, the gesture recognition engine 1206 includes a collection of gesture filters, each comprising information concerning a gesture that may be performed by at least a part of a skeletal model. The gesture recognition engine 1206 compares skeletal model and movements associated with it derived from the captured image added to the gesture filters in a gesture library to identify when a user has performed one or more gestures. In some examples, matching an image data to image models of a user's hand or finger during a gesture may be used rather than skeletal tracking for recognizing gestures. Image and audio processing engine 1220 processes image data depth and audio data received from one or more captured devices which might be available in a given location.
Image and audio processing engine 1220 processes image data (e.g. video or image), depth and audio data received from one or more captured devices which may be available from the device. Image and depth information may come from outward facing sensors captured as the user moves his or her body. A 3D mapping of the display field of view of the augmented reality display 2 can be determined by the scene mapping engine 1208, based on captured image data and depth data for the display field of view. A depth map can represent the captured image data and depth data. A view dependent coordinate system may be used for mapping of the display field of view as how a collision between object appears to a user depends on the user's point of view. An example of the view dependent coordinate system is an X, Y, Z, coordinate system in which the Z-axis or depth axis extends orthogonally or as a normal from the front of a see through display device 2. At some examples, the image and depth data for the depth map are presented in the display field of view is received from cameras 113 on the front of display device 2. The display field of view may be determined remotely or using a set of environment data 1254 which is previously provided based on a previous mapping using the scene mapping engine 1208 or from environment data 1280 in a mixed object reality service.
The object handler 1222 includes an object tracking engine 1224 which tracks each of the objects in a user's field of view, both virtual and real, to object instances maintained in the processing unit 4. Each instance of each object is generated, maintained and destroyed by the object tracking engine 1224. Object recognition engine 1226 determines which objects, both real and virtual, are within a scene, allowing the tracking engine to use this object mapping for object instances. The object recognition engine utilizes data from the local object store 1252 environment data 1254 as well as objects which may be available from the mixed reality object service 1270 to recognize the real and virtual objects within the system.
Virtual object rendering engine 1228 renders each instance of a three dimensional holographic virtual object within the display of a display device 2. Object rendering engine 1228 works in conjunction with object tracking engine 1224 to track the positions of virtual objects within the display. The virtual objects rendering engine 1228 uses the object definition contained within the local object store as well as the instance of the object created in the processing engine 1220 and the definition of the objects visual and physical parameters to render the object within the device. The physics engine 1230 uses the physics data which is provided in the definition to control movement of any virtual objects rendered in the display. The object interaction filter 1232 is the device specific set of rules which interprets object definition to allow, prevent, or modify display parameters based on the specific settings of a user device. Local object store 1252 contains object definitions which may be associated with the user, or cached object definitions provided by a mixed reality object service 1270. Environment data 1254 may contain a three dimensional mapping of a user environment as well as one or more preconfigured environment comprising a series of objects associated with physical environment. Device data 1256 may include information identifying the specific device including an identifier for the processing unit 4 including, for example, a network address, an IP address, and other configuration parameters of the specific device in use.
User profile data 1258 includes user specific information such as user specific objects, and preferences associated with one or more users of the device.
In some embodiments, a mixed reality object service 1270 may be provided. The mixed reality object service 1270 may comprise one or more computers operating to provide a service via communication network 50 in conjunction with each of the processing unit 4 coupled as part of a mixed reality display system 10. The mixed reality object handling service 1270 can include an object ID tracking engine 1272, a user communication and sharing engine 1274, a user profile store 1276, generic object libraries 1278, user owned objects 1284, object physical properties libraries 1282, environment data 1280, functional libraries 1286 and physics engine libraries 1288.
As will become more clear in the description of
A modified instance can then be saved as a user specific or user owned object at 1284. This definition can be associated with the user and while sharing many characteristics with a generic object definition, can be customized with user specific changes. For example, the user may wish to change the generic color of a monster and this modification can be saved as a user owned object at 1284. The user profile store 1276 may include information identifying the user to the mixed reality object service 1270 and allowing that service to provide user owned objects and generic object libraries to different processing environments.
The generic object libraries 1278 access physical properties libraries 1282, physics engine libraries 1288 and function libraries 1286 in creating a generic object definition. The function library contains a variety of functions that can be linked to virtual objects to add functionality to the objects. Functions may or may not include interfaces to the real world environment that a user is present in. In the example shown in
Similarly, as a user modifies an instance of an object running on processing unit 4, additional functions from the function library, changes in the physics parameters of a virtual object from the physics engine libraries and changes to the object physical properties from the physical properties libraries, can be accessed by the user when making changes to specific virtual objects. Environment data 1280 can contain both user defined environments and previously defined three dimensional maps of specific locations.
The object ID tracking engine 1272 can receive uploads of the creation of a specific instance of a virtual or real object on any of a number of processing unit 4 coupled to the mixed reality object service. In this manner, users on other user systems 44 can become aware of the existence of instances of objects which have been created on the processing unit 4 as shown on
User communication and user sharing in 1274 allows users on other systems 44 to interact via the mixed reality object handling service 1270 with instances of the objects identified by the tracking engine 1272. Direct communication between the systems 44 and 4 may occur, or processing may be handled by the mixed object reality service. Such processing may include handling of collisions, occlusion, and other information. In one embodiment, each processing unit 4 includes an object tracking engine 1224 which tracks other user's objects as well as objects which are defined by the virtual object rendering engine 1228 and physics engine 1230 and object interaction filter 1232 definitions of the objects and the rules to ascertain how interactions between both user objects and objects from other users may be handled.
In one embodiment, sharing objects may comprise sharing an object definition associated with an object instance with another user. The processing unit of a second (shared) user may then create a separate instance of the shared object and render that object in accordance with the definition. The shared object definition may be dynamically updated by the sharing user so that changes to the sharing user's instance of the object are reflected to the shared user. It should be recognized that other alternatives for sharing objects exist.
In the core attributes 1302, the object identifier is a reference to the object definition for any given object. The object definition identifies the object definition for every virtual and real object. In an aspect of the present technology, all objects tracked within the system, both real and virtual, containing the same basic object definition structure illustrated in
Where an object is a real object, certain of the core attributes 1302, including the reality, scaling, and physical properties, (shown in gray in
The attribute object TYPE indicates whether the object is a basic, responsive, functional, smart, or computer object as illustrated in
Instances of objects are registered to a person, environment or another object. The registration 1304 core attribute defines the registration of the object to an environment, object, or person. Registration is defined for both real or virtual objects. The registration attribute 1304 in conjunction with the spatial coordinates identifies the location of the object relative to the registration point. It may be noted that the physical environment in the registration object 1304 can constitute a position defined by a global positioning system.
The spatial coordinates attribute defines a physical location for the object. The physical location of an object can be identified by one corner of the object relative to the physical properties defined for the object, a center point of the object, or any point of reference consistently utilized by the processing environment to refer to the particular object. The spatial coordinates attribute is used in conjunction with the registration attribute 1304 to define the physical position of the object relative to the object, environment or person the object is registered to.
The reality attribute 1306 defines the spectrum of the acceptable physical properties versus the allowable disregard to acceptable physics.
The scaling attribute 1308 defines the properties of expansion and reduction for a particular object. Virtual objects can be scaled so that, for example, a television can fit an entire wall of a given room. This scaling attribute 1308 allows the object to have defined parameters of scale. The ownership attribute 1310 defines who owns the object and the attribute identifies owners of the object. As illustrated in
Physical properties attribute 1318 can include a number of elements used to define the natural state of the virtual object. Where the object is a physical object, as noted above, the physical properties will be defined by the state of existence of the object. A virtual object's natural state may be defined by parameters used by the rendering engine to render the virtual object within the system. This can include a default and static state of existence and its basic state. Physical properties include, for example, geometric model data (geometry data 1330) lighting information, shading information, physics properties (physics attribute 1340), an expiration attribute, visibility, and occlusion properties. The geometry data 1330 is a three dimensional model definition of the object used by the rendering engine to create the virtual object within the view of the user. Any number of standards or types of geometrical data can be utilized by the rendering engine to create three dimensional models within the view of a user. Physics attribute 1340 includes collision, occlusion, and an interaction rule set which is utilized by the physics engine and the rendering engine to define how objects interact with each other. For example, in the example shown in
Functional attributes 1324 comprise the items utilized by a functional object, smart object and computer object when they are interacted with. The functional attributes can comprise a library of functions which are linked to local libraries or global libraries in the mixed reality object handling service 1270 which enable the object to have any number of different functions relative to command sets that are provided when interacting with the object. Learned attributes can be additional functional attributes linked to the global libraries or to other objects allowing a default object to take on additional functional attributes. For example, a dog may have a number of functional attributes 1324 allowing it to respond to commands from a user. However, the user may instruct the dog that it may wish the dog to fly. And attach the functional attribute of flying to the learned attribute of the dog. Linked objects 1322 define relationships between objects and other virtual objects in a system. Linked attributes define relationships between moving objects and objects contained within other objects. For example, if the plant in
Each of the processing environments, servers and or computers illustrated herein may be implemented by one or more of the processing devices illustrated in
Mobile device 1500 may include, for example, processors 1512, memory 1550 including applications and non-volatile storage. The processor 1512 can implement communications, as well as any number of applications, including the interaction applications discussed herein. Memory 1550 can be any variety of memory storage media types, including non-volatile and volatile memory. A device operating system handles the different operations of the mobile device 1500 and may contain user interfaces for operations, such as placing and receiving phone calls, text messaging, checking voicemail, and the like. The applications 1530 can be any assortment of programs, such as a camera application for photos and/or videos, an address book, a calendar application, a media player, an Internet browser, games, other multimedia applications, an alarm application, other third party applications, the interaction application discussed herein, and the like. The non-volatile storage component 1540 in memory 1510 contains data such as web caches, music, photos, contact data, scheduling data, and other files.
The processor 1512 also communicates with RF transmit/receive circuitry 1506 which in turn is coupled to an antenna 1502, with an infrared transmitted/receiver 1508, with any additional communication channels 1560 like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and with a movement/orientation sensor 1514 such as an accelerometer. Accelerometers have been incorporated into mobile devices to enable such applications as intelligent user interfaces that let users input commands through gestures, indoor GPS functionality which calculates the movement and direction of the device after contact is broken with a GPS satellite, and to detect the orientation of the device and automatically change the display from portrait to landscape when the phone is rotated. An accelerometer can be provided, e.g., by a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) which is a tiny mechanical device (of micrometer dimensions) built onto a semiconductor chip. Acceleration direction, as well as orientation, vibration and shock can be sensed. The processor 1512 further communicates with a ringer/vibrator 1516, a user interface keypad/screen, biometric sensor system 1518, a speaker 1520, a microphone 1522, a camera 1524, a light sensor 1526 and a temperature sensor 1528.
The processor 1512 controls transmission and reception of wireless signals. During a transmission mode, the processor 1512 provides a voice signal from microphone 1522, or other data signal, to the RF transmit/receive circuitry 1506. The transmit/receive circuitry 1506 transmits the signal to a remote station (e.g., a fixed station, operator, other cellular phones, etc.) for communication through the antenna 1502. The ringer/vibrator 1516 is used to signal an incoming call, text message, calendar reminder, alarm clock reminder, or other notification to the user. During a receiving mode, the transmit/receive circuitry 1506 receives a voice or other data signal from a remote station through the antenna 1502. A received voice signal is provided to the speaker 1520 while other received data signals are also processed appropriately.
Additionally, a physical connector 1588 can be used to connect the mobile device 1500 to an external power source, such as an AC adapter or powered docking station. The physical connector 1588 can also be used as a data connection to a computing device. The data connection allows for operations such as synchronizing mobile device data with the computing data on another device.
A GPS transceiver 1565 utilizing satellite-based radio navigation to relay the position of the user applications is enabled for such service.
The example computer systems illustrated in the Figures include examples of computer readable storage media. Computer readable storage media are also processor readable storage media. Such media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, cache, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, memory sticks or cards, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, a media drive, a hard disk, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by a computer.
Device 1700 may also contain communications connection(s) 1712 such as one or more network interfaces and transceivers that allow the device to communicate with other devices. Device 1700 may also have input device(s) 1714 such as keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. Output device(s) 1716 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. may also be included. All these devices are well known in the art and are not discussed at length here.
The example computer systems illustrated in the figures include examples of computer readable storage devices. A computer readable storage device is also a processor readable storage device. Such devices may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable memory devices implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Some examples of processor or computer readable storage devices are RAM, ROM, EEPROM, cache, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, memory sticks or cards, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, a media drive, a hard disk, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other device which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer
In one embodiment, the mixed reality display system 10 can be head mounted display device 2 (or other AN apparatus) in communication with a local processing apparatus (e.g., processing unit 4 of
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
