Method and system for interacting with a virtual environment

• US 10,300,371 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2016
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medidata Solutions Incorporated (Dassault Systemes SA)
• Original Assignee: MC10, Inc.
• Inventors: Ghaffari, Roozbeh, Raj, Milan, McGrane, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuff, Michael A
• Application Number:
  US15/281,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20170095732A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: 463 31
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/212 using sensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat or leg activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/67 adaptively or by learning from player actions, e.g. skill level adjustment or by storing successful combat sequences for re-use
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/10 with measuring devices
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/1026 for temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/26 the game being influenced by physiological parameters A63F2250/1031 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1012 involving biosensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat, limb activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

A system for providing a more personalized virtual environment for a user, the system including one or more sensing devices that detect one or more physical, physiological, or biological parameters of the user and transmit the same to a game console or virtual reality controller that produces the virtual environment. The game console or virtual reality controller can analyze the sensor data and adjust one or more aspects of the virtual environment as a function of the sensor data. For example, the difficulty level or scariness level of a game can be decreased if the heart rate of the user exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one sensing device having at least one sensor configured to sense at least one physiologic or biometric condition of a person;

a game console or virtual reality controller configured to produce a virtual environment, wherein the game console or virtual reality controller is in communication with the at least one sensing device and configured to receive sensor data from the at least one sensing device, whereby the game console or virtual reality controller adjust the virtual environment by determining a reaction of the person to an aspect in the virtual environment as a function of the sensor data and increasing a frequency of the occurrence of the aspects in the virtual environment.

2. The system according to claim 1, comprising at least two sensing devices.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one physiologic or biometric condition is selected from the group consisting of heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, respiration rate variability, skin temperature, core temperature, blood pressure, gait, posture, muscle potential, motion, and stride length.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensing device is in contact with the skin of the person.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensing device includes at least one of:

an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a gyroscope, a light sensor, an ECG sensor, a sound sensor, and one or more electrodes.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the game console or virtual reality controller presents the virtual environment on a display.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the game console or virtual reality controller is connected to a controller.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the game console or virtual reality controller is connected to a motion tracker.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the game console or virtual reality controller is configured to analyze the sensor data.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the game console or virtual reality controller is connected to a game server, whereby the game console or virtual reality controller transmits the sensor data to the game server.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the game server is configured to analyze the sensor data.