Virtual world method and system for affecting mind state

• US 10,404,938 B1
• Filed: 12/20/2016
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Steelcase Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Steelcase Incorporated
• Inventors: De Benoist, Nicolas, Graziano, Francis Gerard, Baloga, Mark, Noll, Paul, West, Terry
• Primary Examiner(s): Leggett, Andrea C
• Application Number:
  US15/385,192
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/157 defining a virtual conference space and using avatars or agents computer conference optimisation or adaptation H04L12/1827

Abstract

A system and method for creating a virtual world conferencing experience wherein a first set of real world emissive surfaces and content thereon is replicated on virtual world emissive surfaces where the virtual world emissive surfaces are juxtaposed in a virtual world instance at locations and in orientations that replicate the juxtapositions in the real world arrangement and where the virtual world instance is presented on a second set of real world emissive surfaces at a virtual world workstation where the second set of emissive surfaces are arranged differently than the first set of real world surfaces.

Claims

1. A project conferencing system comprising:

a real world conference space configuration including at least first and second real world emissive surfaces wherein the first real world emissive surface is in a specific relative juxtaposition with respect the second real world emissive surface, each of the first and second real world emissive surfaces adapted to be mounted within a conference space in a location viewable by a plurality of users in the conference space;

a virtual world workstation including at least a first and a second virtual world emissive surface adjacent a user emersion location;

a processor linked to the real world conference space configuration and to the virtual world workstation, the processor programmed to perform the steps of;

(i) receiving data indicating the relative juxtapositions of the first and second real world emissive surfaces;

(ii) generating a first virtual world instance that includes first and second virtual world emissive surfaces that are juxtaposed in the same relative arrangement as the first and second real world emissive surfaces;

(iii) orienting a view of the first and second virtual world emissive surfaces from the perspective of the emersion location to correspond to an instantaneous angular perspective of the first and second real world emissive surfaces;

(iv) receiving content from at least a first user in the real world conference space configuration and applying the received content on the at least first and second real world emissive surfaces; and

(v) replicating the content of the first and second real world emissive surfaces on the virtual world emissive surfaces.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the first real emissive surface arrangement includes at least a third real world emissive surface arranged with respect to first and second real world emissive surfaces in a relative juxtaposition, the processor generating a third virtual emissive surface that is juxtaposed with respect to the other virtual emissive surfaces in the same arrangement as the third real world emissive surface in the real world configuration and replicating content from the third real world emissive surface on the third virtual emissive surface.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the virtual world workstation includes a user input device and wherein changes made to the content presented on the virtual emissive surfaces are replicated on the real world emissive surfaces.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the input device also enables an employee using the virtual world workstation to change his location and orientation in the first virtual world workstation.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first and second real world emissive surfaces is moveable and wherein the processor is further programmed to receive information indicating at least one of a new location and a new orientation of the at least one of the first and second real world emissive surfaces and to change the location of an associated virtual emissive surface so that the associated virtual emissive surface is arranged with respect to the other virtual world emissive surfaces in the same relative juxtaposition as the at least one of the first and second real world emissive surfaces to the other of the at least one of the first and second real world emissive surfaces.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least a first and second virtual world emissive surface at the virtual world workstation each includes a plurality of emissive surfaces arranged about the emersion location, the processor presenting a separate view on each of the plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces, each presented separate view oriented to correspond to an instantaneous angular perspective of the first and second real world emissive surfaces from the perspective of the emersion location.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein a gap is provided between at least the first and the second virtual world emissive surfaces.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces includes first, second and third virtual world emissive surfaces and wherein a first gap exists between the first virtual world emissive surface and the second virtual world emissive surface and a second gap exists between the second virtual world emissive surface and the third virtual world emissive surface.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the first virtual world emissive surface and the third virtual world emissive surface are arranged to substantially face each other on opposite lateral sides of the emersion location and the second virtual world emissive surface is arranged to be in front of the emersion location.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the processor further programmed to perform the steps of, tracking the locations of the virtual world emissive surfaces and changing the views relative to the emersion location as a function of the locations of the real world emissive surfaces.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein each of the virtual world emissive surfaces is concave about a vertical axis.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the processor is further programmed to present a representation of a remote conferencing user on at least one of the virtual world emissive surfaces at the virtual world workstation.

13. The system of claim 12 further including a user interface at the virtual world workstation that enables a user occupying the workstation to move the remote conferencing user representation to any of the virtual world emissive surfaces at the virtual world workstation.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein a user occupying the virtual world workstation can control an ambient content presented on the virtual world emissive surfaces to create a customized effect.

15. The system of claim 6 wherein the processor can operate the system in several different modes and wherein the plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces at the virtual world workstation are automatically arranged by the processor when the mode is changed between at least first and second modes.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the first and second modes include a travel mode in which a user occupying the emersion location is traveling through a virtual world instance and a content generating mode in which the user occupying the emersion location is developing content.

17. A project conferencing system comprising:

a real world conference space configuration located within a conference space including a first plurality of real world emissive surfaces for accessing content wherein each of the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces is arranged in a specific relative juxtaposition with respect to the other real world emissive surfaces in the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces, at least a subset of the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces moveable within the conference space to change at least one of location and orientation in which the real world emissive surfaces are viewable by a plurality of users in the conference space;

a virtual world workstation including a second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces moveably arranged adjacent a user emersion location, each emissive surface in the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces arranged in a relative juxtaposition with respect to the other emissive surfaces in the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces;

a processor linked to the real world conference space configuration and to the virtual world workstation, the processor programmed to perform the steps of;

(i) receiving data indicating the relative juxtapositions of the plurality of real world emissive surfaces;

(ii) generating a virtual emissive surface arrangement that includes virtual emissive surfaces that are juxtaposed in the same relative arrangement as the real world emissive surfaces;

(iii) orienting a separate view of each of the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces from the perspective of the emersion location to correspond to an instantaneous angular perspectives of the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces;

(iv) receiving content from first and second users that occupy the real world conference space configuration and the virtual world workstation, respectively, and mirroring the content between the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces and the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the locations of at least a subset of the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces at the virtual world workstation can be changed, the processor further programmed to perform the steps of, tracking at least one of the locations and orientations of the emissive surfaces in the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces and changing the views in the virtual workstation as a function of the at least one of the locations and orientations of the emissive surfaces in the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces relative to the emersion location.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor can operate the system in several modes and wherein the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces are automatically arranged by the processor when the mode is changed between at least first and second modes.

20. A project conferencing system comprising:

a real world conference space configuration located within a conference space including a first plurality of real world emissive surfaces for accessing content wherein each of the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces is arranged in a specific relative juxtaposition with respect to the other emissive surfaces in the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces, at least a subset of the first plurality of real world emissive surfaces moveable within the conference space to change at least one of location and orientation in which the real world emissive surfaces are viewable by a plurality of users in the conference space;

a virtual world workstation including a second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces arranged adjacent a user emersion location to be occupied by a user, each emissive surface in the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces arranged in a specific relative juxtaposition with respect to the other emissive surfaces in the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces;

a processor linked to the real world conference space configuration and to the virtual world workstation, the processor programmed to perform the steps of;

(i) receiving data indicating the relative juxtapositions of the real world emissive surfaces in the first plurality;

(ii) generating a virtual emissive surface arrangement that includes virtual world emissive surfaces that are juxtaposed in the same relative arrangement as the real world emissive surfaces; and

(iii) orienting a separate view on each of the second plurality of virtual world emissive surfaces from the perspective of the emersion location to correspond to an instantaneous angular perspectives of the plurality of real world emissive surfaces.