Course profiling and sharing

• US 10,692,174 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2019
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Taylor, Michael, Castleman, Dennis Dale
• Primary Examiner(s): Osinski, Michael S
• Application Number:
  US16/728,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20200134781A1
• Time in Patent Office: 179 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/102 specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10032 Satellite or aerial image; Remote sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30241 Trajectory
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80

Abstract

Systems and methods for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) course profiling are provided. A plurality of images may be captured by a UAV flying along a course at a first location. A profile may be constructed for the course based on the images captured by the UAV. The constructed course profile is transmitted over a communication network to a virtual reality system at a second location. The virtual reality system may generate a virtual environment corresponding to the course based on the constructed course profile, and a second UAV at the second location may fly along the virtual course.

Claims

1. A system for profile-based normalization of virtual environments, the system comprising:

memory that stores a profile that includes data regarding a first physical space, the profile further including one or more virtual elements;

a processor that executes instructions stored in memory, wherein the processor executes the instructions to apply at least one normalization factor to the profile, the at least one normalization factor corresponding to a different dimension of a second physical space; and

a virtual reality system at the second physical space, wherein the virtual reality system generates a virtual environment corresponding to the first physical space based on the normalized profile, the virtual environment generated at the second physical space and including the virtual elements included in the profile.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the profile includes one or more images of the first physical space.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual elements correspond to one or more physical features of the first physical space, and the virtual reality system generates the virtual elements at the second physical space based on a respective location of the physical features within the first physical space.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one normalization factor includes at least one scaling factor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further applies at least one normalization factor corresponding to another difference between the first physical space and the second physical space, the other difference including at least one of difference in space size, space configuration, player device size, player device maneuverability, and peripheral device availability.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further applies the at least one normalization factor to a calculation regarding at least one of scoring, timing, and degree of difficulty, wherein performance within the second physical space is evaluated in accordance with the normalized calculation.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a server that hosts a session that includes the virtual reality system and at least one other virtual reality system in a third physical space, wherein the other virtual reality system generates a virtual environment corresponding to the first physical space based on the profile as normalized in accordance with a difference between the first physical space and the third physical space.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality system further:

receives real-time information from at least one other virtual reality system regarding a player device;

incorporates a representation of the player device within the generated virtual environment; and

adjusts at least one of the virtual elements within the generated virtual reality environment based on an interaction by the representation within the virtual reality environment.

9. A method for profile-based normalization of virtual environments, the method comprising:

storing a profile in memory that includes data regarding a first physical space, the profile further including one or more virtual elements;

executing instructions stored in memory to apply at least one normalization factor to the profile, the at least one normalization factor corresponding to a different dimension of a second physical space; and

generating a virtual environment corresponding to the first physical space based on the normalized profile, the virtual environment generated at the second physical space and including the virtual elements included in the profile in a virtual reality system at the second physical space.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the profile includes one or more images of the first physical space.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the virtual elements correspond to one or more physical features of the first physical space, and wherein generates the virtual elements at the second physical space is based on a respective location of the physical features within the first physical space.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one normalization factor includes at least one scaling factor.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising applying at least one normalization factor corresponding to another difference between the first physical space and the second physical space, the other difference including at least one of difference in space size, space configuration, player device size, player device maneuverability, and peripheral device availability.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising applying the at least one normalization factor to a calculation regarding at least one of scoring, timing, and degree of difficulty, wherein performance within the second physical space is evaluated in accordance with the normalized calculation.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising hosting a session that includes the virtual reality system and at least one other virtual reality system in a third physical space, wherein the other virtual reality system generates a virtual environment corresponding to the first physical space based on the profile as normalized in accordance with a difference between the first physical space and the third physical space.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving real-time information from at least one other virtual reality system regarding a player device;

incorporating a representation of the player device within the generated virtual environment; and

adjusting at least one of the virtual elements within the generated virtual reality environment based on an interaction by the representation within the virtual reality environment.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for profile-based normalization of virtual environments, the method comprising:

storing a profile in memory that includes data regarding a first physical space, the profile further including one or more virtual elements;

executing instructions stored in memory to apply at least one normalization factor to the profile, the at least one normalization factor corresponding to a different dimension of a second physical space; and

generating a virtual environment corresponding to the first physical space based on the normalized profile, the virtual environment generated at the second physical space and including the virtual elements included in the profile in a virtual reality system at the second physical space.