Virtual environment systems

• US 20030033150A1
• Filed: 07/27/2001
• Published: 02/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Corp. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Sudarsky, Sandra, Rosca, Justinian, Comaniciu, Dorin, Balan, Radu Victor
• Granted Patent: US 7,149,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/808 using transducers spaced apart and measuring phase or time difference between signals therefrom, i.e. path-difference systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/22 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/401 2D or 3D arrays of transducers

Abstract

Disclosed is a virtual environment system, comprising an acoustic localizer adapted to determine the location of sound sources in a local environment, a user data I/O device, a remote data I/O device in a remote world, a system controller in data communication with said acoustic localizer, user data I/O device, and remote data I/O device, wherein control of said remote data I/O device within said remote world are commanded by said system controller in response to movements of a user as detected by said acoustic localizer, and wherein data acquired from said remote world by said remote data I/O device is transmitted to said user.

Claims

14. A virtual environment system, comprising:

acoustic localizing means for determining the location of sound sources in a local environment;

user data I/O means for receiving data from and/or transmitting data to a user;

remote data I/O means, disposed in a remote world, for receiving data from and/or transmitting data to said remote world;

system controller means for controlling data flow among, and in data communication with, said acoustic localizing means, user data I/O means, and remote data I/O means;

wherein control of said remote data I/O device within said remote world is commanded by said system controller in response to movements of a user as detected by said acoustic localizer; and

wherein data acquired from said remote world by said remote data I/O device is transmitted to said user through said user data I/O device.

15. A method of remotely experiencing a remote world from a local environment, comprising:

providing a remote data I/O device in the remote world;

providing an acoustic localizer in the local environment, said acoustic localizer adapted to detect the position of sound sources;

providing a user data I/O device in the local environment;

providing a system controller in data communication with said remote data I/O device, acoustic localizer, and user data I/O device;

wherein said system controller is adapted to control said remote data I/O device in response to data received from said local environment.

1. A virtual environment system, comprising:

an acoustic localizer adapted to determine the location of sound sources in a local environment;

a user data I/O device;

a remote data I/O device in a remote world;

a system controller in data communication with said acoustic localizer, user data I/O device, and remote data I/O device;

wherein control of said remote data I/O device within said remote world are commanded by said system controller in response to movements of a user as detected by said acoustic localizer; and

wherein data acquired from said remote world by said remote data I/O device is transmitted to said user.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said acoustic localizer comprises a plurality of microphones arrayed in three dimensions.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of said data acquired from said remote world is transmitted to said user through said user data I/O device.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said user data I/O device comprises a video display and sound input and output systems.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said user data I/O device is selected from:

a personal digital assistant; and

a tablet computer.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein said video display is augmented with data received from said system controller.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said system controller is in wireless communication with said user data I/O device.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said remote data I/O device comprises a robotic camera.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said robotic camera comprises a remote-controlled camera mounted on a robotic platform.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said system controller is in wireless communication with said remote data I/O device.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the orientation of said user is determined by the location of said user in relation to the location of said user data I/O device as detected by said acoustic localizer.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more operations of said remote I/O device within said remote world are commanded by said user through voice commands.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said system controller comprises:

an audio signal processing module adapted to control, and process information received from, said acoustic localizer;

a speech recognition module adapted to translate voice commands from said user into data commands;

a user data I/O device socket server adapted to receive data from said user data I/O device and passing them to other system devices;

a media services control server adapted to receive said user commands from said user data I/O device socket server and adapted to manage the flow of data to said data user I/O device from said remote data I/O device;

a remote data I/O device control module adapted to receive commands from said speech recognition module and from said media services control server and process said commands to control said remote data I/O device; and

a media encoder/streamer adapted to stream data to said data user I/O device from said remote data I/O device under the control of said media services control server.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said remote data I/O device in said remote world is controlled by at least one of:

the detected position of a user in said local environment;

voice commands from said user; and

the orientation of said user.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein data acquired from said remote world is transmitted to said user.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein at least a portion of said data acquired from said remote world is transmitted to said user through said user data I/O device.

16-1. The method of claim 15 wherein the spatial positioning of said remote data I/O device in said remote world is controlled by the detected position of said user in said local environment.