System and method for delivering real time remote buying, selling, meeting, and interacting in a virtual reality environment

• US 20050261980A1
• Filed: 05/22/2004
• Published: 11/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Altaf Hadi
• Inventors: Hadi, Altaf
• Granted Patent: US 7,529,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0617 Representative agent
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

A virtual reality interactional system and a method of use in which remote shoppers, remote advisors, remote sales consultants, remote product display agents, real time inventory status, live and stored audio and video content, and client server based virtual programming logic interact in real time to complete soft touch, high touch, and non-high touch products and services transactions. The virtual reality interacting system encompasses a combination of virtual reality hardware, virtual reality programming logic and communication networks. It can be used at homes, offices, virtual reality storefronts, or a combination thereof using high capacity private networks and also the Internet. Business to business, business to consumer, and consumer to consumer interactive interactions can be seamlessly performed by means of the current invention.

Claims

1. A system for delivering real time remote buying, selling, meeting and interacting in a virtual reality environment being operable to deliver a plurality of business to business;

business to consumer; and

consumer to consumer interactive transactions, the system comprising;

a virtual reality headgear that is operable to;

project real and virtual perceptions creating a continuous illusion of interactive reality;

real time capture of facial gestures, sounds, and head movements and convey the captured information to a virtual reality navigation system using one or more communication protocols over a wireless communication network;

capture and project surrounding video by splitting the vision unit view into windows;

windows comprising of virtual reality views and surrounding video views; and

produce and spread relevant smells in appropriate quantities meeting the desired needs of the background and foreground virtual reality perceptions being projected;

a virtual reality navigation system that is operable to;

initiate virtual reality interactive sessions;

provide means for users to walk, run, jog, jump, and climb in remote virtual walkways;

provide means for users to steer in remote virtual walkways;

provide means for users to sit in disparate remote virtual reality environments;

provide means for capture of user movements and actions;

provide means to complete remote transactions;

aggregate information received from virtual reality headgear;

create digital representation of actual user movements and actions;

link aggregated information from the virtual reality headgear to the digital representation of user movements and actions and convey the compounded information to central controller unit using one or more communication protocols over one more communication networks; and

receive the superimposed compounded virtual reality information from the central controller unit and convey the information to the virtual reality headgear using one or more communication protocols over a wireless communications networks;

a demonstration center operable to enable inspection and remote demonstration of plurality of merchandise and demonstration of plurality of services;

a central controller unit that is operable to coordinate, synchronize, monitor and control a plurality of remote virtual reality interactive systems to achieve real-time virtual reality interactions by making use of one or more communication protocols over one or more communication networks; and

audio and video equipment to audio graph and video graph system users to create security signatures, and also to digitally represent system users.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality headgear comprises:

miniature cameras and two way audio capture mechanism to capture system user sounds, expression and external surroundings;

sensors to capture system user head movements;

vision unit to display three dimensional virtual reality;

smells generator to generate and spread relevant smells in appropriate quantities; and

wireless communication interfaces, the interfaces comprising of wireless network interfaces and wireless links.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality navigation system comprises:

a CPU;

an allied resource subsystem consisting of storage and memory;

a virtual reality steering operable to provide steering capabilities to system users in the virtual reality environment;

a virtual reality aisle walkway operable to provide walking, jogging, jumping, running, sliding, climbing, and other allied capabilities to system users in the virtual reality environment;

a virtual reality seating mechanism operable to provide seating capabilities to system users in a variety of virtual reality seating settings;

sensors operable to be worn on body and extremities of system users to capture user movements and actions;

touch pads operable to provide system users capabilities to interact with remote physical and virtual equipment, and remote users;

to sign virtual transactions, and to present and capture bio-metric information.

client programming logic operable through, one or more procedures, to;

aggregate information received from the virtual reality headgear;

link aggregated facial information to the digital representation of user movements and actions;

construct digital representation of user actions and movements by means of electrical, electronics, analog and physical devices; and

wireless and wireline communication interfaces to transmit and receive information using one or more communication protocols;

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the demonstration center comprises:

merchandise, physical and virtual;

merchandise demonstration area;

service demonstration area;

audio equipment;

video equipment; and

wireless and wireline communication interfaces to transmit and receive information using one or more communication protocols.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the central controller unit comprises:

a CPU bank;

memory;

storage;

a navigator system controller and synchronizer operable to enable the synchronization and control of a plurality of virtual reality interacting sessions;

server programming logic operable through one or more procedures providing;

monitor and control of remote virtual reality interacting sessions;

synchronization of remote virtual reality interacting sessions;

performance tuning of remote virtual reality interacting sessions;

superimposition of audio and video from the demonstration center in the virtual reality environment;

superimposition of previously recorded audio and video in the virtual reality environment.

two way session based communication between the client programming logic modules of the participating virtual reality interacting systems;

user, system, and network security enforcement;

external applications interface to facilitate interfacing with external applications of the type inventory management applications;

customer relationship management applications;

billing and invoice management applications;

security management applications order management applications warehouse and shipping management applications;

customer assurance management applications; and

other allied applications; and

wireless and wireline communication interfaces to transmit and receive information using one or more communication protocols.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the vision unit can simultaneously project virtual reality perceptions in a window, and externally surrounding video in another window.

13. The system of claim 3, wherein the virtual reality steering;

the virtual reality aisle walkway;

the virtual reality seating, sensors and touch pads operate in a tightly coupled unified mode of operation.

14. The system of claim 5, wherein the server programming logic aggregates the merchandise audio and video and services demonstration audio and video from the demonstration center and superimposes it as part of the virtual reality interactive session being projected in the vision unit of the headgear.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein virtual reality sessions can be recorded and archived.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein the virtual reality headgear comprises of a vision unit to display a combination of live audio and video, recorded audio and video, with true two way speech capabilities in a three dimensional visual virtual reality environment creating a continuous illusion of interactive reality.

17. The system of claim 3, wherein the virtual reality seating is an ergonomically designed collapsible seating system capable of conveying feelings of a variety of seating surfaces.

18. The system of claim 3, wherein the virtual reality steering is used to navigate forward, backward, to turn right, to turn left, to ascend at an angle, to descend at an angle, to ascend vertically, to descend vertically, and to steer in all other allied directions.

19. The system of claim 3, wherein the virtual reality aisle walkway can be located between the virtual reality steering and the collapsible virtual reality seating and used for standing, walking, running, jumping, climbing, jogging, and all other allied activities in an virtual environment while being at a stationary locations at all times.

6. A system wherein one or more virtual reality interacting systems enable interactive transactions with one or more remote virtual reality interacting systems over a well defined geographical area by means of communication networks.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the well defined geographical area can encompass a city, a state, a country, or the entire globe.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the communications network can be of type private wireless and wireline communication networks, or of the type of the public Internet.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the virtual reality interacting systems can be home based virtual reality interacting systems;

office based virtual reality interacting systems, or virtual reality storefront based virtual reality interacting systems, or a combination thereof; and

virtual reality interacting system users can conduct;

business to business transactions;

business to consumer transactions;

or

consumer to consumer transactions.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein a plurality of virtual reality interacting system users can join a virtual reality transaction session at the session inception, or at any instance during the transaction session.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein two or more virtual reality interacting system users can transact from the same location or can also transact from one or more remote locations.

20. A system and method for individual or group shopping in real time from a plurality of remote locations encompassing a geographical area covering a city;

a state;

a country;

or the entire planet earth, and encompassing shoppers, professional greeters;

sales consultants, merchandise demonstrators, live audio and video, and previously recorded audio and video.

21. A system of claim 20, wherein shoppers in a virtual reality environment can interact and visually communicate with other shoppers not part of their group or can choose to block all interactions and visual communications from all other members not part of their group.

22. A system of claim 20, wherein the virtual reality interacting system provides means for sales consultants to suggest additional merchandise and or services based on shoppers preferences, past histories, and future consumption trends.

23. A system of claim 20, wherein shoppers get the sense and feel of being physically present in the virtual reality environment and can inspect physical and virtual merchandise to conduct transactions with the system without any aid from sales consultants or merchandise demonstrators;