VIRTUAL REALITY ENHANCEMENT USING REAL WORLD DATA

• US 20080310707A1
• Filed: 06/15/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zhao, Feng, Kansal, Aman, Horvitz, Eric J.
• Application Number:
  US11/764,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20080310707A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00

Abstract

Techniques for enhancing virtual reality using transformed real world data are disclosed. In some aspects, a composite reality engine receives a transmission of the real world data that is captured by embedded sensors situated in the real world. The real world data is transformed and integrated with virtual reality data to create a composite reality environment generated by a composite reality engine. In other aspects, the composite reality environment enables activation of embedded actuators to modify the real world from the virtual reality environment. In still further aspects, techniques for sharing sensors and actuators in the real world are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing real world data with an embedded sensor;

rendering virtual reality data;

transforming at least one aspect of the real world data to form transformed real world data;

integrating the transformed real world data and the virtual reality data into a composite reality environment; and

facilitating user interaction with the composite reality environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing real world data using an embedded sensor includes sensing environmental conditions in the real world.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein integrating the transformed real world data into the composite reality environment includes:

capturing updated real world data; and

transforming at least one aspect of the updated real world data to form updated transformed real world data;

integrating the updated transformed real world data into the composite reality environment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating user interaction with the composite reality environment includes retrieval of archived real world data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein retrieval of archived real world data allows selection of a specific time period for the real world data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming at least one aspect of the real world data includes extracting colorization data from an image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming at least one aspect of the real world data includes extracting weather conditions from sensor data for integration into a virtual reality environment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating user interaction includes providing an online gaming application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein integrating the transformed real world data includes integrating the transformed real world data into the composite reality environment approximately simultaneously with capturing the real world data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating user interaction with the composite reality environment includes enabling the user to effect changes in the real world environment by activating embedded actuators situated remotely in the real world.

11. A system comprising:

sensor to capture real world data;

a virtual reality engine to create virtual reality data; and

a composite reality engine to transform the real world data captured by the sensor and integrate the transformed real world data with the virtual reality data to generate a composite reality environment.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor captures time, date, and location data associated with the real world data.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the system further comprises:

a user interface to facilitate user interact with the composite reality environment including aspects of both the real world data and the virtual reality data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the system further comprises:

an actuator in communication with the composite reality engine for manipulating the real world through the composite reality environment.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensors transmit the real world data to a database in communication with the composite reality engine.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising standardized schemas and associated computational interfaces to enable the sensor to contribute content from the real world to at least one of the database or the composite reality engine.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the standardized schemas provide a cost associated with usage of at least one of the sensor or an actuator.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the standardized schemas and associated computational interfaces enable dynamic availability of embedded sensors in the real world.

19. One or more computer readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform acts comprising:

receiving real world data and virtual reality data;

transforming the real world data to enhance aspects of the virtual reality data;

integrating the transformed real world data with the virtual reality data to create composite reality data; and

generating a composite reality environment from the composite reality data.

20. One or more computer readable media as in claim 19 further comprising providing embedded actuators configured to modify the real world.