SELECTIVE INTERACTIVE MAPPING OF REAL-WORLD OBJECTS TO CREATE INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL-WORLD OBJECTS

• US 20090066690A1
• Filed: 09/10/2007
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Harrison, Phil
• Granted Patent: US 8,902,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2215/16 Using real world measurements to influence rendering

Abstract

A method for interactively defining a virtual-world space based on real-world objects in a real-world space is disclosed. In one operation, one or more real-world objects in the real-world space is captured to define the virtual-world space. In another operation, one of the real-world objects is identified, the identified object is to be characterized into a virtual-world object. In yet another operation, a user is prompted for user identification of one or more object locations to enable extraction of parameters for real-world object, and the object locations are identified relative to an identifiable reference plane in the real-world space. In another operation, the extracted parameters of the real-world object may be stored in memory. The virtual-world object can then be generated in the virtual world space from the stored extracted parameters of the real-world object.

Claims

1. A method for interactively defining a virtual-world space based on real-world objects in a real-world space, comprising:

(a) capturing one or more real-world objects in the real-world space to define the virtual-world space;

(b) identifying one of the real-world objects to characterize into a virtual-world object;

(c) prompting user identification of one or more object locations to extract parameters of the real-world object, the object locations being identified relative to an identifiable reference plane in the real-world space;

(d) storing the extracted parameters of the real-world object in memory; and

(e) generating a virtual-world object in the virtual-world space using the stored extracted parameters of the real-world object.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

repeating (c)-(d), so as to extract additional parameters of the real-world object to further define the virtual-world object.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

repeating (b)-(e), so as to generate a different virtual-world object in the virtual-world space from a second real-world object.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising repeating (c)-(d), so as to extract additional parameters of the different real-world object to further define the second virtual-world object.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual-world object, upon being generated, is displayed on a display screen along with other virtual-world objects, and the other virtual-world objects are able to interact with the generated virtual-world object, the interaction detected when dimensional parameters of the other virtual objects at least partially intersect with the generated virtual-world object defined by the extracted parameters of the real-world object.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein when intersection between the dimensional parameters of the other virtual-world objects and the generated virtual-world object and the extracted parameters is detected, performing one of:

(a) occluding the other virtual-world objects by the generated virtual-world object;

(b) occluding the generated virtual-world object by the other virtual-world objects;

(c) obstructing motion or placement of the other virtual-world objects to the generated virtual-world object;

(d) deforming the other virtual-world object so as to conform the other virtual-world object to the extracted parameters of the generated virtual-world objects;

or

(e) enabling interaction between the other virtual-world objects and the generated virtual-world objects.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein capturing includes obtaining one or more image frames of the real-world space to digitally capture the real-world objects.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one of the real-world objects;

looking up an object template that substantially matches geometric attributes of the real-world object; and

implementing the object template to render a representation of the real-world object as a virtual-world object.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the object template defines the object location used to prompt user identification.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the object locations represent one or more of:

(a) substantially vertical surfaces on the real-world object;

(b) substantially horizontal surfaces of the real-world object;

or

(c) edge boundaries of the real-world object.

11. A system for creating virtual objects by interactively capturing parameters of real-world objects, comprising:

a computer system including a processor, an input/output interface, and memory, the memory configured to store instructions for execution by the processor;

a capture system coupled to the input/output interface of the computer system, the capture system configured to capture images of one or more real-world objects of a real space;

a user interface for the computer system for setting up the capture system to identify a particular object;

a screen coupled to the input/output interface of the computer system, the screen configured to display the user interface and images from the capture system; and

logic stored in the memory and executed by the processor, the logic configured to process input to the user interface, the input includes identification signals to selectively identify locations of the real-world object relative to an identifiable reference plane, the locations used to define parameters that define geometric aspects of a generated virtual-world object.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

logic configured to manipulate other virtual objects, the other virtual objects able to interact with the generated virtual-world object, the interaction of the other virtual-world objects restricted to conform to geometric aspects of the generated virtual-world object.

13. The system as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

a persistent memory configured to store the geometric aspects of the generated virtual-world object.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, wherein the persistent memory is configured to store a plurality of generated virtual-world objects.

15. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the identification signals to selectively identify locations of the real-world object are received through the capture system.

16. A method for interactively defining a virtual-world space based on real-world objects in a real-world space, comprising:

(a) capturing one or more real-world objects in the real-world space to define the virtual-world space;

(b) identifying one of the real-world objects to characterize into a virtual-world object;

(c) prompting user identification of one or more transition boundaries, the transition boundaries being identified relative to an identifiable reference plane in the real-world space;

(d) determining geometric aspects of the real-world object from the transition boundaries;

(e) storing the geometric aspects of the real-world object in memory; and

(f) generating a virtual-world object in the virtual-world space using the stored geometric aspects of the real-world object.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the transition boundaries include, vertices, edges, filleted vertices, filleted edges

18. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

repeating (c)-(e), so as to extract additional parameters of the real-world object to further define the virtual-world object.

19. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

repeating (b)-(f), so as to generate a different virtual-world object in the virtual-world space from a second real-world object.

20. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the virtual-world object, upon being generated, is displayed on a display screen along with other virtual-world objects, and the other virtual-world objects are able to interact with the generated virtual-world object, the interaction detected when dimensional parameters of the other virtual objects at least partially intersect with the generated virtual-world object defined by the geometric aspects of the real-world object.

21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein when intersection between the dimensional parameters of the other virtual-world objects and the generated virtual-world object and the extracted parameters is detected, performing one of:

(a) occluding the other virtual-world objects by the generated virtual-world object;

(b) occluding the generated virtual-world object by the other virtual-world objects;

(c) obstructing motion or placement of the other virtual-world objects to the generated virtual-world object;

(d) deforming the other virtual-world object so as to conform the other virtual-world object to the extracted parameters of the generated virtual-world objects; and

(e) enabling interaction between the other virtual-world objects and the generated virtual-world objects.

22. A method for interactively defining a virtual-world space based on real-world objects in a real-world space, comprising:

(a) capturing one or more real-world objects in the real-world space to define the virtual-world space;

(b) identifying one of the real-world objects to characterize into a virtual-world object;

(c) prompting user identification of one or more surface locations of the identified real-world object to extract geometric aspects of the real-world object, the surface locations being identified relative to an identifiable reference plane in the real-world space;

(d) storing the extracted relative geometric aspects of the real-world object in memory; and

(e) generating a virtual-world object in the virtual-world space using the stored geometric aspects of the real-world object.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

repeating (c)-(d), so as to extract additional parameters of the real-world object to further define the virtual-world object.

24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the virtual-world object, upon being generated, is displayed on a display screen along with other virtual-world objects, and the other virtual-world objects are able to interact with the generated virtual-world object, the interaction detected when dimensional parameters of the other virtual objects at least partially intersect with the generated virtual-world object defined by the geometric aspects of the real-world object.

25. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein when intersection between the dimensional parameters of the other virtual-world objects and the generated virtual-world object and the extracted parameters is detected, performing one of:

(a) occluding the other virtual-world objects by the generated virtual-world object;

(b) occluding the generated virtual-world object by the other virtual-world objects;

(c) obstructing motion or placement of the other virtual-world objects to the generated virtual-world object;

(d) deforming the other virtual-world object so as to conform the other virtual-world object to the extracted parameters of the generated virtual-world objects; and

(e) enabling interaction between the other virtual-world objects and the generated virtual-world objects.