Network based real-time virtual reality input/output system and method for heterogeneous environment

• US 20110197201A1
• Filed: 01/05/2011
• Published: 08/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Kyung Hwan, Yoo, Byung In, Yoon, Hyung Min
• Granted Patent: US 8,924,985 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5018 Thread allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes

Abstract

A network based real-time virtual reality input/output system and method for a heterogeneous environment are provided. The virtual reality input/output system transfers data received from a plurality of virtual reality input device and a request from a plurality of virtual reality applications to at least one corresponding virtual reality data generator among a plurality of virtual reality data generators, and transfers virtual reality data, which is generated by processing data corresponding to the request among the received data by the at least one corresponding virtual reality data generator, to the virtual reality application which transmits the request.

Claims

1. A virtual reality input/output system comprising:

a data receiver to receive data from a plurality of virtual reality input devices;

a plurality of virtual reality data generators to generate corresponding virtual reality data based on the received data; and

a virtual reality input/output unit to transfer a request from at least one of a plurality of virtual reality applications to at least one corresponding virtual reality data generator among the plurality of virtual reality data generators, and to transfer virtual reality data to the virtual reality application which transmits the request, the virtual reality data being generated by processing data corresponding to the request among the received data by the at least one corresponding virtual reality data generator.

2. The virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality input/output unit performs, using a thread pool, scheduling and load balancing for each request received from each of the plurality of virtual reality applications and for the data received from each of the plurality of virtual reality input devices, and wherein the virtual reality input/output unit transfers the request and data to a corresponding virtual reality data generator among the plurality of virtual reality data generators.

3. The virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality input/output unit communicates with the plurality of virtual reality applications using a network protocol independent from a predetermined Operating System (OS), or using an Inter-Process Communication (IPC).

4. The virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, further comprising:

a real-time signal manager to manage a high resolution timer,

wherein the virtual reality input/output unit transmits the virtual reality data corresponding to the request in real-time to the virtual reality application, which transmits the request, using the high resolution timer.

5. The virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, further comprising:

a session manager to manage a communication session for each of the plurality of virtual reality applications.

6. The virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of virtual reality input devices comprise at least one of a color camera, a depth camera, and a motion sensor.

7. The virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of virtual reality generators generates the virtual reality data based on data regarding at least one of a face geometry, a face texture, a face animation, a body geometry, a body texture, a body motion, a body gesture, and a remote multi-touch gesture, among the data received from the plurality of virtual reality input devices.

8. The virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, wherein virtual reality data having a generation frequency equal to or less than a predetermined value among the virtual reality data is transmitted to a virtual reality application that requests the virtual reality data, and

wherein virtual reality data having a generation frequency exceeding the predetermined value among the virtual reality data is transmitted in real-time to a corresponding virtual reality application whenever corresponding virtual reality data is generated after an initial request.

9. A system to receive the virtual reality data from the virtual reality input/output system of claim 1, the system comprising at least one of the plurality of virtual reality applications.

10. A virtual reality input/output method comprising:

receiving data from a plurality of virtual reality input devices;

receiving a request from at least one of a plurality of virtual reality applications;

transmitting the request and at least part of the received data to at least one corresponding module among a plurality of modules, the plurality of modules generating virtual reality data using at least one processor; and

transmitting virtual reality data to the virtual reality application which transmits the request, the virtual reality data being generated by processing the at least part of the received data by the at least one module.

11. The virtual reality input/output method of claim 10, wherein the transmitting of the request and the at least part of the received data to the at least one corresponding module comprises performing, using a thread pool, scheduling and load balancing for each request received from each of the plurality of virtual reality applications and for the data received from each of the plurality of virtual reality input devices, and transmitting the request and data to a corresponding module among the plurality of modules.

12. The virtual reality input/output method of claim 10, wherein the request is received from the plurality of virtual reality applications using a network protocol independent from a predetermined Operating System (OS), or using an Inter Process Communication (IPC), and

wherein the virtual reality data is transmitted to the plurality of virtual reality applications using the network protocol, or using the IPC.

13. The virtual reality input/output method of claim 10, further comprising:

managing a high resolution timer,

wherein the transmitting of the virtual reality data to the virtual reality application which transmits the request comprises transmitting the virtual reality data corresponding to the request in real-time to the virtual reality application, which transmits the request, using the high resolution timer.

14. The virtual reality input/output method of claim 10, further comprising:

managing a communication session for each of the plurality of virtual reality applications.

15. At least one computer readable recording medium storing computer readable instructions that control at least one processor to implement the method of claim 10.