SYSTEM, DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING USER INTERFACE FOR A VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENT

• US 20160180574A1
• Filed: 12/18/2015
• Published: 06/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: META Platforms Technologies LLC (Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Oculus VR, LLC (Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.))
• Inventors: Kaminitz, Kobi, Grossinger, Nadav, Meyassed, Moshe, Romano, Nitay
• Granted Patent: US 9,858,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/56 provided with illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2226 Determination of depth image, e.g. for foreground/background separation determining depth by image analysis in general G06T7/50; segmentation by image analysis in general G06T7/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

A device connectable to a near eye display or to a virtual reality headset and to a portable computing platform having a processor is provided herein. The device may include: an illuminator configured to illuminate a proximity of a user wearing the headset or the near eye display with patterned light; and an IR camera configured to capture reflections of said patterned light coming from at least one object located in the proximity of the user, wherein the processor is configured to: establish data and power connection between the device and said portable computing platform and said near eye display; and generate a depth map of said object based on the reflections.

Claims

1. A device connectable to a virtual reality headset and to a portable computing platform having a processor, the device comprising:

an illuminator configured to illuminate a proximity of a user wearing the virtual reality headset with patterned light; and

a camera configured to capture reflections of said patterned light coming from at least one object located at the proximity of the user,

wherein the processor is configured to;

establish data and power connection between the device and said portable computing platform; and

generate a depth map of said object based on the reflections.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the illuminator and the camera are operating at an infra-red (IR) range.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

generate a 3D image of the at least one object, based on the depth map and 2D images of the at least one object; and

superimpose the 3D image of the at least one object on a virtual reality (VR) scene generated by the processor and viewable by the user.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein an overall power consumption of the device is below approximately 1 Watt.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the portable computing platform further comprises a visible light camera and wherein the 2D images of the at least one object are obtained from the visible light camera of the portable computing platform.

9. The device according to claim 3, further comprising a visible light camera and wherein the 2D images of the at least one object are obtained from the visible light camera.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the establishing of data and power connection between the device and said portable computing platform is carried out as “

Plug and Play”

.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one object is a body part of the user.

12. The device according to claim 3, wherein the superimposing of the 3D image of the at least one object on a virtual reality (VR) scene further comprises aligning the 3D image of the at least one object with a viewing angle of the VR scene by the user.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the portable computing platform is selected from a group comprising:

a smartphone, a laptop personal computer (PC); and

a tablet PC.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein the illuminator and the camera exhibit a horizontal field of view of approximately 55°

degrees and a vertical field of view of approximately 43°

degrees in a “

landscape”

configuration and horizontal field of view of approximately 43°

degrees and a vertical field of view of approximately 55°

degrees in a “

portrait”

configuration.

28. The device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

generate a 3D image of the at least one object, based on the depth map and 2D images of the at least one object; and

superimpose the 3D image of the at least one object on a virtual reality (VR) scene generated by the processor and viewable by the user over the near eye display.

5. A device connectable to a virtual reality headset and to a portable computing platform having a processor and a camera, the device comprising:

an illuminator configured to illuminate a proximity of a user wearing the near eye display with patterned light,

wherein the processor is configured to;

establish data and power connection between the device and said portable computing platform;

instruct the camera to capture reflections of said patterned light coming from at least one object located in the proximity of the user, and

generate a depth map of said object based on the reflections.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein an overall power consumption of the device is below approximately 500 milliwatt.

7. The device according to claim 5, wherein the portable computing platform and the virtual reality headset are integrated as a single element.

15. A method comprising:

connecting a device to a virtual reality headset and to a portable computing platform having a processor, the device comprising an illuminator and a camera;

establishing data and power connection between the device and said portable computing platform;

illuminating a proximity of a user wearing the near eye display with patterned light;

capturing reflections of said patterned light coming from at least one object located in the proximity of the user; and

generating a depth map of said object based on the reflections.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the illuminator and the camera are operating at an infra-red (IR) range.

17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising generating a 3D image of the at least one object, based on the depth map and 2D images of the at least one object;

and superimposing the 3D image of the at least one object on a virtual reality (VR) scene generated by the processor and viewable by the user.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein an overall power consumption of the device is below approximately 1 Watt.

19. A method comprising:

connecting a device to a virtual reality headset and to a portable computing platform having a processor and a camera, the device comprising an illuminator configured to illuminate a proximity of a user wearing the virtual reality headset with patterned light;

establishing data and power connection between the device and said portable computing platform and;

instructing the camera to capture reflections of said patterned light coming from at least one object located in the proximity of the user, and

generating a depth map of said object based on the reflections.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein an overall power consumption of the device is below approximately 500 milliwatt.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein the portable computing platform and the virtual reality headset are integrated as a single element.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein the portable computing platform further comprises a visible light camera and wherein the 2D images of the at least one object are obtained from the visible light camera of the portable computing platform.

23. The method according to claim 19, further comprising generating a 3D image of the at least one object, based on the depth map and 2D images of the at least one object;

and superimposing the 3D image of the at least one object on a virtual reality (VR) scene generated by the processor and viewable by the user.

24. The method according to claim 19, wherein the establishing of data and power connection between the device and said portable computing platform is carried out as “

Plug and Play”

.

25. The method according to claim 19, wherein the at least one object is a body part of the user.

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein the superimposing of the 3D image of the at least one object on a virtual reality (VR) scene further comprises aligning the 3D image of the at least one object with a viewing angle of the VR scene by the user.

27. A device connectable to a near eye display and to a portable computing platform having a processor, the device comprising:

an illuminator configured to illuminate a proximity of a user wearing the near eye display with patterned light; and

a camera configured to capture reflections of said patterned light coming from at least one object located at the proximity of the user,

wherein the processor is configured to;

establish data and power connection between the device, the near eye display, and said portable computing platform; and

generate a depth map of said object based on the reflections.