SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BASED ON VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET USAGE

• US 20180262362A1
• Filed: 03/08/2017
• Published: 09/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crackle Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Crackle Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: GOLDSTEIN, Aaron, CONER, Christine, YASKIW, Ihor
• Granted Patent: US 10,693,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625

Abstract

Systems and methods described provide and add significant functionality to virtual and augmented reality display systems. For example, when a user is “immersed” in a virtual reality environment, certain home environmental parameters may be changed, or may change state, and efforts at energy conservation can be automatically or semi-automatically initiated, at least temporarily, while the user is in the virtual reality environment. This allows the user to reduce energy consumption in their home while they are immersed in the virtual reality world by automatically turning down output to lights and other devices that the user does not need while in the headset. Users are further provided with the benefit of notifications during their virtual reality experience, bridging the gap of separation from the outside world with regard to security by allowing users to remain “in” a virtual reality environment while they are still alerted of important activity in their surroundings.

Claims

1. A method of providing a notification to a user of a display in which user awareness of their environment is reduced, comprising:

a. receiving a first signal at a hub computing environment indicating that a display is being used by a user, the display being one in which user awareness of a surrounding environment is reduced, the display driven by a display computing environment, the hub computing environment being coupled to at least one initiator device; and

b. in response to the received first signal, determining if a notification should be delivered to the display, the determination based at least in part on the initiator device and on the user profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the display is integral with the display computing environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiator device includes a computing environment in which messages are received, and wherein the user profile indicates whether messages from a set of predetermined users result in notifications of the respective messages to be delivered to the display.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a signal from a network source that a user equipment has joined a network associated with the hub computing environment, and determining if a signal should be delivered to the display based on an identity of a user associated with the user equipment and further based on the user profile.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the network source is a WiFi router.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiator device includes an environmental sensor.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the environmental sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

a camera, a microphone or audio or voice recognition sensor, a haptic/touch sensor, a telephone/communication device, a motion sensor, a door/window sensor, or a combination of the above.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiator device includes an alarm system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the display is a head mounted display.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the head mounted display is a virtual reality headset.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the head mounted display is an augmented reality headset.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing environment to perform the method of claim 1.

13. A method of controlling a parameter of an environment, the environment one in which a display is employed by a user, the display such that user awareness of the environment is reduced, comprising:

a. receiving a first signal at a hub computing environment indicating that a display is being used by a user, the display one in which user awareness of their environment is reduced, the display driven by a display computing environment, the hub computing environment coupled to at least one environmental control device; and

b. in response to the received first signal, transmitting a second signal to the at least one environmental control device to cause a change to a parameter of the environment.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the environment control device is a thermostat, and the transmitting a second signal includes transmitting a signal to lower a set temperature on the thermostat.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the environment control device is a light controller, and the transmitting a second signal includes transmitting a signal to lower a lighting level on the light controller.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the environment control device is a device controller, and the transmitting a second signal includes transmitting a signal to the device controller to cause an associated device to be placed into a sleep or low power mode.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein a combination of a category of the received first signal and a category of the transmitted second signal form a portion of an entry in a user profile.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the category of the first signal is display usage and the category of the second signal is selected from the group consisting of:

lighting, temperature, CE device, and combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising detecting whether another user is present in the environment, and wherein the transmitted second signal is further dependent on the result of the detecting.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising detecting whether another user is participating in an application running on the display computing environment, and wherein the transmitted second signal is further dependent on the result of the detecting.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions for causing a computing environment to perform the method of claim 13.