Physical interaction with virtual objects for DRM

• US 9,038,127 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2011
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hastings, Ryan L., Latta, Stephen G., Vaught, Benjamin I., Bennett, Darren
• Primary Examiner(s): Zee, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUY, CHI D
• Application Number:
  US13/212,673
• Publication Number:
  US 20130042296A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: 726/1, 726/26
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• 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: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/024 Multi-user, collaborative environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

Technology is provided for transferring a right to a digital content item based on one or more physical actions detected in data captured by a see-through, augmented reality display device system. A digital content item may be represented by a three-dimensional (3D) virtual object displayed by the device system. A user can hold the virtual object in some examples, and transfer a right to the content item the object represents by handing the object to another user within a defined distance, who indicates acceptance of the right based upon one or more physical actions including taking hold of the transferred object. Other examples of physical actions performed by a body part of a user may also indicate offer and acceptance in the right transfer. Content may be transferred from display device to display device while rights data is communicated via a network with a service application executing remotely.

Claims

1. An augmented reality display device system for transferring a right to a digital content item comprising:

an image generation unit for displaying an image of a virtual object representing a digital content item in a user field of view of an augmented reality display of the augmented reality display device system of a first user when worn by a first user;

one or more sensors of the augmented reality display device system of the first user for generating data from which one or more physical actions of the first user is detected;

one or more software controlled processors for receiving the data and identifying one or more physical actions performed by a body part of the first user with respect to the virtual object indicating a transfer request of a right to the digital content item; and

a memory accessible by the one or more processors for storing software, and transfer rules for the digital content item; and

the one or more processors determining whether to transfer the right to the digital content item based on the transfer rules for the item.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising one or more network interfaces for communicating with another augmented reality display device system of a second user and a computer system over a network executing a first version of a digital rights management (DRM) service application which maintains transfer rules for each digital content item in a DRM library for the first user;

the one or more software controlled processors executing a second version of the digital rights management service application, the one or more software controlled processors being communicatively coupled to the one or more network interfaces; and

the one or more software controlled processors being for requesting and receiving the transfer rules for one or more items in the DRM library for the first user.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

the one or more software controlled processors for executing the second version of the digital rights management service application being also for receiving location data from the other augmented reality display device system of the second user and for determining whether the other augmented reality display device system is within a predefined distance of the augmented reality display device system of the first user.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the memory stores the digital content item, and upon determining to transfer the right to the digital content item, the one or more processors communicating the digital content item in a peer-to-peer communication from the display device system of the first user to the other display device system of the second user.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the data generated by one or more sensors of the display device system of the first user is image data of one or more body parts of the first user.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the transfer rules for the digital content item comprises:

one or more transferable rights assigned by a content provider of the digital content item to the first user;

one or more predefined distances about the first user in which one or more rights to the digital content item can be transferred; and

one or more trust levels for a recipient for each of the one or more predefined distances.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein a size of the one or more predefined distances about the first user is determined based on at least one of the following:

a location of the first user;

an identity of the second user as an intended recipient of the right; and

a trust relationship associated with the identity of the second user with respect to the first user in user profile data stored in the memory for the first user.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the virtual object is a three dimensional virtual object.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the image generation unit;

and

the memory for storing display data for a virtual object type which represents a physical medium associated with a genre of the digital content item, the memory being accessible by the image generation unit.

10. A method for transferring a right to a digital content item represented as a virtual object comprising:

displaying one or more virtual objects representing one or more digital content items of a digital rights managed (DRM) library of digital content items in a user field of view of an augmented reality display of a first augmented reality display device system of a first user when worn by a first user;

receiving data identifying one or more physical actions performed by a body part of a first user selecting at least one of the virtual objects representing at least one digital content item by the first augmented reality display device system;

identifying one or more physical actions performed by a body part of the first user with respect to the at least one of the virtual objects indicating a transfer request of a right to the at least one of the one or more digital content items represented by the at least one of the virtual objects; and

processing the transfer request based on transfer rules for the at least one of the digital content items.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising moving a position of the at least one of the virtual objects in accordance with one or more physical actions of indicating movement of the object.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the one or more virtual objects are one or more three-dimensional (3D) virtual objects, each having a real world appearance of a physical medium based on a genre of its respective digital content item.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein processing the transfer request based on transfer rules for the at least one of the digital content items further comprises:

detecting a location of the first user;

determining one or more predefined distances based on the location of the first user based on the transfer rules for the at least one of the digital content items;

determining an identity of at least a second user;

determining a trust level of the second user for the first user based on the identity of the second user;

determining whether the transfer rules for the at least one of the digital content items permit the transfer based on the trust level of the second user; and

responsive to the transfer rules permitting the transfer, communicating an offer of the right in the request to a second augmented reality display device system of the second user.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein processing the transfer request based on transfer rules for the at least one of the digital content items further comprises:

updating a DRM data set of at least one of the digital content items to indicate the transfer of the right from the first user to the second user;

sending the DRM data set after updating over a network to a DRM service application for updating the DRM library of the first user; and

if the right granted allows transfer of the at least one of the digital content items, transferring the at least one of the digital content items and the DRM data set which has been updated to the second augmented reality display device system of the second user.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein processing the transfer request based on transfer rules for the at least one of the digital content items further comprises:

receiving data identifying a physical action of the second user indicating acceptance of the right to the at least one of the digital content items.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein identifying one or more physical actions of the first user further comprises identifying at least one of the following:

identifying one or more hand positions of the first user;

identifying one or more hand movements of the first user;

identifying an action of an eye of the first user; and

identifying a sound spoken by the first user.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein displaying one or more virtual objects representing one or more digital content items of a digital rights managed (DRM) library of digital content items of a first user further comprises displaying each of the one or more virtual objects with a setting for a right appearance characteristic indicating at least one right of the first user with respect to each digital content item represented by the respective virtual object.

18. One or more processor readable memory storage media having stored thereon processor executable instructions for implementing a method for requesting an offer of a right to a content item represented by a content object of interest by a user using an augmented reality display device system, the method comprising:

identifying at least one physical action of a user wearing an augmented reality display of the augmented reality display device system selecting a content object of interest being displayed by the augmented reality display based on data obtained by one or more sensors of the augmented reality display device system;

identifying at least one physical action performed by a body part of a user indicating a request for one or more offers of rights to the content item represented by the content object of interest based on data obtained by one or more sensors of the augmented reality display device system;

sending the request to a DRM service application over a network; and

receiving one or more offers of a right to the content item from the DRM service application over a network.

19. The one or more processor readable memory storage media of claim 18, the method further comprising:

identifying at least one physical action based on data obtained by one or more sensors of the augmented reality display device system indicating user input accepting at least one offer from the one or more offers of a right to the content item;

receiving a DRM data set for the content item including the right for the content item of the at least one offer from the one or more offers of a right to the content item; and

sending the DRM data set over a network to the DRM service application for updating a DRM library of the user.

20. The one or more processor readable memory storage media of claim 19 the method further comprises:

if the right allows digital transfer of the content item, receiving a digital version of the content item by the augmented reality display device system of the user.