Methods and systems of a motion-capture body suit with wearable body-position sensors

• US 10,324,522 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2016
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Anders Kullmann Klok, Jakob Balslev, Matias Sondergaard, Maziar Taghiyar-Zamani
• Original Assignee: Anders Kullmann Klok, Jakob Balslev, Matias Sondergaard, Maziar Taghiyar-Zamani
• Inventors: Balslev, Jakob, Klok, Anders Kullmann, Taghiyar-Zamani, Maziar, Sondergaard, Matias
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheng, Tom
• Application Number:
  US15/361,347
• Publication Number:
  US 20170192496A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/212 using sensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat or leg activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/25 Output arrangements for video game devices
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5255 according to dedicated instructions from a player, e.g. using a secondary joystick to rotate the camera around a player's character
• 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 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• 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: G06T 13/40 of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51

Abstract

In one aspect, a method of a motion-capture body suit include the step of providing a motion-capture body suit, wherein the motion-capture body suit comprises a plurality of position sensors, wherein each position sensor of the plurality of position sensors obtains a position of an associated body area, wherein each position sensor is integrated into a textile tunnel located on the associated body are of each position sensor. The method includes the step of obtaining a set of sensor-level position data from the plurality of position sensors as a series of position measurements observed over a specified period of time. The method includes the step of obtaining a body-level position data as another series of body-position measurements observed over the specified period of time. The method includes the step of combining the set of sensor-level position data and the body-level position data using a Kalman filter to produce a body-motion output stream. The method includes the step of rendering an image data of a virtual representation of a user wearing the motion-capture suit.

Claims

1. A method of a motion-capture body suit comprising:

providing a motion-capture body suit, wherein the motion-capture body suit comprises a plurality of position sensors, wherein each position sensor of the plurality of position sensors obtains a position of an associated body area, wherein each position sensor is integrated into a textile tunnel located on the associated body are of each position sensor;

obtaining a set of sensor-level position data from the plurality of position sensors as a series of position measurements observed over a specified period of time;

obtaining a body-level position data as another series of body-position measurements observed over the specified period of time;

combining the set of sensor-level position data and the body-level position, data using a Kalman filter to produce a body-motion output stream;

rendering an image data of a virtual representation of a user wearing the motion-capture suit from the body-motion output stream;

transferring the image data of a virtual representation of a user into a game engine application without a middleware system interpreting the image data; and

using the image data to provide a body presence of the user in a virtual-reality environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the position information comprises a velocity value, an acceleration value, and an orientation value of the associated body area.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Kalman filter comprises a double Kalman filter.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the double Kalman filter implements a Bayesian inference process and estimates a joint probability distribution over the set sensor-level position data and the body-level position data for each timeframe measured in the specified period of time.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each position sensor of the plurality of position sensors comprises an inertial motion units (IMU) sensor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the IMU sensor has nine degrees of freedom (DoF).

7. A method of a motion-capture body suit comprising:

providing a motion-capture body suit, wherein the motion-capture body suit comprises a plurality of position sensors, wherein each position sensor of the plurality of position sensors obtains a position of an associated body area, wherein each position sensor is integrated into a textile tunnel located on the associated body are of each position sensor, wherein the motion-capture body suit automatically repositions a position sensor embedded in a textile tunnel;

obtaining a set of sensor-level position data from the plurality of position sensors as a series of position measurements observed over a specified period of time;

obtaining body-level position data s another series of body-position measurements observed over the specified period of time;

combining the set of sensor-level position data and the body-level position data using a Kalman filter to produce a body-motion output stream;

rendering, an image data of a virtual presentation of a user wearing the motion-capture suit from the body-motion output stream.

8. A method of a motion-capture body suit comprising:

providing a motion-capture body suit, wherein the motion-capture body suit comprises a plurality of position sensors, wherein each position sensor of the plurality of position sensors obtains a position of an associated body area, wherein each position sensor is integrated into a textile tunnel located on the associated body are of each position sensor, wherein the motion-capture body suit automatically repositions a position sensor embedded in a textile tunnel;

obtaining a set of sensor-level position data from the plurality of position sensors as a series of position measurements observed over a specified period of time;

obtaining a body-level position data as another series of body-position measurements observed over the specified period of time;

combining the set of sensor-level position data and the body-level position data using a Kalman filter to produce a body-motion output stream;

rendering an image data of a virtual representation of a user wearing the motion-capture suit from the body-motion output stream; and

transferring the image data of a virtual representation of a user into a game engine application without a middleware system interpreting the image data.