NZ748087B2 - System and method for augmented and virtual reality - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a user display device comprises a housing frame mountable on a head of a user, a first pair of cameras, a projection module, a lens and a processor. The first pair of cameras is coupled to the housing frame to track a movement of the user's eyes and to estimate a depth of focus based on the tracked eye movements. The projection module has a light generating mechanism to generate and focus, based on at least the estimated depth of focus, a projected light associated with a display object. The lens is mounted on the housing frame wherein, at least a portion of the lens transitions from a transparent setting to an opaque setting to block visible light from an outside environment from passing through the lens as part of entering a virtual reality mode from an augmented reality mode or at least a portion of the lens transitions from the opaque setting to the transparent setting to selectively allow transmission of light through the lens from the outside environment as part of entering the augmented reality mode from the virtual reality mode and wherein transitioning from the transparent setting to the opaque setting or from the opaque setting to the transparent setting occurs selectively allowing transmission of light is in response to selecting a visualization mode. The lens further comprises at least one transparent mirror positioned in front of the user's eyes to reflect the projected light into the user's eyes. The processor is communicatively coupled to the projection module to communicate data associated with a display image to the projection module. the tracked eye movements. The projection module has a light generating mechanism to generate and focus, based on at least the estimated depth of focus, a projected light associated with a display object. The lens is mounted on the housing frame wherein, at least a portion of the lens transitions from a transparent setting to an opaque setting to block visible light from an outside environment from passing through the lens as part of entering a virtual reality mode from an augmented reality mode or at least a portion of the lens transitions from the opaque setting to the transparent setting to selectively allow transmission of light through the lens from the outside environment as part of entering the augmented reality mode from the virtual reality mode and wherein transitioning from the transparent setting to the opaque setting or from the opaque setting to the transparent setting occurs selectively allowing transmission of light is in response to selecting a visualization mode. The lens further comprises at least one transparent mirror positioned in front of the user's eyes to reflect the projected light into the user's eyes. The processor is communicatively coupled to the projection module to communicate data associated with a display image to the projection module.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY D APPLICATION DATA The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S. Provisional Applications Serial No. 61/552,941 filed r 28, 2011. _‘"he foregoing app] 'cation 's hereby incorporated by reference into the present app__ication in its entirety.

FI«.D or "H« Nv«NTION The present invention generally relates to systems and methods configured to facilitate interactive virtual Or augmented reality nments for one or more users.

IBACKGROUND Virtual and augmented y environments are generated by computers using, in part, data that describes the environment.

This data may describe, for example, various objects with which a user may sense and interact with. Examples of these objeCts include objects that are rendered and displayed for a user to see, audio that is played for a user to hear, and tactile (or haptic) feedback for a user to feel. Users may sense and interact with the virtual and augmented reality environments through a variety of visual, ry and taCtical means.

SUMMARY One embodiment is directed to a system for enabling two or more users to interact within a l world comprising virtual world data, comprising a computer networ < comprising one or more computing devices, the one or more computing devices comprising memory, processing circuitry, and software s tored at least in part in the memory and executable by the processing circuitry to process at least a portion of the virtual WOrld data; wherein at least a first portion of the virt Jal world data originates from a first user virtual world local to a first user, and n the er network is operable to transmit the first portion to a user device for presentation to a SGCOHd user, such that the second user may experience the first por tion from the on of the second user, such that aspects of the first user virt ial world are effectively passed to the second user. The firs t and second users may be in ent physical locations or in S Jbstantially the same physical location. At least a portion of the virtual world may be configured to change in response to a change in the virtual world data. At leas t a portion of the virtua' wor' d may be configured :O change in se to a physical obj ect sensed by the user . The change in virtua' wor' d data may represent a virtual object having a predetermined relationship with the physical object. The change in virtual world data may be ted to a second user device for presentation to the second user according to the predetermined relationship. The virtual world may be operable to be rendered by at least one of the computer servers or a user device. The virtual world may be presented in a two—dimensional . The virtual world may be presented in a three— dimensional . The user device may be operable to provide an interface for ng interaction between a user and the virtual world in an augmented reality mode. The user device may be operable to provide an interface for enabling interaction between a user and the virtual world in a virtual y mode.

The user device may be operable to provide an interface for enabling interaction between a user and the virtual world a combination of augmented and virtual reality mode. The virtual world data may be transmitted over a data network. The computer network may be operable to e at least a n of the l world data from a user device. At least a portion of the virtual world data transmitted to the Jser device may comprise instruCtions for generating at least a portion of the virtual world. At least a n of the virtual world data may be transmitted to a gateway for at least one of processing or distribution. At least one of the one or more computer servers may be operable to process virtual world data distributed by the gateway.

Another embodiment is directed to a system for virtual and/or augm nt d us r Xp ri nc wh r in r mot avatars are animated based at least in part upon data on a le device with optional input from voice inflection and facial recognition software.

AnOther embodiment is directed to a system for virtual and/or aigm nt d us r Xp ri nc wh r in a camera pose or viewpoint position and vector may be placed anywhere in a world sector.

AnOther embodiment is directed to a system for virtual and/or aigm nt d us r xp ri nc wh r in worlds or portions thereof may be rendered for ing users at diverse and selectable scales.

AnOther embodiment is directed to a syStem for l and/or aigm nt d us r Xp ri nc wh r in f atur s, such as points or parametric lines, in addition to pose tagged images, may be utilized as base data for a world mode; from which software robOts, or object recognizers, may be utilized to create parametric representations of real—world objects, tagging source features for mutual inclusion in segmented objects and the world model. '3RI«F 3*.SCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates a represencacive embodiment of the disclosed system for tating in:eractive virtual or augmented y environments for miltiple users.

Figure 2 illustrates an example of a user device for interacting with the system illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 illustrates an example embodiment of a mobile, le user device.

Figure 4 il:_ustrates an example of objects viewed by a user when the mobile, wearable user device of Figure 3 is operating in an augmented riode.

Figure 5 il:_ustrates an example of objects viewed by a user when the mobile, wearable user device of Figure 3 is ing in a l mode.

Figure 6 illustrates an example of objects viewed by a user when the , wearable user device of Figure 3 is operating in a blended virtual interface mode.

Figure 7 illustrates an embodimen: wherein two users located in differen : geographical locations each interact with the other user and a common virtual world through their r sp ctiv us r d vic s.

Figure 8 illustrates an embodiment wherein the embodiment of Figure 7 is expanded to include the use of a haptic device.

Figure 9A illustrates an example of mixed mode interfacing, wherein a first user is interfacing a digital world in a blended virtual interface mode and a second user is interfacing the same digital world in a virtual reality mode.

Figure 93 rates another example of mixed mode interfacing, wherein the first user is interfacing a digital world in a blended virtual interface mode and the second user is interfacing the same digital world in an augmented reality mode.

Figure 10 illustrates an e illustration of a user's view when interfacing the system in an augmented reality mode.

Figure 11 illustrates an example illustration of a user's view showing a virtual object triggered by a al object when the user is interfacing the system in an ted reality mode.

Figure 12 illustrates one ment of an ted and virtual reality integration configuration wherein one user in an augmented reality experience visualizes the presence of another user in a virtual realty experience.

Figure 13 illustrates one embodiment of a time and/or contingency event based augmented reality experience configuration.

Figure 14 illustrates one embodiment of a user y configuration suitable for virtual and/or augmented reality experiences.

Figure 15 illustrates one ment of local and cloud— based computing coordination.

Figure 16 illustrates various aspects of registration configurations.

D «.TAIT. «.D D «.SCRIPTION Referring to Figure 1, system lOO is representative hardware for enting processes described below. This representative system comprises a computing network 105 comprised of one or more computer servers 0 connected through one or more high bandwidth interfaces 115. The servers in the computing network need not be co—located. The one or more servers 110 each comprise one or more processors for executing program instructions. The servers also e memory for storing the program instructions and data that is used and/or generated by ses being carried out by the servers under direction of the program instructions.

The computing network 105 communicates data between the servers 110 and between the servers and one or more user devices 120 over one or more data network conneCtions 130. Examples of such data networks include, without limitation, any and all types of public and private data ks, both mobile and wired, ing for xampl th int rconn Ction of many of such networks commonly referred to as the Internet. No particular media, topology or protocol is intended to be implied by the User devices are configured for icating directly with computing network 105, or any of the servers 110. Alternative'y, user devices 120 communicate with the remote servers 110, and, optionally, with other user devices locally, through a lly programmed, local gateway 140 for sing data and/or for icating data between the network l05 and one or more local user devices 120.

As illustrated, gateway 40 is imp'emented as a separate hardware component, which includes a processor for executing software ctions and memory for storing software instructions and data. The gateway has its own wired and/or wireless connection to data networks for communicating with the servers llO comprising computing network 105. Alternatively, gateway l40 can be integrated with a user device 120, which is worn or carried by a user. For example, the y 140 may be implemented as a downloadable software application led and running on a processor included in the user device 120. The gateway 140 provides, in one embodiment, one or more users access to the computing network 105 via the data network 130.

Servers 110 each include, for example, working memory and storage for storing data and software programs, microprocessors for executing program instructions, graphics processors and Other special processors for ing and generating graphics, images, video, audio and multi—media files. Computing network 105 may also se devices for storing data that is accessed, used or created by the servers 110.

Software programs running on the servers and optionally user devices 120 and gateways 140, are used to generate digital worlds (also referred to herein as virtual worlds) with which users interact with user devices 120. A digital world is represented by data and processes that describe and/or define virtual, non—existent entities, environments, and conditions that can be presented to a user through a user device l20 for users to ence and interact with. For e, some type of object, entity or item that will appear to be physically present when instantiated in a scene being viewed or enced by a user may include a description of its appearance, its behavior, how a user is permitted to interact with it, and Other characteristics. Data used to create an environment of a virtual world (including virtual s) may include, for example, heric data, terrain data, weather data, temperature data, location data, and other data used to define and/or describe a virtial environment. Additionally, data defining various conditions that govern the operation of a virtual world may inclide, for example, laws of physics, time, spatial relationships and other data that may be used to define and/or create s conditions that govern the operation of a virtual world (including virtual s).

The entity, objeCt, condition, characteristic, behavior or other feature of a digital world will be generically ed to herein, unless the context indicates otherwise, as an object (e.g., l object, virtual object, rendered physical objeCt, etc.). ObjeCts may be any type of animate or inanimate object, including but not limited to, buildings, plants, vehicles, people, animals, creatures, machines, data, video, text, pictures, and other users. s may also be defined in a digital world for storing information about items, behaviors, or conditions aCtually present in the physical world. The data that describes or defines the entity, object or item, or that stores its current state, is generally referred to herein as object data. This data is processed by the s 110 or, depending on the implementation, by a y l40 or user device l70, to tiate an instance of the object and render the object in an appropriate manner for th us r to xp ri nc h a user device.

Programmers who develop and/or curate a digital world create or define objects, and the conditions under which they are instantiated. However, a digital world can allow for others to create or modify objects. Once an object is instantiated, the state of the object may be permitted to be altered, controlled or manipulated by one or more users experiencing a digital world.

For e, in one embodiment, development, production, and administration of a digital world is generally provided by one or more system administrative programmers. "n some embodiments, this may inclide development, design, and/or ion of story lines, themes, and events in the digital worlds as well as butior of narratives through various forms of events and media suct as, for example, film, digital, network, mobile, augmented reality, and live entertainment. The system administrative programmers may also handle technical administration, moderation, ard curation of the digital worlds and user ities associated therewith, as well as other tasks typically performed by retwork administrative personnel.

Users interact with one or more digital wor'ds using some type of a local computing device, which is generally designated as a user device 170. ixamp'es of such user devices include, but are not d to, a smart phone, tablet , heads—up display ({UD), gaming console, or any other device capable of communicating data and providing an interface or y to the user, as well as combinations of such devices. In some embodiments, the user device 120 may include, or communicate with, local peripheral or input/outpit components such as, for example, a keyboard, mouse, joystick, gaming controller, haptic interface device, motion capture controller, an optical tracking device such as those available from leap Motion, lnc., or those available from Microsoft under the tradename KineCt (RTM), audio equipment, voice equipment, tor system, 3D display, and holographic 3D t lens.

An example of a user device 170 for cting with the system 100 is illustrated in Figure 2. In the example embodiment shown in Figure 2, a user 210 may interface one or more digital worlds through a smart phone 220. The gateway is implemented by a software application 230 stored on and running on the smart phone 770. "n this particular example, the data network 130 includes a wireless mobile network connecting the user device (i.e., smart phone 220) to the computer < 105.

In one implementation of preferred embodiment, system 100 is capable of supporting a large number of similtaneous users (e.g., millions of users), each interfacing with the same digital world, or with multiple digital worlds, using some type of user device 120.

The user device provides to the user an interface for enabling a visual, audible, and/or physical interaction between the user and a digital world generated by the servers llO, including other users and objects (real or virtual) presented to th us r. Th int rfac provides the user with a ed scene that can be viewed, heard or ise sensed, and the ability to interact with the scene in real—time. The manner in which the Jser interacts with the rendered scene may be ed by the capabilities of the user device. For example, if the user device is a smart phone, the user interaction may be implemented by a user ting a touch screen. In another example, if the user device is a computer or gaming console, the user interaction may be implemented using a keyboard or gaming controller. User devices may include additional components that enable user interaction such as sensors, n the s and information (including geStures) deteCted by the sensors may be provided as input representing user interaction with the virtual world using the user device.

The rendered scene can be ted in s formats such as, for example, two—dimensional or three—dimensional visual displays (including projections), sound, and c or tactile feedback. The rendered scene may be interfaced by the user in one or more modes including, for example, augmented reali 3Y1 virtual reality, and combinations thereof. The format of the rendered scene, as well as the interface modes, may be dictated by one or more of the following: Jser device, data processing capability, user device connectivity, network capacity and system workload. Having a large nimber of isers simultaneously interacting with the digital worlds, and the real—time na :ure of the data exchange, is enabled by the computing network 105, servers 110, the gateway component 140 (optiona" y) , and the user device 120.

In one example, the computing network 105 IS sed of a large—scale computing system having single and/or multi—core servers (i.e., s 1l 0) connected h high—speed connections (e.g., high bandwidth interfaces 115). The computing network 105 may form a cloud or grid network. Each of the servers inclides , or is coupled with computer readable memory for storing software for imp:_ementing data to create, design, alter, or process objects of a digital world. These objeCts and their instantiations may be dynamic, come in and out of existence, change over time, and change in response to other conditions. -—|anmples of dynamic capabili :ies of the objects are lly discussed herein with respect to s embodiments.

In some embodiments, each user acing the system 100 may also be represented as an object, and/or a collection of objeCts, within one or more digital .

The servers 110 within the compu':ing network 105 also store computational state data for each of the digital worlds. The computational state data (also referred to herein as state data) may be a component or the object data, and generally defines the state of an inStance of an objeCt at a given instance in time.

Thus, the ational state data may change over time and may be impacted by the actions of one or more users and/or programmers maintaining the system 100. As a user impaCts the computational state data (or other data comprising the digital worlds), the user directly a'ters or otherwise manipulates the digital world. If the digital world is shared with, or interfaced by, other users, the actions of the user may affect what is experienced by other users Cting with the digital world. Thus, in some embodiments, changes to the digital world made by a user will be experienced by other users interfacing with the syStem 100.

The data stored in one or more servers 110 within the computing network 105 is, in one embodiment, itted or deployed at a high—speed, and with low latency, to one or more user devices 120 and/or gateway components 140. In one embodiment, object data shared by servers may be complete or may be compressed, and contain instructions for recreating the full object data on th us r sid r , nd r d and visualized by the user's local computing device (e.g., gateway "40 and/or user device "20). Software rinning on the servers "10 of the computing network 105 may, in some ments, adapt the data it generates and sends to a ular user's device 120 for objeCts within the digital world (or any other data exchanged by the computing k 105) as a function of the user's specific device and bandwidth. For e, when a user interacts with a digital world through a user device 120, a server 110 may recognize the specific type of device being used by the user, the device's connectivity and/or available bandwidth between the user device and server, and appropriately size and balance the data being red to the device to optimize the user interaction. An example of this may include reducing the size of the transmitted data to a low resolution quality, so tha the data may be displayed on a ular user device having a low resolution display. "n a preferred embodiment, the computing network 105 and/or gateway componen 140 deliver data to the user device 120 at a rate sufficien : to present an interface operating at 15 frames/second or higher, and at a tion that is high definition quality or greater.

The gateway 140 provides local connection to the computing k 105 for one or more users. In some ments, it may be implemented by a downloadable software application that runs on the user device "20 or another local device, such as that shown in Figure 2. In other embodiments, it may be implemented by a hardware component (with ria:e re/firmware s tored on the component, the component raving a processor) that is either in communication with, but nOt orated with or a tracted to, the user device 70, Ol" ir COrporaLed wi oh the user device 120. The gateway 140 communicates with the computing network "05 via the data network 130, ar d provides data exchange between he computing network "05 and or e or more local user devices "20. As sed in greater detail below, the gateway component 140 may include software, firnware, memory, and processing circuitry, and may be capable of processing data communicated between the network 105 and one or more local user devices 120.

In some embodiments, the gateway component 140 rs and regulates the rate of the data exchang d b tw n th us r d vic 120 and the computer network 105 to allow optimum data processing capabilities for the particular user device 170. For example, in some embodiments, the gateway 140 buffers and downloads both static and dynamic s of a digital world, even those that are beyond the field of view presented to the user through an interface connected with the user device. In such an embodiment, instances of static s (structured data, software implemented methods, or bOth) may be stored in memory (local to the gateway component 140, the user device 120, or both) and are referenced against the local user's current position, as indicated by data provided by the computing network 105 and/or the user's device 120. Instances of dynamic s, which may include, for example, intelligent software agents and objects controlled by other users and/or the local user, are stored in a high—speed memory . Dynamic objects representing a two—dimensional or three—dimensional object within the scene presented to a user can be, for example, broken down into component shapes, such as a static shape that is moving but is not changing, and a dynamic shape that is changing. The part of the dynamic object that is changing can be updated by a ime, threaded high priority data stream from a server 110, throagh computing network 105, d by the gateway component 140. As one example of a prioritized threaded data stream, data that is within a 60 degree field—of—view of the user's eye may be given higher priority than data that is more peripheral. r example includes prioritizing dynamic characters and/or objects within the user's field—of—view over static objeCts in the background.

In addition to managing a data connection between the ing network 105 and a user device 120, the gateway component "40 may store and/or process data that may be presented to the user device 120. For example, the gateway component "40 may, in some embodiments, e compressed data describing, for example, graphical s to be rendered for viewing by a user, from the computing network 105 and perform advanced rendering ques to alleviate the data load transmitted to the user device 120 from the computing network 05. "n another example, in which gateway 140 is a separate device, the gateway 140 may store and/or process data for a local instance of an object rather than transmitting the data to the compiting network l05 for processmg.

Re ferring now also to Figure 3, the digital worlds may be experienced by one or more users in various formats that may depend upon the capabilities of the user's device. In some embodiments, the user device 120 may include, for example, a smart phone, tablet device, heads—up display (HUD), gaming console , or a wearable device. Generally, the user device will include a processor for executing program code stored in memory on the device, coupled with a display, and a communications interface. An e ment of a user device is illustrated in Figure 3, wh r in th us r d vic comprises a mobile, wearable device, namely a head—mounted display system 300. In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the head—mounted display system 300 includes a user interface 302, user—sensing system 304, environment—sensing system 306, and a processor 308. Although the processor 308 is shown in Figure 3 as an isolated component separate from the head—mounted system 300, in an alternate embodiment, the processor 308 may be integrated with one or more components of the head—mounted system 300, or may be integrated into Other system 100 components such as, for example, the gateway 140.

Th us r d vic pr s nts to the user an interface 302 for c ting with and encing a digital world. Such interac tion may e the user and the digital world, one or more other users interfacing the system 100, and objects within the digital world. The ace 302 generally provides image and/or audio sensory input (and in some embodiments, physical sensory input) to the user. Thus, the interface 302 may include rs (nOt shown) and a display component 303 capable, in some embodiments, of enabling stereoscopic 3D viewing and/or 3D viewing which embodies more natural characteristics of the human vision system. In some embodiments, the display component 303 may comprise a transparent interface (such as a clear 011D) which, when in an "off' setting, enables an optically t view of the al environment around the user with little—to— no optical distortion or computing overlay. As discussed in greater detail below, the interface 302 may include additional settings that allow for a variety of visual/interface performance and functionality.

The ensing system 304 may include, in some embodiments, one or more sensors 310 operable to detect certain features, teristics, or information d to the individual user wearing the system 300. For example, in some embodiments, the sensors 310 may e a camera or optical detection/scanning circuitry capable of detecting real—time optical characteristics/measurements of the user such as, for example, one or more of the following: pupil constriction/dilation, angular measurement/positioning of each pupil, spherocity, eye shape (as eye shape changes over time) and other anatomic data. This data may provide, or be used to calculate, information (e.g., the user's visual focal point) that may be used by the head—mounted system 300 and/or interface syStem 100 to ze the user's viewing experience. For example, in one embodiment, the sensors 310 may each measure a rate of pupil contraction for each of the user's eyes. This data may be transmitted to the processor 308 (or the gateway component 140 or to a server 110), wherein the data is used to determine, for example, the user's reaction to a brightness setting of the interface display 303. The ace 302 may be adjusted in accordance with the user's reaCtion by, for example, dimming the display 303 if the user's reaction indicates that the brightness level of the display 303 is r too high. The user— sensing system 304 may inclide other components other than those discussed above or illustrated in Figure 3. For e, in some embodiments, the user—sensing system 304 may include a microphone for receiving voice input from the user. The user sensing system may also e one or more infrared camera sensors, one or more visible spectrum camera sensors, structured light emitters and/or sensors, ed light emitters, nt light emitters and/or sensors, gyros, accelerometers, magnetometers, proximity sensors, GPS sensors, ultrasonic emitters and deteCtors and haptic aces.

The environment—sensing system 306 includes one or more sensors 312 for obtaining data from the physical environment around a user. Objects or information detected by the sensors may be provided as input to the user device. In some embodiments, this input may represent user Ction with the virtual world. For example, a user viewing a virtual keyboard on a desk may gesture with his fingers as if he were typing on the virtual rd. The motion of the fingers moving may be captured by the sensors 312 and ed to the user device or syStem as input, wherein the input may be used to change the virtual world or create new virtual objeCts. For example, the motion of the fingers may be recognized (ising a software program) as typing, and the ized gesture of typing may be combined with the known location of the virtual keys on the virtual keyboard. The system may then render a virtual monitor displayed to the user (or other users interfacing the system) wherein the virtua' monitOr displays the text being typed by the user .

The sensors 3l2 may include, for example, a generally outward—facing camera or a scanner for interpreting scene information, for example, through continuously and/or incermictencly projected infrared structured light. The nment—sensing system 306 may be used for mapping one or more elements of the physical nment around the user by detecting and registering the local environment, including static objects, dynamic objects, people, gestures and various lighting, atmospheric and acoustic ions. Thus, in some embodiments, the nment—sensing syStem 306 may include image—based 3D reconstruction software embedded in a local computing syStem (e.g., gateway component 140 or processor 308) and operable to digitally reconstruct one or more objects or information detected by the sensors 312. In one exemplary embodiment, the environment—sensing system 306 provides one or more of the following: mOtion capture data ding gesture recognition), depth sensing, facial recognition, object recognition, unigu obj Ct f atur r cognition, voice/audio ition and sing, acoustic source zation, noise reduction, infrared or similar laser projection, as well as rome and/or color CMOS sensors (or other similar sensors), field—of—view s, and a variecy of ocher optical—enhancing sensors. It should be appreciated chac the environment—sensing system 306 may include Other componencs ocher than those discussed above or raced in Figire 3. For example, in some embodiments, the environment—sensing system 306 may include a microphone for receiving audio from the local environment. The user sensing system may also include one or more infrared camera sensors, one or more visible spectrum camera sensors, structure night emitters and/or sensors, infrared light emitters, coherent light emit cers and/or sensors gyros, accelerometers, magnetometers, proximity sensors , GPS sensors, ultrasonic emitters and detec tors and haptic interfaces.

As mentioned above, the processor 308 may, in some ments \ be in:egrated with o:her components of the head— mounted system 300, integrated wi':h other components of the ace system 100, or may be an isolated device (wearable or separate from the user) as shown in Figure 3. The sor 308 may be conneCted to various components of the head—mounted system 300 and/or components of the interface system 100 through a physical, wired connection, or through a ss connection such as, for example, mobile network connections (including cellular telephone and data networks), Wi—Fi or Bluetooth. The processor 308 may include a memory module, integrated and/or additional graphics processing unit, wireless and/or wired internet conneCtivity, and codec and/or firmware capable of orming data from a source (e.g., the computing network 105, the user—sensing system 304, the nment— g system 306, or the gateway component 140) into image and audio data, wherein the images/video and audio may be presented to the user via the interface 302.

The processor 308 handles da:a processing for the various components of the headmounted sys :em 300 as well as data exchange between the head—mounted system 300 and the gateway component 140 and, in some embodiments, the compiting network 105. For exampl er the processor 308 may be used to buffer and process data streaming between the user and the computing network 105, thereby ng a smooth, continuoas and high ty user experience. In some embodimen us, the processor 308 may process data at a rate sufficient to achieve anywhere n 8 frames/second at 320x240 resolution to 24 frames/second at high definition resolution 770), or greater, such as 60—120 frames/second and 4k resolution and higher (10k+ resolution and 50,000 frames/second). Additionally, the sor 308 may store and/or process data that may be presented to the user, rather than streamed in real—time from the computing network 105. For example, the processor 308 may, in some embodiments, receive compressed data from the computing network 105 and m ed rendering techniques (such as lighting or shading) to alleviate the data load transmitted to the user device 120 from the computing network 105. In another example, the processor 308 may store and/or process local object data rather than transmitting the data to the gateway component 140 or to the compiting network 105.

The head—mounted system 300 may, in some ments, include various settings, or modes, that allow for a variety of visual/interface performance and funCtionality. The modes may be selected ly by the user, or automatically by components of the head—mounted system 300 or the gateway component 140. As previously mentioned, one example of unted system 300 es an "off' mode, wherein the interface 302 provides substantially no digital or virtual content. In the off mode, the display component 303 may be transparent, thereby enabling an optically correct view of the physical environment around the user with little—to—no optical distortion or computing overlay.

In one example embodiment, the head—mounted system 300 includes an "augmented" mode, wherein the interface 302 provides an ted reality interface. In the augmented mode, the interface display 303 may be substantially transparent, thereby allowing the user to view the local, physical environment. At the same time, l object data provided by the computing 2012/062500 k 105, the processor 308, and/or the gateway component 140 is ted on the display 303 in combination with the physical, local environment.

Figure 4 illustrates an example embodiment of objects viewed by a us r wh n th int rfac 302 is operating in an augmented mode. As shown in Figure 4, the interface 302 presents a physical objeCt 402 and a virtual object 404. In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 4, the physical objeCt 402 is a real, physical object existing in the local environment of the user, whereas the virtual object 404 is an object created by the system 100, and displayed via the user interface 302. In some embodiments, the virtual objeCt 404 may be displayed at a fixed position or location within the physical environment (e.g., a virtual monkey s:anding nex-t to a particular stree sign located in the al environmentV I or may be displayed to the user as an object located at a posi :ion rela:ive to the user interface/disp:_ay 303 (e .g., a virtual clock or thermometer visible in the upper, left comer of the display 303).

In some eribodiments, virtual objects may be made to be cued off of, or trigged by, an object physically t wi'thin or outside a user's field of view. Virtual object 404 is cued off, or triggered by, the physical object 402. For example, the physical object 402 may ly be a stool, and the virtual object 404 may be displayed to the user (and, in some embodiments, to other users interfacing the system l 00) as a virtual animal standing on the stool. ln s JCh an embodiment, the environment—sensing system 306 may use sof:ware and/or firmware stored, for example, in the processor 308 to recognize various es and/or shape pa':terns (captured by the sensors 312) to fy the physical object 402 as a stool. These recognized shape ns such as, for example, the stool top, may be used to trigger the placement of the virtual object 404. Other examples include walls, , furniture, cars, buildings, people, floors, plants, animals — any object which can be seen can be used to trigger an augmented reality experience in some relationship to the objeCt or objects.

In some embodiments, the particular virtual object 404 that is triggered may be seleCted by the user or automatically selected by Other components of the head—mounted system 300 or interface syStem 100. Additionally, in embodiments in which the virtual objeCt 404 is automatically triggered, the particular virtual objeCt 404 may be selected based upon the ular physical objeCt 402 (or feature thereof) off which the virtual objeCt 404 is cued or triggered. For example, if the physical objeCt is identified as a diving board extending over a pool, the triggered virtual objeCt may be a creature g a snorkel, bathing suit, floatation device, or other related items.

In anOther example ment, the head—mounted system 300 may include a "virtual" mode, n the interface 302 provides a virtual reality interface. In the virtual mode, the physical environment is omitted from the display 303, and virtual object data provided by the computing network 105, the processor 308, and/or the gateway ent 140 is presented on the y 303. The on of the physical environment may be accomplished by ally blocking the visual display 303 (e.g., via a cover) or through a e of the interface 302 wherein the display 303 transitions to an opaque setting. In the virtual mode, live and/or stored visial and audio sensory may be presented to the user through the interface 302, and the user experiences and interacts with a digital world (digital objects, other users, etc.) through the l mode of the interface WO 85639 302. Thus, the interface provided to the user in the l mode is comprised of virtual objeCt data comprising a l, digital world.

Figure 5 illustrates an example embodiment of a user ace when the headmounted interface 302 is operating in a virtual mode. As shown in Figure 5, the user interface presents a virtual world 500 sed of digital objects 510, wherein the digital objeCts 510 may include atmosphere, weather, terrain, ngs, and people. AlthOJgh it is not illustrated in Figure 5, digital objects may also include, for example, plants, vehicles, animals, creatures, machines, artificial intelligence, location information, and any other object or information defining the virtual world 500.

In another example embodiment, the head—mounted syStem 300 may include a "blended" mode, wherein various es of the head—mounted system 300 (as well as features of the virtial and augmented modes) may be combined to create one or more CJS:Om interface modes. In one example cuStom interface mode, the physical environment is omitted from the display 303, and virtual object data is presented on the display 303 in a manner r to the virtial mode. However, in this example custom interface mode, virtual objeCts may be fully virtual (i.e., they do not exiSt in the local, physical nment) or they may be real, local, physical objects rendered as a l object in the interface 302 in place of the physical objeCt. Thus, in this particular custom mode (referred to herein as a blended virtual interface mode), live and/or Stored visual and aidio sensory may be presented to the user through the interface 302, and the user experiences and interacts with a digital world sing fully virtual objeCts and rendered physical objects.

Figure 6 illustrates an example embodiment of a user interface operating in accordance with the blended virtual ace mode. As shown in Figure 6, the user interface presents a virtual world 600 comprised of fully l objects 610, and rendered physical s 620 (renderings of objects otherwise physically present in the scene). In accordance with the example illustrated in Figure 6, the rendered al objeCts 620 include a ng 620A, ground 6203, and a platform 620C, and are shown with a bolded oatline 630 to indicate to the user that the objects are rendered. Additionally, the fully virtual objects 610 include an additional user 610A, clouds 6103, sun 610C, and flames 610D on top ofthe p'atform 620C. "t shoald be appreciated that fully virtual objects 610 may include, for example, here, weather, terrain, buildings, , p'ants, vehicles, animals, creatures, machines, artificial intelligence, location information, and any other object or information defining the virtual world 600, and not rendered from objects existing in the local, physical environment. sely, the rendered al objects 620 are real, local, physical objects rendered as a virtual object in the interface 302. The bolded outline 630 represents one example for indicating rendered physical objects to a user. As such, the rendered al objects may be indicated as such using methods other than those disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, the rendered physical objects 620 may be detected using the sensors 312 of the environment—sensing system 306 (or using Other devices such as a motion or image capture system), and ted into digital objeCt data by software and/or firmware stored, for example, in the processing circuitry 308. Thus, as the user interfaces with the system 100 in the blended virtual ace mode, various physical objects 2012/062500 may be displayed to the user as rendered physical objeCts. This may be especially useful for allowing the user to interface with the system lOO, while still being able to safely navigate the local, physical environment. In some embodiments, the user may b abl to s l ctiv ly r mov or add the rendered physical objects to the interface display 303. ln anOther e custom int rfac mod , th int rfac display 303 may be substantially transparent, thereby allowing the user to view the local, physical environment, while various local, physical objects are displayed to the user as rendered physical object s. This example custom interface mode is similar to the ted mode, except that one or more of the virtual objects may be rendered physical objects as discussed above with respect to the previous e. rThe foregoing example custom int rfac mod s r pr s nt a few example embodiments of various custom interface modes capable of being provided by the blended mode of the head— mounted system 300. Accordingly, various Other custom interface modes may be created from the various combination of features and functionality provided by the components of the headmounted system 300 and the various modes sed above without ing from the scope of the present disclosure. rThe embodiments discuss d h r in m r ly d scribe a few es for providing an interface operating in an off, augmented, virtual, or blended mode, and are nOt intended to limit the scope or content of th r sp ctiv int rfac mod s or the functionality of the components of the head—mounted system 300. For example, in some ments, the virtJal objects may include data displayed to the user (time, ature, elevation, etc. ), objeCts created and/or seleCted by the system 100, objeCts created and/or selected by a user, or even objects representing o:her users interfacing the system 100.

Additionally, the virtual objects may include an extension of physical obje Cts (e.g., a virtual sculpture growing from a physica' p'at form) and may be ly connected to, or disconnected from, a physical object.

The vir':ual objects may also be dynamic and change with time, change in accordance with various relationships (e.g., location, ce, etc.) between the user or other users, al objects, and other virtual objects, and/or change in accordance wi':h other variables specified in the software and/or firmware of the head—mounted system 300, gateway component 140, or servers ll O. For example, in certain embodiments, a l objec may respond to a user device or component thereof (e.g., a virtual bal_l moves when a hap':ic device is placed next to it), physical or verbal user interaction (e.g., a virtial creature runs away when the user approaches iV! or speaks when the user speaks to it) I a chair is thrown at a virtual creature and the creature dodges the chair, other virtual objects (e.g., a first l creature reacts when it sees a second virtual creature), physical variabl_es such as on, distance, ature, time, etc. or other physical objects in the user's environment (e.g., a vir':ual creature shown standing in a al street becomes flat:ened when a physical car passes).

The various modes discussed herein may be applied to user devices other than the head—mounted system 300. For e, an augmented reality in :erface may be provided via a mobile phone or tablet device. In such an embodiment, the phone or tablet may use a camera to capt are the physical nment around the user, and vir':ual objects may be overlaid on the phone/tablet display screen. Addi:ionally, the virtual mode may be provided by displaying the digital world on the display screen of the phone/tablet. ingly, these modes may be d as to create various custom interface modes as described above using the components of the tablet discussed herein, as well as other components connected to, or used in combination with, the user . For xampl , th bl nd d virtual interface mode may be provided by a computer monitor, television screen, or Other device g a camera operating in combination with a motion or image e system. In this example embodiment, the virtual world may be viewed from the monitor/screen and the object detection and rendering may be performed by the mOtion or image capture system.

Figure 7 rates an example embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein two users located in different geographical locations each interact with the other user and a common virtual world through th ir r sp ctiv us r d vic s. In this embodiment, the two users 701 and 702 are throwing a virtual ball 703 (a type of virtual objeCt) back and forth, wherein each user is capable of observing the impaCt of the other user on the virtual world (e.g., each user observes the virtual ball changing directions, being caught by the other user, etc.). Since the movement and location of the virtual objects (i.e., the virtual ball 703) are tracked by the servers 110 in the ing network 105, the system 100 may, in some embodiments, communicate to the users 701 and 702 the exact location and timing of the arrival of the ball 703 with respect to each user.

For example, if the first user 701 is located in London, the user 701 may throw the ball 703 to the second user 702 located in Los Angeles a : a velocity calculated by the system 100.

Accordingly, the system 100 may communicate to the second user 702 (e.g., via email, text message, t message, etc.) the exact time and location of the ball's arrival. As such, the second user 702 may use his device to see the ball 703 arrive at the specified time and located. One or more users may also use geo—location mapping software (or r) to track one or more virtual objects as they travel virtual'y across the globe. An example of this may be a user wearing a 3D head—mounted display looking up in the sky and seeing a virtual plane flying overhead, siperimposed on the real world. The virtual plane may be flown by the user, by intelligent software agents (software running on the user device or gateway), other users who may be local and/or remote, and/or any of these combinations.

As previously mentioned, the user device may include a haptic int rfac d vic wh r in , the haptic ace device es a feedback (e.g., resistance, vibration, , sound, etc.) to the user when the haptic device is determined by the system 100 to be located at a al, spatial location relative to a virtual objeCt. For example, the embodiment described above with respec : to Figure 7 may be expanded to include the use of a haptic device 802, as shown in Figure 8.

In this e embodiment, the haptic device 802 may be displayed in the virtual world as a baseball bat. When the ball 703 arrives, the user 702 may swing the haptic device 802 at the virtual ball 703. If the system 100 determines that the virtual bat provided by the haptic device 802 made "contact" with the ball 703, then the haptic device 802 may vibrate or provide other feedback to the user 702, and the l ball 703 may ricochet off the virtual bat in a direCtion calculated by the system 100 in accordance wi':h the detected speed, ion, and timing of the ball—to—ba': contact.

The disclosed sys :em 100 may, in some embodiments, facilitate mixed mode interfacing, wherein multiple users may interface a common vir :ual world (and virtual objects contained therein) using different ace modes (e.g., ted, virtual, blended, etc.). For example, a first user interfacing a particular virtual world in a virtual interface mode may interact with a second user interfacing the same virtual world in an augmented y mode.

Figure 9A illustrates an example wherein a firSt user 90l (interfacing a l world of the syStem 100 in a blended virtual interface mode) and firSt objeCt 902 appear as l objects to a second user 922 interfacing the same digital world of the syStem 100 in a fill virtia' rea'ity mode. As described above, when acing the digita' wor'd via the blended virtual interface mode, local, physical objects (e.g., first user 901 and first objeCt 902) may be scanned and rendered as l objects in the virtual world. The first user 901 may be scanned, for example, by a motion capture system or similar device, and rendered in the virtual world (by software/firmware stored in the motion capture system, the gateway ent 140, the user device 120, syStem servers 110, or other devices) as a first rendered physical object 931. Similarly, the first object 902 may be scanned, for example, by the environment—sensing syStem 306 of a head—mounted interface 300, and rendered in the virtual world (by software/firmware stored in the processor 308, the gateway component 140, system servers l10, or other devices) as a second rendered physical object 932. The first user 901 and first object 902 are shown in a first n 910 of Figure 9A as physical objects in the physical world. In a second portion 920 of Figure 9A, the first user 901 and firSt object 902 are shown as they appear to the second user 922 interfacing the same digital world of the syStem 100 in a full virtual reality mode: as the first rendered physical object 93l and second rendered physical object 932. 2012/062500 Figure 93 illustrates another example embodiment of mixed mode interfacing, wherein the first user 901 is interfacing the digital world in a d virtual interface mode, as discussed above, and the second user 922 is interfacing the same digital world (and the second user's physical, local environment 925) in an augmented reality mode. In the embodiment in Figure 93, the first user 901 and first object 902 are located at a first physical location 915, and the second user 922 is located at a different, second physical location 925 separated by some distance from the first location 915. "n this embodiment, the virtual objects 931 and 932 may be transposed in realtime (or near real—time) to a location wi'thin the virtual world corresponding to the second lo ca':ion 925. Thus, the second user 922 may observe and interact, in the second user's physical, local environment 925, with the rendered physical objeCts 931 and 932 representing the first user 901 and first ObjeC" 902, respectively.

Figure 10 illustrates an example illustration of a user's view when interfacing the system 100 in an augmented y mode. As shown in Figure 10, the user sees the local, physical ervironment (i.e., a city having multiple biildings) as well as a virtual character 10 0 (i.e ' I virtual ). The position of tte l character 010 may be triggered by a 2D visual target (for example, a ard, postcard or magazine) and/or ore or more 3D reference frames such as buildings, cars, , arimals, airplanes, portions of a building, and/or any 3D ptysical object, virtual objeCt, and/or combinations thereof. In tte e illustrated in Figire 10, the known position of the buildings in the city may provide the registration fiducials ard/or information and key fea :ures for ing the virtual ctaracter 1010. Additionally, the user's geospatial location (e.g., provided by GPS, attitude/position sensors, etc.) or mobi1e 1ocation re1ative to the buildings, may comprise data used by the computing networ< 105 to trigger the transmission of data used to y the virtua1 character(s) 10 0. "n some embodiments, the data used to display the virtua' character 1010 may comprise the rendered character 1010 and/or instructions (to be carried out by the gateway component 140 and/or user device 120) for ing the virtual character 010 or portions thereof. In some embodiments, if the geospatial location of the user is unavailable or n, a server 0, gateway ent l40, and/or user device 120 may still display the virtual object l010 using an tion algorithm that estimates where particular virtual objeCts and/or physical objects may be located, using the user's last known position as a function of time and/or other parameters. This may a:_so be used to determine the position of any virtial objects shoul_d the user's sensors become occluded and/or experience other rialfunctions.

In some ments, virtual characters or virtual objects may comprise a virtual statue, wherein the rendering of the l statue is red by a physical object. For example, referring now to Figure 11, a l statue 10 may be triggered by real, physical platform 1l20. _‘The a triggering of the statue l110 may be in response to a visual object or feature (e.g., fiducials, design features, geometry, patterns, physical location, altitude, etc.) detected by the user device or other components of the system 100. When the user views the platform 70 without ch us r d vic r , th us s s th platform l120 with no statue 1110. lowever, when the user views the platform 70 through th us r d vic s eh statue 1 , th us r s 0 on the platform 1120 as shown in Figure 11. The statue 1110 is a virtual objeCt and, therefore, may be stationary, animated, change over time or with respect to the user's viewing position, or even change depending upon which particular user is viewing the statue 1110. For example, if the user is a small child, the statue may be a dog; yet, if the viewer is an adult male, the sea cue may be a large robot as shown in Figure ll. These are examples of user dependent and/or stat d p nd nt xp ri nc s.

This will enable one or more users to perceive one or more virtual objects alone and/or in combination with physical objects and experience ized and personalized versions of the virtual objects. The statue 10 (or portions thereof) may be ed by various ents of the system including, for example, software/firmware ed on the Jser device. Using data indicating the location and attitude of the user device, in combination with the registration features of the virtual object (i.e., statue lllO), the virtual object (i.e., statue l 0) forms a onship with the physical object (i.e., platform 1120). For example, the relationship n one or more virtual objects with one or more physical objeCts may be a on of distance, positioning, time, geo— location, proximity to one or more otter virtual objects, and/or any Other functional relatior ship that includes virtual and/or physical data of any kind. Ir some embodiments, image recognition software in the user device may further enhance the l—to—physical object relatiorship.

The interactive interface provided by the disclosed system and met? od may be implemented to facilitate various aCtivities such as, for example, cting with one or more virtual environments and objects, interacting with other users, as well as experiencing various forms of media content, including advertisements, music concerts, and movies. Accordingly, the disclosed system facilitates user interaction such that the user not only views or listens to the media content, but rather, aCtively participates in and ences the media content. In some embodiments, the user participation may include altering existing content or creating new content to be rendered in one or more virtial worlds. "n some embodiments, the media content, and/or users creating the content, may be themed around a mythopoeia of one or more virtual worlds.

In one example, musicians (or other users) may create musical content to be rendered to users interacting with a Jlar ' wor'd. The musical content may include, for example, variOJs singles, EPs, albums, videos, short films, and concert performances. In one e, a large number of users may interface the system 100 to simultaneously experience a virtual concert performed by the musicians.

In some ments, the media produced may n a unique identifier code associated with a particular entity (e.g., a band, , user, etc.). The code may be in the form of a set of alphanumeric characters, UPC codes, QR codes, 2D image rs, 3D physical object feature triggers, or other digital mark, as well as a sound, image, and/or both. In some embodiments, the code may also be embedded with digital media which may be interfaced using the sys :em 100. A user may obtain the code (e.g., via payment of a fee) and redeem the code to access the media content produced by the entity associated with the identifier code. The media conten : may be added or removed from the user's interface.

In one embodiment, to avoid the computation and bandwidth limitations of passing reaitime or near reaitime video data from one computing system to another with low latency, such as from a cloud computing system to a local processor coupled to a Jser, tric information regarding various shapes and geometries may be transferred and utilized to define surfaces, while textures maybe transferred and added to these surfaces to bring about Static or dynamic detail, such as bitmap—based video detail of a person’s face mapped upon a parametrically reproduced face geometry. As another example, if a system is ured to recognize a person’s face, and knows that the person’s avatar is located in an augmented world, the system may be configured to pass the pertinent world information and the person’s avatar information in one vely large setup transfer, after which remaining transfers to a local ing system, such as that 308 depicted in Figure 1, for 'ocai rendering may be limited to parameter and e updates, such as to motion parameters of the person’s skeletal struCture and moving bitmaps of the person’s face — all at orders of magnitude less bandwidth relative to the l setup transfer or passing of realtime video. Cloud—based and 'oca' ing assets thus may be Jsed in an integrated fashion, with the cloud handling computation that does not require re'atively low latency, and the local processing assets ng tasks wherein low latency is at a premium, and in SJCh case, the form of data transferred to the local s preferably is passed at relatively low bandwidth due to the form an amount of such data (i.e., parametric info, textures, etc versus realtime video of everything).

Qeferring ahead to Figure l5, a schematic illustrates coordination between cloud computing assets (46) and local processing assets (308, 120). In one embodiment, the cloud (46) assets are operatively coupled, such as via wired or wireless networking (wireless being preferred for ty, wired being preferred for certain high—bandwidth or high—data—volume transfers that may be desired), directly to (40, 42) one or both of the local computing assets (120, 308), such as processor and memory configurations which may be housed in a structure configured to be coupled to a user’s head (120) or belt (308).

These computing assets local to the user may be operatively d to each other as well, via wired and/or wireless connectivity configurations (44). In one ment, to maintain a "ow—inertia and small—size head moanted subsystem (l20), primary transfer between the user and the cloud (46) may be via the link between the belt—based subsystem (308) and the cloud, with the head mounted subsystem (120) primarily data— tethered to the belt—based subsystem (308) using wireless conneCtivity, such as ultra—wideband ("UWB") connectivity, as is currently ed, for example, in personal computing peripheral connectivity applications.

With efficient local and remote sing coordination, and an appropriate display device for a user, such as the user ace 302 or user "display device" featured in Figure 3, the display device 14 described below in reference to Figure 14, or variations thereof, aspects of one world pertinent to a user’s current actual or virtual location may be transferred or "passed" to the user and updated in an efficient fashion.

Indeed, in one embodiment, with one person utilizing a virtual reality system ("VRS") in an ted reality mode and another person utilizing a VRS in a tely virtual mode to explore the same world local to the first person, the two users may experience one another in that world in various ns. For example, referring to Figure 12, a scenario similar to that described in reference to Figure ll is depicted, with the addition of a ization of an avatar 2 of a second user who is flying through the depicted augmented reality world from a comp'etely virtual reality scenario. In other words, the scene ed in Figure 12 may be experienced and yed in augmented reality for the first person — with two augmented reality elements (the sta :ue lllO and the flying bumble bee avatar 2 of the second person) displayed in addition to actual physical elements around the local world in the scene, such as the grOJnd, the buildings in the background, the statue platform 1120. Dynamic updating may be utilized to allow the first person to ize progress of the second person’s avatar 2 as the avatar 2 flies through the wor:_d local to the first person.

Again, with a config iration as described above, wherein there is one world model that can reside on cloud computing resources and be distributed from there, such world can be "passable" to one or more users in a relative'y low bandwidth form preferable to trying to pass around me video data or the like. The ted experience of the person standing near the statue (i.e., as shown in Figure 12) may be informed by the cloud—based world model, a subset of which may be passed down to them and their 'oca' display device to complete the view. A person sitting at a remote display device, which may be as simple as a personal computer sitting on a desk, can efficiently download that same section of information from the cloud and have it rendered on their display. Indeed, one person actually t in the park near the statue riay take a remotely—located friend for a walk in that par<, with the friend joining through virtual and augmented reality. The system will need to know where the Street is, wherein the trees are, where the statue is — but with that information on the cloud, the joining friend can download from the cloud aspects of the scenario, and then start walking along as an augmented y local re'ative to the person who is actually in the park.

WO 85639 Referring to Figure 13, a time and/or other gency parameter based embodiment is depicted, wherein a person is engaged with a virtual and/or augmented reality interface, such as the user interface 302 or user display device featured in Figure 3, the display device 14 described below in reference to Figure 14, or variations thereof, is utilizing the system (4) and enters a coffee establishment to order a cup of coffee (6).

The VRS may be configured to utilize sensing and data gathering capabilities, locally and/or remotely, to provide display enhancements in augmented and/or virtual reality for the person, such as highlighted locations of doors in the coffee establishment or bubble s of the pertinent coffee menu (8). When the person es the cup of coffee that he has ordered, or upon deteCtion by the system of some other pertinent parameter, the system may be configured to display (10) one or more time—based augmented or l reality images, video, and/or sound in the local environment with the display device, such as a Madagascar jingle scene from the walls and ceilings, with or t jungle sounds and other effects, either static or dynamic. Such presentation to the user may be discontinued based upon a timing parameter (i.e., 5 minutes after the full coffee cup has been recognized and handed to the user; 10 minutes after the system has recognized the user walking through the front door of the establishment, etc) or other parameter, such as a recognition by the system that the user has finished the coffee by noting the upside down orientation of the coffee cup as the user s the laSt sip of coffee from the cup — or recognition by the system that the user has left the front door of the establishment (12).

Referring to Figure 14, one embodiment of a le user display device (14) is shown, comprising a display lens (82) which may be mounted to a user’s head or eyes by a housing or frame (84). The display lens (82) may comprise one or more transparent mirrors positioned by the housing (84) in front of the user’s eyes (20) and ured to bounce projected light (38) into the eyes (20) and facilitate beam shaping, while also allowing for transmission of at leaSt some light from the local environment in an ted reality configuration (in a virtual reality configuration, it may be desirable for the display syStem 14 to be capable of blocking substantially all light from the local environment, SJCh as by a darkened visor, blocking n, all black LCD panel mode, or the like). In the ed embodiment \ two wide—field—of—view machine vision s (16) are coapled to the housing (84) to image the environment around the user; in one embodiment these cameras (16) are dual capture visible light / infrared light cameras.

The depicted embodiment also comprises a pair of scanned—laser shaped—wavefront (i.e., for depth) light projeCtor modules with display mirrors and optics configured to projeCt light (38) into the eyes (20) as shown. The depicted embodiment also comprises two miniature infrared cameras (74) paired with infrared light sources (26, such as light ng diodes "LED"s), which are configured to be able to track the eyes (20) of the user to support rendering and user input. The system (14) further features a sensor assembly (39), which may comprise X, Y, and Z axis accelerometer capability as well as a magnetic compass and X, Y, and Z axis gyro lity, preferably providing data at a relatively high frequency, such as 200 Hz. The ed system (14) also comprises a head pose processor (36), such as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), FPGA (field programmable gate array), and/or ARM processor (advanced reduced—instruCtion—set machine), which may be configured to 2012/062500 calculate real Or near—real time user head pose from wide field of view image information output from the capture devices (16).

Also shown is another sor (32) configured to execute digital and/or analog processing to derive pose from the gyro, compass , and/or accelerometer data from the sensor assemblY (39). The depicted embodiment also features a GPS (37, global positioning satellite) subsyStem to assist with pose and positioning. Finally, the depicted embodiment comprises a rendering engine (34) which may feature hardware running a software program ured to provide rendering information local to the user to facilitate operation of the scanners and g into the eyes of the user, for the user’s view of the world. The rendering engine (34) is operatively coupled (81, 70, 76/78, 80; i.e. I via wired or wireless connectivity) to the sensor pose processor (32), the image pose sor (36), the eye tracking cameras (24), and the projecting subsystem (18) such that light of rendered augmented and/or virtual y objeCts is projected using a d laser arrangement ("8) in a manner similar to a retinal scanning display. The wavefront of the projected light beam (38) may be bent or focused to coincide with a desired focal distance of the augmented and/or virtual reality object. The mini infrared cameras (24) may be utilized to track the eyes to support rendering and iser input (i.e., where the user is looking, what depth he is focusing; as sed below, eye verge may be utilized to estimate depth of focus). The GPS (37), gyros, compass, and accelerometers (39) may be utilized to provide course and/or fast pose tes.

The camera (16) images and pose, in conjunction with data from an associated cloud computing resource, may be uti:_ized to map the local world and share user views with a l or augmented reality community. While much of the hardware in the display WO 85639 syStem (l4) featured in Figure 14 is depicted directly coupled to the housing (84) which is adjacent the display (82) and eyes (20) of the user, the hardware components depicted may be mounted to or housed within other components, such as a belt— mounted component, as shown, for e, in Figure 3. In one ment, all of the components of the system (14) featured in Figure l4 are direCtly coupled to the display housing (84) except for the image pose processor (36), sensor pose processor (32), and ing engine (34), and communication between the latter three and the remaining ents of the system (14) may be by ss communication, such as ultra wideband, or wired communication. The depicted housing (84) preferably is head— mounted and wearable by the user. It may also feature speakers, such as those which may be inserted into the ears of a user and utilized to provide sound to the user which may be ent to an augmented or virtual reality experience such as the jungle sounds referred to in reference to Figure 13, and microphones, which may be ed to captire sounds local to the user.

Regarding the projection of light (38) into the eyes (20) of the user, in one embodiment the mini cameras (24) may be utilized to m asur wh r th c nt rs of a user’s eyes (20) are geometrically verged to, which, in general, coincides with a position of focus, or "depth of focus", of the eyes (20). A 3— dimensional surface of all points the eyes verge to is called the "horopter". The focal distance may take on a finite number of depths, or may be infinitely varying. Light projeCted from the vergence distance appears to be focused to the t eye (20), while light in front of or behind the vergence distance is blurred. Further, it has been discovered that spatially coherent light with a beam diameter of less than about 0.7 millimeters is correctly resolved by the human eye regardless of 2012/062500 where the eye focuses; given this understanding, to create an illusion of proper focal depth, the eye vergence may be tracked with the mini cameras (24), and the rendering engine (34) and projection subsystem (18) may be utilized to render all objeCts on or close t0 the horopter in focus, and all other objects at varying degrees of defOCJS (i.e., using intentionally—created blurring). A see—through light guide optical element configured to project coherent light into the eye may be provided by suppliers such as Lumis, lnc. Preferably the system (14) renders to the user at a frame rate of about 60 frames per second or greater. As described above, preferably the mini cameras (24) may be utilized for eye tracking, and software may be configured to pick up not only ce geometry but al SO focus location caes to serve as user inputs. Preferably such system is con d with brightness and constrast sui table for day or night use . In one embodiment such syStem preferably has latency of le ss than about 20 milliseconds for visual object ent, le ss than about 0.1 degree of angular alignment, and about 1 arc minute of resolution, which is approximately the limit of the human eye. The display system (l4) may be ated with a localization system, which may involve the GPS element, opti cal tracking, compass, accelerometer, and/or other data sources, to assist with position and pose determination; localization ation may be utilized to facilitate accurate rendering in the user’s view of the pertinent world (i.e., such information would facilitate the glasses to know where they are with respect to the real world).

Other suitable display device include but are not d to desktop and mobile computers, smartphones, smartphones which may be enhanced additional with software and hardware features to facilitate or te 3—D perspective viewing (for example, WO 85639 in one embodiment a frame may be bly coupled to a smartphone, the frame featuring a 200 Hz gyro and accelerometer sensor subset, two small machine vision cameras with wide field of view lenses, and an ARM processor — to simulate some of the functionality of the configuration featured in Figure 14), tablet computers, tablet computers which may be enhanced as described above for smartphones, cable, computers enhanced with onal processing and sensing hardware, head—mounted systems that use smartphones and/or tablets to display augmented and virtial viewpoints (visual accommodation via ying optics, mirrors, contact , or light structuring elements), non— see—through displays of ligh': ng elements (LCDs, OLEDs, vertical—cavity—surface—emi,cing lasers, steered laser beams, etc), see—through displays that simultaneously allow humans to see the natural world and artificially generated images (for example, light—giide optical ts, transparent and polarized OLEDs shining into close—focas contaCt lenses, steered laser beams, etc), contact lenses with emitting elements (such as those available from lnnovega, Inc, of 3ellevue, WA, under the tradename loptik QTM; they may be combined with specialized complimentary eyeglasses components), implantable devices with light—emitting elements, and implantable devices that ate the optical receptors of the himan brain.

With a system such as tha : depicted in Figures 3 and 14, 3— D points may be captured from the environmen :, and the pose (i.e., veCtor and/or origin position informa':ion relative to the world) of the s that cap':ure those images or points may be determined, so that these poin :s or images may be "tagged", or associated, with this pose information. Then points captured by a second camera riay be utilized to determine the pose of the second camera. In other words, one can orient and/or localize a 2012/062500 second camera based upon comparisons with tagged images from a first camera. Then this knowledge may be u':ilized to extract textires, make maps, and create a virtual copy of the real world (b caus th n th r ar two cameras around that are registered).

So a' the base level, in one embodiment you have a person—worn system that can be uti _ized to capture bOth 3—D points and the 2—D images that produced the points, and these points and images may be sen ou to a c _oud s:orage and processing resource.

They may also be cached locally with embedded pose informa':ion (i.e., cache the tagged ); so the c:_oud may have on the ready (i.e., in available cache) tagged 2—D images (i.e., tagged with a 3—D pose), along with 3—D points. If a user is observing something dynamic, he may also send additional information up to the cloud pertinent to the motion (for exarIple, if looking a another ’s face, the user can take a texture map of the face and push that up a.: an zed frequency even though the surrounding world is otherwise lly static). rThe cloud system may be configured to save some points as fiducials for pose on: y, to reduce overall pose tracking calculation. General: yi' may be ble to have some outline features to be able to track major items in a user’s environment, such as walls, a table, etc, as the user moves around the room, and 'he user may want to be able to "share" the world and have some 0 her user walk in to that room and also see those points. Such useful and key poin :s may be termed "fiducials II because they are fair:_y useful as anchoring points — they are related to features that may be recognized wi':h machine vision, and that can be eX':racted from the world consistently and repeatedly on differen': pieces of user hardware. rThus these fiducials preferably may be saved to the cloud for further use.

In one embodiment it is preferable to have a relatively even distribution of fiducials throughout the pertinent world, b caus th y ar th In one embodiment, the pertinent cloud ing configuration may be configured to groom the database of 3—D points and any associated meta data periodically to use the best data from variOJs users for bOth fiducial refinement and world creation. In Other words, the system may be configured to get the best dataset by using inputs from various users looking and oning within the pertinent world. In one embodiment the se is intrinsically fraCtal — as users move closer to objects, the cloud passes higher resolution information to such users. As a user maps an object more closely, that data is sent to the cloud, and the cloud can add new 3—D points and image— based texture maps to the database if they are better than what has been previously stored in the se. All of this may be configured to happen from many users simultaneously.

As described above, an augmented or virtual reality experience may be based upon recognizing certain types of objects. For example, it may be important to understand that a ular object has a depth in order to recognize and understand such object. izer software objects ("recognizers") may be deployed on cloud or local resources to specifically assist with recognition of various objects on either or both platforms as a user is ting data in a world. For example, if a system has data for a world model comprising 3—D point clouds and pose—tagged images, and there is a desk with a bunch of points on it as well as an image of the desk, there may not be a determination that what is being observed is, indeed, a desk as humans would know it. In other words, some 3—D points in space and an image from someplace off in space that shows mos t of the desk may not be enough to instantly recognize tha t a desk is being observed. To assist with this identification, a specific objeC' recognizer may be created S will go into the raw 3—D point cloud, segmen ou set of , and, for exampl e, extraCt the plane of the top surface of the desk. Similar:—Yr a recognizer rmay be crea ,ed to segment out a wall from 3—D points, so tha t a user could change wallpaper or remove part of the wall in l or augmented reality and have a portal to anOther room that is not actially there in the real world. Such recognizers operate within the data of a world model and may be thought of as software "robots" that crawl a wor:_d model and imbue that world model with semantic information, or an ontology about what is believed to eXiSt amongst the points in space. Such recognizers or software robOts may be configured SJCh that th ir ntir xist nc is about going around the pertinent world of data and finding things that it believes are walls, or chairs, or other items.

They may be configured to tag a set of points with the functional eguiva:_ent of, "this se t of points belongs to a wall", and may se a combination of point—based algorithm and agged image analysis for mutually informing the system regarding what is in the points.

Object recognizers may be created for many es of varied utility, depending upon the perspective. For example, in one embodiment, a purveyor of coffee such as Starbucks may invest in creating an te recognizer of Starbucks coffee cups within pertinent worlds of data. Such a recognizer may be configured to crawl worlds of data large and small searching for Starbucks coffee cups, so they may be segmented out and identified to a user when ing in the pertinent nearby space (i.e., perhaps to offer the user a coffee in the cks oatlet right around the corner when the user looks at his Starbucks cup for a certain period of time). With the cup segmented out, it may be recognized quickly when the user moves it on his desk. Such recognizers may be configured to run or operate nOt only on cloud computing resources and data, bjt also on local resources and data, or both cloud and local, depending upon computational resources avai'able. "n one embodiment, there is a global copy of the world mode l on the c:_oud with millions of users contributing to that global model , but for smaller worlds or sub—worlds like an office of a particular individual in a particular town, most of the global world will not care what that office looks like, so the syster1 may be configured to groom data and move to local cache ation that is believed to be most 'oca'ly pertinent to a given user.

In one embodiment, for example, when a Jser walks up to a desk, related information (such as the segmentation of a particular cup on his table) may be configured to reside only upon his local ing resources and not on the cloud, because objects that are identified as ones that move often, such as cups on tables, need not burden the cloud model and transmission burden between the cloud and local resources. Thus the cloud computing resource may be configured to segment 3—D points and , thus faCtoring permanent (i.e., generally not moving) objects from movable ones, and this may affect where the associated data is to remain, where it is to be processe d, remove processing burden from the wearable/local system fo r n data that is ent to more permanent objects, allow one—time processing of a location which then may be shared with ess Other users, allow multiple sources of data to simultaneously build a databased of fixed and movable objects in a ular physical location, and segment objects from the background to create object—specific fiducials and e maps.

In one embodiment, the syStem may be configured to query a user for input about the identity of certain objects (for example, the syStem may present the user with a question such as, "is that a Starbucks coffee cup?"), so that the user may train the system and allow the system to associate semantic information with objects in the real world. An ontology may provide guidance regarding what objects segmented from the world can do, how they behave, etc. In one embodiment the system may feature a virtual or actual keypad, such as a wirelessly connected keypad, connectivity to a keypad of a smartphone, or the like, to facilitate certain user input to the .

The system may be configured to share basic elements (walls, windows, desk geometry, etc) with any user who walks into the room in virtual or augmented reality, and in one embodiment that ’s system will be configured to take images from his particu'ar ctive and Jpload those to the cloud. Then the cloud becomes popilated with old and new sets of data and can run optimization routines and establish fiducials that exist on individual objects.

GPS and other localization information may be utilized as inputs to such processing. Further, other computing systems and data, SJCh as one’s online calendar or Face300k account information, may be ed as inputs (for e, in one embodiment, a cloud and/or local syStem may be configured to analyze the content of a user’s calendar for airline tickets, dates, and ations, so that over time, information may be moved from the cload to the user’s local systems to be ready for the user’s arrival time in a given destination).

WO 85639 In one embodiment, tags such as QR codes and the like may be inserted into a world for use with non—statistical pose ation, security/access control, communication of special information, l messaging, non—statistical objeCt recognition, etc.

In one embodiment, cloud resources may be configired to pass digital models of real and virtual worlds between users, as described above in nce to "passable worlds", with the models being rendered by the individual users based upon parameters and textures. This reduces bandwidth relative to the passage of realtime video, a" ows rendering of virtual viewpoints of a scene, and a" ows millions or more users :o participate in one vir :ual gathering wi':hout sending each of them data that they need to see (such as video), because their views are rendered by their local compu':ing resources.

The virtual reality system (\‘V'Qs II) may be configured to register the user loca:ion and field of view (together known as the "pose") through one or more of the following: realtime metric computer vision using the cameras, simultaneous localization and mapping techniques, maps, and data from s such as gyros, accelerometers, compass, barometer, GPS, radio signal strength triangulation, signal time of flight analysis, LlDAR ranging, RADAQ ranging, odometry, and sonar ranging. The wearable device syStem may be configured to simultaneously map and . For example, in unknown environments, the VRS may be configured to t informa':ion abou': the environment, ascertaining fiducia' points suitable for user pose calculations, other points for world ng, images for ing e maps of the world. Fiducial points may be used to optically calculate pose. As the wor:_d is mapped with greater detail, more objeC':s may be segmented out and given their own texture maps, but the world still preferab'y is representable a low spatia' resolution in simple po'ygons with low cion cexLure maps. Other sensors, such as those sed above, may be utilized to t this modeling effort. The world may be intrinsically fraCtal i n that moving or otherwise seeking a better view (through viewpoints, "supervision" modes, zooming, etc) reguest high—resolution information from the cloud resources. Moving closer to s captures higher ':ion data, and this may be sent to the cloud, which may calculate and/or insert the new data at interstitial si tes in the world model.

Referring to Figure "6, a wearable system may be configured to capture image information and extraCt fiducials and recognized poin :s (52) . The wearable local system may calculate pose using one of the pose calculation techniques mentioned below. The clo Jd (54) may be configured to use images and fiducials to segment 3—D objects from more static 3—D background; images provide textures maps for objects and the world (textures may be realtime videos). The cloud resources (56) may be configured so score and make availab:_e static fiducials and textures for world ration. The cloud resources may be configired to groom the point c:_oud for optimal point density for registration. The cloud ces (60) may store and make available object fiducials and es for object registration and manipulation; the cloud may groom point clouds for optimal density for registration. The could resource may be configired (62) to use all valid points and textures to generate fraCtal solid models of objects; the cloud may groom point cloud information for optimal fidJcial density. The clould resource (64) may be configured to query users for training on identity of segmented objeCts and the world; an ontology database may use the answers to imbue objects and the world with actionable properties.

The ing ic modes of registration and g feature the terms "O—pose", which represents pose determined from the optical or camera system; "s—pose", which represents pose determined from the sensors (i.e., such as a combination of GPS, gyro, compass, rometer, etc data, as discassed above); and "MLC", which represents the cloud ing and data management resource. l. Orient: make a basic map of a new environment Purpose: establish pose if environment is not mapped or (the equivalent) if nOt connected to the MLC. 0 ExtraCt points from image, track from frame to frame, triangilate fiducials using S—pose. 0 Jses S—pos b caus th r ar no fiducials 0 Filter out bad als based on persistence. 0 This is the most basic mode: it will always work for low—precision pose. With a little time and some relative motion it will establish a minimum fiducial set for O—pose and/or mapping. 0 Jump out of this mode as soon as O—pose is reliable. 2. Map and O—Pose: map an environment Purpose: establish high—precision pose, map the environment, and provide the map (with images) to the MLC. 0 Calculate O—pose from mature world fiducials. Use S— pose as check of O—pose solution and to speed computation (O—pose is a non—linear gradient search). 0 Mature fiducials may come from MLC, or be those locally determined.

EXtract points from image, track from frame to frame, 'triangula':e fiducials using .

Filter ou': bad als based on persistence.

Provide M 1C with fiducials and pose—tagged images.

Last three steps need not happen real—time. 3. 0— Pose: determine pose Purpose: establish high—precision pose in an already mapped environment using minimum processing power.

Jse historic S— and O—pose (n—1, n—2, n—3, etc.) to estimate pose at n.

Jse pose at n to project fiducials into image ed at n, then create image mask from the tion.

Extract points from the masked regions (processing burden greatly reduced by only searching/extracting points from the masked subsets of image).

Calculate O—pose from extraCted points and mature world fiducials.

Use 8— and O—pose at n to eStimate pose at n+1. : provide pose—tagged images/video to MLC cloud. 4. Sup r R s: d t rmin sup r r solution imagery and fiducials Purpose: create super—resolution imagery and fiducials.

Composite pose—tagged images to create super— resolution images.

Use super—resolution images to enhance fiducial position estimation. e O—pose estimates from super reso:_ution fiducials and y.

Option Loop the above steps on a wearab:_e device (in real t ime) or the MQC (for better world).

In one embodiment, the VLS system may be configured to have certain base functionality, as well as functionali :y facilitated by "apps" or applications that may be distribu ,ed through the VLS to provide certain lized functionalities. For example, the fol lowing apps may be installed to the subjeCt VLS to e specialized functionality: Painterly renderings app. Artis:s create image transforms that represent the world they see it. Users enable these transforms, thus viewing the world Wthrough" the ar :ists eyes.

Table top modeling app. Users "build" s from physical objects put on a table.

Virtual presence app. Users pass virtual model of space to other user, who then moves aro and space using virtual avatar.

Avatar n app. Measurements of subtle voice inflection, minor head movement, body temperature, heart rate, etc. animate subtle effects on virtual—presence avatars.

Digitizing hjmar sLa te informa tion and passing that to remOte avatar uses less bandwidth then video. Additionally, such data is map—able to r on—h iman avatars capable of emOtion Ex. A dog avatar can show exci :ement by wagging its tail based on excited vocal infleCtior S.

An efficier t mesh type network may be desirable for moving data, as opposed to sending everything back to a . Many mesh networks, r owever, have suboptimal performance because positional information and topology is not well characterized.

In one embodimer tr the system may be utilized to determine the location of all users with relatively high precision, and thus a mesh network configuration may be utilized for high performance.

In one embodiment the system may be utilized for searching.

With augmented y, for e, users will generate and leave content d to many aspects of the al world.

Much of this content is not text, and thus is not easily searched by typical methods. The system may be configured to provide a facility for keeping track of personal and social network content for searching and reference purposes.

In one ment, if the display device tracks 2—D points through successive frames, then fits a —valued function to the time evolution of those points, it is possible to sample the veCtor valued funCtion at any point in time (e.g. between frames) or at some point in the near future (by projecting the —valued on forward in time. This allows creation of high—resolution post—processing, and prediction of future pose before the next image is actual ed (e.g., doubling the registration speed is possible t doubling the camera frame rate).

For body—fixed rendering (as opposed to head—fixed or world—fixed renderings) an accurate view of body is desired.

Rather than measuring the body, in one embodiment is possible to derive its location through the average position of a users head. If the user’s face points forward most of the time, a multi—day average of head position will reveal that direction.

In conjunction with the gravity veCtor, this provides a reasonably stable coordinate frame for body—fixed rendering.

Using current measures of head position with respect to this long—duration coordinate frame allows consistent rendering of objects on/around a users body — with no extra instrumentation.

For implementation of this embodiment, single register averages of head direction—vector may be started, and a running sum of data divided by delta—t will give t average head position.

Keeping five or so registers, started on day n—5, day n—4, day n—3, day n—2, day n—l allows use of rolling averages of only the past "n II days.

In one embodiment, a scene may be scaled down and presented to a user in a smaller—than—actual space. For example, in a situation wherein there is a scene that must be rendered in a huge space (i.e., such as a soccer stadium), there may be no equivalent huge space present, or such a large space may be enient to a user. In one embodiment the system may be ured to reduce the scale of the scene, so that the user may watch it in miniature. For example, one could have a gods— eye—view video game, or a world championship soccer game, play out in an unscaled field — or scaled down and presented on a living room floor. The system may be configured to simply shift the rendering perspective, scale, and ated accommodation distance.

The system may also be configured to draw a user’s attention to specific items within a presented scene by manipulating focus of virtual or augmented reality s, by highlighting them, changing the contraSt, brightness, scale, etc.

Preferably the system may be configured to accomplish the following modes: Open space rendering: 0 Grab key points from structured environment, then fill in the space between with ML renderings. 0 Potential venues: stages, output spaces, large indoor spaces (stadiums).

Object wrapping: 0 'Qecognize 3D object in the real world, then t them 0 nition" here means identifying a 3D blob with high enough precision to anchor imagery to. 0 There are two types of recognition: 1) Classifying the type of an object (ex. a "face"); 2) Classifying a particular ce of an object (ex. Joe, a person). o Rui'd recognizers software objects for various things: walls, ceilings, floors, faces, roads, sky, skyscrapers, ranch houses, tables, chairs, cars, road signs, bi"boards, doors, s, bookshelves, etc 0 Some recognizers are Type I, and have generic functionality, e.g. "put my video on that wall", "that is a dog" 0 Other recognizers are Type , and have specific functionality, e.g. "my TV is on _my_ living room wall 3.2 feet from the ceiling", "that is Fido" (this is a more capable version of the generic recognizer) 0 Building recognizer as software objects allows metered release of functionality, and finer grained control of ence Body centered rendering o Render virtual objects fixed to the users body. 0 Some things should float around the user's body, like a digital too'be't. o This requires knowing where the body is, rather than just the head. May get body position reasonably accurate by having a long—term average of users head position (heads usually point forward parallel to the ground). 0 A trivial case is objects floating around the head.

Transparency/cutaway 0 For Type recognized objects, show cut—aways 0 Link Type recognized objec :s to an online database of 3D models. 0 Should start with objects that have ly available 3D models, such as cars and p JbliC utilities.

Virtual ce 0 Paint remote people's avatars into open spaces. 0 A subset of "open space rendering" (above). 0 Users create rough ry of local environment and i tera tively send both geometry and texture maps cOO thers. 0 Users must grant permission for others to enter their environment. 0 Subtle voice gieies, hand tracking, and head motion are sent to remote avatar. Avatar is animated from these fuzzy inputs. 0 The above minimize bandwidth. 0 Make a wall a "portal" to another room 0 As with other method, pass geometry and texture map . 0 Instead of showing avatar in local room, designate ized object (e.g. a wall) as a portal to the other's environment. In this way le people could sit in their own rooms, loo Virtual viewpoints Dense digital model of area is d when a group of cameras (people) view a scene from different perspectives. This rich digital model is renderable from any vantage point that at least one camera can see .

Examp'e. People at a g. Scene is jointly modeled by all attendees. Recognizers differentiate and e map stationary s differently than moving ones (e.g. walls have stable texture map, people have higher frequency moving teXtire maps.) With rich l model updated in real time, scene is renderable from any perspeCtive. Attendee in back can fly in the air to the front row for a better view.

Attendees can show their moving avatar, or have their perspeCtive hidden.

Off—site attendees can find a "seat" either with their avatar or if the 7ers permit, invisibly.

Lik ly r guir s xtr m ly high bandwidth. Notionally, high frequency data is steamed through the crowd on a high—speed local wireless. Low frequency data comes from the MLC.

Because all at :endees have high precision position information, making an optimal routing path for local networking is trivial.

Messaging Simple silent messaging may be desirable For this and other applications, it may be desirable to have a finger chording keyboard. o TaCtile glove solutions may offer enhanced performance.

Full Virtual Reality (VQ): 0 With vision system darkened, show a view not ying on the real world. 0 Registration system is still necessary to track head position. 0 "Couch mode" allows user to fly. 0 "Walking mode" re—renders objects in the real world as virtual ones so user does not co'lide with real world. 0 ing body parts is essential for suspension of disbelieve. This implies having method for tracking and rendering body parts in FOV. 0 Non—see through visor is a form of VR with many image enhancement advantages not possible with direct overlay 0 Wide FOV, perhaps even the ability to look to rear s forms of H 0 super vision": telescope, see through, infrared, God's eye, etc.

In one embodiment a system for virtual and/or ted user experience is configured such that remote avatars associated with users may be animated based at least in part upon data on a wearable device with input from sources such as voice inflection analysis and facial recognition analysis, as ted by pertinent software modules. For example, ing back to Figure 12, the bee avatar (2) may be animated to have a friendly smile based upon facial recognition of a smile upon the user’s face, or based upon a friendly tone of voice or speaking, as determined by software configured to analyze voice inputs to microphones which may capture voice samples locally from the user. Further, the avatar ter may be ed in a manner in which the avatar is likely to express a certain emotion. For example, in an embodiment wherein the avatar is a dog, a happy smile or tone detected by system local to the human user may be expressed in the avatar as a wagging tail of the dog avatar. s exemplary embodiments of the invention are described herein. Reference is made to these examples in a non— limiting sense. They are provided to illustrate more broadly applicable aspects of the invention. Various changes may be made to the invention described and equivalents may be substituted withoat departing from the true spirit and scope of the ion. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation, material, composition of , process, process act(s) or step(s) to the objective(s), spirit or scope of the t invention. Further, as will be appreciated by those with skill in the art that each of the individual variations described and illustrated herein has discrete components and features which may be y separated from or combined with the features of any of the other several embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the present ions. A" such modifications are intended to be within the scope of claims associated with this disclosure.

The invention includes methods that may be med using the subj ct d vic s. Th m thods may comprise the act of ing such a suitable device. Such provision may be performed by the end user. In Other words, the "providing" act m r ly r guir s th nd user obtain, access, approach, position, set—up, activate, power—up or Otherwise aCt to provide the requisite device in the subject method. Methods recited herein may be carried out in any order of 'he recited events which is logically le, as well as in tr e recited order of events.

Exemplary aspects of the invention, together with details regarding material seleCtion and mar ufactire have been set forth above. As for other s of the present ion, these may be iated in conneCtion with tr e above—referenced patents and ations as well as generally kr own or appreciated by those with skill in the art. The san e may hold true with respect to method—based aspects of the inver tior in terms of onal acts as common'y or logica' ly employed.

In addition, though the invention r as been described in reference to several examples optiona' 1y inc0rporating various features, the invention is nOt to be linited to that which is described or indicated as plated with respeCt to each variation of the invention. Various charges may be made to the ion described and eguivalents (whether recited herein or DO" included for the sake of some brevity) may be substituted withoat departing from the true spirit and scope of the irvention. In addition, where a range of values is ed, it is understood that every intervening valu n r I b tw th upp ar d lower limit of that range and any other stated or ir tervening value in that stated range, is encompassed within tte invention.

Also, it is contemplated that any optional feature of the it ventive variations described may be set forth and claimed it dependently, or in combina :ion with any one or more of the f atur s d scrib d h r in. Reference to a singular item, ir cludes the possibility that there are plural of the same items present. More specifically, as used herein and in claims associated hereto, the singular forms "a, H "an," "said," and H the H include plural referents unless the specifically stated WO 85639 otherwise. In other words, use of the articles allow for "at least one" of the subject item in the description above as well as claims associated with this disclosure. "t is further noted that such claims may be drafted to exclude any optional element.

As such, this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as "solely," "only" and the like in connection with the recitation of claim ts, or use of a "negative" limitation.

Without the use of such exclusive terminology, the term ising" in claims associated with this disclosure shall allow for the inclusion of any additional t——irrespective of whether a given number of elements are enumerated in such claims, or the addition of a feature could be regarded as transforming the nature of an element set forth in such claims.

Lxcept as specifically defined herein, all technical and scientific terms used herein are to be given as broad a commonly tood meaning as possible while maintaining claim validity.

The breadth of the present invention is not to be limited to the examples provided and/or the t specification, but rather only by the scope of claim language associated with this disclosure.

Claims (23)

CLAIMS :

1. A user display device, comprising: a housing frame mountable on a head of a user; a first pair of s coupled to the housing frame to track a movement of the user's eyes and to estimate a depth of focus based on the tracked eye movements; a projection module having a light generating ism to generate and focus, based on at least the estimated depth of focus, a projected light associated with a display object; a lens mounted on the housing frame wherein, at least a portion of the lens transitions from a transparent setting to an opaque setting to block visible light from an outside environment from passing through the lens as part of entering a l reality mode from an augmented reality mode or at least a portion of the lens transitions from the opaque setting to the transparent setting to selectively allow transmission of light through the lens from the outside environment as part of entering the augmented reality mode from the virtual reality mode and wherein transitioning from the transparent setting to the opaque setting or from the opaque setting to the transparent setting occurs selectively allowing transmission of light is in response to selecting a visualization mode; wherein the lens further comprises at least one transparent mirror positioned in front of the user's eyes to reflect the projected light into the user's eyes; and a sor communicatively d to the projection module to icate data associated with a display image to the projection module.

2. The user display device of claim 1, wherein the at least one transparent mirror selectively allows a transmission of light from the e environment.

3. The user display device of claim 1 or 2, further comprising a second pair of cameras mountable on the g frame to capture a of-view image of an eye corresponding to each of the second pair of cameras.

4. The user y device of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the processor calculates a head pose of the user based on the captured field-of-view images.

5. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the projection module comprises a scanned laser ement to modify the projected light associated with the display object based on the estimated depth of focus.

6. The user display device of claim 5, wherein the projected light is a light beam having a diameter less than 0.7 mm.

7. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first pair of cameras comprises infrared cameras paired with infrared light sources to track a movement of each of the user's eyes.

8. The user y device of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a sensor assembly comprising at least one sensor to sense at least one of a movement of the user, a location of the user, a direction of the user and an ation of the user.

9. The user display device of claim 8, wherein the at least one sensor is at least one of an accelerometer, a compass and a ope.

10. The user display device of claim 8, wherein the processor estimates a head pose of the user based on the at least one of the nt of the user, the location of the user, the direction of the user, and the orientation of the user.

11. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising a GPS system.

12. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the processor is communicatively coupled to a computer network to transmit at least a portion of a virtual world data, and receive another portion of the virtual world data.

13. The user y device of any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising an audio speaker module mountable on the head frame to output sounds.

14. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 13, further sing a microphone mountable on the housing frame to capture sounds local to the user.

15. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the projection module modifies another projected light associated with another object that is not the display object such that the other object appears blurred.

16. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the processor s frames of the display object at a rate of at least 60 frames per second.

17. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 16, further comprising a haptic interface device communicatively coupled to the projection module to provide tactile feedback.

18. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the display object is at least one of a virtual object, a ed physical object, an image and a video.

19. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 18, further comprising an environment sensing system to digitally reconstruct an environment of the user.

20. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 19, n the lens transitions from the transparent setting to the opaque setting by employing a cover to block the lens.

21. The user y device of any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the lens transitions from the transparent setting to the opaque setting based at least in part on a selected mode of the user display device.

22. The user y device of claim 21, wherein the selected mode is a virtual reality mode, and wherein the lens is in the opaque setting.

23. The user display device of any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein the visualization mode is selected from at least an augmented y mode and a virtual reality mode.