Dynamic display virtual boundary method, electronic device and computer readable storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary. The method includes: obtaining a virtual scene boundary of a virtual reality (VR) environment; determining a distance threshold based on the moving speed of a specific element of a VR system, wherein the distance threshold is positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element; monitoring a specific distance between the specific element and the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment; and, in response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold, displaying the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. Therefore, the possibility of a user crossing the virtual scene boundary can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention generally relates to a virtual reality (VR) technology, and more particularly to a method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary, an electronic device and a computer-readable storage medium thereof. Background Art

[0002] Generally, when a VR user is immersed in a VR environment, the user may move his / her body during interaction with VR content. In order to prevent the user from colliding with adjacent objects or walls in the real world during movement of the body, the VR system will display a boundary in the VR environment when the distance between the user and the boundary of the VR world is less than a distance threshold.

[0003] However, when the user moves too fast, the border of the VR world may be displayed too late, so that the user may not have enough reaction time to slow down. In this case, the user may accidentally cross the border of the VR world and collide with adjacent objects or walls in the real world, which may result in a poor user experience. Summary of the invention

[0004] Therefore, the present disclosure relates to a method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary, an electronic device and a computer-readable storage medium thereof for solving the above technical problems.

[0005] The present disclosure provides a method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary, comprising: obtaining a virtual scene boundary of a virtual reality (VR) environment; determining a distance threshold based on a moving speed of a specific element of a VR system, wherein the distance threshold is positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element; monitoring a specific distance between the specific element and the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment; and displaying the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment in response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold.

[0006] The present disclosure provides an electronic device, comprising a storage circuit and a processor. The storage circuit stores a plurality of modules. The processor is coupled to the storage circuit and accesses the modules to perform the following steps: obtaining a virtual scene boundary of a virtual reality (VR) environment; determining a distance threshold based on a moving speed of a specific element of a VR system, wherein the distance threshold is positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element; monitoring a specific distance between the specific element and the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment; and displaying the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment in response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold.

[0007] The present disclosure provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which records an executable computer program loaded by an electronic device to perform the following steps: obtaining a virtual scene boundary of a virtual reality (VR) environment; determining a distance threshold based on a moving speed of a specific element of the VR system, wherein the distance threshold is positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element; monitoring a specific distance between the specific element and the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment; and displaying the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment in response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0009] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0010] Figure 2 A flowchart of a method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0011] Figure 3A It is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 3B It is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0013] Description of Figure Numbers

[0014] 100: electronic device;

[0015] 102: storage circuit;

[0016] 104: processor;

[0017] S210, S220, S230, S240, S250, S260: steps;

[0018] 310: virtual scene boundary;

[0019] 399: Specific components;

[0020] DT1, DT2: distance threshold;

[0021] D1, D2: specific distance;

[0022] V1, V2: speed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same drawing reference numerals are used in the drawings and description to refer to the same or like parts.

[0024] See also Figure 1 , which is a functional block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In various embodiments, the electronic device 100 is, for example, an electronic device that provides / generates VR content in a VR system, and the VR content can be viewed by a wearer of a head-mounted display through a head-mounted display in the VR system, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Figure 1 In the embodiment, the electronic device 100 includes a storage circuit 102 and a processor 104 .

[0025] The storage circuit 102 is one or a combination of a static or mobile random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a hard disk or any other similar device, and records a plurality of modules that can be executed by the processor 104 .

[0026] The processor 104 can be coupled to the storage circuit 102, and the processor 104 can be, for example, a general-purpose processor, a special-purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, an Advanced RISC Machine (ARM)-based processor, etc.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 104 may access the module stored in the storage circuit 102 to implement the method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary provided by the present disclosure, which will be further described below.

[0028] See also Figure 2 , which depicts a flow chart of a method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method of this embodiment may be performed by Figure 1 The electronic device 100 in the embodiment is executed, and the following will be supplemented by Figure 1 Description of components shown Figure 2 The details of each step in .

[0029] In step S210, the processor 104 may obtain a virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. In one embodiment, this virtual scene boundary may be set by the user when installing the system, and may roughly represent the boundary of the movable space in the real environment when the user uses the VR system. In one embodiment, the VR environment may be provided by, for example, a VR system to which the electronic device 100 belongs. Generally speaking, a VR system may include, for example, a head-mounted display (HMD), a position tracking device, and may also include elements such as a controller that can be held by a user. In the process of installing the VR system, the user will generally set the corresponding virtual scene boundary according to the requirements of the VR system. Therefore, the processor 104 may directly access the relevant system settings to obtain the virtual scene boundary, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0030] In step S220, the processor 104 may determine the distance threshold based on the movement speed of a specific element of the VR system. In one embodiment, the specific element of the VR system may be an HMD or other element of the VR system, such as a controller, a joystick, a glove, a ring, or a tracker, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In this case, the movement speed of the specific element may be the movement speed of the HMD or other element of the VR system, which corresponds to the movement speed of the HMD wearer or the movement speed of other elements in the VR system.

[0031] In some embodiments, the distance threshold may be positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element, that is, a higher moving speed will result in a larger distance threshold, and vice versa.

[0032] In one embodiment, the processor 104 may determine the distance threshold based on the movement speed and the predetermined reaction time of the specific element, wherein the predetermined reaction time may be the average reaction time of humans (e.g., 0.2 seconds), or the predetermined reaction time may be adjusted by the user, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, once the predetermined reaction time is defined, the distance threshold may be determined by multiplying the movement speed by the predetermined reaction time. In some embodiments, the distance threshold may be obtained by performing other (linear) combinations of the movement speed and the predetermined reaction time (or variations thereof) based on the needs of the designer, but the disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0033] However, in some cases, if the specific element moves at a low speed but at a high acceleration, it may still be too late to display the border of the virtual scene. Therefore, in some embodiments, the processor 104 may determine the distance threshold based on the speed of the specific element, the predetermined reaction time, and the acceleration of the specific element. For example, the distance threshold may be based on Where v0 can be the moving speed of the specific element, t can be the predetermined reaction time, and a can be the acceleration of the specific element. In some embodiments, the distance threshold can be obtained by performing other (linear) combinations of moving speed, predetermined reaction time, and acceleration (or its variation) based on the designer's needs, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0034] Next, in step S230, the processor 104 may monitor a specific distance between the specific element and the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. In step S240, the processor 104 may determine whether the specific distance is less than a distance threshold.

[0035] In one embodiment, in response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold, the processor 104 may execute step S250 to display the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. That is, the user may see the virtual scene boundary in the VR content provided by the VR system. Therefore, the user of the VR system may be notified not to cross the virtual scene boundary.

[0036] On the other hand, in response to determining that the specific distance is not less than the distance threshold, the processor 104 may execute step S260 to not display the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. That is, the user cannot see the virtual scene boundary in the VR content provided by the VR system. Therefore, the virtual scene boundary will not be displayed redundantly to affect the user experience.

[0037] In simple terms, when a specific element moves quickly (i.e., the user moves quickly), the distance threshold will become larger, so that the virtual scene boundary can be displayed in advance. Therefore, the user of the VR system can have enough reaction time to slow down, thereby reducing the possibility of the user crossing the virtual scene boundary.

[0038] On the other hand, when the specific element moves slowly (ie, the user moves slowly), the distance threshold will become smaller, so that the virtual scene boundary can be displayed later. Therefore, the user will not be affected by the use context of the redundantly displayed virtual scene boundary.

[0039] In some embodiments, in response to determining that the movement speed of the specific element is less than the speed threshold, the processor 104 may define the distance threshold as a predetermined distance. In one embodiment, the speed threshold may be the average movement speed of an ordinary VR user. That is, in the case where the user moves regularly, the processor 104 may not dynamically adjust the distance threshold, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0040] In one embodiment, after step S250, in response to determining that the specific distance becomes not less than the distance threshold, the processor 104 may hide the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. That is, when the specific element is far enough from the virtual scene boundary, the processor 104 may make the virtual scene boundary disappear so as not to affect the user experience, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0041] In order to better understand the concepts of the present disclosure, Figure 3A and Figure 3B will be used as an example, where Figure 3A is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure, and Figure 3B It is a schematic diagram showing an application scenario according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0042] exist Figure 3A In the upper part of FIG. 1 , a specific element 399 (e.g., an HMD) may move toward a virtual scene boundary 310 at a speed V1 (i.e., it may represent that a user wearing the HMD moves at a speed V1), wherein the virtual scene boundary 310 is drawn as a dotted line to indicate that the virtual scene boundary 310 is hidden (i.e., the user cannot see the virtual scene boundary 310). In this case, the processor 104 may correspondingly determine the distance threshold DT1 based on the speed V1.

[0043] exist Figure 3A In the lower half of , when the specific distance D1 between the virtual scene boundary 310 and the specific element 399 is less than the distance threshold DT1, the processor 104 can correspondingly display the virtual scene boundary 310 (drawn as a solid line to indicate that the user can see the virtual scene boundary 310) to notify the user.

[0044] exist Figure 3B In the upper part of Figure 3A The virtual scene boundary 310 is drawn as a dotted line to indicate that the virtual scene boundary 310 is hidden (i.e., the user cannot see the virtual scene boundary 310). In this case, the processor 104 can determine the distance threshold DT2 based on the speed V2. Figure 3A Compared with the distance threshold DT1 in , since the speed V2 is higher than the speed V1, the distance threshold DT2 may be larger.

[0045] exist Figure 3BIn the lower half of the figure, when the specific distance D2 between the virtual scene boundary 310 and the specific element 399 is less than the distance threshold DT2, the processor 104 may correspondingly display the virtual scene boundary 310 (drawn as a solid line to indicate that the user can see the virtual scene boundary 310) to notify the user. Therefore, the user of the VR system can have enough reaction time to slow down, thereby reducing the possibility of the user crossing the virtual scene boundary.

[0046] In one embodiment, after the processor 104 obtains the specific distance in step S230, the processor 104 may further determine whether the specific distance is equal to the reference distance, wherein the reference distance is greater than the distance threshold determined in step S220. In response to determining that the specific distance is equal to the reference distance, the processor 104 may obtain a specific acceleration of the specific element, wherein the specific acceleration may be an acceleration when the specific element is spaced from the boundary of the virtual scene by the reference distance, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0047] Next, the processor 104 may determine whether the specific acceleration of the specific element is positive. If the specific acceleration is positive, it means that even if the movement speed of the specific element corresponding to the user is slow, the movement speed of the specific element toward the virtual scene boundary will become faster and faster, and the specific element is more likely to reach the virtual scene boundary. Accordingly, the processor 104 may increase the distance threshold so that the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment can be displayed in advance in step S250 to remind the user.

[0048] On the other hand, if the specific acceleration is not positive (i.e., negative or zero), it means that even if it has a moving speed or a high moving speed, the specific element corresponding to the user is unlikely to reach the virtual scene boundary or arrives at it slowly. Accordingly, the processor 104 may maintain or reduce the distance threshold so that the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment may not be displayed redundantly.

[0049] The present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium for executing a method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary. The computer-readable storage medium is composed of a plurality of program instructions (e.g., setting program instructions and deploying program instructions) embodied herein. These program instructions can be loaded into an electronic device 100 and executed by the electronic device to execute the method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary and the functions of the electronic device 100 described above.

[0050] In summary, the method provided in the present disclosure can dynamically determine the distance threshold for displaying the virtual scene boundary based on the movement speed of a specific element (e.g., HMD) of the VR system. When the specific element moves quickly (i.e., the user moves quickly), the distance threshold will become larger, so that the virtual scene boundary can be displayed in advance. Therefore, the user of the VR system can have enough reaction time to slow down or control his position, thereby reducing the possibility of the user crossing the virtual scene boundary.

[0051] On the other hand, when the specific element moves slowly (ie, the user moves slowly), the distance threshold will become smaller, so that the virtual scene boundary can be displayed later. Therefore, the user will not be affected by the use context of the redundantly displayed virtual scene boundary.

[0052] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes may be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. In view of the foregoing, it is hoped that the present invention covers modifications and changes to the present invention, provided that the modifications and changes fall within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary, comprising: Obtaining a virtual scene boundary of a virtual reality (VR) environment; Determining a distance threshold based on a moving speed of a specific element of the VR system, wherein the distance threshold is positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element; Monitoring a specific distance between the specific element and a boundary of the virtual scene of the VR environment; obtaining a specific acceleration of the specific element in response to determining that the specific distance is equal to a reference distance, wherein the reference distance is greater than the distance threshold; increasing the distance threshold in response to determining that the particular acceleration of the particular element is positive; maintaining or reducing the distance threshold in response to determining that the particular acceleration of the particular element is not positive; and In response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold, the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment is displayed.

2. The method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to claim 1, wherein the specific element comprises a head-mounted display of the VR system.

3. The method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to claim 1, wherein in response to determining that the specific distance is not less than the distance threshold, the method further comprises: The virtual scene boundary of the VR environment is not displayed.

4. The method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the distance threshold based on the moving speed of the specific element of the VR system comprises: The distance threshold is determined based on the moving speed of the specific component and a predetermined reaction time.

5. The method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the distance threshold based on the moving speed of the specific element of the VR system comprises: The distance threshold is determined based on the moving speed of the specific component, a predetermined reaction time, and an acceleration of the specific component.

6. The method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to claim 1, wherein after the step of displaying the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment, the method further comprises: In response to determining that the specific distance is not less than the distance threshold, hiding the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. 7 . The method for dynamically displaying a virtual boundary according to claim 1 , wherein in response to determining that the moving speed is less than a speed threshold, the distance threshold is defined as a predetermined distance.

8. An electronic device comprising: A storage circuit for storing multiple modules; as well as A processor, coupled to the storage circuit, accesses the module to perform the following steps: Obtaining a virtual scene boundary of a virtual reality (VR) environment; Determining a distance threshold based on a moving speed of a specific element of the VR system, wherein the distance threshold is positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element; Monitoring a specific distance between the specific element and a boundary of the virtual scene of the VR environment; obtaining a specific acceleration of the specific element in response to determining that the specific distance is equal to a reference distance, wherein the reference distance is greater than the distance threshold; increasing the distance threshold in response to determining that the particular acceleration of the particular element is positive; maintaining or reducing the distance threshold in response to determining that the particular acceleration of the particular element is not positive; and In response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold, the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment is displayed.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the specific element comprises a head mounted display of the VR system.

10. The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein in response to determining that the specific distance is not less than the distance threshold, the electronic device further comprises: The virtual scene boundary of the VR environment is not displayed.

11. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to: The distance threshold is determined based on the moving speed of the specific component and a predetermined reaction time.

12. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to: The distance threshold is determined based on the moving speed of the specific component, a predetermined reaction time, and an acceleration of the specific component.

13. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein after displaying the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment, the processor is further configured to: In response to determining that the specific distance becomes not less than the distance threshold, hiding the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment. 14 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein in response to determining that the moving speed is less than a speed threshold, the processor defines the distance threshold as a predetermined distance.

15. A computer-readable storage medium recording an executable computer program loaded by an electronic device to perform the following steps: Obtaining a virtual scene boundary of a virtual reality (VR) environment; Determining a distance threshold based on a moving speed of a specific element of the VR system, wherein the distance threshold is positively correlated with the moving speed of the specific element; Monitoring a specific distance between the specific element and a boundary of the virtual scene of the VR environment; obtaining a specific acceleration of the specific element in response to determining that the specific distance is equal to a reference distance, wherein the reference distance is greater than the distance threshold; increasing the distance threshold in response to determining that the particular acceleration of the particular element is positive; maintaining or reducing the distance threshold in response to determining that the particular acceleration of the particular element is not positive; and In response to determining that the specific distance is less than the distance threshold, the virtual scene boundary of the VR environment is displayed.

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