AR Gaming System with Transparent Displays for Real-Time Player Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current VR gaming systems face challenges in allowing two or more players to interactively compete or collaborate while each player can see the other in a 3D virtual environment, due to frame-rate issues, game latency, and unconvincing artwork, particularly in rendering high-quality human characters in real-time.
Innovation Solution
An augmented reality (AR) gaming system that uses 3D eyewear and a 3D display assembly to enable each player to see the other player and perceive 3D augmentation content in real-time, with the system including a display controller and tracking mechanisms to generate unique 3D content based on each player's location and viewpoint, allowing for concurrent interaction in a shared virtual space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If VR technology is used to create a virtual gaming environment, then players can be immersed in a 3D virtual world, but it becomes difficult to allow players to see each other in real-time due to frame-rate issues and latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a transparent display screen as an intermediary between players. This screen allows light to pass through, enabling players to see each other's physical forms while still displaying virtual game content. The intermediary resolves the contradiction by providing a physical medium that simultaneously transmits both visual information (game content) and optical information (player visibility) without the latency and frame-rate limitations of pure VR rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The gaming system is segmented into distinct functional components: transparent displays for each player, tracking mechanisms for monitoring player positions, and a game controller. This segmentation allows the system to handle player visibility and game content rendering separately, with the transparent displays providing real-time optical transmission while the game controller manages virtual content, thereby resolving the time loss issue.
2Adaptability or versatility
If VR headsets are used to provide immersive gaming experience, then players can interact with virtual features, but players cannot perceive other players in the virtual space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the physical reality (players seeing each other through transparent displays) with the virtual reality (game content displayed on the same screens). This combination allows players to simultaneously perceive each other's physical presence and interact with virtual features, resolving the information loss by integrating both realities into a single unified system rather than separating them as in traditional VR.
Solution Approach 2:
The transparent display acts as an intermediary that bridges the gap between physical player presence and virtual game content. It allows players to see each other's physical forms while simultaneously displaying virtual game elements, thereby preserving player presence information while maintaining interaction capability with the virtual environment.
3Manufacturing precision
If traditional VR rendering is used to display high-quality human characters, then visual fidelity can be achieved, but real-time rendering becomes computationally intensive and latency-prone
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of rendering complex 3D models of players in real-time, the system uses transparent displays that directly transmit optical information of players' physical forms. This copying approach bypasses the need for computationally intensive real-time rendering of human characters, achieving visual fidelity through direct optical transmission rather than synthetic rendering, thereby resolving the productivity issue.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The AR gaming system provides a convincing and immersive experience by allowing players to see each other and interact with 3D game objects in real-time, overcoming the limitations of VR systems such as latency and frame-rate issues, while maintaining a realistic representation of the virtual world.
Implementation Method 1
light from the second player space passes through the 3D display assembly and the first 3D eyewear whereby the first participant is able to view the second participant
Implementation Method 2
light from the second player space passes through the 3D display assembly and the first 3D eyewear
Data Source
AI summary
An augmented reality (AR) gaming system of the present description includes 3D eyewear for each player that allows the player wearing the 3D eyewear to view the surrounding physical space. The 3D eyewear in conjunction with operation of a 3D display assembly of the AR gaming system allows the player to see other players while they also perceive 3D augmentation content that is rendered based on that particular player's tracked location. For example, the 3D augmentation content may include a game object that moves about the virtual gaming environment/space during the game as two (or more) players play the game such as by interacting with the game object via movement of their hand(s) with the movement/location being tracked. The AR gaming system generates the 3D augmentation content to correctly represent the present location of the game object relative to their location and view point.