Distributed Virtual Reality Depth Buffer Transmission
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual reality technologies face challenges in sharing immersive experiences due to computational resource constraints, leading to limited perspectives and increased risk of motion sickness when trying to share 3D environments with others.
Innovation Solution
The generation and transmission of depth and color buffers from a presenter device to a viewer device allow for independent rendering of a virtual environment, enabling viewers to control their perspective and reducing computational requirements through delta encoding and compression techniques.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the same perspective into the virtual environment is provided to the viewer, then the viewer can share the presenter's experience, but computational resource constraints such as bandwidth and processing limits are exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential depth buffer data from the complete virtual environment rendering, transmitting only this critical depth information to the viewer device rather than the entire rendered scene. This extraction approach significantly reduces bandwidth and processing requirements while maintaining the ability to reconstruct the 3D environment at the viewer端.
Solution Approach 2:
The viewer device creates its own rendering copy of the virtual environment by combining the received depth buffer with local color buffer data and applying view transformation matrices. This copying mechanism allows the viewer to generate their own perspective without requiring the presenter to render and transmit multiple perspectives simultaneously.
2Reliability
If the viewer is provided with the same perspective as the presenter, then the experience is shared, but the viewer experiences motion sickness due to reduced visual fidelity or lack of control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic perspective control where the viewer can independently adjust their view angle and position within the virtual environment. The system dynamically transforms the depth buffer using view matrices that reflect the viewer's current perspective, allowing them to look around and control their own viewing experience rather than being locked into the presenter's fixed perspective.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different transformation qualities to different parts of the rendering pipeline. The depth buffer is processed with precise geometric transformations to maintain accurate spatial relationships, while the color buffer can be adjusted more flexibly for visual comfort. This local differentiation allows optimization for both accuracy and viewer comfort in different aspects of the rendering.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple perspectives are rendered to allow viewer control, then motion sickness is reduced, but computational resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The depth buffer serves as an intermediary data structure that enables multiple perspective views without requiring multiple complete renderings. By transmitting this intermediate geometric representation rather than finished image data, the system allows the viewer to generate multiple perspectives locally through matrix transformations, reducing the computational burden on the presenter device while still enabling viewer control.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to distributed virtual reality. In examples, a depth buffer and a color buffer are generated at a presenter device as part of rendering a virtual environment. The virtual environment may be perceived by a user in three dimensions (3D), for example via a virtual reality (VR) headset. Virtual environment information comprising the depth buffer and the color buffer may be transmitted to a viewer device, where it is used to render the virtual environment for display to a viewer. For example, the viewer may similarly view the virtual environment in 3D via a VR headset. A viewer perspective (e.g., from which the virtual environment is generated for the viewer) may differ from a presenter perspective and may be manipulated by the viewer, thereby decoupling the viewer's perception of the virtual environment from that of the presenter.