Directional VR Warnings for Out-of-View User Collision Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing spatial awareness of multiple users in a shared virtual reality (VR) environment is challenging due to limited field of view and inaccurate representation of users' positions, leading to potential collisions.
Innovation Solution
Providing directional warnings in the form of visual, audio, and haptic cues to alert users of approaching users outside their field of view, combined with transitioning to VR avatars when users are within view to maintain immersion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the field of view in VR environment is narrowed to provide immersion, then user immersion is improved, but spatial awareness and collision prevention capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The warning system segments spatial awareness information by direction (front, back, left, right) and presents them as separate visual indicators in the peripheral vision area, allowing users to maintain immersion while receiving directional collision warnings without expanding the main field of view
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a peripheral vision dimension for warning indicators separate from the main central field of view, enabling spatial awareness information to be displayed without compromising the immersive experience in the primary viewing area
2Measurement precision
If external cameras and sensors are used to track user positions, then spatial tracking capability is improved, but accuracy of user representation deteriorates when users face away from each other
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of relying on cameras to directly capture and represent users in the virtual environment, the system inverts the approach by using sensor data to generate directional warnings that indicate user positions indirectly through visual cues in the peripheral vision area, maintaining accuracy without requiring direct visual representation
3Reliability
If directional warnings are provided for users outside field of view, then collision prevention is improved, but user immersion deteriorates due to additional visual cues
Solution Approach 1:
The warning indicators are placed specifically in the peripheral vision area rather than the central field of view, allowing collision prevention information to be presented without interfering with the main immersive experience in the central viewing area
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides partial visual cues only when and where needed (in peripheral vision when users are outside the field of view), rather than continuously displaying warnings that would compromise immersion, balancing safety with experience quality
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a method includes rendering, for one or more displays of a VR display device, a first output image of a VR environment based on a field of view of a first user. The method includes determining whether a second user is approaching within a threshold distance of the first user and outside the field of view of the first user. The method includes rendering, responsive to determining the second user is approaching within the threshold distance of the first user and outside the field of view of the first user, for the one or more displays of the VR display device, a second output image comprising a directional warning. The directional warning may indicate a direction of movement of the second user relative to the first user.