Virtual Reality Display Unit Object Tracking and Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual reality display units struggle to interact with real-world objects, making it difficult to see, select, or modify physical objects in a real room while in a virtual reality environment, and pose challenges in preventing collisions with real-world objects.
Innovation Solution
A method and device that track the environment, identify real-world objects, create virtual objects with individual labels, classify and mark them for relevance, and display them in virtual reality, allowing interaction with real-world objects and enhancing safety by omitting or altering irrelevant objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a tracker is attached to a keyboard to see the keyboard while being in virtual reality, then the user can see the keyboard in VR, but it is not possible to interact with or modify real-world objects in the virtual environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of real-world objects by tracking their positions and rendering them as 3D models in the virtual reality environment. These virtual objects can be interacted with using standard VR controllers, allowing users to manipulate real-world objects through their virtual representations without breaking immersion.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary layer of virtual objects that mediate between the user and real-world objects. Instead of directly interacting with physical objects, users interact with virtual representations that are tracked and rendered in real-time, enabling indirect manipulation of the physical environment.
2Reliability
If the user is fully immersed in a virtual reality environment, then the simulated environment is nearly perfect, but the surrounding real world becomes invisible and interaction with real-world objects becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the virtual and physical worlds by overlaying tracked real-world objects as virtual representations within the VR environment. This combination allows users to maintain full VR immersion while simultaneously accessing and interacting with representations of real-world objects, achieving both high simulation quality and real-world adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal interface that works with both virtual and physical objects. The same VR controllers and interaction methods can be used to manipulate both purely virtual objects and virtual representations of physical objects, making the system versatile across different interaction scenarios.
3Loss of information
If all real-world objects are displayed in virtual reality, then complete visibility is achieved, but collision prevention and safety become challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different visual properties to different virtual objects based on their relevance and collision risk. Critical objects that pose collision hazards can be highlighted with distinct visual markers, while less important objects can be rendered with standard transparency. This localized differentiation helps users prioritize attention and navigate safely without being overwhelmed by all objects equally.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention describes a method to control a virtual reality display unit (4), comprising the steps: - track the environment (E) of a space surrounding the virtual reality display unit (4), - automatically identify and separate real-world objects (2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e) of the tracked environment (E) by forming virtual objects (V, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7) and providing individual identification labels (L, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5) to the virtual objects (V, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7), - classify the virtual objects (V, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7) together with their individual identification label (L, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5) into an object-library (OL), - marking a number of virtual objects (V, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7) by a user of the virtual reality display unit (4) and/or automatically by linking an individual relevance-marker (R) with each virtual object (V, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7), - displaying the virtual objects (V, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7) of the object-library (OL) by the virtual reality display unit (4) in dependence of their relevance-marker (R). The invention further describes a respective device as well as a virtual reality display unit.