Virtual Keyboard Hand Positioning in Low-Resolution VR
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Virtual reality systems face challenges in providing accurate visual feedback of users' hands relative to physical keyboards due to low-resolution cameras and limited processing resources, leading to positional inaccuracies and poor typing experiences in immersive environments.
Innovation Solution
A method is implemented to generate a three-dimensional model of the user's hand, apply an image mask to crop the hand from the captured environment, and render a virtual keyboard with accurate hand positioning, using techniques like alpha-blending and image processing to enhance contrast and visibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If low-resolution cameras are used in virtual reality systems, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision of hand position deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the physical keyboard and hand in the VR environment. By rendering a virtual keyboard that mirrors the physical one and displaying a virtual hand model that tracks the real hand's position, the system provides accurate visual feedback without requiring high-resolution cameras. The virtual representation compensates for the low resolution by maintaining precise spatial relationships through coordinate transformation and 3D modeling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtual hand model and virtual keyboard as intermediary elements between the user and the physical input device. This intermediary layer processes the hand tracking data and presents it in a visually accurate manner within the VR environment, bridging the gap between low-resolution camera input and the user's need for precise positional feedback.
2Measurement precision
If high-resolution cameras are used to improve hand position accuracy, then measurement precision improves, but processing resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of processing high-resolution video streams, the system creates simplified virtual copies of the keyboard and hand. These virtual representations use 3D models and coordinate transformations that require minimal processing power while maintaining accurate spatial relationships, thus avoiding the need for resource-intensive high-resolution image processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical approach of using high-resolution cameras and heavy image processing with a computational approach using virtual reality rendering. By substituting optical resolution with computational geometry and 3D modeling, the system achieves accurate hand positioning feedback with significantly lower processing requirements.
3Ease of operation
If virtual reality systems use physical keyboards, then ease of operation for typing is improved, but visual feedback accuracy deteriorates due to limited processing resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the physical keyboard in the VR environment that perfectly mirrors the physical device's layout and position. This virtual keyboard serves as a visual reference that aligns with the physical one, allowing users to type with the physical keyboard while seeing accurate visual feedback in the VR environment without requiring complex real-time image processing.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes accessing an image of a physical environment of a user, the image depicting a physical input device and a physical hand of the user, determining that a contrast between the physical input device and the physical hand depicted in the image is lower than a predetermined threshold, modifying the image to increase the contrast, determining a pose of the physical input device, generating a three-dimensional model representing the physical hand of the user, generating an image mask by projecting the three-dimensional model onto an image plane, generating, a cropped image depicting at least the physical hand of the user in the image, rendering, based on the perspective of the user and the pose of the physical input device, a virtual input device to represent the physical input device, and displaying the cropped image depicting at least the physical hand over the rendered virtual input device.