Co-located VR Headset Interaction via Position Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtual reality (VR) environments provided by head-mounted displays (HMDs) lack social and interpersonal components, leading to isolation among users, even when they are co-located, as they typically allow only single-user interaction and do not facilitate sharing or interaction between co-located users.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that enable co-located HMD users to dynamically enter and leave shared VR environments and interact through their avatars, using position tracking, real-time movement mapping, and gaze detection to create a more social and communal VR experience, allowing users to invite each other into their VR, communicate, and interact within a shared space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If VR environments are designed for single-user interaction, then immersion and focus are improved, but social interaction and user sharing are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple single-user VR environments into a shared multi-user space by detecting when users are co-located in the same physical area and automatically enabling them to interact within a common virtual environment, thus combining isolation benefits with social capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary detection mechanism that monitors physical proximity and orientation of multiple HMD users, using this information to mediate the transition from individual to shared VR experiences, allowing social interaction without compromising individual immersion
2Measurement precision
If VR systems track and respond to user position and orientation, then interaction precision is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs self-service tracking where each HMD independently captures and transmits its own position and orientation data, eliminating the need for complex external tracking infrastructure and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high measurement precision
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods for processing operations for head mounted display (HMD) users to join virtual reality (VR) scenes are provided. A computer- implemented method includes providing a first perspective of a VR scene to a first HMD of a first user and receiving an indication that a second user is requesting to join the VR scene provided to the first HMD. The method further includes obtaining real-world position and orientation data of the second HMD relative to the first HMD and then providing, based on said data, a second perspective of the VR scene. The method also provides that the first and second perspectives are each controlled by respective position and orientation changes while viewing the VR scene.