Directional Wireless Beam Steering for Moving VR and AR Headsets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional head-mounted devices for virtual and augmented reality, such as VR and AR headsets, face limitations due to weight, size, and power constraints, which restrict their processing capabilities and require frequent charging, and existing directional wireless communication technologies are inefficient when applied to motile devices, leading to high power consumption and latency.
Innovation Solution
A method for efficiently maintaining directional wireless links in motile computing devices by using sensor measurements to steer and refine the directional wireless beam, allowing for continuous high-throughput communication despite changes in position and orientation, utilizing a 60-gigahertz radio frequency band and multiple antenna arrays with different fields of view.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional directional communication technologies perform sector-sweep operations to establish directional wireless links, then the links can be initially established, but the operations consume relatively high power and increase latency when performed frequently for motile devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs an initial sector-sweep operation to establish a directional wireless link and determine the initial direction of the signal path. This preliminary action captures position and orientation data that can be reused for subsequent beam steering, avoiding the need to perform full sector-sweep operations frequently. The captured data serves as a foundation for maintaining the link through more efficient beam-steering operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical sector-sweep operation with a computational beam-steering approach. Instead of physically sweeping sectors to maintain directional links, the system uses sensor data (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer) to calculate and adjust beam directions computationally. This substitution significantly reduces power consumption while maintaining link reliability for motile devices.
2Reliability
If sector-sweep operations are performed frequently to maintain directional links for motile devices, then link reliability improves, but latency increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs an initial sector-sweep operation to establish the directional link and capture position and orientation data. This preliminary action provides a foundation for subsequent link maintenance without requiring repeated full sector-sweep operations, thereby reducing latency while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors position and orientation data from sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer) and uses this feedback to adjust beam directions in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the system to maintain directional links accurately without performing frequent sector-sweep operations, thus reducing latency while preserving link reliability.
3Power
If head-mounted devices use wired connections to external processing devices, then processing capabilities are sufficient, but user movement is confined and encumbered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces wired mechanical connections with wireless directional communication using beam-steering technology. This substitution eliminates the physical constraint of cables, allowing users to move freely while maintaining high-bandwidth communication with external processing devices. The directional beams ensure reliable data transmission without physical tethering.
4Weight of moving object
If wireless head-mounted devices reduce processing units and batteries to meet weight and size constraints, then device portability improves, but computation power and power budget are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces local processing power with external processing capabilities connected through high-bandwidth directional wireless links. By using beam-steering technology to maintain reliable wireless communication, the system can offload computation to external devices, effectively gaining access to greater computational power without the weight and size constraints of powerful local processors and batteries.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the efficiency and reliability of directional wireless communication in VR and AR headsets, reducing power consumption and latency while maintaining high throughput, thereby improving the performance of motile computing devices.
Implementation Method 1
A method for efficiently maintaining directional wireless links in motile computing devices by using sensor measurements to steer and refine the directional wireless beam
Implementation Method 2
utilizing a 60-gigahertz radio frequency band and multiple antenna arrays with different fields of view
Data Source
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AI summary
The disclosed computer-implemented method may include (1) establishing a directional wireless link between a first computing device and a second computing device in a first direction, (2) exchanging, over the directional wireless link in the first direction, first data between the first computing device and the second computing device, (3) determining, via a sensor of the first computing device, a change to a position or an orientation of the first computing device, (4) redirecting, based on the change, the directional wireless link to a second direction, and (5) exchanging, over the directional wireless link in the second direction, second data between the first computing device and the second computing device. Various other methods and systems are also disclosed.