Controller movement tracking with light emitters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10152141-B1
Application number	US-201715680917-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 18, 2017
Priority date	Aug 18, 2017
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

A head-worn computer includes a camera system positioned to capture a surrounding environment in front of a user, a processor that identifies a position of a plurality of light emitters mounted on a hand-held controller from images captured by the camera system and tracks the position of the plurality of light emitters as the hand-held controller moves in the surrounding environment and interprets the tracked position as positional changes of the hand-held controller. The processor uses the position of the plurality of light emitters as markers in three dimensional space, the markers used as an anchor for virtual content presented in a see-through display of the head-worn computer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A head-worn computer, comprising:
a camera system positioned to capture a surrounding environment in front of a user wearing the head-worn computer;
a processor adapted to identify a position of a plurality of light emitters mounted on a hand-held controller from images captured by the camera system;
the processor further adapted to track the position of the plurality of light emitters as the hand-held controller moves in the surrounding environment and interpret the tracked position as positional changes of the hand-held controller;
the processor further adapted to use the position of the plurality of light emitters as markers in three dimensional space, the markers used as an anchor for virtual content presented in a see-through display of the head-worn computer; and
wherein the camera system comprises a fisheye lens to increase a sensitivity of the processor by causing real-world movements of the plurality of light emitters to be exaggerated so small real-world movements become larger movements in the captured images.

2. The head-worn computer of claim 1 , wherein the camera system comprises two or more cameras mounted separately on the head-worn computer such that each camera views the plurality of light emitters from a different perspective such that a 3D model is used to map the position of the hand-held controller.

3. The head-worn computer of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of light emitters are mounted in a pre-determined pattern on the hand-held controller such that the camera system predicts a position of the hand-held controller based on a perspective view of the plurality of light emitters in the pre-determined pattern.

4. The head-worn computer of claim 1 , further comprising, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), wherein the position of the hand-held controller is based on the position of the plurality of light emitters as markers and output from the IMU.

5. A head-worn computer, comprising:
a camera system positioned to capture a surrounding environment in front of a user wearing the head-worn computer;
a processor adapted to identify a position of a plurality of light emitters mounted on a hand-held controller in images captured by the camera system;
the processor further adapted to track the position of the plurality of light emitters as the hand-held controller moves in the surrounding environment and interpret the track as positional changes of the hand-held controller;
the processor further adapted to use the position of the plurality of light emitters as a prediction of the position of the hand-held controller in three dimensional space, the predicted position used as a control input for a software application operating on the head-worn computer; and
wherein the camera system comprises a fisheye lens to increase a sensitivity of the processor by causing real-world movements of the plurality of light emitters to be exaggerated so small real-world movements become larger movements in the captured images.

Assignees

• Osterhout Group Inc

Inventors

• Lohse Robert Michael
• Haddick John D

Classifications

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• G02B2027/0187

  slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye · CPC title

• G06F3/0308 Primary

  comprising a plurality of distinctive and separately oriented light emitters or reflectors associated to the pointing device, e.g. remote cursor controller with distinct and separately oriented LEDs at the tip whose radiations are captured by a photo-detector associated to the screen · CPC title

• G02B2027/014

  comprising information/image processing systems · CPC title

• G06F3/013

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title