Method for capturing virtual space and electronic device using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10356398-B2
Application number	US-201715711753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2017
Priority date	Apr 4, 2017
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

An electronic device including a display; and a controller configured to display a playback screen of virtual reality content on the display, in response to a capture command while displaying the playback screen of the virtual reality content, display a virtual icon on the playback screen, and in response to a touch input applied to the virtual icon, capture an image of a virtual space of the virtual reality content based on a position of a user in the virtual space and corresponding to a touch level of the touch input.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising: a display; and a controller configured to:
display a playback screen of virtual reality content on the display,
in response to a capture command while displaying the playback screen of the virtual reality content, display a virtual icon on the playback screen, and
in response to a touch input applied to the virtual icon, capture an image of a virtual space of the virtual reality content based on a position of a user in the virtual space and corresponding to a touch level of the touch input,
wherein the captured image comprises a user's virtual avatar in the virtual space, and wherein when the touch input is applied to the virtual icon, the controller detects movement information of the virtual avatar, and sets a range of the virtual space to be captured based on the movement information.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein in response to the touch input applied to the virtual icon being released, the controller is further configured to determine the range of the virtual space to be captured.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to vary the range of the virtual space to be captured in response to a varying touch level of the touch input applied to the virtual icon.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the controller is further configured to display a graphic object corresponding to the range of the virtual space to be captured on the virtual icon.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the controller is further configured change an image of the graphic object to correspond to the range of the virtual space.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the movement information comprises a movement path and movement range of the virtual avatar, and
wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the movement range of the virtual avatar within a predetermined time subsequent to releasing the touch input exceeds a predetermined range, and capture the image of the virtual space corresponding to the movement path and movement range of the virtual avatar according to the determination.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to display a graphic image indicating the range of the virtual space calculated based on the movement information adjacent to the virtual avatar.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein in response to a touch applied to the virtual avatar, convert a capture image at a first viewpoint in which the virtual avatar is viewed by a third person into a capture image at a second viewpoint viewed by the virtual avatar.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein in response to a touch applied to a virtual object included in the captured image, the controller is further configured to display an enlarged image of the virtual object, and change a view angle of the virtual object based on a drag touch input applied to the enlarged image.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein a viewpoint of the capture image corresponds to a viewpoint at which the user views the virtual space in all directions, and
wherein the controller is further configured to change and display a view angle of the captured image while maintaining the viewpoint of the capture image based on a first touch gesture applied to the displayed image.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
display the captured image in which the viewpoint is changed while the capture image is zoomed out based on a second touch gesture applied to the displayed image, and
display the virtual avatar on the capture image in which the viewpoint is changed.

12. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the virtual space includes a plurality of sub-regions, and
wherein the controller is further configured to set a sub-region selected based on the position recognized at the time when the touch input is applied to the virtual icon as a range of the virtual space to be captured.

13. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured a set the range of the virtual space to be captured by including a virtual object interacting with the virtual avatar.

14. The electronic device of claim 13 , wherein in response to the touch input applied to the virtual icon, the controller is further configured to display a graphic object indicating the virtual object to be included in the capture image, and
change the range of the virtual space to be captured based on an input applied to the graphic object within a reference time.

15. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
capture a first image of the virtual space based on the position of the user,
capture a second image including the virtual space in which the user travels for a period of time included in received time information, and
display the position of the user in the first image in the second image.

16. A method of controlling an electronic device, the method comprising:
displaying a playback screen of virtual reality content on a display of the electronic device;
in response to a capture command while displaying the playback screen of the virtual reality content, displaying a virtual icon on the playback screen; and
in response to a touch input applied to the virtual icon, capturing, via a controller, an image of a virtual space of the virtual reality content based on a position of a user in the virtual space and corresponding to a touch level of the touch input,
wherein the captured image comprises a user's virtual avatar in the virtual space, and
wherein the method further comprises:
detecting movement information of the virtual avatar when the touch input is applied to the virtual icon; and
setting a range of the virtual space to be captured in a different manner based on the movement information.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Hyunok
• Park Mihyun
• Shim Hongjo
• Sin Mansoo

Classifications

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title

• G06T19/006

  Mixed reality (object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00) · CPC title

• G06F3/041

  Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means · CPC title

• H04N2213/001

  Constructional or mechanical details · CPC title

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title