Virtual reality garment configured to restrict user movement by repositioning a rigid cuff relative to the user

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10572014-B2
Application number	US-201615285298-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2016
Priority date	Nov 9, 2015
Publication date	Feb 25, 2020
Grant date	Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

An input interface configured to be worn on a portion of a user's body includes tendons coupled to various rigid cuffs in the input interface. The tendons include one or more activation mechanisms that, when activated, retract the tendons, which repositions a rigid cuff into a position relative to the user's body that restricts or prevents some form of movement of the user's body. Various activation mechanisms may be included in the tendons in various embodiments.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a console coupled to an electronic display in a head mounted display, the console configured to provide content to the electronic display for presentation to a user; and
a glove configured to be worn on a hand of the user and coupled to the console, the glove comprising:
one or more sensors configured to detect spatial and motion information about the glove and to provide the detected spatial and motion information to the console, and
a jamming mechanism including a rigid cuff coupled to a tendon and an activation mechanism coupled to the tendon and to the console, the activation mechanism configured to reposition the rigid cuff, the repositioning occurring along a portion of the user's hand and the repositioning caused by retracting the tendon in response to receiving information from the console to counteract a movement detected by the one or more sensors.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the jamming mechanism further comprises a retraction mechanism coupled to the rigid cuff and configured to reposition the rigid cuff to an alternative position relative to the portion of the hand of the user in response to the activation mechanism no longer retracting the tendon.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the retraction mechanism comprises a spring configured to be stretched in response to the activation mechanism retracting the tendon and to be relaxed in response to the activation mechanism no longer retracting the tendon.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the position of the rigid cuff relative to the portion of the hand of the user comprises a position of the rigid cuff restricting movement of the portion of the hand of the user.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the alternative position of the rigid cuff relative to the portion of the hand of the user comprises a position of the rigid cuff that does not restrict movement of the portion of the hand of the user.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the alternative position relative to the portion of the hand of the user comprises a position where the rigid cuff was positioned prior to the activation mechanism retracting the tendon.

7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the retraction mechanism comprises an additional tendon coupled to the rigid cuff and to an additional activation mechanism, the additional activation mechanism configured to retract the additional tendon when the activation mechanism is not retracting the tendon to reposition the rigid cuff to the alternative position relative to the portion of the hand of the user in response to the activation mechanism no longer retracting the tendon.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rigid cuff has a variable stiffness, configured to allow a limited amount of movement of the portion of the hand of the user.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tendon comprises a string and the activation mechanism comprises a motor coupled to the glove, the string coupled to a shaft of the motor, the motor configured to rotate and apply a torque to the string in response to receiving information from the console to counteract the movement detected by the one or more sensors.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tendon comprises:
a plurality of inner filaments coupled to a surface of the tendon and protruding from the surface of the tendon; and
a sheath enclosing the tendon, the sheath having one or more outer filaments coupled to an interior surface of the sheath and protruding from the interior surface of the sheath and configured to press the one or more outer filaments against the one or more inner filaments of the tendon in response to the activation mechanism receiving the information from the console to counteract the movement detected by the one or more sensors.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the activation mechanism comprises:
a conductive plate positioned on a side of the sheath; and
an additional conductive plate positioned on an additional side of the sheath, the additional conductive plate parallel to the conductive plate and the conductive plate configured to receive a positive charge in response to receiving information from the console to counteract the movement detected by the one or more sensors and the additional conductive plate configured to receive a negative charge in response to receiving information from the console to counteract the movement detected by one or more sensors.

12. An apparatus comprising:
a garment including material configured to be worn on a portion of a body of a user;
one or more sensors configured to detect spatial and motion information about the garment; and
a jamming mechanism comprising:
a rigid cuff coupled to a tendon and coupled to an activation mechanism configured to reposition the rigid cuff, the repositioning occurring along a portion of the user's hand and the repositioning caused by retracting the tendon in response to receiving information to counteract a movement detected by the one or more sensors.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the jamming mechanism further comprises a retraction mechanism coupled to the rigid cuff and configured to reposition the rigid cuff to an alternative position relative to the portion of the hand of the user in response to the activation mechanism no longer retracting the tendon.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the retraction mechanism comprises a spring configured to be stretched in response to the activation mechanism retracting the tendon and to be relaxed in response to the activation mechanism no longer retracting the tendon.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the position of the rigid cuff relative to the portion of the hand of the user comprises a position of the rigid cuff restricting movement of the portion of the body of the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the alternative position of the rigid cuff relative to the portion of the hand of the user comprises a position of the rigid cuff that does not restrict movement of the portion of the hand of the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the alternative position relative to the portion of the hand of the user comprises a position where the rigid cuff was positioned prior to the activation mechanism retracting the tendon.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the retraction mechanism comprises an additional tendon coupled to the rigid cuff and to an additional activation mechanism, the additional activation mechanism configured to retract the additional tendon when the activation mechanism is not retracting the tendon to reposition the rigid cuff to the alternative position relative to the portion of the hand of the user in response to the activation mechanism no longer retracting the tendon.

19. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the rigid cuff has a variable stiffness, configured to allow a limited amount of movement of the portion of the hand of the user.

20. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the tendon comprises a string and the activation mechanism comprises a motor coupled to the garment, the string coupled to a shaft of the motor, the motor configured to rotate and apply a torque to the string in response to receiving the information to counteract the movement detected by the one or more sensors.

Assignees

• Facebook Tech Llc

Inventors

• Keller Sean Jason
• Trutna Tristan Thomas
• Ochs Garett Andrew
• Corson Nicholas Roy
• King Raymond

Classifications

• G06F3/016 Primary

  Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user · CPC title

• G06F3/014

  Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves · CPC title

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• G06F3/017

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title