Methods and apparatus using gestures to share private windows in shared virtual environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10795449-B2
Application number	US-201615374299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2016
Priority date	Dec 11, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

Methods and apparatus using gestures to share private windows in shared virtual environments are disclosed herein. An example method includes detecting a gesture of a user in a virtual environment associated with a private window in the virtual environment, the private window associated with the user, determining whether the gesture represents a signal to share the private window with another, and, when the gesture represents a signal to share the private window, changing the status of the private window to a shared window.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting a gesture of a user in a virtual environment associated with a private window in the virtual environment, the private window associated with the user;
moving the private window from a first position closer to the user at a first level of accessibility displayed within the virtual environment to a second position farther from the user at a second level of accessibility displayed within the virtual environment to provide different levels of accessibility;
determining whether the gesture represents a signal to share the private window with another user; and
when the gesture represents a signal to share the private window, changing the status of the private window to a shared window.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a second gesture of the user;
determining whether the second gesture represents a second signal to additionally share the private window; and
when the second gesture represents the second signal to additionally share the private window, additionally sharing the private window with another user.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the gesture is associated with a first distance from the user, wherein the second gesture is associated with a second distance greater than the first distance, and wherein the second gesture shares the private window with at least one other user.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising displaying at the second distance an indication representing which user has access to the shared window for the second gesture.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein sharing the private window comprises:
creating a shared instance of the private window accessible to other users,
wherein the private window remains accessible to the user.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a first input to the shared window from the user;
receiving a second input to the shared window from another user;
rendering the shared window based on the first and second input; and
providing the rendering to the shared window.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a first input to the shared window from the user;
receiving a second input to the shared window from another user;
rendering an instance of the shared window based on the first input and the second input; and
providing the rendering to the instance of the shared window.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the gesture represents a signal to share the private windows comprises detecting at least one of a throw, a toss, a flip, a push, a kick, and/or a swipe.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the gesture is performed using at least one of a hand, a finger, a foot, a limb, a head, a trunk of the body, and/or an eye gaze.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining whether the gesture represents a signal to share the private window further comprises determining at least one of a velocity, acceleration, and/or a range of motion satisfying a respective threshold.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein changing the window to a shared window comprises modifying the shared window to indicate the shared window is a shared private window.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the gesture comprises receiving an input from a six degrees of freedom controller.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual environment is one of a virtual reality environment/or an augmented reality environment.

14. An apparatus comprising:
a tracking module configured to detect a gesture of a user in a three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment associated with a private window in the 3D virtual environment, the detected gesture being a distance of movement of the private window to provide different levels of accessibility, at least one level of accessibility being displayed for the user in the 3D virtual environment, the private window associated with the user;
a processor; and
a memory storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
determine whether the gesture represents a signal to share the private window with another user; and
when the gesture represents a signal to share the private window, change the status of the private window to a shared window.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor:
detects a second gesture of the user;
determines whether the second gesture represents a second signal to additionally share the private window; and
when the second gesture represents the second signal to additionally share the private window, additionally shares the private window with still another user.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the gesture is associated with a first distance from the user, wherein the second gesture is associated with a second distance greater than the first distance, and wherein the second gesture shares the private window with at least one other user.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor changes the private window to a shared window by:
creating a shared instance of the private window accessible to other users,
wherein the private window remains accessible to the user.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising:
a first input module configured to receive a first input to the shared window from the user;
a second input module configured to receive a second input to the shared window from another user;
a virtual reality application and/or an augmented reality application configured to render the shared window based on the first and second input; and
an output module configured to provide the rendering to the shared window.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising:
a first input module configured to receive a first input to the shared window from the user;
a second input module configured to receive a second input to the shared window from another user;
a virtual reality application and/or an augmented reality application configured to render an instance of the shared window based on the first input and the second input; and
an output module configured to provide the rendering to the shared window.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the apparatus comprises at least one of a head mounted display for use with the virtual environment, or a computing device configured to provide virtual content to the head mounted display.

21. The method of claim 14 , wherein the virtual environment is one of a virtual reality environment or an augmented reality environment.

22. A non-transitory machine-readable media storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to:
generate a three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment;
detect a gesture of a user in the three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment associated with a private window in the virtual environment, the private window associated with the user;
determine whether the gesture represents a signal to share the private window with another user, the gesture includes moving the private window between a first distance associated with a first level of accessibility and a second distance associated with a second level of accessibility, the second distance being different than the first distance, the first level of accessibility having a first ring and the second level of accessibility having a second ring displayed for the user within the three-dimensional (3D) virtual environment; and
when the gesture represents a signal to share the private window, change the status of the

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Faaborg Alexander James
• Mckenzie Chris

Classifications

• H04N21/4788

  communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} · CPC title

• G06T2219/024

  Multi-user, collaborative environment · CPC title

• G06F21/60

  Protecting data · CPC title

• G06F3/04815

  Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional [3D], e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object · CPC title

• G06F3/147

  using display panels · CPC title