Position-dependent modification of descriptive content in a virtual reality environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10949057-B2
Application number	US-202016847765-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2020
Priority date	Nov 17, 2017
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

Techniques are described for modifying a virtual reality environment to include or remove contextual information describing a virtual object within the virtual reality environment. The virtual object includes a user interface object associated with a development user interface of the virtual reality environment. In some cases, the contextual information includes information describing functions of controls included on the user interface object. In some cases, the virtual reality environment is modified based on a distance between the location of the user interface object and a location of a viewpoint within the virtual reality environment. Additionally or alternatively, the virtual reality environment is modified based on an elapsed time of the location of the user interface object remaining in a location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of using one or more processing devices to provide information in a virtual reality (VR) environment, the method comprising:
determining a first location associated with a user interface (UI) object in the VR environment and a second location associated with an additional object in the VR environment;
determining that the first location is within a threshold distance from the second location;
determining a previous location associated with the UI object in the VR environment within the threshold distance, the first location having a first timestamp that is subsequent to a previous timestamp of the previous location;
calculating, based on a location difference between the first location and the previous location, a cumulative motion of the UI object while the UI object is within the threshold distance; and
responsive to determining that the cumulative motion of the UI object while the UI object is within the threshold distance is less than or equal to a threshold amount of motion, modifying the VR environment to output information describing the additional object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
modifying the VR environment includes outputting contextual information describing the UI object, and
the contextual information describing the UI object comprises one or more of: a description of a function of the UI object, a description of an interaction type with the UI object, or a description of a context of the UI object.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a visual component of the contextual information is displayed adjacent to a described control on the UI object.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the VR environment includes modifying an appearance of the additional object.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the output information describing the additional object includes one or more of visual information or audio information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold distance is adjusted by a hysteresis parameter, and wherein modifying the VR environment is further responsive to determining that the location difference between the first location and the previous location is within the adjusted threshold distance.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an additional distance between the first location and a viewpoint location associated with a viewpoint in the VR environment; and
responsive to determining the additional distance, further modifying the VR environment to include additional information describing the UI object.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the first location in the VR environment is determined based on a physical location of an input device associated with the UI object, and
the viewpoint location in the VR environment is determined based on an additional physical location of an output device associated with the viewpoint.

9. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memory devices communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memory devices storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform:
determining a first location associated with a user interface (UI) object in a virtual reality (VR) environment and a second location associated with an additional object in the VR environment;
determining that the first location is within a threshold distance from the second location;
determining a previous location associated with the UI object in the VR environment within the threshold distance, the first location having a first timestamp that is subsequent to a previous timestamp of the previous location;
calculating, based on a location difference between the first location and the previous location, a cumulative motion of the UI object while the UI object is within the threshold distance; and
responsive to determining that the cumulative motion of the UI object while the UI object is within the threshold distance is less than or equal to a threshold amount of motion, modifying the VR environment to output information describing the additional object.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein:
modifying the VR environment includes outputting contextual information describing the UI object, and
the contextual information describing the UI object comprises one or more of: a description of a function of the UI object, a description of an interaction type with the UI object, or a description of a context of the UI object.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein modifying the VR environment includes modifying an appearance of the additional object.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the threshold distance is adjusted by a hysteresis parameter, and wherein modifying the VR environment is further responsive to determining that the location difference between the first location and the previous location is within the adjusted threshold distance.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions cause the system to further perform:
determining an additional distance between the first location and a viewpoint location associated with a viewpoint in the VR environment; and
responsive to determining the additional distance, further modifying the VR environment to include additional information describing the UI object.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the first location in the VR environment is determined based on a physical location of an input device associated with the UI object, and
the viewpoint location in the VR environment is determined based on an additional physical location of an output device associated with the viewpoint.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying program code for providing information in a virtual reality (VR) environment, the program code comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining a first position associated with a user interface (UI) object in the VR environment and a second position associated with an additional object in the VR environment, wherein the first position and the second position each include a respective object location and a respective object orientation;
determining that the first position is within a threshold distance from the second position;
determining a previous position associated with the UI object in the VR environment within the threshold distance, the first position having a first timestamp that is subsequent to a previous timestamp of the previous position;
calculating, based on a position difference between the first position and the previous position, a cumulative motion of the UI object while the UI object is within the threshold distance; and
responsive to determining that the cumulative motion of the UI object while the UI object is within the threshold distance is less than or equal to a threshold amount of motion, modifying the VR environment to include information describing the additional object.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:
modifying the VR environment includes outputting contextual information describing the UI object, and
the contextual information describing the UI object comprises one or more of: a description of a function of the UI object, a description of an interaction type with the UI object, or a description of a context of the UI object.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein modifying the VR environment includes modifying an appearance of the additional object.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable m

Assignees

• Adobe Inc

Inventors

• Diverdi Stephen
• Walker Seth
• Williams Brian

Classifications

• G06T19/20 Primary

  Editing of three-dimensional [3D] images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts · CPC title

• G06F3/04815 Primary

  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

• G06F3/0346

  with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a three-dimensional [3D] space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors · CPC title

• G06F9/451

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · 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