Adjustable visual effects simulating auto darkening lenses in augmented reality welding systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11514816-B2
Application number	US-201916279625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2019
Priority date	Feb 19, 2019
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and/or methods are disclosed relating to augmented reality welding systems. In some examples, an augmented reality welding system is configured to apply a visual effect to a simulated rendering of the augmented reality welding system when a simulated arc is present, so as to emulate an auto-darkening lens of a welding helmet. In some examples, the visual effect is impacted by several user adjustable settings. The settings may be adjusted by a user, such as via a helmet interface and/or the user interface of the augmented reality welding system, for example. In some examples, the settings may emulate auto-darkening settings found on conventional auto-darkening welding helmets (e.g., shade, sensitivity, and/or delay). In some examples, the settings may also include other settings unique to the augmented reality welding system, such as, for example a helmet model/type, a difficulty setting, a realism setting, and/or an effect area setting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A welding training system, comprising:
a display screen configured to display a simulated rendering; and
control circuitry configured to:
determine whether the simulated rendering includes a simulated arc,
determine a threshold based on a sensitivity setting,
in response to determining the simulated rendering includes the simulated arc, determine whether a simulated brightness of the simulated arc is greater than the threshold,
in response to determining the simulated brightness of the simulated arc is greater than the threshold,
determine a visual effect to apply to the simulated rendering based on a shade setting or a helmet model setting,
determine a size or location of a portion of the simulated rendering to which the visual effect will be applied based on a realism setting or a difficulty setting, and
apply the visual effect to at least the portion of the simulated rendering.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the visual effect comprises a filter effect.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the filter effect reduces the simulated brightness of at least a portion of the simulated rendering.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
determine whether the filter effect should simulate a uniform spectral transmissivity or a non-uniform spectral transmissivity based on a difficulty setting or a realism setting, and
apply the filter effect according to the determination.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the portion comprises at least one of a background, a foreground, an entirety, a weld area, a welding arc, or a weld pool of the simulated rendering.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the visual effect simulates a darkening effect of an auto-darkening welding helmet.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine the visual effect based on the simulation realism setting.

8. The system of claim 3 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine a degree to which to reduce the simulated brightness based on the shade setting, and apply the filter effect according to the determination.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein, in response to determining the simulated rendering does not include the simulated arc, the control circuitry is further configured to apply the visual effect in response to determining that a time since the simulated rendering last included the simulated arc is less than a delay setting.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine the visual effect to apply to the simulated rendering based on the helmet model setting, the helmet model setting comprises a type of welding helmet, the visual effect comprises a filter effect, and the filter effect is based on a spectral transmissivity curve of the type of welding helmet.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine the visual effect based on one or more weld settings.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more weld settings comprise one or more of a voltage, a current, a gas type, a wire feed speed, a workpiece material type, or a filler type.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine the visual effect based on the simulation difficulty setting.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a simulated welding helmet having the display screen, control circuitry, and a camera configured to capture images of a surrounding environment, the control circuitry being further configured to:
receive the images from the camera;
detect one or more weld settings of the welding training system; and
generate the simulated rendering based on the images and the one or more weld settings.

Assignees

• Marquinez Pedro
• Becker William Joshua
• Gunia Pavel
• Illinois Tool Works
• Seabery North America Inc

Inventors

• Marquinez Pedro
• Becker William Joshua
• Gunia Pavel

Classifications

• G06T15/00 Primary

  Three-dimensional [3D] image rendering · CPC title

• G09B19/24 Primary

  Use of tools · CPC title

• G02B2027/014

  comprising information/image processing systems · CPC title

• G02B27/0172

  characterised by optical features · CPC title

• G02B2027/0118

  comprising devices for improving the contrast of the display / brillance control visibility · CPC title