Collaborative virtual reality system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12518484-B2
Application number	US-202218683381-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2022
Priority date	Aug 19, 2021
Publication date	Jan 6, 2026
Grant date	Jan 6, 2026

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for use in configuring a collaborative virtual reality (VR) system. The method comprises obtaining first and second environmental data representative of at least one characteristic of a first and second environment associated with a first and second VR system of the collaborative VR system, respectively. First and second capability data representative of a display capability of the first and second VR system for displaying VR content, respectively, is obtained. A common virtual workspace of a VR environment for display of collaborative VR content by both the first VR system and the second VR system is determined, based on the first and second environmental data and the first and second capability data. A first and second layout of at least one display element of the collaborative VR content within the common virtual workspace is determined, for use by the first and second VR system, respectively.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method for use in configuring a collaborative virtual reality (VR) system, the method comprising:
using at least one processor to perform steps of the method including: obtaining first environmental data representative of at least one characteristic of a first environment associated with a first VR system of the collaborative VR system; obtaining first capability data representative of a display capability of the first VR system for displaying VR content; obtaining second environmental data representative of at least one characteristic of a second environment associated with a second VR system of the collaborative VR system; obtaining second capability data representative of a display capability of the second VR system for displaying VR content; determining, based on the first environmental data, the second environmental data, the first capability data, and the second capability data, a common virtual workspace of a VR environment for display of collaborative VR content by both the first VR system and the second VR system; determining a first layout of at least one display element of the collaborative VR content within the common virtual workspace, for use by the first VR system; determining a second layout of the at least one display element within the common virtual workspace, for use by the second VR system; providing first instructions to the first VR system to configure the first VR system to use the first layout for the at least one display element; and providing second instructions to the second VR system to configure the second VR system to use the second layout for the at least one display element.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first environment is different from the second environment.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first environment is a first physical environment of the first VR system and the second environment is a second physical environment of the second VR system.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the first environmental data is indicative of a position of at least one object within the first physical environment, the second environmental data is indicative of a position of at least one object within the second physical environment, and determining the common virtual workspace comprises determining the common virtual workspace in relation to the position of the at least one object within the first physical environment and the position of the at least one object within the second physical environment.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein determining the common virtual workspace comprises determining the common virtual workspace based on a first free space area defined in relation to the position of the at least one object within the first physical environment, and a second free space area defined in relation to the position of the at least one further object within the second physical environment.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one object within the first physical environment comprises a first object, the at least one object within the second physical environment comprises a second object corresponding to the first object, determining the first layout comprises determining a first position of a display element of the at least one display element within the common virtual workspace to align with a position of the first object within the first physical environment and determining the second layout comprises determining a second position of the display element to align with a position of the second object within the second physical environment.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first layout and the second layout are jointly determined, based on the first environmental data, the second environmental data, the first capability data, and the second capability data.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the common virtual workspace comprises:
determining, based on the first environmental data and the first capability data, a first virtual workspace of the VR environment for display of the collaborative VR content by the first VR system; determining, based on the second environmental data and the second capability data, a second virtual workspace of the VR environment for display of the collaborative VR content by the second VR system; and determining the common virtual workspace based on the first virtual workspace and the second virtual workspace.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the common virtual workspace corresponds to an area of overlap between the first virtual workspace and the second virtual workspace.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the common virtual workspace corresponds to at least one of: less than all of the first virtual workspace displayable by the first VR system, and less than all of the second virtual workspace displayable by the second VR system.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the common virtual workspace comprises processing input data comprising first workspace data representative of the first virtual workspace and second workspace data representative of the second virtual workspace using a trained machine learning (ML) system to generate output data indicative of the common virtual workspace.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the input data comprises display data indicative of the at least one display element, the first layout and the second layout are determined by processing the input data using the trained ML system, and the output data is further indicative of the first layout and the second layout.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first capability data is representative of a first field of view of the first VR system for displaying VR content and the second capability data is representative of a second field of view of the second VR system for displaying VR content.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first layout is the same as the second layout.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first VR system is a different type of VR system than the second VR system.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first layout comprises determining the first layout based on characteristic data indicative of a characteristic of the at least one display element and determining the second layout comprises determining the second layout based on the characteristic data.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first layout comprises determining the first layout based on interaction data indicative of prior user interactions with prior collaborative VR content displayed using the collaborative VR system and determining the second layout comprises determining the second layout based on the interaction data.

18 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
in response to the first VR system receiving the first instructions, the first VR system using the first layout for the at least one display element; and in response to the second VR system receiving the second instructions, the second VR system using the second layout for the at least one display element.

19 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
after providing the instructions to the first VR system and providing the instructions to the second VR system, receiving further display data representative of a further display element of the collaborative VR content; determining a further first layout of the further display element within the common virtual workspace, for use by the first VR system; and determining a further second layout of the further display

Assignees

• British Telecomm

Inventors

• Martins Andrade Tiago
• Healing Alexander

Classifications

• G06T17/00 Primary

  Three-dimensional [3D] modelling for computer graphics · CPC title

• G06F3/011 Primary

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