Augmented reality virtual reality ray tracing sensory enhancement system, apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12549918-B2
Application number	US-202318517862-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2023
Priority date	Apr 24, 2017
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses and methods may provide away to render augmented reality (AR) and/or virtual reality (VR) sensory enhancements using ray tracing. More particularly, systems, apparatuses and methods may provide a way to normalize environment information captured by multiple capture devices, and calculate, for an observer, the sound sources or sensed events vector paths. The systems, apparatuses and methods may detect and/or manage one or more capture devices and assign one or more the capture devices based on one or more conditions to provide observer an immersive VR/AR experience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
a power source to supply power to the system; a memory comprising environment information, the memory coupled to a processor; and a graphics pipeline apparatus to:
normalize environment information to a position of an observer within a device coordinate space to generate normalized environment information relative to the observer, wherein the environment information is captured by one or more capture devices;
calculate, for the observer, ray tracing vector paths of sound sources or sensed events, wherein the ray tracing vector paths include vector path attributes that include one or more of positional information and directional information relative to the observer;
detect, for the capture devices, one or more of a capture device mode of operation, a capture device capability, a change to the capture device mode, and a change to the capture device capability based on one or more operating parameters wherein the one or more operating parameters include a priority ranking of one or more of multiple n-dimensional environments, the capture devices, the sound sources, and the sensed events; and
play back the normalized environment information to the observer as augmented reality sensory enhancements (AR) or virtual reality (VR) sensory enhancements based on the ray tracing vector paths based on the operating parameters.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a number of ray bundles include a number of surround sound bands for surround sound type acoustic effects.

3 . The system of claim 2 , the graphics pipeline apparatus further to:
adjust a number of frequency bands within the ray bundles based on acoustic properties of one or more of the sound sources.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the environment information including one more of sounds from one or more sound sources or sensed events from one or more event sources, wherein, during the playing back of the environment information, the graphics pipeline apparatus is to attenuate at least one of the sounds to produce a surround sound experience for the observer based on superposition of the ray bundles, wherein normalizing the environment information includes determining, by at least one of the capture devices, the position of the observer.

5 . The system of claim 4 , the graphics pipeline apparatus further to:
superimpose the ray bundles to visual information presented during playback, and wherein attenuating at least one of the sounds is based on the superposition of the ray bundles, produces a ray trace Doppler effect for the observer, by applying a relative motion filter to the normalized environment information.

6 . The system of claim 5 , the graphics pipeline apparatus further to:
adjust fidelity of the sound, by adjusting one or more of a number of ray bundles or a number of frequency bands based on the operating parameters.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein user preferences include render adjustments, wherein the graphics pipeline apparatus is trained during a training session with the observer, and
the system further comprising feedback devices, wherein the feedback devices include one or more speakers to output the sounds, or actuators to relay tactile information to a tactile surface based on one or more of the render adjustments or the sounds, wherein the tactile surface is two-dimensional or three-dimensional.

8 . The system of claim 4 , further comprising a capture device manager to:
assign one or more of the capture devices to capture at least a first microphone of the microphones to a first sound of the sounds or a first sensor of the sensors to a first sensed event of the sensed events based on one or more of user preferences, application parameters, attributes of the first sound or the first sensed event, or location or direction of travel the sound source of the first sound; and assign at least a second microphone to the first sound or a second sensor to the first sensed event based on one or more of the user preferences, the application parameters, the attributes of the first sound or the first sensed event, a change in the location or the direction of travel of the sound source of the first sound, or the changes to the capture device capabilities.

9 . The system of claim 8 , the graphics pipeline apparatus further to:
attenuate output of one or more of the sounds based on one or more of the assigning of the one or more capture devices or the operating parameters, wherein the capture device manager adjusts the capture device mode of one or more of the capture devices based on the change to the capture device capabilities or the capture device mode, and wherein one of more of the graphics pipeline apparatus or the device capture manager are trained based on the operating parameters, the capture device mode, the capture device capabilities, the change to the capture device mode, or the change to the capture device capabilities.

10 . The system of claim 1 , the graphics pipeline apparatus further to:
apply two or more of an absorption filter, an attenuation filter, and a reflective filter to the normalized environment information to form filtered normalized environment information associated with acoustic properties of objects and surfaces, based on attributes of the ray tracing vector paths of the sound sources or sensed events.

11 . An apparatus comprising:
a memory comprising environment information; and a graphics pipeline apparatus to:
normalize environment information to a position of an observer within a device coordinate space to generate normalized environment information relative to the observer, wherein the environment information is captured by one or more capture devices;
calculate, for the observer, ray tracing vector paths of sound sources or sensed events, wherein the ray tracing vector paths include vector path attributes that include one or more of positional information and directional information relative to the observer;
detect, for the capture devices, one or more of a capture device mode of operation, a capture device capability, a change to the capture device mode, and a change to the capture device capability based on one or more operating parameters, wherein the one or more operating parameters include a priority ranking of one or more of multiple n-dimensional environments, the capture devices, the sound sources, and the sensed events; and
play back the normalized environment information to the observer as augmented reality sensory enhancements (AR) or virtual reality (VR) sensory enhancements based on the ray tracing vector paths based on the operating parameters.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a number of ray bundles include a number of surround sound bands for surround sound type acoustic effects.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , the graphics pipeline apparatus further to:
adjust a number of frequency bands within the ray bundles based on acoustic properties of one or more of the sound sources.

14 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the environment information including one more of sounds from one or more sound sources or sensed events from one or more event sources, wherein, during the playing back of the environment information, the graphics pipeline apparatus is to attenuate at least one of the sounds to produce a surround sound experience for the observer based on superposition of the ray bundles, wherein normalizing the environment information includes determining, by at least one of the capture devices, the position of the observer.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , the graphics pipeline apparatus further

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Ray Joydeep
• Schluessler Travis T
• Surti Prasoonkumar
• Feit John H
• Kaburlasos Nikos
• Kwiatkowski Jacek
• Appu Abhishek R
• Holland James M
• Boles Jeffery S
• Kennedy Jonathan
• Feng Louis
• Kuwahara Atsuo
• Das Barnan
• Biswal Narayan
• Baran Stanley J
• Cilingir Gokcen
• Shah Nilesh V
• Sharma Archie
• Varerkar Mayuresh M

Classifications

• H04S2420/01

  Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD] · CPC title

• H04S2400/11

  Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field (H04S2420/13 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G09B21/003

  using tactile presentation of the information, e.g. Braille displays · CPC title

• G09B21/006

  using audible presentation of the information · CPC title

• G09B21/008

  using visual presentation of the information for the partially sighted · CPC title