Positional tracking assisted beam forming in wireless virtual reality systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9866286-B1
Application number	US-201715433817-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 15, 2017
Priority date	Feb 15, 2017
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure support a head-mounted display (HMD) wirelessly coupled to a console. The HMD includes a positional tracking system, a beam controller and a transceiver. The positional tracking system tracks position of the HMD and generates positional information describing the tracked position of the HMD. The transceiver communicates with a console via a wireless channel, in accordance with communication instructions, the communication instructions causing the transceiver to communicate over one directional beam of a plurality of directional beams. The beam controller determines a change in the positional information. Based on the change to the positional information, the beam controller determines a directional beam of the plurality of directional beams. The beam controller further generates the communication instructions identifying the determined directional beam, and provides the communication instructions to the transceiver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A head-mounted display (HMD) comprising:
a positional tracking system configured to:
track a position of the HMD relative to a console that wirelessly communicates with the HMD, and
generate positional information describing the tracked position of the HMD relative to the console;

a transceiver configured to communicate directly with the console via a wireless channel, in accordance with communication instructions, the communication instructions causing the transceiver to communicate over one directional beam of a plurality of directional beams; and
a beam controller configured to:
determine a change in the positional information,
determine a directional beam, of the plurality of directional beams, based in part on the change to the positional information,
generate the communication instructions identifying the determined directional beam, and
provide the communication instructions to the transceiver.

2. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein:
the beam controller is further configured to maintain line-of-sight (LOS) with the console when switching communication from the directional beam to some other directional beam of the plurality of directional beams in accordance with the communication instructions.

3. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the beam controller is further configured to:
establish that a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) condition for communication exists between the HMD and the console; and
instruct the transceiver to switch communication with the console to some other directional beam, of the plurality of directional beams, the other directional beam comprising a reflection path between the HMD and the console, based on the established NLOS condition for communication.

4. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to receive a feedback signal from the console, the feedback signal comprising information about a region where a quality of communication between the HMD and the console is above a threshold; and
the beam controller is further configured to perform beam tracking based on the information about the region.

5. The HMD of claim 1 , further comprising:
a processor configured to predict motion of the HMD, wherein
the beam controller is further configured to instruct the transceiver to switch communication with the console from the directional beam to some other directional beam of the plurality of directional beams, based on the predicted motion of the HMD.

6. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein:
the transceiver is configured to receive from the console information about predicted motion of the HMD; and
the beam controller is further configured to:
determine some other directional beam, of the plurality of directional beams, based in part on the predicted motion of the HMD, and
instruct the transceiver to switch communication with the console from the directional beam to the other directional beam.

7. The HMD of claim 1 , further comprising:
a depth camera assembly (DCA) configured to determine depth information of one or more objects in a local area surrounding the HMD, wherein
the beam controller is further configured to determine the directional beam based on the change to the positional information and the determined depth information.

8. A method comprising:
tracking a position of a head-mounted display (HMD) relative to a console that wirelessly communicates with the HMD;
generating positional information describing the tracked position of the HMD relative to the console;
determining a change in the positional information;
determining a directional beam, of a plurality of directional beams, based in part on the change to the positional information;
generating the communication instructions identifying the determined directional beam; and
communicating directly with the console via a wireless channel, in accordance with the communication instructions, over the determined directional beam.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
maintaining line-of-sight (LOS) with the console when switching communication from the directional beam to some other directional beam of the plurality of directional beams in accordance with the communication instructions.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
establishing that a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) condition for communication exists between the HMD and the console; and
switching communication with the console to some other directional beam, of the plurality of directional beams, the other directional beam comprising a reflection path between the HMD and the console, based on the established NLOS condition for communication.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving a feedback signal from the console, the feedback signal comprising information about a region where a quality of communication between the HMD and the console is above a threshold; and
performing beam tracking based on the information about the region.

Assignees

• Oculus Vr Llc

Inventors

• Qu Qi
• Venkatraman Ganesh
• Zhou Hongyu
• Brown Ryan Hamilton
• Linde Oskar
• Bainbridge Lyle David
• Devoe Matthew James
• Yazdan Ali
• Alex Sam Padinjaremannil
• Patel Nirav Rajendra

Classifications

• H04B2001/3866

  carried on the head · CPC title

• H04B7/26 Primary

  at least one of which is mobile · CPC title

• G01S5/163

  Determination of attitude (using inertial means G01C9/00; control of attitude G05D1/49) · CPC title

• H04B1/385

  Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets · CPC title

• H04B7/0408 Primary

  using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity · CPC title