DRONES GENERATING VARIOUS AIR FLOW EFFECTS AROUND A VIRTUAL REALITY OR AUGMENTED REALITY USER

Number: 20190066359
Published: 2019-02-28
Filed: 2018-01-24
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Chen; Alexander C., Chapman; Steven M., Havey; Benjamin
CPC: A63F13/25; A63F13/26; A63F13/28; B25J9/1605; B64U10/13; B64U30/20; G05D1/0094; G05D1/104; G06F3/011; G06F3/016; G06T15/20; G06T19/006; H04N7/185
Verdict: High Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Drones generating air flow effects around VR/AR user (physical drone effect).

Abstract

Systems and methods described herein are directed to enhancing a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) experience by using one or more unmanned vehicles to generate effects around a user of a headmounted display (HMD). The generated effects may be synchronized with VR/AR content presented to the user of the HMD. Particular systems and methods described herein are directed to enhancing a VR/AR experience by using one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to generate air flow effects around a user of a HMD. The air flow effects generated by UAV may simulate a physical and/or olfactory sensation corresponding to a VR/AR environment presented to the user using the HMD.

Background

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Techniques described herein are directed to enhancing a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) experience by using one or more unmanned vehicles to generate effects around a user of a headmounted display (HMD).

In one embodiment, a method includes: communicatively coupling an unmanned vehicle to a VR system including a VR HMD; determining a desired physical effect to be generated on a user of the VR HMD; based on at least the desired physical effect, positioning the unmanned vehicle relative to the position of the user of the VR HMD and configuring the unmanned vehicle in preparation for generating the physical effect; and after positioning the unmanned vehicle, generating a physical effect on the user of the VR HMD.

In implementations, the method may further include: presenting VR content on a display of the VR HMD; and synchronizing presentation of the VR content with the generation of the physical effect on the user of the VR HMD. In implementations, the generated physical effect may simulate a part of the presented VR content. The physical effect may be generated in response to the user interacting with VR content presented on the display of the VR HMD or the physical effect may generated in response to video content presented on the VR HMD reaching a predetermined time.

In implementations, the unmanned vehicle is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the UAV including an air flow unit including at least one air

Claims

1. A method, comprising: communicatively coupling an unmanned vehicle to a virtual reality (VR) system including a VR headmounted display (HMD); determining a desired physical effect to be generated on a user of the VR HMD; based on at least the desired physical effect, positioning the unmanned vehicle relative to the position of the user of the VR HMD and configuring the unmanned vehicle in preparation for generating the physical effect; and after positioning the unmanned vehicle, generating a physical effect on the user of the VR HMD. 15. A system, comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor cause the system to: communicatively couple an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to a virtual reality (VR) system including a VR headmounted display (HMD), the UAV comprising an air flow unit including at least one air flow generator; determine a desired air flow effect to be generated on a user of the VR HMD; based on least the desired air flow effect, position the UAV relative to the position of the user of the VR HMD and configure air flow parameters of the air flow unit of the UAV; and after positioning the UAV, generate an air flow effect on the user of the VR HMD based on the configured air flow parameters.