Smart transparency for virtual objects
US10451875B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 27, 2015 |
| Grant date | Oct 22, 2019 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 12, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B2027/0178
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A head mounted display (HMD) device is configured with a sensor package that enables head tracking to determine the device user's proximity to virtual objects in a mixed reality or virtual reality environment. A fade volume including concentrically-arranged volumetric shells is placed around the user including a near shell that is closest to the user, and a far shell that is farthest from the user. When a virtual object is beyond the far shell, the HMD device renders the object with full opacity (i.e., with no transparency). As the user moves towards a virtual object and it intersects the far shell, its opacity begins to fade out with increasing transparency to reveal the background behind it. The transparency of the virtual object increases as the object gets closer to the near shell and the object becomes fully transparent when the near shell reaches it so that the background becomes fully visible.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.