SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING MULTIPLE, SIMULTANEOUS, INDEPENDENT SIMULATIONS IN A MOTION CAPTURE ENVIRONMENT

Technical Field

The present invention relates to simulations in a virtual environment.

Description of the Prior Art

Virtual reality is a technology which allows a user or "actor" to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one. Most current virtual reality environments are primarily visual experiences, displayed either on a computer screen or through special stereoscopic displays. An actor can interact with a virtual reality environment or a virtual artifact within the virtual reality environment either through the use of standard input devices, such as a keyboard and mouse, or through multimodal devices, such as a wired glove. The actor is disposed in a three- dimensional, physical space, known as a studio, wherein the actor interacts with one or more physical objects within the studio and/or with one or more virtual artifacts of the virtual reality environment.

One particular shortcoming of conventional virtual reality environments is that only one computer simulation can be conducted within a studio at any given time. Thus, if a studio is being utilized for a first simulation and the need arises to run a second, different simulation, the first simulation must be terminated in favor of the second simulation or the execution of the second simulation must be delayed until the first simulation has been completed.

There are ways of conducting virtual reality simulations well known in the art; however, considerable shortcomings remain.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. However, the invention itself, as well as a preferred mode of use, and further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference

to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the leftmost significant digit(s) in the reference numerals denote(s) the first figure in which the respective reference numerals appear, wherein:

Figure 1 is a stylized, exemplary, perspective view of an actor within a studio of a motion capture environment;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the actor of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a stylized, schematic view depicting first illustrative relationships between a studio, a motion capture environment, and computer simulations performed by the motion capture environment; and

Figure 4 is a stylized, schematic view depicting second illustrative relationships between a studio, a motion capture environment, and computer simulations performed by the motion capture environment.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex

and time-consuming but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

In the specification, reference may be made to the spatial relationships between various components and to the spatial orientation of various aspects of components as the devices are depicted in the attached drawings. However, as will be recognized by those skilled in the art after a complete reading of the present application, the devices, members, apparatuses, etc. described herein may be positioned in any desired orientation. Thus, the use of terms such as "above," "below," "upper," "lower," or other like terms to describe a spatial relationship between various components or to describe the spatial orientation of aspects of such components should be understood to describe a relative relationship between the components or a spatial orientation of aspects of such components, respectively, as the device described herein may be oriented in any desired direction.

Referring to Figure 1 , in a virtual reality environment or virtual reality scene, one or more users or actors 101 interact with one or more physical objects 103 and/or 105 in a physical or real environment and/or one or more virtual artifacts 107 and/or 109 in the virtual reality environment. The one or more actors 101 are physically present in a three-dimensional space, known as a studio 111 in which the one or more actors 101 may move the one or more physical objects 103 and/or 105. A motion capture environment 113 is contained by studio 111. Motion capture environment 113 includes one or more computers 115 and software resident on the one or more computers 115 that are operable to generate virtual reality scenes.

Motion capture environment 113 further includes a framework 117, upon which to mount tracker-sensors 119 and/or tracker-sensor combinations, which are described in greater detail herein. The software includes one or more computer programs that interpret information from the tracker-sensors and one or more computer programs that create the virtual reality scenes or environment.

A virtual representation of studio 111 exists in motion capture environment

113, which hosts the virtual reality environment. The one or more actors 101 use display devices, for example, headset viewers, such as a headset viewer 201 of

- A -

Figure 2; monitors, such as a monitor 121; or the like, to view the virtual reality environment. The virtual reality environment is the scene that the one or more actors 101 , or other such observers, see via the display devices. The virtual reality environment may be a virtual representation of the studio or the virtual reality environment may be a virtual representation of any other real or imagined three- dimensional space. Moreover, the virtual reality environment may be a combination of a virtual representation of the studio and a virtual representation of another real or imagined three-dimensional space.

Physical objects, such as physical objects 103 and 105, that are disposed within studio 111 and that are moved by the one or more actors 101, are tracked using motion capture environment 113. These "tracked objects" may be tracked by a variety of sensor methodologies, including, but not limited to, reflectors, such as reflectors 123 and 125 and reflector 203 of Figure 2; inertial measurement units; and the like. Examples of such inertial measurement units include, but are not limited to, ring laser gyroscopes, accelerometers, ultrasonic emitter-receptors, and the like. Referring to Figure 2, examples of tracked objects include, but are not limited to, wands, such as a wand 205; gloves, such as a glove 207; hats, such as a hat 209; head mounted displays, such as headset viewer 201 ; boots, such as boot 211 ; and the like.

Tracker-sensors, such as tracker sensors 119, interface with motion capture environment 113 and determine where a tracked object, such as physical objects 103 and 105, is located within the physical space of the studio. Such tracker- sensors may comprise a single unit or a plurality of units. The tracker-sensors may be attached to a framework, such as framework 117, which defines the physical limits of the studio or may be attached to the tracked objects, or both. While tracker- sensors may utilize various methodologies for tracking tracked objects, certain tracker-sensors use inertial acceleration with subsequent integration to provide rate and displacement information, ultrasonic measurement, optical measurement, near infrared measurement, as well as methods that use other bands of radiation within the electromagnetic spectrum.

Referring now to Figure 3, the illustrated embodiment of motion capture environment 113 comprises a primary server 301 ; a first client 303; and a second client 305. It should be noted that any or all of the primary server, the first client, and the second client comprise one or more computers executing software embodied in one or more computer-readable media that are operable to produce and control the virtual reality environments. Clients 303 and 305 may reside on a single computer but perform separate, different computer simulations. It should be noted that while two clients 303 and 305 are depicted in Figure 3, more than two clients are possible.

Figure 3 depicts a first actor 307 and a second actor 309. Both actor 307 and actor 309 are disposed in a studio, such as studio 111 of Figure 1. A first set of sensors 311a-311e are operably associated with actor 307. A second set of sensors 313a-313e are operably associated with actor 309. Tracker-sensors, such as tracker-sensors 119 of Figure 1 , determine the location of every sensor in the studio. Preferably using proximity rules, the tracker-sensors, or another element of the motion capture environment, determines which sensors are attached to, for example, a glove, such as glove 207 of Figure 2 and to a headset viewer, such as headset viewer 201 of Figure 2. As actors 307 and 309 move their heads and/or their hands, the proximity rules maintain the identity of the virtual hand and the virtual head of each of the actors. In this way the direction each actor 307 and 309 is looking is determined, as well as where in the studio the heads and hands of actors 307 and 309 are disposed. When more than one actor 307 and 309 is active in the studio at the same time, separate identities of the virtual hands and virtual heads of the actors 307 and 309 are maintained. In conventional motion capture environments, the locations of the hands and heads of all of the actors in the aggregate are interpreted for a single, sole, virtual reality scene or environment. The appropriate visual information for each actor is sent to the respective actor's headset. Each actor sees wherein the single virtual reality scene or environment he or she resides.

In the present invention, however, the locations of all of the virtual and physical objects are sent to server 301. Server 301 sends copies of the locations of sensors 311a-311e, shown generally at 312, that are operably associated with first actor 307 to first client, 303 and sends copies of the locations of sensors 313a-313e,

shown generally at 314, that are operably associated with second actor 309 to second client 305. Alternatively, the locations of all sensors 311a-311e and 313a- 313e are sent to each of clients 303 and 305 along with instructions to process only those sensor locations that are part of the simulation being performed by a particular client, as shown in Figure 4. Thus, first client 303 processes the position and orientation information of objects associated with first actor 307, while second client 305 processes the position and orientation information of objects associated with second actor 309. It should be noted that more than one actor may be associated with a particular virtual environment and that more than two computer simulations may be simultaneously conducted within a single studio. Each client performs a desired simulation. For example, first client 303 may perform a simulation 315 of a repair of an airplane engine 317, while second client 305 may perform a simulation 319 of a surgical procedure 321. Each of clients 303 and 305 determines which part or parts of the virtual reality scene to show the actor 307 or 309 assigned to that particular client and each actor 307 and 309 sees only the simulation assigned to the actor 307 or 309 in the actor's headset. Thus, the same studio can be used for very dissimilar simulations simultaneously without interference between the different simulations.

It should be noted that while the disclosure provided above describes the actors' hands and heads as being tracked, any portion of an actor's body, or any appendage to any portion of an actor's body, may be tracked.

Performing multiple simultaneous independent simulations in a single motion capture environment provides many advantages. For example, a single motion capture environment can support more than one computer simulation simultaneously, thus extending a valuable resource in the time dimension. Moreover, performing multiple simultaneous independent simulations in a single motion capture environment reduces the unit simulation cost. Furthermore, multiple, physical motion capture environments need not be built in some situations to support the demand for such environments.

It should be noted that motion capture environment 113 comprises one or more computers, such as computer 115, executing software embodied in a computer-readable medium that is operable to produce and control the virtual reality environment. The scope of the invention encompasses, among other things, motion capture environment, such as motion capture environment 113 of Figure 1 ; the software operable to produce and control the virtual reality environment; and the method for producing and controlling the virtual reality environment, carried out by motion capture environment 113.

The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein.

Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below. It is apparent that an invention with significant advantages has been described and illustrated. Although the present invention is shown in a limited number of forms, it is not limited to just these forms, but is amenable to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.