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US 10,540,001 B1Granted
Fine-motion virtual-reality or augmented-reality control using radar
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsIvan Poupyrev, Patrick M. Amihood
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This document describes techniques for fine-motion virtual-reality or augmented-reality control using radar. These techniques enable small motions and displacements to be tracked, even in the millimeter or sub-millimeter scale, for user control actions even when those actions are small, fast, or obscured due to darkness or varying light. Further, these techniques enable fine resolution and real-time control, unlike conventional RF-tracking or optical-tracking techniques.
Claims26
A computer-implemented method for fine-motion virtual-reality or augmented-reality (VR/AR) control, the computer-implemented method comprising:
- presenting a VR/AR controller within a virtual world or an augmented-reality viewport;
- tracking user actions interacting with the VR/AR controller, the tracked interactions including fine-motions in a millimeter or sub-millimeter range, the tracking comprising:
- receiving a radar signal representing a superposition of reflections of two or more points within a radar field provided by a radar-system;
- calculating a radial distance for each of the points using a time delay between a transmittal of the radar field and the receiving of the radar signal;
- calculating a radial velocity for each of the points using an observed Doppler frequency for each of the points;
- ascertaining a reflected energy for each of the points;
- and
- determining a relative displacement, or a relative velocity, between the points based on the radial distance, radial velocity, and reflected energy for each of the points;
- altering an orientation of the VR/AR controller in real time and with fine-motion appearance changes, the fine-motion appearance changes in the millimeter or sub-millimeter range and corresponding to the tracked user actions;
- and
- responsive to the altered orientation of the VR/AR controller corresponding to a control orientation, passing a control input corresponding to the control orientation effective to control the virtual world, the augmented-reality world, or an application or device external to the virtual world or the augmented-reality world.
8 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- one or more computer processors;
- a radar system comprising:
- one or more radar-emitting elements configured to provide a radar field;
- and
- one or more antenna elements configured to receive a radar signal representing a superposition of reflections of two or more points within the radar field provided by the radar system;
- and
- one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by one or more computer processors, implement a fine-motion tracking module, a VR/AR control module, and a user representation module:
- the fine-motion tracking module configured to track the points within the radar field effective to track user actions interacting with a VR/AR controller, the tracked user actions including fine-motions in a millimeter or sub-millimeter range, the tracking comprising:
- calculating a radial distance for each of the points using a time delay between a transmittal of the radar field and the receiving of the radar signal;
- calculating a radial velocity for each of the points using an observed Doppler frequency for each of the points;
- ascertaining a reflected energy for each of the points;
- determining a relative displacement, or relative velocity, between the points based on the radial distance, radial velocity, and reflected energy for each of the points, at least one of the points being a portion of a user that performs the user actions;
- the VR/AR control module configured to:
- present the VR/AR controller within a virtual world;
- and
- alter an orientation of the VR/AR controller in real time and with fine-motion appearance changes, the fine-motion appearance changes in the millimeter or sub-millimeter range and corresponding to the tracked user actions;
- and
- the user representation module configured to present, in the virtual world, the portion of the user performing the user actions interacting with the VR/AR controller.
15 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- one or more computer processors;
- a radar system comprising:
- one or more radar-emitting elements configured to provide a radar field;
- and
- one or more antenna elements configured to receive a radar signal representing a superposition of reflections of two or more points that are spatially separated within the radar field provided by the radar system;
- and
- one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by one or more computer processors, implement a fine-motion tracking module and a VR/AR control module:
- the fine-motion tracking module configured to track the points within the radar field effective to track user actions interacting with a VR/AR controller, the tracked user actions including fine-motions in a millimeter or sub-millimeter range, the tracking comprising:
- distinguishing the spatially separated points by determining respective micro-Doppler centroids for the points;
- and
- determining a relative displacement, or relative velocity, between the points by spatially resolving the points, at least one of the points being a portion of a user that performs the user actions;
- the VR/AR control module configured to:
- present the VR/AR controller within a viewport for an augmented-reality world;
- and
- alter an orientation of the VR/AR controller in real time and with fine-motion appearance changes, the fine-motion appearance changes in the millimeter or sub-millimeter range and corresponding to the tracked user actions.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.