Dynamic entering and leaving of virtual-reality environments navigated by different HMD users

A system for providing virtual reality (VR) scenes to one or more head mounted displays (HMD), comprising:

• a first HMD configured to display VR scenes to a user;
• a computing system capable of executing VR content, the executing of VR content producing a first perspective of a VR scene, the computing system being configured for establishing a first communication channel for providing the first perspective of the VR scene to the first HMD, and for establishing a second communication channel for receiving a signal from a second HMD, the signal including a request to join the VR scene, the second communication channel further used to provide a second perspective of the VR scene to the second HMD;
• and
• a positioning system for tracking real-world position and orientation data and changes thereto of the first HMD and the second HMD, the real-world position and orientation data is usable to determine a relative location of the second HMD from the first HMD in a real-world space;
• wherein the second perspective of the VR scene is based on the real-world position and orientation of the second HMD relative to that of the first HMD, the second perspective of the VR scene is shifted from the first perspective of the VR scene corresponding to a difference in the relative location of the second HMD from the first HMD in the real-world space, wherein the first perspective and the second perspective are controlled by respective position and orientation changes of the first and second HMDs, and wherein the user of the first HMD controls a progression of the VR scene and the progression causes a movement of the first perspective toward a direction within the VR scene, and said movement causes a corresponding movement toward the direction within the VR scene for the second perspective while substantially maintaining the shifted perspective between the first perspective and the second perspective.

A system for providing virtual reality (VR) scenes, comprising:

• a first HMD configured to display a first perspective of a VR scene to a first user;
• a mobile computing device associated with the first HMD usable for executing VR content, the executing of VR content producing the first perspective of the VR scene, the mobile computing device having a communication channel configured for exchanging data with a second HMD for determining a relative location of the second HMD from the first HMD in a real-world space and for enabling the second HMD to display a second perspective of the VR scene to a second user, the second perspective of the VR scene is shifted from the first perspective corresponding to a difference in the relative location of the second HMD from the first HMD in the real-world space, wherein the first user of the first HMD controls a progression of the VR scene and the progression causes a movement of the first perspective toward a direction within the VR scene, and said movement causes a corresponding movement toward the direction within the VR scene for the second perspective while substantially maintaining the shifted perspective between the first perspective and the second perspective;
• and
• the mobile computing device including an inertial sensor for tracking real-world position and orientation of the first HMD, and the second perspective of the VR scene is based on real-world position and orientation of the second HMD relative to the first HMD.