Systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing olfactory delivery in virtualized environments using an olfactory delivery engine

A method performed by an augmented reality olfactory delivery system having at least a processor and a memory communicably interfaced with odorant control hardware, the method comprising:

• acquiring data from a virtual scene via a data acquisition API based on one or more of:
• (i) positional information for an occupant, (ii) positional information for a virtual smell object, (iii) a desired odor index, and (iv) other environmental factors;
• determining an odor recipe for mixing one or more odorants via a smell composer executing at the augmented reality olfactory delivery system, wherein determining the odor recipe further includes continuously updating one or more hardware control parameters of an interfaced olfactometer, including at least valve duty cycles and mass flow controller setpoints, based on changes in relative spatial distance between the occupant and the virtual smell object;
• issuing instructions to the interfaced olfactometer to produce an odorant mixture by specifying a valve duty cycle and one or more odorants to be dispersed according to the odor recipe determined by the smell composer and an odor concentration;
• producing the odorant mixture at the interfaced olfactometer by instructing pneumatically-connected valves across a manifold assembly to actuate in accordance with the valve duty cycle specified;
• pressurizing the odorant mixture to form gas-phase molecules;
• directing the gas-phase molecules into separate channels by setting flow rates via a mass flow controller;
• combining the gas-phase molecules of the separate channels into a combined flow for dispensing from a smell mask;
• and
• dispensing the gas-phase molecules into the smell mask, wherein the smell mask is configured to be affixed to a human user participating as an occupant within the virtual scene through which the gas-phase molecules are dispensed through the smell mask to represent to a human user olfactory sensations corresponding to the virtual smell object within the virtual scene.

Non-transitory computer readable storage media having instructions stored thereupon that, when executed by system having at least a processor and a memory therein, the instructions cause the processor to implement an augmented reality olfactory delivery engine configurable to perform the following operations:

• acquiring data from a virtual scene via a data acquisition API based on one or more of:
• (i) positional information for an occupant, (ii) positional information for a virtual smell object, (iii) a desired odor index, and (iv) other environmental factors;
• determining an odor recipe for mixing one or more odorants via a smell composer executing at the augmented reality olfactory delivery engine, wherein determining the odor recipe further includes continuously updating one or more hardware control parameters of the interfaced olfactometer, including at least valve duty cycles and mass flow controller setpoints, based on changes in relative spatial distance between the occupant and the virtual smell object;
• issuing instructions to an interfaced olfactometer to produce an odorant mixture by specifying a valve duty cycle and one or more odorants to be dispersed according to the odor recipe determined by the smell composer and an odor concentration;
• producing the odorant mixture at the interfaced olfactometer by instructing pneumatically-connected valves across a manifold assembly to actuate in accordance with the valve duty cycle specified;
• pressurizing the odorant mixture to form gas-phase molecules;
• directing the gas-phase molecules into separate channels by setting flow rates via a mass flow controller;
• combining the gas-phase molecules of the separate channels into a combined flow for dispensing from a smell mask;
• and
• dispensing the gas-phase molecules into the smell mask, wherein the smell mask is configured to be affixed to a human user participating as an occupant within the virtual scene through which the gas-phase molecules are dispensed through the smell mask to represent to a human user olfactory sensations corresponding to the virtual smell object within the virtual scene.