Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Christopher E Miles

Kathryn Stone Perez

Alex Aben-Athar Kipman

Ben J Sugden

Robert L Crocco, Jr

Mathew Julian Lamb

Brian E Keane

Laura K Massey

Stephen G Latta

David T Jones

Rudy Jacobus Poot

Ammon Haggerty

Donald Robert Coyner

Kevin Geisner

Daniel Joseph McCulloch

Darren Bennett

Jason Bradley Scott

Ryan Lucas Hastings

Jeffrey Neil Margolis

Benjamin Isaac Vaught

Andrew Donald Gordon

Michael Scavezze

Thore Graepel

Tom G Salter

Sheridan Martin Small

Margaret Novotny

William Wagner

Claudio Vittorio Russo

Sheena Stevens

Jacob Miller

Yelisaveta Pesenson

Aryn Shelander

Claudio Russo

Andrew D Gordon

Systems and methods for inferring user traits based on indirect questions. Indirect questions may be generated based on one or more triggers. The answers to the indirect questions provide cues to a system as to whether a user has one or more attributes associated with a trait. This information may be used to personalize a computing device.

Inferring cues for use with digital assistant

A system for allowing a virtual object to interact with other virtual objects across different spaces within an augmented reality (AR) environment and to transition between the different spaces is described. An AR environment may include a plurality of spaces, each comprising a bounded area or volume within the AR environment. In one example, an AR environment may be associated with a three-dimensional world space and a two-dimensional object space corresponding with a page of a book within the AR environment. A virtual object within the AR environment may be assigned to the object space and transition from the two-dimensional object space to the three-dimensional world space upon the detection of a space transition event. In some cases, a dual representation of the virtual object may be used to detect interactions between the virtual object and other virtual objects in both the world space and the object space.

Mechanism to give holographic objects saliency in multiple spaces

A user interface through which information is proactively provided utilizes visual cues indicative of the relevance of the information that is being proactively provided. Such visual cues include sizing, color, intensity, movement, and other like visual attributes. A single discrete visual element proactively presents information to the user. The user is provided with the opportunity to define discrete events, whereby information associated with such events is presented through other discrete elements. The physical orientation of such discrete elements indicates relationships between elements. Ranking functionality identifies more immediately relevant information and the rankings of related elements are increased based upon other, contextual information with which such information is associated, and on which the importance of such information is based. Information is surfaced to provide a vector through which the user responds or utilizes such surfaced information independently of specific application programs having discrete informational focus.

Information surfacing with visual cues indicative of relevance

Technology is disclosed herein to help a user navigate through large amounts of content while wearing a see-through, near-eye, mixed reality display device such as a head mounted display (HMD). The user can use a physical object such as a book to navigate through content being presented in the HMD. In one embodiment, a book has markers on the pages that allow the system to organize the content. The book could have real content, but it could be blank other than the markers. As the user flips through the book, the system recognizes the markers and presents content associated with the respective marker in the HMD.

Navigating content using a physical object

A system for generating and displaying holographic visual aids associated with a story to an end user of a head-mounted display device while the end user is reading the story or perceiving the story being read aloud is described. The story may be embodied within a reading object (e.g., a book) in which words of the story may be displayed to the end user. The holographic visual aids may include a predefined character animation that is synchronized to a portion of the story corresponding with the character being animated. A reading pace of a portion of the story may be used to control the playback speed of the predefined character animation in real-time such that the character is perceived to be lip-syncing the story being read aloud. In some cases, an existing book without predetermined AR tags may be augmented with holographic visual aids.

Synchronizing virtual actor's performances to a speaker's voice

Techniques are provided for rendering, in a see-through, near-eye mixed reality display, a virtual object within a virtual hole, window or cutout. The virtual hole, window or cutout may appear to be within some real world physical object such as a book, table, etc. The virtual object may appear to be just below the surface of the physical object. In a sense, the virtual world could be considered to be a virtual container that provides developers with additional locations for presenting virtual objects. For example, rather than rendering a virtual object, such as a lamp, in a mixed reality display such that appears to sit on top of a real world desk, the virtual object is rendered such that it appears to be located below the surface of the desk.

Deep augmented reality tags for mixed reality

A system for generating one or more enhanced audio signals such that one or more sound levels corresponding with sounds received from one or more sources of sound within an environment may be dynamically adjusted based on contextual information is described. The one or more enhanced audio signals may be generated by a head-mounted display device (HMD) worn by an end user within the environment and outputted to earphones associated with the HMD such that the end user may listen to the one or more enhanced audio signals in real-time. In some cases, each of the one or more sources of sound may correspond with a priority level. The priority level may be dynamically assigned depending on whether the end user of the HMD is focusing on a particular source of sound or has specified a predetermined level of importance corresponding with the particular source of sound.

Method and device for adjusting sound levels of sources based on sound source priority

Technology is described for providing a virtual spectator experience for a user of a personal A/V apparatus including a near-eye, augmented reality (AR) display. A position volume of an event object participating in an event in a first 3D coordinate system for a first location is received and mapped to a second position volume in a second 3D coordinate system at a second location remote from where the event is occurring. A display field of view of the near-eye AR display at the second location is determined, and real-time 3D virtual data representing the one or more event objects which are positioned within the display field of view are displayed in the near-eye AR display. A user may select a viewing position from which to view the event. Additionally, virtual data of a second user may be displayed at a position relative to a first user.

Virtual spectator experience with a personal audio/visual apparatus

Techniques are provided for allowing a user to select a region within virtual imagery, such as a hologram, being presented in an HMD. The user could select the region by using their hands to form a closed loop such that from the perspective of the user, the closed loop corresponds to the region the user wishes to select. The user could select the region by using a prop, such as a picture frame. In response to the selection, the selected region could be presented using a different rendering technique than other regions of the virtual imagery. Various rendering techniques such as zooming, filtering, etc. could be applied to the selected region. The identification of the region by the user could also serve as a selection of an element in that portion of the virtual image.

Gesture based region identification for holograms

A system for identifying an AR tag and determining a location for a virtual object within an augmented reality environment corresponding with the AR tag is described. In some environments, including those with viewing obstructions, the identity of the AR tag and the location of a corresponding virtual object may be determined by aggregating individual identity and location determinations from a plurality of head-mounted display devices (HMDs). The virtual object may comprise a shared virtual object that is viewable from each of the plurality of HMDs as existing at a shared location within the augmented reality environment. The shared location may comprise a weighted average of individual location determinations from each of the plurality of HMDs. By aggregating and analyzing individual identity and location determinations, a particular HMD of the plurality of HMDs may display a virtual object without having to identify a corresponding AR tag directly.

Multi-node poster location

A system for identifying an AR tag and determining a location for a virtual object within an augmented reality environment corresponding with the AR tag is described. In some environments, the location of a virtual object corresponding with a particular AR tag may be determined by identifying a predefined object, determining an orientation and a scale of the predefined object relative to a head-mounted display device (HMD) based on a model of the predefined object, and inferring the location of the virtual object based on the orientation and the scale of the predefined object. In some cases, an identification of the particular AR tag corresponding with the virtual object may be acquired by aggregating and analyzing individual identity determinations from a plurality of HMDs within an augmented reality environment.

Constraint based information inference

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Christopher E Miles