Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Dan Osborn

Shawn Crispin Wright

Anatolie Gavriliuc

Forest Woodcroft Gouin

Megan Saunders

Joe Thompson

Stephen Michael Heijster

Hongwu Huai

Scott Robert Ramsby

Alberto Cerriteno

Stephen G Latta

Albert Robles

James Nakashima

Marc Brinkley

Daniel Joseph McCulloch

Brian James Mount

Adam G Poulos

Robert Thomas Held

Christian Michael Sadak

Jeffrey Jesus Evertt

Wei Zhang

Christopher Harley Willoughby

Justin Avram Clark

David M Hill

Tarek Hefny

Brian Kramp

Evan Lewis Jones

Patrick C Ryan

Aaron David Cottle

Christopher Vuchetich

Mark Mihelich

Bofan Hsu

Vaibhav Goel

Andrew R Campbell

Sophia Siyuan Sun

Tim Psiaki

Zachary Tyler Middleton

Matthew J Puls

Charles Everett Martin

Aaron Chandler Jeromin

Adam Christopher Heaney

Apriet Kenig

Jesse Rapczak

Alberto E Cerriteno

Mark Thomas Mihelich

Systems and methods for controlling variable-focus functionality to reduce user discomfort in a mixed-reality system implement acts of obtaining a vergence depth of a gaze of a user, determining that the variable-focus lens for providing focus on virtual content viewed by the user is currently configured to provide focus at a depth that differs from the vergence depth, detecting that a triggering condition is present, and, in response to so detecting, selectively dampening an adjustment made to the variable-focus lens. In some implementations, the dampening causes the adjustment made to the variable-focus lens to reconfigure the variable-focus lens to provide focus at a depth that differs from the vergence depth.

Automated variable-focus lens control to reduce user discomfort in a head-mounted display

One example provides, on a computing device comprising a display, a method of initiating and conducting voice communication with a contact. The method comprises displaying a user interface on the display, receiving a user input of a position signal for the user interface, and determining that the position signal satisfies a selection condition for a contact based on a location of the position signal on the user interface and a position of a proxy view of the contact on the user interface. The method further comprises, in response to determining that the position signal satisfies the selection condition, selecting the contact for communication, receiving voice input, and responsive to receiving the voice input while the contact is selected for communication, opening a voice communication channel with the contact and sending the voice input to the contact via the voice communication channel.

Establishing voice communication channel

A wearable, head-mounted display system includes a near-eye display to display an augmented reality object perceivable at an apparent real world depth and an apparent real world location by a wearer of the head-mounted display system, and a controller to adjust the apparent real world location of the augmented reality object as a function of a field of view (FOV) of the wearer. The function is based on a bounding region of the augmented reality object and one or more overlap parameters between the bounding region of the augmented reality object and the FOV of the wearer.

Augmented reality field of view object follower

A head mounted display device and method for contextual cursors comprising a camera configured to capture a series of images, a display, and a processor configured to: display, to a user of the head mounted display device, a virtual cursor on display so as to appear at a location in a three dimensional environment, determine whether motion of a hand of the user in the images is trackable, and in response to at least determining that motion of the hand is trackable, modify a visual appearance of the virtual cursor to indicate that motion of the hand is trackable, and in response to at least determining that motion of the hand is not trackable, modify the visual appearance of the virtual cursor to indicate that motion of the hand is not trackable.

Contextual cursor display based on hand tracking

A method for operating a head-mounted computing device that includes displaying an image of an environment on a display of the head-mounted computing device and identifying a surface within the image that is eligible for color fill operation, based on similarities in color parameters of contiguous pixels in the captured image. The method further includes displaying an indicator prompting user input regarding color fill, receiving a color fill request via user input, the request being for a predetermined color, and performing a color fill operation on the identified surface in response to receiving the color fill request by (a) generating a fill image having the predetermined color and a shape that conforms to the shape of the identified surface, and (b) displaying the fill image in a world-locked manner so as to overlay the identified surface even when a perspective of the display changes.

Color fill in an augmented reality environment

A method to provide visual feedback for gazed-based user-interface navigation includes presenting, on a display, a first image representing a digital object available for user interaction, recognizing a user gaze axis, and computing a point of intersection of the user gaze axis through the first image. An offset distance between the point of intersection and a reference position of the first image then recognized, and a second image is presented on the display. The second image is presented displaced from the point of intersection by an amount dependent on the offset distance.

Gaze-actuated user interface with visual feedback

A conferencing system includes a display device that displays video received from a remote communication device of a communication partner. An audio stream is transmitted to the remote communication device. The audio stream includes real-world sounds produced by one or more real-world audio sources captured by a microphone array and virtual sounds produced by one or more virtual audio sources. A relative volume of sounds in the audio stream is selectively adjusted based, at least in part, on real-world positioning of corresponding audio sources, including real-world and/or virtualized audio sources.

Filtering sounds for conferencing applications

A method is disclosed that includes receiving an instruction to generate a virtual place-located anchor at a virtual location that is world-locked. Data items from a target data source are received. A subset of the data items is linked to the virtual place-located anchor. A first display device is caused to display virtual content of the subset of data items at the virtual place-located anchor. If a condition under which a second user is authorized to view the virtual content is satisfied, a second display device is caused to display the virtual content at the virtual place-located anchor.

Virtual place-located anchor

A method for displaying holograms may include displaying an initial hologram via a display device comprising an at least partially see-through display, the initial hologram located on a virtual surface at an initial virtual location. Subsequently, an instruction is received to display a subsequent hologram on the virtual surface at a subsequent virtual location. Collision detection is performed to determine that the subsequent hologram would collide with the initial hologram. In response, the subsequent hologram is displayed at an adjusted virtual location that is closer to the display device than the initial virtual location of the initial hologram.

Adjusted location hologram display

An example wearable display system includes a controller, a left display to display a left-eye augmented reality image with a left-eye display size at left-eye display coordinates, and a right display to display a right-eye augmented reality image with a right-eye display size at right-eye display coordinates, the left-eye and right-eye augmented reality images collectively forming an augmented reality object perceivable at an apparent real world depth by a wearer of the display system. The controller sets the left-eye display coordinates relative to the right-eye display coordinates as a function of the apparent real world depth of the augmented reality object. The function maintains an aspect of the left-eye and right-eye display sizes throughout a non-scaling range of apparent real world depths of the augmented reality object, and the function scales the left-eye and right-eye display sizes with changing apparent real world depth outside the non-scaling range.

Fixed size augmented reality objects

A method for operating a computing device is described herein. The method includes determining a user's gaze direction based on a gaze input, determining an intersection between the user's gaze direction and an identified environmental surface in a 3-dimensional environment, and generating a drawing surface based on the intersection within a user interface on a display.

System and method for spawning drawing surfaces

A head-mounted display includes a visible-light camera configured to collect a visible-light image of a physical space, a surface sensor configured to measure one or more surface parameters of the physical space, a see-through display configured to visually present an augmentation image while light from the physical space passes through the see-through display to a user eye, and an augmented-reality engine. The augmented-reality engine may be configured to identify a surface of the physical space from the one or more measured surface parameters, compose a mixed-reality image that includes the augmentation image overlaid on the visible-light image, and visually present, via the see-through display, the mixed-reality image in alignment with the identified surface.

Mixed-reality image capture

A method for operation a head-mounted computing device that includes capturing an image of a three-dimensional environment external to the head-mounted computing device and identifying a surface within the captured image that is eligible for color fill operation, based on similarities in color parameters of contiguous pixels in the captured image. The method further includes receiving a color fill request via user input at the head-mounted computing device, the request being for a predetermined color and performing a color fill operation on the identified surface in response to receiving the color fill request by (a) generating a fill hologram having the predetermined color and a shape that conforms to the shape of the identified surface, (b) displaying the fill hologram in a world-locked manner so as to overlay the identified surface as viewed through the see-through holographic display of the head-mounted display device.

A conferencing system includes a near-eye display device that displays video received from a remote communication device of a communication partner. An audio stream is transmitted to the remote communication device. The audio stream includes real-world sounds produced by one or more real-world audio sources captured by a spatially-diverse microphone array and virtual sounds produced by one or more virtual audio sources. A relative volume of background sounds in the audio stream is selectively reduced based, at least in part, on real-world positioning of corresponding audio sources, including real-world and/or virtualized audio sources.

A method is disclosed that may include, in a creating phase: receiving an instruction to generate a virtual place-located anchor at a virtual location that is world-locked; receiving data items from a target data source; linking a subset of the data items to the virtual place-located anchor; and receiving a permission from a first user specifying a condition under which a second user may view one or more holograms of the subset of data items. In a viewing phase, first display data may be transmitted to cause a first display device to display the holograms to the first user at the virtual place-located anchor; and if the condition is satisfied, second display data may be transmitted to cause a second display device to display the holograms to the second user at the virtual place-located anchor.

Growing community of inventors

Woodinville, WA, United States of America

Dan Osborn