Xlabs Holdings, LLC

Illusion, Inc.

Gerald B Isdale

Michael J Daily

Ronald Tadao Azuma

Howard Neely, Iii

William M Porada

Robert S Jacobs

An apparatus and method is disclosed for enabling accurate registration of virtual information upon real objects in selected environments from the perspective of a moveable observation platform having a position and an orientation within an observation space positioned within the environment, the position and orientation defining the registration of the virtual information within the observation space within the environment, which may comprise: a plurality of at least three tracking fiducials selectively each respectively located in fixed predetermined locations in the observation space; the observation platform including a position sensor apparatus adapted to sense an estimated position of the observation platform in the observation space and a heading sensor apparatus adapted to sense an estimated heading of the observation platform within the observation space; the observation platform further including a wide view fiducial detection apparatus mounted on the observation platform and adapted to detect the relative direction from the observation platform to each of the plurality of tracking fiducials, a heading error detection apparatus adapted to detect the difference between the estimated heading and the present heading based upon the observed relative directions to the respective tracking fiducials, and forming a corrected heading from the estimated heading and the detected heading error.

Method and apparatus for augmented reality hybrid tracking system with fiducial-based heading correction

A modular, interactive, reconfigurable simulation system is designed to provide a variety of simulation experiences. The system has a distributed state machine architecture to facilitate reconfiguration and technological update. A typical simulation system constructed in accordance with the present invention includes a plurality of simulator stations. Each station includes a seat for the player/operator and controls and displays that are appropriate for the simulation experience. Each simulator station is preferably mounted on a motion base to provide the player/operator with sensory inputs consistent with motions of the simulated vehicle. Each simulator station is controlled by an associated host computer. The host computer maintains a state vector which describes the current state of the associated simulated vehicle within the simulated world. The host computer calculates interaction between moving objects and the underlying terrain data base by mapping 3D terrain objects into 2D maps. The host computers for each simulator station are interconnected by a communication network over which the state vector for each simulator station is available to all other simulator stations. Each host computer is therefore able to track all other simulated vehicles. In addition to the inter-station network, each simulator station has a local network with which the host computer communicates with modular resources for providing images, sounds, motions and other sensory inputs to the player/operator. Except for software, these modular resources are essentially independent of the particular simulated experience. The subsystem that produces and displays images employs a technique for blending multiple channels into a single wide field of view image, and a technique for implementing very rich texturing in the scenes presented. In order to reconfigure the system of the present invention for a new simulated experience, it is necessary only to change the software executed by the host computers and the physical simulator module.

Multi-player entertainment system

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Thousand Oaks, CA, United States of America

Gerald B Isdale