Google Inc.

Yahoo! Inc.

Liang-Yu (Tom) Chi

Luis Ricardo Prada Gomez

Thad Eugene Starner

Robert Allen Ryskamp

Aaron Joseph Wheeler

Karon A Weber

Samantha Marie Tripodi

Sanjay Gajanan Mavinkurve

Hayes Solos Raffle

Alejandro Jose Kauffmann

Oliver Thomas Bayley

Sebastian Thrun

Nirmal Jitendra Patel

Anurag Gupta

Zhichen Xu

Clifford L Biffle

Adrian Wong

Ashley Woodman Hall

Chia-Jean Wang

Yong Zhao

Nicholas Kenneth Hobbs

Su-Lin Wu

Yun Fu

Vik Singh

Raj Gopal Prasad Kantamneni

Diane Wing Yip

Frank Henry Filippini

Methods and systems involving navigation of a graphical interface are disclosed herein. An example system may be configured to: (a) cause a head-mounted display (HMD) to provide a graphical interface, the graphical interface comprising (i) a view port having a view-port orientation and (ii) at least one navigable area having at least one border, the at least one border having a first border orientation; (b) receive input data that indicates movement of the view port towards the at least one border; (c) determine that the view-port orientation is within a predetermined threshold distance from the first border orientation; and (d) based on at least the determination that the view-port orientation is within a predetermined threshold distance from the first border orientation, adjust the first border orientation from the first border orientation to a second border orientation.

Graphical interface having adjustable borders

Methods and apparatus related to processing speech input at a wearable computing device are disclosed. Speech input can be received at the wearable computing device. Speech-related text corresponding to the speech input can be generated. A context can be determined based on database(s) and/or a history of accessed documents. An action can be determined based on an evaluation of at least a portion of the speech-related text and the context. The action can be a command or a search request. If the action is a command, then the wearable computing device can generate output for the command. If the action is a search request, then the wearable computing device can: communicate the search request to a search engine, receive search results from the search engine, and generate output based on the search results. The output can be provided using output component(s) of the wearable computing device.

Systems and methods for speech command processing

The present application discloses systems and methods for a virtual input device. In one example, the virtual input device includes a projector and a camera. The projector projects a pattern onto a surface. The camera captures images that can be interpreted by a processor to determine actions. The projector may be mounted on an arm of a pair of eyeglasses and the camera may be mounted on an opposite arm of the eyeglasses. A pattern for a virtual input device can be projected onto a 'display hand' of a user, and the camera may be able to detect when the user uses an opposite hand to select items of the virtual input device. In another example, the camera may detect when the display hand is moving and interpret display hand movements as inputs to the virtual input device, and/or realign the projection onto the moving display hand.

Methods and systems for a virtual input device

An example method involves: (i) maintaining an attribute-association database comprising data for a set of data items, wherein the data for a given one of the data items specifies for each of one or more attributes from a set of attributes, (a) an associative value, and (b) a temporal-decay value; (ii) detecting an event, wherein the event is associated with one or more event attributes; (iii) determining a relevance of a given one of the data items to the detected event based on a selected one or more of (a) the associative values and (b) the temporal-decay values; (iv) selecting at least one data item, wherein the at least one data item is selected from a set of the data items based on the respective relevancies of the data items in the set; and (v) providing an indication of the at least one selected data item.

Dynamic presentation of data items based on prioritized associations

A wearable computing system may include a head-mounted display (HMD) with a display configured to display images viewable at a viewing location. When aligned with an HMD wearer's line of sight, the entire display area of the display may be within the HMD wearer's field of view. The area within which an HMD wearer's eye can move and still view the entire display area is termed an 'eye box.' However, if the HMD slips up or down, the display area may become obscured, such that the wearer can no longer see the entire image. By scaling or subsetting an image area within the display area, the effective eye box dimensions may increase. Further, in response to movements of the HMD with respect to the wearer, the image area can be adjusted to reduce effects such as vibration and slippage.

Display scaling based on movement of a head-mounted display

Exemplary methods and systems relate to a wearable computing device determining a user-context and dynamically changing the content of a user-interface based on the determined user-context. The device may determine a user-context based on digital context; such as a text document a user is reading or a current website the device is accessing. User-context may also be based on physical context; such as the device's location or the air temperature around a user. Once a user-context is determined, a device may identify content that is related to the user-context and add objects representing this related content to a user-interface.

Context detection and context-based user-interface population

Methods and apparatuses for gesture-based controls are disclosed. In one aspect, a method is disclosed that includes maintaining a correlation between a plurality of predetermined gestures, in combination with a plurality of predetermined regions of a vehicle, and a plurality of functions. The method further includes recording three-dimensional images of an interior portion of the vehicle and, based on the three-dimensional images, detecting a given gesture in a given region of the vehicle, where the given gesture corresponds to one of the plurality of predetermined gestures and the given region corresponds to one of the plurality of predetermined regions. The method still further includes selecting, based on the correlation, a function associated with the given gesture in combination with the given region and initiating the function in the vehicle.

Gesture-based automotive controls

Methods and systems for annotating objects and/or actions are provided. An example method includes receiving a selection of a content object via an interface of a wearable computing device. The wearable computing device may include a head-mounted display (HMD). The method may also include, but is not limited to, displaying the selected content object on the HMD. Additionally, the method may include obtaining facial-muscle information while the content object is being displayed on the HMD. A facial expression may also be determined based on the facial-muscle information. According to the method, the content object may be associated with an annotation comprising an indication of the facial expression.

Content annotation

In an embodiment, a computing system causes a computing device to operate in a lower-power state. Data received from a first tier of low-power input source(s) is used to determine user/environmental context and activate a second tier of input source(s) that operate in a higher power range. In each tier the system is running contextual detection to assess whether to engage higher power input sources or sensors to aid the user. With this mechanism, a user is able to have access to a broad range of services without having to explicit switch them on, while the system is able to intelligently manage power and battery life across input sources.

Context-based power management

The present application discloses systems and methods for accessing digital content between multiple devices. The systems and methods may be directed to providing access to an interaction with a first application on a head-mounted display (HMD) to a second device. Contextual information relating information of the HMD and information associated with the interaction to describe an interaction state may be stored. A second device may be selected upon which the interaction state may be accessed and a determination of attributes of the second device may be made. The HMD may transfer to the second device the stored contextual information such that the second device may provide via the second application access to the interaction state. Information associated with a user input to the first application may also be transferred. In one example, the contextual information may describe an identified occurrence of digital content accessed via the first application.

Systems and methods for accessing an interaction state between multiple devices

Methods are apparatuses are described for identifying a target object using optical occlusion. A head-mounted display perceives a characteristic of a reference object. The head-mounted display detects a change of the perceived characteristic of the reference object and makes a determination that a detected object caused the change of the perceived characteristic. In response to making the determination, the head-mounted display identifies the detected object as the target object.

Identifying a target object using optical occlusion

Methods and systems involving a navigable area in a head-mounted display (HMD) are disclosed herein. An exemplary system may be configured to: (a) cause a head-mounted display (HMD) to provide: (i) a viewing window that is fully visible in a field of view of the HMD, (ii) a navigable area that is not fully visible in a field of view of the HMD such that the viewing window displays a first portion of the navigable area, and (iii) a media object that is associated with a viewing-window state; (b) receive first head-movement data that is indicative of head movement from a first position of the HMD to a second position of the HMD; and (c) based on (i) the first head-movement data and (ii) the viewing-window state, cause the viewing window to display a second portion of the navigable area which includes the media object.

Graphical menu and interaction therewith through a viewing window

The present invention provides a method and system for customized search results in an advanced search results page including vertical searching pivot points for personalizing and refining searching operations. The method includes tracking user network activities and receiving a search query from the user, the search query including a plurality of search terms. The method and system includes identifying a plurality of preferred content sources based on the tracked network activities and retrieving content items in response to the search query. The method and system filters the content items based on the preferred content sources and therein generates a search result page displaying at least a portion of the filtered content items and at least one of the preferred content sources, wherein the display of the at least one preferred content source allows the user to pivot the search results portion based solely on the preferred content source.

Systems and methods for personalized search sourcing

The present application discloses a wearable computing device having a plurality of components, with the weight of the components being evenly distributed on the wearable computing device. One embodiment may include a frame having a front portion and at least one side-arm extending therefrom. The at least one side-arm has a first end and a second end. The wearable computing device further includes a lens connected to the front portion of the frame and at least one display element mounted to the lens and to the first end of the at least one side-arm of the frame by a tensile member. An electronic device is mounted to the second end of the at least one side-arm of the frame to counterbalance the mass located at the front portion of the frame. The electronic device may include batteries, circuitry, processors, computers, and other electronic components.

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Liang-Yu (Tom) Chi