Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Robert John Wilcox

Jarnail Chudge

Matthew Robin Farmer

Michael James Belfield Parker

Bradley Neville Cotier

Hani Nabil Chaaban

Catalin Nicolae Doroftei

Oscar James Francis Salandin

Andrei Stefan Ermilov

William A S Buxton

Amos Miller

Space interaction (SI) functionality is described herein for assisting a user in interacting with a space without unduly distracting the user. The SI functionality includes an application interface module that presents information and/or exposes functionality within a plurality of workspaces. Each workspace has a determined spatial relationship with respect to other workspaces. Further, the application interface module may detect and respond to various gestures, by which the user may move among workspaces and interact with menus and other information that are presented in those workspaces. The user's interaction with these workspaces and menus may be supplemented by various sounds generated by a sound generation module, and/or various haptic cues (e.g., vibration cues) generated by a haptic cue generation module.

User interface functionality for facilitating interaction between users and their environments

A headset is described herein for presenting audio information to the user as the user interacts with a space, e.g., as when a user navigates over a route within a space. The headset may include a set of input mechanisms for receiving commands from the user. The commands, in turn, invoke respective space-interaction-related functions to be performed by a space interaction (SI) module. The headset may operate with or without a separate user computing device.

Facilitating interaction between users and their environments using a headset having input mechanisms

Beacon-based guidance functionality is described herein that assists the user in navigating over a desired route within an environment, or otherwise interacting with the environment. The environment, in turn, is populated with a plurality of beacons having, in one implementation, respective non-overlapping ranges. The desired route traverses ranges associated with a route-specific set of beacons, from among the plurality of beacons. In one manner of operation, the beacon-based guidance functionality determines whether a user is within a range of one of the route-specific beacons. Based on that knowledge, the beacon-based guidance module can generate guidance information which directs the user towards a next waypoint in the route.

Use of beacons for assistance to users in interacting with their environments

Space interaction (SI) functionality is described herein for assisting a user in interacting with a space. The SI functionality includes a sound generation module that generates three-dimensional sounds in various circumstances. A three-dimensional sound is perceived by a user as emanating from particular location within the space. Different modules may leverage the three-dimensional sounds for different purposes. In one implementation, a path guidance module uses a three-dimensional beat sound to direct the user in a particular direction. An exploration module uses three-dimensional sounds to identify the locations of items of interest that lie within (or are otherwise associated with) a subspace to which an attention of the user is currently directed. An orientation module uses three-dimensional sounds to identify the locations of items of interest that are associated with an entire space around the user.

Facilitating interaction between users and their environments using sounds

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Twyford, United Kingdom

Robert John Wilcox