The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 22, 2011
Filed:
Nov. 30, 2009
Howard Neely, Iii, Santa Monica, CA (US);
Jason Fox, Fairfield, CA (US);
Mathias Kolsch, Pacific Grove, CA (US);
Matthew Shomphe, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Jason Jerald, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Howard Neely, III, Santa Monica, CA (US);
Jason Fox, Fairfield, CA (US);
Mathias Kolsch, Pacific Grove, CA (US);
Matthew Shomphe, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Jason Jerald, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to a system, method, and computer program product for immersive navigation in a virtual environment (VE) suitable for allowing a user to change a view orientation in the VE independently of physical orientation of a user input, such as orientation of the user's head. Specifically, the present invention combines three distinct virtual reality navigation metaphors (trackball navigation, grab navigation, and immersive navigation) into a hybrid navigation approach generating a final virtual-viewpoint that correlates to the characteristics of an intermediate virtual-viewpoint defined by radius, pitch, and heading of a virtual reference sphere (as in trackball navigation), while the final virtual-viewpoint also adjusts the location and gaze direction of the intermediate virtual-viewpoint based on pitch, heading, and roll of the user's head (as in immersive navigation), thus allowing the user to view a point of interest in the VE while simultaneously facing comfortably forward in the physical world.