Vincent Lévesque

Granted Patent

Systems and Methods for Integrating Environmental Haptics in Virtual Reality

Simon Forest, Razmik Mousakhanian, Liwen Wu, Vincent Levesque, Channy Uon

US Patent 11,294,467, filed December 18, 2018, issued April 5, 2022.

download pdf
external link

Abstract

Systems and methods for integrating environmental haptic effects in virtual reality are disclosed. One illustrative system described herein includes a sensor for detecting an environmental condition, the environmental condition associated with an environmental haptic effect, and generating a sensor signal. The system also includes a virtual reality display configured to output a virtual reality effect. The system also includes a processor coupled to the sensor and a virtual reality display, the processor configured to: receive the sensor signal, determine a modification to the virtual reality effect based in part on the sensor signal, and transmit a display signal associated with the modification to the virtual reality display. Another illustrative system includes a sensor for detecting an environmental condition, the environmental condition associated with an environmental haptic effect, and generating a sensor signal, and a virtual reality display configured to output a virtual reality effect. The system also includes a processor coupled to the sensor and a virtual reality display, the processor configured to: receive the sensor signal, determine a generated haptic effect based at least in part of the sensor signal that when combined with the environmental haptic effect produces the desired haptic effect, and transmit a haptic signal associated with the generated haptic effect to a haptic output device.