IP Library Granted Patent US 12689796
Granted Patent B2
US 12689796 · App. 18/962,255 · Granted Jul 21, 2026

Method, virtual reality device, system and computer program for parental control detection in a 3D virtual environment

Inventor: Pablo Ignacio Lopez Coya (Madrid, ES)
Assignee: Telefónica Innovación Digital, S.L.
H04N21/44008H04N21/442
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12689796
App. No.
18/962,255
Granted
Jul 21, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A computer implemented method, virtual reality device, system, and computer programs for parental control detection in 3D virtual environments. The method includes obtaining, by a virtual reality device of a user, a 3D video projection of a scene occurring in a 3D multiuser virtual environment; processing the 3D video projection as 2D frames using a parental control algorithm; and determining that the 3D video projection contains or refers to inappropriate digital content based on a result of the processing. The parental control algorithm uses additional data of the 3D multiuser virtual environment to improve capacity detection of the inappropriate digital content, for instance, location information and/or temporal information of previously detected inappropriate 3D content; audiovisual information received from different concurrent space-time 3D users involved in the same scene; and/or audiovisual and location real-time information of the 3D multiuser virtual environment.

Claims (34)

1 . A method for parental control detection in a 3D multiuser virtual environment, the method comprising:

obtaining, by a virtual reality device of a given user, a 3D video projection of a scene occurring in a 3D multiuser virtual environment;

processing, by the virtual reality device, the 3D video projection as 2D frames using a parental control algorithm; and

determining, by the virtual reality device, that the 3D video projection contains or refers to inappropriate digital content based on a result of said processing,

characterized in that the parental control algorithm comprises using additional data of the 3D multiuser virtual environment to improve capacity detection of the inappropriate digital content, the additional data comprising:

location information of previously detected inappropriate 3D content, the location information being stored in a database as one or more location registers, each location register referring to a location where a previously detected inappropriate 3D content occurred;

audiovisual information received from different concurrent space-time 3D users involved in the same scene;

audiovisual and location real-time information of the 3D multiuser virtual environment.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the location is identified using the 3D cartesian coordinates where the previously inappropriate 3D content occurred.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the parental control algorithm comprises considering a distance between at least one location register and a point at which the 3D video projection is occurring, said distance comprising a Euclidean distance.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the additional data further comprises temporal information of previously detected inappropriate 3D content, and the temporal information is stored in a database as one or more time registers, each time register comprising a time stamp referring to a time when the previously detected inappropriate 3D content occurred.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the parental control algorithm comprises considering whether an arithmetic difference between the time stamp of at least one time register and a time stamp of a current time at which the 3D video projection is occurring is smaller or not than a pre-configured time window where the 3D video projection is occurring.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audiovisual information received from the different concurrent space-time 3D users comprising audiovisual information from different angles of the scene.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audiovisual and location real-time information of the 3D multiuser virtual environment being acquired by dynamic probes deployed within the 3D multiuser virtual environment.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the 3D video projection is obtained in real time.

9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code instructions that when executed by at least one processor of a computing device implement the method of claim 1 .

10 . A virtual reality device for parental control detection in a 3D multiuser virtual environment, comprising at least one memory, and one or more processors configured to:

obtain a 3D video projection of a scene occurring in a 3D multiuser virtual environment;

process the 3D video projection as 2D frames using a parental control algorithm; and

determine that the 3D video projection contains or refers to inappropriate digital content based on a result of the processing,

characterized in that the parental control algorithm comprises using additional data of the 3D multiuser virtual environment to improve capacity detection of the inappropriate digital content, the additional data comprising:

location information of previously detected inappropriate 3D content, the location information being stored in a database as one or more location registers, each location register referring to a location where a previously detected inappropriate 3D content occurred;

audiovisual information received from different concurrent space-time 3D users involved in the same scene; and

audiovisual and location real-time information of the 3D multiuser virtual environment.

11 . The system of claim 10 , comprising one or more dynamic probes deployed within the 3D multiuser virtual environment to acquire the audiovisual and location real-time information of the 3D multiuser virtual environment.

12 . A system for parental control detection in a 3D multiuser virtual environment, the system comprising at least one virtual reality device with at least one memory and one or more processors configured to:

obtain a 3D video projection of a scene occurring in a 3D multiuser virtual environment; process the 3D video projection as 2D frames using a parental control algorithm; and

determine that the 3D video projection contains or refers to inappropriate digital content based on a result of the processing,

characterized in that the parental control algorithm comprises using additional data of the 3D multiuser virtual environment to improve capacity detection of the inappropriate digital content, the additional data comprising:

location information of previously detected inappropriate 3D content, the location information being stored in a database as one or more location registers, each location register referring to a location where a previously detected inappropriate 3D content occurred;

audiovisual information received from different concurrent space-time 3D users involved in the same scene; and

audiovisual and location real-time information of the 3D multiuser virtual environment.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the additional data further comprises temporal information of previously detected inappropriate 3D content, and the temporal information is stored as one or more time registers, each time register comprising a time stamp referring to a time when the previously detected inappropriate 3D content occurred.

14 . The system of claim 12 , comprising additional virtual reality devices each belonging to one of the concurrent space-time 3D users.