Apparatuses, methods and systems for tethering 3-D virtual elements to digital content

1. A computer implemented method of providing interaction with a virtual element embedded in digital content in an augmented or virtual reality environment to a user of a head-mounted display (HMD), the method comprising:

presenting the digital content that is perceived by the user of the HMD as an image in the augmented or virtual reality environment;

detecting a virtual element tethered in the digital content, the virtual element having an associated low-fidelity model and a high-fidelity model specifying how the virtual element is rendered by the HMD in the augmented or virtual reality environment;

determining coordinates of a 3-D bounding volume in the augmented or virtual reality environment;

rendering a first representation of the virtual element perceived by the user of the HMD as a three-dimensional (3-D) object in the augmented or virtual reality environment tethered to the perceived 2-D image based on the low fidelity model where the first representation is rendered within the bounding volume when the virtual element is tethered to the digital content;

determining that a user interaction with the first representation of the virtual element indicates the user has untethered the virtual element from the digital content by detecting a user manipulation of the first representation of virtual element that moves the first representation outside of the bounding volume; and

rendering, in response to the determination of the user interaction, a second representation of the virtual element in place of the first representation that is perceived by the user of the HMD as a 3-D object within the augmented or virtual reality environment based on the high fidelity model.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising rendering a visual representation of the bounding volume to the user of the HMD.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering of the first representation of the virtual element based on the low-fidelity model restricts user interaction with the virtual element and the rendering of the second representation of the virtual element based on the high fidelity model provides unrestricted user interaction with the virtual element.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the digital content perceived by the user of the HMD as an image in the augmented or virtual reality environment includes presenting the virtual element perceived by the user as a 2-D image within the digital content and determining the coordinates of the bounding volume includes determining a size of the 3-D bounding volume based on the size of the volume based on the size of the perceived 2-D image of the virtual element within the digital content.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital content is an HTML document.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined interaction includes a user gesture.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a user interaction includes sensing a position of a user appendage or digit with respect to the perceived 3-D image of the first representation.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the high-fidelity model includes a plurality of transformations indicating how to render the second representation and the low fidelity model includes a subset of the plurality of transformations.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising: accessing, by the HMD, the high-fidelity model from a storage device remotely located from the HMD in response to determining the user has untethered the virtual element from the digital content.

10. A head-mounted display (HMD) system providing interaction with a virtual element embedded in digital content in an augmented or virtual reality environment to a user of the HMD, the system comprising:

at least one display;

one or more optical elements configured to provide light from the at least one display to the eyes of the user;

at least one sensor;

a memory; and

one or more processing devices configured by machine-readable instructions stored in the memory to:

present the digital content that is perceived by the user of the HMD as an image in the augmented or virtual reality environment;

detect a virtual element tethered in the digital content, the virtual element having an associated low-fidelity model and a high-fidelity model specifying how the virtual element is rendered by the HMD in the augmented or virtual reality environment;

determine coordinates of a 3-D bounding volume in the augmented or virtual reality environment;

render a first representation of the virtual element perceived by the user of the HMD as a three-dimensional (3-D) object in the augmented or virtual reality environment tethered to the perceived 2-D image, where the first representation is rendered within the bounding volume when the virtual element is tethered to the digital content;

determine, based on input from the at least one sensor, a user interaction with the first representation of the virtual element indicates the user has untethered the virtual element from the digital content where the determined user interaction includes detecting a user manipulation of the first representation of virtual element that moves the first representation outside of the bounding volume; and

render, in response to the determination of the user interaction, a second representation of the virtual element in place of the first representation that is perceived by the user of the HMD as a 3-D object within the augmented or virtual reality environment based on the high fidelity model.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured by machine-readable instructions to render a visual representation of the bounding volume to the user of the HMD.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the low-fidelity model restricts user interaction with the virtual element and the high fidelity model provides unrestricted user interaction with the virtual element.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein presentation of the digital content perceived by the user of the HMD as an image in the augmented or virtual reality environment includes presenting the virtual element perceived by the user as a 2-D image within the digital content and determination of the coordinates of the bounding volume includes determining a size of the 3-D bounding volume based on the size of the perceived 2-D image of the virtual element within the digital content.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the digital content is an HTML document.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the determined interaction includes a user gesture.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein a determination of a user interaction includes determining the position of a user appendage or digit with respect to the perceived 3-D image of the first representation.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the high-fidelity model includes a plurality of transformations indicating how to render the second representation and the low fidelity model includes a subset of the plurality of transformations.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more processing devices are further configured by machine-readable instructions to access the high-fidelity model from a storage device remotely located from the HMD in response to determining the user has untethered the virtual element from the digital content.