IP Library Granted Patent US 10,477,157
Granted Patent B1
US 10,477,157 · App. 15/448,572 · Granted Nov 12, 2019

Apparatuses, methods and systems for a sensor array adapted for vision computing

Inventors: Ali Shahdi (Belmont, CA); Agis Mesolongitis (San Francisco, CA); Alan Beltran (Woodside, CA)
Assignee: Meta View, Inc.
H04N7/181G01S17/08G02B27/0172G02B27/0176G06F3/012G06T19/006H04N5/23238H04N9/045G01K13/00G02B2027/0138G02B2027/0141
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,477,157
App. No.
15/448,572
Granted
Nov 12, 2019
Kind
B1
Abstract

Aspects of the disclosed apparatuses, methods and systems provide a sensor array including multiple sensors configured and arranged to enable one or more augmented or virtual reality applications in computer vision system. For example, the sensor array is arranged and configured to acquire different types of sensor data that are combined and processed using computer vision processes in order to augment a user's physical environment with virtual information.

Claims (46)

1. A sensor array optimized for an augmented or virtual reality system, the array comprising:

a plurality of sensors including:

two cameras;

and

a mechanical assembly positioning the plurality of sensors in a configuration optimized to sense information for one or more computer vision applications of the augmented or virtual reality system, wherein the mechanical assembly includes:

a first generally planar portion including two opposite ends; and

two wing portions, each wing portion extending from one of the ends of the first portion and formed of a generally planar portion angled from the ends of the first planar portion, each wing portion positioning one of the two cameras to sense features in wide compound field of view and stereoscopically sense features in an overlapping field of view,

wherein the angle formed between a plane of the first portion and a plane of each wing portion is a compound angle.

2. The sensor array of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors includes a depth sensor and a color camera, and the two cameras are monochrome cameras.

3. The sensor array of claim 1 wherein the compound field of view is between 200-260 degrees as measured in a horizontal plane.

4. The sensor array of claim 1 wherein the overlapping field of view is between 60-80 degrees as measured in a horizontal plane.

5. The sensor array of claim 1 wherein the angle formed between the first portion and each wing portion in a horizontal plane is between 120-150 degrees.

6. The sensor array of claim 1 , wherein the angle formed between the first portion and each wing portion in a horizontal plane is substantially 135 degrees.

7. The sensor array of claim 2 wherein the depth sensor and the color camera are positioned by the first potion.

8. The sensor array of claim 7 , wherein a lens of the depth sensor is centered between the two ends of the first portion and a lens of the color camera is positioned generally adjacent to the depth sensor.

9. A sensor array optimized for an augmented or virtual reality system, the array comprising:

a plurality of sensors including:

two cameras; and

a mechanical assembly positioning the plurality of sensors in a configuration optimized to sense information for one or more computer vision applications of the augmented or virtual reality system, the mechanical assembly including:

a first generally planar portion including two opposite ends; and

two wing portions, each wing portion extending from one of the ends of the first portion and formed of a generally planar portion angled from the ends of the first planar portion, each wing portion positioning one of the two cameras,

wherein an angle formed between each wing portion and the first portion in a horizontal plane bisecting the first portion and the wing portion is approximately 120-150 degrees an angle formed by the intersection of the generally planar portion of each wing portion and the horizontal plane is approximately 60-70 degrees.

10. The sensor array of claim 1 further comprising an inertial measurement unit.

11. The sensor array of claim 1 further comprising a thermal sensor.

12. The sensor array of claim 1 further comprising one or more processing devices, the one or more processing devices configured to execute instructions to acquire sensor data from the plurality sensors and aggregate the sensor data for transmission to a host processing system implementing the one or more computer vision applications of the augmented or virtual reality system.

13. An augmented reality or virtual reality head mounted display (HMD) system comprising:

a display,

an optical element; and

a sensor array, the sensor array including:

a plurality of sensors including:

two cameras;

and

a mechanical assembly positioning the plurality of sensors in a configuration optimized to sense information for one or more computer vision applications of an augmented reality processing system, the mechanical assembly including:

a first generally planar portion including two opposite ends and

two wing portions, each wing portion extending from one of the ends of the first portion and formed of a generally planar portion angled from the ends of the first planar portion, each wing portion positioning one of the two cameras to sense features in wide compound field of view and stereoscopically sense features in an overlapping field of view; and

a housing adapted to be worn on a head of a user of the HMD including a plurality of openings, wherein the optical element is positioned by the housing relative to the display to reflect or project light emitted from the display to the eyes of the user, and the openings of the housing align with the plurality of sensors arranged by the mechanical assembly within the housing.

14. The HMD of claim 13 , wherein the angle formed at the junction of the first portion and each wing portion is a compound angle where any plane, intersecting a plane of the first portion and a plane of either wing portion, that is orthogonal to the plane of the first portion is non-orthogonal to the plane of either wing portion.

15. The headset HMD of claim 13 wherein an angle formed between each wing portion and the first portion in a horizontal plane bisecting the first portion and each wing portion is approximately 120-150 degrees and an angle formed at the intersection of the generally planar portion of each wing portion and the horizontal plane is approximately 60-70 degrees.

16. The HMD of claim 13 further comprising an inertial measurement unit.

17. The HMD of claim 13 further comprising a thermal sensor.

18. The HMD of claim 13 further comprising one or more processing devices, the one or more processing devices configured to execute instructions to acquire sensor data from the plurality sensors and aggregate the sensor data for transmission to a host processing system implementing one or more computer vision applications of the augmented or virtual reality system.

19. The HMD of claim 13 , wherein the compound angle is described by an angle in a horizontal plane between the first portion and each wing portion and an angle of tilt of each generally planar portion from a vertical axis orthogonal to the horizontal plane.

20. The HMD of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of sensors further includes a depth sensor and a color sensor and the two cameras are monochrome cameras.

21. The sensor array of claim 1 , wherein the compound angle is formed between a plane of the first portion and a plane of each wing portion where any plane, intersecting the plane of the first portion and the plane of either wing portion, that is orthogonal to the plane of the first portion is non-orthogonal to the plane of either wing portion.

22. The sensor array of claim 1 , the compound angle is described by an angle in a horizontal plane between the first portion and each wing portion and an angle of tilt of each generally planar portion from a vertical axis orthogonal to the horizontal plane.

23. The sensor array of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of sensors further includes a depth sensor and a color sensor and the two cameras are monochrome cameras.

Assignments (8)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 24, 2024
From: CAMPFIRE 3D, INC.
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 067209/0066 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Apr 4, 2022
From: META VIEW, INC.
To: CAMPFIRE 3D, INC.
Reel/Frame 059492/0028 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE INCORRECT APPL. NO. 15/587,105 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 047240 FRAME: 0864. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE SECURITY INTEREST. Recorded Apr 22, 2019
From: META COMPANY
To: K&L GATES LLP
Reel/Frame 048964/0953 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 1, 2019
From: K&L GATES LLP
To: META VIEW, INC.
Reel/Frame 050110/0688 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 3, 2019
From: VENTURE LENDING & LEASING VII, INC.; VENTURE LENDING & LEASING VIII, INC.
To: META VIEW, INC.
Reel/Frame 049038/0277 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 16, 2018
From: META COMPANY
To: K&L GATES LLP
Reel/Frame 047240/0864 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 10, 2017
From: META COMPANY
To: VENTURE LENDING & LEASING VII, INC.; VENTURE LENDING & LEASING VIII, INC.
Reel/Frame 043829/0038 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 25, 2017
From: MESOLONGITIS, AGIS; SHAHDI, ALI; BELTRAN, ALAN
To: META COMPANY
Reel/Frame 043401/0526 →
Continuity (1)
Provisional Application 62302794 · Mar 2, 2016
Cited By (7)
US 12,192,623 US 12,210,160 US 12,444,146 US 12,574,648 US 12,651,420 US 12,666,145 US 12,684,244