Calibration of inertial measurement units attached to arms of a user and to a head mounted device

1. A system, comprising:

a sensor module having an inertial measurement unit and attached to a head of a user, the sensor module configured to generate a measurement of an orientation of the head at a calibration pose relative to a reference pose; and

a computing device coupled to the sensor module, the computing device configured to:

apply a first rotation, defined by the measurement of the orientation of the head at the calibration pose relative to the reference pose, to a first direction relative to the head at the reference pose to obtain a second direction relative to the reference pose;

project the second direction on to a horizontal plane to obtain a projected direction within the horizontal plane relative to the reference pose;

compute a second rotation between the projected direction and a predetermined direction of the head relative to the reference pose; and

calibrate, using the second rotation, subsequent orientation measurements of the sensor module;

wherein:

at the calibration pose, arms of the user are in a horizontal plane to form a predetermined angle with respect to a front facing direction of a torso of the user at the calibration pose; and

at the reference pose, the arms are in the horizontal plane and are perpendicular to a front facing direction of the torso of the user at the reference pose.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user is instructed to look straight ahead horizontally; and the first direction is a front facing direction at the reference pose.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module is a head mounted device having a camera; and the first direction is determined from an image captured by the camera at the calibration pose.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the image captures at least one optical mark in front of the user at the calibration pose; and the first direction is determined based on a direction of the at least one optical mark relative to the camera at the calibration pose.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the computing device is configured to apply a predetermined offset to the direction of the at least one optical mark relative to the camera to obtain the first direction.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined offset is equal to an offset, at a time when the user looks straight ahead horizontally, between a direction of the at least one optical mark relative to the camera and a front facing direction.

7. The system of claim 3 , wherein the computing device is configured to compute a rotation offset:

from a direction of the at least one optical mark relative to the camera at the calibration pose,

to a direction of the at least one optical mark relative to the camera when a front facing direction of the sensor module is in parallel with a front facing direction of a torso of the user at the calibration pose;

wherein the first direction is computed based on the rotation offset.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the computing device is configured to apply the rotation offset to the front facing direction of the sensor module to obtain the first direction.

9. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:

two handheld devices having inertial measurement units configured to measure orientations of hands of the user;

wherein the at least one optical mark is configured on the two handheld devices.

10. A system, comprising:

a sensor module having an inertial measurement unit and attached to a head of a user, the sensor module configured to generate a measurement of an orientation of the head at a calibration pose relative to a reference pose; and

a computing device coupled to the sensor module, the computing device configured to:

apply a first rotation, defined by the measurement of the orientation of the head at the calibration pose relative to the reference pose, to a first direction relative to the head at the reference pose to obtain a second direction relative to the reference pose;

project the second direction on to a horizontal plane to obtain a projected direction within the horizontal plane relative to the reference pose;

compute a second rotation between the projected direction and a predetermined direction of the head relative to the reference pose; and

calibrate, using the second rotation, subsequent orientation measurements of the sensor module;

two handheld devices having inertial measurement units configured to measure orientations of hands of the user; and

two arm modules having inertial measurement units configured to measure orientations of arms of the user;

wherein the calibration pose is detected based on a gesture determined using orientation measurements of the arm modules and the handheld devices.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the calibration pose is detected based on one or more user input generated using the handheld devices.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the sensor module includes a communication device for a communication link with the computing device.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the inertial measurement unit includes a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) gyroscope.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the inertial measurement unit further includes a magnetometer and a MEMS accelerometer.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a sensor module having an inertial measurement unit and attached to a head of a user, a measurement of an orientation of the head at a calibration pose relative to a reference pose;

capturing, from a camera of the sensor module, an image of at least one optical mark at the calibration pose;

identifying, from the image, a first direction relative to the head at the reference pose;

applying a first rotation, according to the measurement of the orientation of the head at the calibration pose relative to the initial reference pose, to a first direction to obtain a second direction;

projecting the second direction on to a horizontal plane as a projected direction within the horizontal plane relative to the initial reference pose;

computing a second rotation between the projected direction and a predetermined direction of the head relative to the initial reference pose; and

calibrating, using the second rotation, subsequent orientation measurements of the sensor module;

wherein:

at the calibration pose, arms of the user are in a horizontal plane to form a predetermined angle with respect to a front facing direction of a torso of the user at the calibration pose; and

at the reference pose, the arms are in the horizontal plane and are perpendicular to a front facing direction of the torso of the user at the reference pose.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

computing, from the image, a direction of a center of the at least one optical mark relative to the camera at the calibration pose;

wherein the first direction relative to the head at the reference pose is computed based on the direction of the center of the at least one optical mark.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first direction is calculated by applying a predetermined offset to the direction of the center of the at least one optical mark.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first direction is calculated by applying, to a front facing direction of the head, a rotation between:

the direction of the center of the at least one optical mark at the calibration pose, and a reference direction of the center of the at least one optical mark.

19. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, instructs the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, from a sensor module having an inertial measurement unit and attached to a head of a user, a measurement of an orientation of the head at a calibration pose relative to a reference pose;

capturing, from a camera of the sensor module, an image of at least one optical mark at the calibration pose;

identifying, from the image, a first direction relative to the head at the reference pose;

applying a first rotation, according to the measurement of the orientation of the head at the calibration pose relative to the initial reference pose, to a first direction to obtain a second direction;

projecting the second direction on to a horizontal plane as a projected direction within the horizontal plane relative to the initial reference pose;

computing a second rotation between the projected direction and a predetermined direction of the head relative to the initial reference pose; and

calibrating, using the second rotation, subsequent orientation measurements of the sensor module;

wherein the calibration pose is detected based on a gesture determined using orientation measurements of two arm modules having inertial measurement units configured to measure orientations of hands of the user.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the gesture is determined further using orientation measurements of two handheld devices having inertial measurement units configured to measure orientations of hands of the user.