Controlling the provision of a warning in a virtual environment using a virtual reality system

1. A computer-implemented method for controlling the provision of a warning to a user in a virtual environment of a virtual reality, VR, system, the method comprising:

identifying one or more elements within the user's virtual environment, wherein each element is associated with a descriptor that describes an expected user behavior associated with the element, the descriptor associated with each of the one or more identified elements, respectively, providing an indication of the probability of occurrence of specific actions, by the user, associated with each of the elements; and

based on the descriptor of each of the one or more identified elements, controlling the provision of the warning to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the expected user behavior comprises at least one of a physical user movement and a physical user position, and wherein the physical user movement comprises at least one of a movement velocity and a movement distance.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying one or more elements within the user's virtual environment comprises:

defining a context in the user's virtual environment;

wherein the context comprises at least one of a virtual area, a story narrative, an event, and an objective; and

identifying one or more elements within the defined context.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the provision of the warning to the user comprises:

predicting the expected user behavior based on the descriptor of each of the one or more identified elements; and

controlling the provision of the warning to the user based on the predicted expected user behavior.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein controlling the provision of the warning to the user comprises:

defining at least one of a velocity threshold, a distance threshold, and a physical boundary in the user's physical environment; and

controlling the provision of the warning to the user in response to assessing at least one of:

the movement velocity against the velocity threshold;

the movement distance against the distance threshold; and

the physical user position against the physical boundary in the user's physical environment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the provision of the warning to the user comprises:

providing at least one of a visual, audible, and haptic feedback of a warning to the user; and

adjusting at least one of:

an opacity of the visual feedback;

a volume and/or frequency of the audible feedback;

a magnitude and/or frequency of the haptic feedback; and

a time between identifying the one or more elements and providing the at least one of the visual, audible, and haptic feedback.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the visual feedback comprises a virtual boundary representing the physical boundary in the user's physical environment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more elements within the user's virtual environment comprise at least one of an object, a location, an attribute, an objective, and an inter-element relation.

9. A computer program product for controlling the provision of a warning to a user in a virtual environment of a VR system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processing unit to cause the processing unit to perform a method comprising:

identifying one or more elements within the user's virtual environment, wherein each element is associated with a descriptor that describes an expected user behavior associated with the element, the descriptor associated with each of the one or more identified elements, respectively, providing an indication of the probability of occurrence of specific actions, by the user, associated with each of the elements; and

based on the descriptor of each of the one or more identified elements, controlling the provision of the warning to the user.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the expected user behavior comprises at least one of a physical user movement and a physical user position, and wherein the physical user movement comprises at least one of a movement velocity and a movement distance.

11. A system for controlling the provision of a warning to a user in a virtual environment of a VR system, the system comprising:

an identifying unit configured to identify one or more elements within the user's virtual environment, wherein each element is associated with a descriptor that describes an expected user behavior associated with the element, the descriptor associated with each of the one or more identified elements, respectively, providing an indication of the probability of occurrence of specific actions, by the user, associated with each of the elements; and

a control unit configured to, based on the descriptor of each of the one or more identified elements, control the provision of the warning to the user.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the expected user behavior comprises at least one of a physical user movement and a physical user position, and wherein the physical user movement comprises at least one of a movement velocity and a movement distance.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the identifying unit is configured to:

define a context in the user's virtual environment;

wherein the context comprises at least one of a virtual area, a story narrative, an event, and an objective; and

identify one or more elements within the defined context.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to:

predict the expected user behavior based on the descriptor of each of the one or more identified elements; and

control the provision of the warning to the user based on the predicted expected user behavior.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the control unit is configured to:

define at least one of a velocity threshold, a distance threshold, and a physical boundary in the user's physical environment; and

control the provision of the warning to the user in response to assessing at least one of:

the movement velocity against the velocity threshold;

the movement distance against the distance threshold; and

the physical user position against the physical boundary in the user's physical environment.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control unit is configured to:

provide at least one of a visual, audible, and haptic feedback of a warning to the user through a user-interface unit; and

adjust at least one of:

an opacity of the visual feedback;

a volume and/or frequency of the audible feedback;

a magnitude and/or frequency of the haptic feedback; and

a time between identifying the one or more elements and providing the at least one of the visual, audible, and haptic feedback.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the visual feedback comprises a virtual boundary representing the physical boundary in the user's physical environment.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the one or more elements within the user's virtual environment comprise at least one of an object, a location, an attribute, an objective, and an inter-element relation.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the expected user behavior comprises at least one of a physical user movement and a physical user position, and wherein the physical user movement comprises at least one of a movement velocity and a movement distance.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein identifying one or more elements within the user's virtual environment comprises:

defining a context in the user's virtual environment;

wherein the context comprises at least one of a virtual area, a story narrative, an event, and an objective; and

identifying one or more elements within the defined context.