Patents by Inventor Jeffrey Roger Stafford

Jeffrey Roger Stafford has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240103620
    Abstract: Gaze tracking data representing a user's gaze is analyzed to determine one or more regions of interest. One or more gaze tracking parameters are determined from the gaze tracking data. Adjusted foveation data is determined representing an adjusted size and/or shape of one or more regions of interest in one or more images to be subsequently presented to the user based on the one or more gaze tracking parameters. The compression of the one or more transmitted images is adjusted so that fewer bits are needed to transmit data for portions of an image outside the one or more regions of interest than for portions of the image within the one or more regions of interest. Adjusting compression includes eliminating the region(s) of interest from images that are presented to the user during the saccade or blink.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2023
    Publication date: March 28, 2024
    Inventors: Andrew Young, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Patent number: 11899835
    Abstract: Methods and systems for filtering content include identifying content for presenting in a rendering space defined by one or more mechanisms of a head mounted display (HMD), wherein the content is interactive, streaming content. A rating score for the content is identified. The content is dynamically adjusted to selectively filter a portion of the content based on a user profile of the user, rating score of the content, and ongoing interactions detected at the content. The adjusted content is formatted for rendering on the HMD. The formatted content is automatically transmitted to the HMD for rendering, in response to the request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Frederick Umminger, Richard Marks
  • Patent number: 11836289
    Abstract: Gaze tracking data representing a user's gaze is analyzed to determine one or more regions of interest. One or more gaze tracking error parameters are determined from the gaze tracking data including a rate of rotation of a user's eye with respect to one or more axes. An error in a fixation of the user's eye on a particular region of interest is determined. Adjusted foveation data is determined representing an adjusted size and/or shape of one or more regions of interest in one or more images to be subsequently presented to the user based on the one or more gaze tracking parameters. The compression of the one or more transmitted images is adjusted so that fewer bits are needed to transmit data for portions of an image outside the one or more regions of interest than for portions of the image within the one or more regions of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventors: Andrew Young, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Patent number: 11813517
    Abstract: A method to identify positions of fingers of a hand is described. The method includes capturing images of a first hand using a plurality of cameras that are part of a wearable device. The wearable device is attached to a wrist of a second hand and the plurality of cameras of the wearable device is disposed around the wearable device. The method includes repeating capturing of additional images of the first hand, the images and the additional images captured to produce a stream of captured image data during a session of presenting the virtual environment in a head mounted display (HMD). The method includes sending the stream of captured image data to a computing device that is interfaced with the HMD. The computing device is configured to process the captured image data to identify changes in positions of the fingers of the first hand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Todd Tokubo
  • Patent number: 11816255
    Abstract: A head mounted display is provided. The head mounted display includes an optics block having a display screen. The optics block has a forward-facing region, a lower-facing region, a top-facing region, an inside-facing region, and side regions that extend from the forward-facing region toward the inside-facing region. The display screen is viewable from the inside-facing region. A band adjustment unit is located opposite the optics block. A headband has a front portion and an adjustable portion. The adjustable portion of the headband is connected to the band adjustment unit to contract a size of the headband or expand the size of the headband. The front portion of the headband has a connection to the top-facing region of the optics block that is proximate to the inside-facing region. A pad is disposed inside of the front portion of the headband. The pad provides for at least partial support of the optics block when the head mounted display is worn by a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Anton Mikhailov, Eric Larsen, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Patent number: 11768537
    Abstract: A method is provided, including: tracking a location of a head-mounted display (HMD); tracking a gaze of a user of the HMD; generating video depicting a view of a virtual environment for the HMD based on the gaze of the user of the HMD; initiating wireless transmission of the video to the HMD for display on the HMD to the user, wherein initiating the wireless transmission includes setting a beamforming of a wireless transceiver towards the location of the head-mounted display; processing signal quality feedback received from the HMD to determine a quality of the wireless transmission; responsive to a loss in the quality of the wireless transmission, then adjusting the beamforming of the wireless transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Todd Tokubo, Steven Osman, Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Crusoe Xiadong Mao, Glenn Black
  • Patent number: 11704768
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for using temporal supersampling to increase a displayed resolution associated with peripheral region of a foveated rendering view. A method for enabling reconstitution of higher resolution pixels from a low resolution sampling region for fragment data is provided. The method includes an operation for receiving a fragment from a rasterizer of a GPU and for applying temporal supersampling to the fragment with the low resolution sampling region over a plurality of prior frames to obtain a plurality of color values. The method further includes an operation for reconstituting a plurality of high resolution pixels in a buffer that is based on the plurality of color values obtained via the temporal supersampling. Moreover, the method includes an operation for sending the plurality of high resolution pixels for display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Young, Chris Ho, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Publication number: 20230075644
    Abstract: Methods and systems for filtering content include identifying content for presenting in a rendering space defined by one or more mechanisms of a head mounted display (HMD), wherein the content is interactive, streaming content. A rating score for the content is identified. The content is dynamically adjusted to selectively filter a portion of the content based on a user profile of the user, rating score of the content, and ongoing interactions detected at the content. The adjusted content is formatted for rendering on the HMD. The formatted content is automatically transmitted to the HMD for rendering, in response to the request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2022
    Publication date: March 9, 2023
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Frederick Umminger, Richard Marks
  • Patent number: 11568604
    Abstract: Methods and systems for presenting an object on a screen of a head mounted display (HMD) include receiving an image of a real-world environment in proximity of a user wearing the HMD. The image is received from one or more forward facing cameras of the HMD and processed for rendering on a screen of the HMD by a processor within the HMD. A gaze direction of the user wearing the HMD, is detected using one or more gaze detecting cameras of the HMD that are directed toward one or each eye of the user. Images captured by the forward facing cameras are analyzed to identify an object captured in the real-world environment that is in line with the gaze direction of the user, wherein the image of the object is rendered at a first virtual distance that causes the object to appear out-of-focus when presented to the user. A signal is generated to adjust a zoom factor for lens of the one or more forward facing cameras so as to cause the object to be brought into focus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Michael Taylor
  • Publication number: 20220362680
    Abstract: Systems and methods for facilitating secret communication between players are described. One of the methods includes receiving image data of a first player to identify one or more gestures and receiving input data indicating a response of a second player to the one or more gestures. The method further includes training a model using the image data and the input data to generate an inference of communication between the first user and the second user. The method also includes generating additional inferences of communication between the first user and the second user. The method includes generating a recommendation to the second user based on the inference of communication and the additional inferences of communication.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2022
    Publication date: November 17, 2022
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Jorge Arroyo Palacios
  • Patent number: 11442532
    Abstract: Methods and systems for filtering content include identifying content for presenting in a rendering space defined by one or more mechanisms of a head mounted display (HMD), wherein the content is interactive, streaming content. A rating score for the content is identified. The content is dynamically adjusted to selectively filter a portion of the content based on a user profile of the user, rating score of the content, and ongoing interactions detected at the content. The adjusted content is formatted for rendering on the HMD. The formatted content is automatically transmitted to the HMD for rendering, in response to the request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Frederick Umminger, Richard Marks
  • Patent number: 11420131
    Abstract: Systems and methods for facilitating secret communication between players are described. One of the methods includes receiving image data of a first player to identify one or more gestures and receiving input data indicating a response of a second player to the one or more gestures. The method further includes training a model using the image data and the input data to generate an inference of communication between the first user and the second user. The method also includes generating additional inferences of communication between the first user and the second user. The method includes generating a recommendation to the second user based on the inference of communication and the additional inferences of communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Jorge Arroyo Palacios
  • Publication number: 20220253132
    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining movement of a hand-held controller (HHC) with respect to a head-mounted display (HMD) are described. A camera is located at a lower region of the HMD for capturing images of the HHC. The images of the HHC are used to determine a position and an orientation of the HHC with reference to the HMD. Also, the camera or another camera can be used to determine a position and orientation of the HMD with respect to a real-world environment. The position and orientation of the HMD and the position and orientation of the HHC are used to change to state of an application executed on a game cloud.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2022
    Publication date: August 11, 2022
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Todd Tokubo
  • Publication number: 20220197381
    Abstract: Gaze tracking data representing a user's gaze is analyzed to determine one or more regions of interest. One or more gaze tracking error parameters are determined from the gaze tracking data including a rate of rotation of a user's eye with respect to one or more axes. An error in a fixation of the user's eye on a particular region of interest is determined. Adjusted foveation data is determined representing an adjusted size and/or shape of one or more regions of interest in one or more images to be subsequently presented to the user based on the one or more gaze tracking parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2022
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Andrew Young, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Publication number: 20220197380
    Abstract: A method is provided, including: tracking a location of a head-mounted display (HMD); tracking a gaze of a user of the HMD; generating video depicting a view of a virtual environment for the HMD based on the gaze of the user of the HMD; initiating wireless transmission of the video to the HMD for display on the HMD to the user, wherein initiating the wireless transmission includes setting a beamforming of a wireless transceiver towards the location of the head-mounted display; processing signal quality feedback received from the HMD to determine a quality of the wireless transmission; responsive to a loss in the quality of the wireless transmission, then adjusting the beamforming of the wireless transceiver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2022
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Todd Tokubo, Steven Osman, Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Crusoe Xiadong Mao, Glenn Black
  • Patent number: 11347303
    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining movement of a hand-held controller (HHC) with respect to a head-mounted display (HMD) are described. A camera is located at a lower region of the HMD for capturing images of the HHC. The images of the HHC are used to determine a position and an orientation of the HHC with reference to the HMD. Also, the camera or another camera can be used to determine a position and orientation of the HMD with respect to a real-world environment. The position and orientation of the HMD and the position and orientation of the HHC are used to change to state of an application executed on a game cloud.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Todd Tokubo
  • Publication number: 20220134219
    Abstract: A method to identify positions of fingers of a hand is described. The method includes capturing images of a first hand using a plurality of cameras that are part of a wearable device. The wearable device is attached to a wrist of a second hand and the plurality of cameras of the wearable device is disposed around the wearable device. The method includes repeating capturing of additional images of the first hand, the images and the additional images captured to produce a stream of captured image data during a session of presenting the virtual environment in a head mounted display (HMD). The method includes sending the stream of captured image data to a computing device that is interfaced with the HMD. The computing device is configured to process the captured image data to identify changes in positions of the fingers of the first hand.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2022
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventors: Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Todd Tokubo
  • Patent number: 11314325
    Abstract: Gaze tracking data may representing a user's gaze with respect to one or more images transmitted to a user are analyzed to determine one or more regions of interest. The one or more transmitted images are selectively compressed so that fewer bits are needed to transmit data for portions of an image outside the one or more regions interest than for portions of the image within the one or more regions of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Young, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Patent number: 11287884
    Abstract: Gaze tracking data representing a user's gaze is analyzed to determine one or more regions of interest. One or more gaze tracking error parameters are determined from the gaze tracking data including a rate of rotation of a user's eye with respect to one or more axes. An error in a fixation of the user's eye on a particular region of interest is determined. Adjusted foveation data is determined representing an adjusted size and/or shape of one or more regions of interest in one or more images to be subsequently presented to the user based on the one or more gaze tracking parameters. The one or more transmitted images are selectively compressed so that fewer bits are needed to transmit data for portions of an image outside the one or more regions interest than for portions of the image within the one or more regions of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Inventors: Andrew Young, Jeffrey Roger Stafford
  • Patent number: 11269408
    Abstract: A method is provided, including: receiving captured images of an interactive environment in which a head-mounted display (HMD) is disposed; receiving inertial data processed from at least one inertial sensor of the HMD; analyzing the captured images of the interactive environment and the inertial data to determine a predicted future location of the HMD; using the predicted future location of the HMD to adjust a beamforming direction of an RF transceiver in a direction that is towards the predicted future location of the HMD; tracking a gaze of a user of the HMD; predicting a movement of the gaze of the user; generating video depicting a view of a virtual environment for the HMD; wherein the regions of the view are rendered differently based on the predicted movement of the gaze of the user; wirelessly transmitting the video via the RF transceiver to the HMD using the adjusted beamforming direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Todd Tokubo, Steven Osman, Jeffrey Roger Stafford, Crusoe Xiadong Mao, Glenn Black