Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device operating in a real world physical environment is configured with a sensor package that enables determination of an intersection of a device user's projected gaze with a location in a virtual reality environment so that virtual objects can be placed into the environment with high precision. Surface reconstruction of the physical environment can be applied using data from the sensor package to determine the user's view position in the virtual world. A gaze ray originating from the view position is projected outward and a cursor or similar indicator is rendered on the HMD display at the ray's closest intersection with the virtual world such as a virtual object, floor/ground, etc. In response to user input, such as a gesture, voice interaction, or control manipulation, a virtual object is placed at the point of intersection between the projected gaze ray and the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: An HMD device is configured to vertically adjust the ground plane of a rendered virtual reality environment that has varying elevations to match the flat real world floor so that the device user can move around to navigate and explore the environment and always be properly located on the virtual ground and not be above it or underneath it. Rather than continuously adjust the virtual reality ground plane, which can introduce cognitive dissonance discomfort to the user, when the user is not engaged in some form of locomotion (e.g., walking), the HMD device establishes a threshold radius around the user within which virtual ground plane adjustment is not performed. The user can make movements within the threshold radius without the HMD device shifting the virtual terrain. When the user moves past the threshold radius, the device will perform an adjustment as needed to match the ground plane of the virtual reality environment to the real world floor.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device is configured with a sensor package that enables head tracking to determine the device user's proximity to virtual objects in a mixed reality or virtual reality environment. A fade volume including concentrically-arranged volumetric shells is placed around the user including a near shell that is closest to the user, and a far shell that is farthest from the user. When a virtual object is beyond the far shell, the HMD device renders the object with full opacity (i.e., with no transparency). As the user moves towards a virtual object and it intersects the far shell, its opacity begins to fade out with increasing transparency to reveal the background behind it. The transparency of the virtual object increases as the object gets closer to the near shell and the object becomes fully transparent when the near shell reaches it so that the background becomes fully visible.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device operating in a real world physical environment is configured with a sensor package that enables determination of an intersection of a device user's projected gaze with a location in a virtual reality environment so that virtual objects can be placed into the environment with high precision. Surface reconstruction of the physical environment can be applied using data from the sensor package to determine the user's view position in the virtual world. A gaze ray originating from the view position is projected outward and a cursor or similar indicator is rendered on the HMD display at the ray's closest intersection with the virtual world such as a virtual object, floor/ground, etc. In response to user input, such as a gesture, voice interaction, or control manipulation, a virtual object is placed at the point of intersection between the projected gaze ray and the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device operating in a real world physical environment is configured with a sensor package that enables determination of an intersection of a device user's projected gaze with a location in a virtual reality environment so that virtual objects can be placed into the environment with high precision. Surface reconstruction of the physical environment can be applied using data from the sensor package to determine the user's view position in the virtual world. A gaze ray originating from the view position is projected outward and a cursor or similar indicator is rendered on the HMD display at the ray's closest intersection with the virtual world such as a virtual object, floor/ground, etc. In response to user input, such as a gesture, voice interaction, or control manipulation, a virtual object is placed at the point of intersection between the projected gaze ray and the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device is configured with a sensor package that enables head tracking to determine the device user's proximity to virtual objects in a mixed reality or virtual reality environment. A fade volume including concentrically-arranged volumetric shells is placed around the user including a near shell that is closest to the user, and a far shell that is farthest from the user. When a virtual object is beyond the far shell, the HMD device renders the object with full opacity (i.e., with no transparency). As the user moves towards a virtual object and it intersects the far shell, its opacity begins to fade out with increasing transparency to reveal the background behind it. The transparency of the virtual object increases as the object gets closer to the near shell and the object becomes fully transparent when the near shell reaches it so that the background becomes fully visible.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device operating in a real world physical environment is configured with a sensor package that enables determination of an intersection of a device user's projected gaze with a location in a virtual reality environment so that virtual objects can be placed into the environment with high precision. Surface reconstruction of the physical environment can be applied using data from the sensor package to determine the user's view position in the virtual world. A gaze ray originating from the view position is projected outward and a cursor or similar indicator is rendered on the HMD display at the ray's closest intersection with the virtual world such as a virtual object, floor/ground, etc. In response to user input, such as a gesture, voice interaction, or control manipulation, a virtual object is placed at the point of intersection between the projected gaze ray and the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: An HMD device is configured to check the placement of newly introduced objects in a virtual reality environment such as interactive elements like menus, widgets, and notifications to confirm that the objects are significantly present within the user's field of view. If the intended original placement would locate the object outside the field of view, the HMD device relocates the object so that a portion of the object is viewable at the edge of the HMD display closest to its original placement. Such smart placement of virtual objects enables the user to readily discover new objects when they are introduced into the virtual reality environment, and then interact with the objects within a range of motions and/or head positions that is comfortable to support a more optimal interaction and user experience.

Abstract: An HMD device renders a virtual reality environment in which areas of the real world are masked out so that real world objects such as computer monitors, doors, people, faces, and the like appear visible to the device user and no holographic or virtual reality content is rendered over the visible objects. The HMD device includes a sensor package to support application of surface reconstruction techniques to dynamically detect edges and surfaces of the real world objects and keep objects visible on the display as the user changes position or head pose or when the real world objects move or their positions are changed. The HMD device can expose controls to enable the user to select which real world objects are visible in the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: An HMD device is configured to vertically adjust the ground plane of a rendered virtual reality environment that has varying elevations to match the flat real world floor so that the device user can move around to navigate and explore the environment and always be properly located on the virtual ground and not be above it or underneath it. Rather than continuously adjust the virtual reality ground plane, which can introduce cognitive dissonance discomfort to the user, when the user is not engaged in some form of locomotion (e.g., walking), the HMD device establishes a threshold radius around the user within which virtual ground plane adjustment is not performed. The user can make movements within the threshold radius without the HMD device shifting the virtual terrain. When the user moves past the threshold radius, the device will perform an adjustment as needed to match the ground plane of the virtual reality environment to the real world floor.

Abstract: An HMD device is configured to vertically adjust the ground plane of a rendered virtual reality environment that has varying elevations to match the flat real world floor so that the device user can move around to navigate and explore the environment and always be properly located on the virtual ground and not be above it or underneath it. Rather than continuously adjust the virtual reality ground plane, which can introduce cognitive dissonance discomfort to the user, when the user is not engaged in some form of locomotion (e.g., walking), the HMD device establishes a threshold radius around the user within which virtual ground plane adjustment is not performed. The user can make movements within the threshold radius without the HMD device shifting the virtual terrain. When the user moves past the threshold radius, the device will perform an adjustment as needed to match the ground plane of the virtual reality environment to the real world floor.

Abstract: In a virtual reality or mixed reality environment, an HMD device is configured to use surface reconstruction data points obtained with a sensor package to identify a location of a floor of a real world environment in which the device operates by sorting the data points by height into respective buckets where each bucket holds a different range of heights. A bucket having the greatest number of data points that are below the height of a user of the HMD device is used to identify the height of the real world floor, for example, by calculating an average of height values of data points in that bucket. A floor for the virtual reality environment may then be aligned to the identified height of the real world floor.

Abstract: A system and method executable by a computing device of an augmented reality system for registering a camera in a physical space is provided. The method may include identifying an origin marker in a series of images of a physical space captured by a camera of an augmented reality system, and defining a marker graph having an origin marker node. The method may further include analyzing in real-time the series of images to identify a plurality of expansion markers with locations defined relative to previously imaged markers, and defining corresponding expansion marker nodes in the marker graph. The method may further include calculating a current position of the camera of the augmented reality system in the physical space based on a location of a node in the marker graph corresponding to a most recently imaged marker, relative to the origin marker and any intermediate markers.

Abstract: An HMD device is configured to check the placement of newly introduced objects in a virtual reality environment such as interactive elements like menus, widgets, and notifications to confirm that the objects are significantly present within the user's field of view. If the intended original placement would locate the object outside the field of view, the HMD device relocates the object so that a portion of the object is viewable at the edge of the HMD display closest to its original placement. Such smart placement of virtual objects enables the user to readily discover new objects when they are introduced into the virtual reality environment, and then interact with the objects within a range of motions and/or head positions that is comfortable to support a more optimal interaction and user experience.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device operating in a real world physical environment is configured with a sensor package that enables determination of an intersection of a device user's projected gaze with a location in a virtual reality environment so that virtual objects can be placed into the environment with high precision. Surface reconstruction of the physical environment can be applied using data from the sensor package to determine the user's view position in the virtual world. A gaze ray originating from the view position is projected outward and a cursor or similar indicator is rendered on the HMD display at the ray's closest intersection with the virtual world such as a virtual object, floor/ground, etc. In response to user input, such as a gesture, voice interaction, or control manipulation, a virtual object is placed at the point of intersection between the projected gaze ray and the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device operating in a real world physical environment is configured with a sensor package that enables determination of an intersection of a projection of the device user's gaze with a location in a mixed or virtual reality environment. When a projected gaze ray is visibly rendered on other HMD devices (where all the devices are operatively coupled), users of those devices can see what the user is looking at in the environment. In multi-user settings, each HMD device user can see each other's projected gaze rays which can facilitate collaboration in a commonly-shared and experienced mixed or virtual reality environment. The gaze projection can be used much like a finger to point at an object, or to indicate a location on a surface with precision and accuracy.

Abstract: An HMD device renders a virtual reality environment in which areas of the real world are masked out so that real world objects such as computer monitors, doors, people, faces, and the like appear visible to the device user and no holographic or virtual reality content is rendered over the visible objects. The HMD device includes a sensor package to support application of surface reconstruction techniques to dynamically detect edges and surfaces of the real world objects and keep objects visible on the display as the user changes position or head pose or when the real world objects move or their positions are changed. The HMD device can expose controls to enable the user to select which real world objects are visible in the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: A mixed-reality head mounted display (HMD) device supports a three dimensional (3D) virtual world application with which a real world desktop displayed on a monitor coupled to a personal computer (PC) may interact and share mouse input. A mouse input server executing on the PC tracks mouse movements on the desktop displayed on a monitor. When movement of the mouse takes it beyond the edge of the monitor screen, the mouse input server takes control of the mouse and stops mouse messages from propagating through the PC's system. The mouse input server communicates over a network connection to a mouse input client exposed by the application to inform the client that the mouse has transitioned to operating in the virtual world and passes mouse messages describing movements and control operation such as button presses.

Abstract: An HMD device is configured to vertically adjust the ground plane of a rendered virtual reality environment that has varying elevations to match the flat real world floor so that the device user can move around to navigate and explore the environment and always be properly located on the virtual ground and not be above it or underneath it. Rather than continuously adjust the virtual reality ground plane, which can introduce cognitive dissonance discomfort to the user, when the user is not engaged in some form of locomotion (e.g., walking), the HMD device establishes a threshold radius around the user within which virtual ground plane adjustment is not performed. The user can make movements within the threshold radius without the HMD device shifting the virtual terrain. When the user moves past the threshold radius, the device will perform an adjustment as needed to match the ground plane of the virtual reality environment to the real world floor.

Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) device is configured with a sensor package that enables head tracking to determine the device user's proximity to holographic objects in mixed reality or virtual reality environments. A fade volume including concentrically-arranged volumetric shells is placed around the user including a near shell that is closest to the user, and a far shell that is farthest from the user. When a holographic object is beyond the far shell, the HMD device renders the object with full opacity (i.e., with no transparency). As the user moves towards a holographic object and it intersects the far shell, its opacity begins to fade out with increasing transparency to reveal the background behind it. The transparency of the holographic object increases as the object gets closer to the near shell and the object becomes fully transparent when the near shell reaches it so that the background becomes fully visible.