Patents by Inventor Torin Ross Herndon

Torin Ross Herndon 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).

  • Patent number: 10684674
    Abstract: A virtual reality system includes a head-mounted display (HMD) having one or more facial sensors and illumination sources mounted to a surface of the HMD. For example, the facial sensors are image capture devices coupled to a bottom side of the HMD. The illumination sources illuminate portions of a user's face outside of the HMD, while the facial sensors capture images of the illuminated portions of the user's face. A controller receives the captured images and generates a representation of the portions of the user's face by identifying landmarks of the user's face in the captured images and performing other suitable image processing methods. Based on the representation, the controller or another component of the virtual reality system generates content for presentation to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Dov Katz, Michael John Toksvig, Ziheng Wang, Timothy Paul Omernick, Torin Ross Herndon
  • Patent number: 10444512
    Abstract: An optical characterization system tests optical elements of head-mounted displays (HMD) such as lenses. The system emits a test pattern of light through an aperture of a hollow truncated cone. The hollow truncated cone may be rotated to different angles of test positions, for example, to mimic rotation of a human eye of a user wearing an HMD. The emitted light is refracted by a test lens and captured by a detector assembly. Using images captured by the detector assembly, the system determines one or more quality metrics of the test lens. Quality metrics may describe various types of optical aberrations, which may be determined as a function of the test positions (e.g., angle and/or position of the hollow truncated cone relative to the test lens). In addition, the system may generate an optical profile of the test lens using the quality metrics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Daozhi Wang, Ning Yeung Chan, Youngshik Yoon, Shizhe Shen, Torin Ross Herndon
  • Patent number: 10430988
    Abstract: A facial tracking system generates a virtual rendering of a portion of a face of a user wearing a head-mounted display (HMD). The facial tracking system illuminates portions of the face inside the HMD. The facial tracking system captures a plurality of facial data of the portion of the face using one or more facial sensors located inside the HMD. A plurality of planar sections of the portion of the face are identified based at least in part on the plurality of facial data. The plurality of planar sections are mapped to one or more landmarks of the face. Facial animation information is generated based at least in part on the mapping, the facial animation information describing a portion of a virtual face corresponding to the portion of the user's face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Dov Katz, Michael John Toksvig, Ziheng Wang, Timothy Paul Omernick, Torin Ross Herndon
  • Publication number: 20180246332
    Abstract: An optical characterization system tests optical elements of head-mounted displays (HMD) such as lenses. The system emits a test pattern of light through an aperture of a hollow truncated cone. The hollow truncated cone may be rotated to different angles of test positions, for example, to mimic rotation of a human eye of a user wearing an HMD. The emitted light is refracted by a test lens and captured by a detector assembly. Using images captured by the detector assembly, the system determines one or more quality metrics of the test lens. Quality metrics may describe various types of optical aberrations, which may be determined as a function of the test positions (e.g., angle and/or position of the hollow truncated cone relative to the test lens). In addition, the system may generate an optical profile of the test lens using the quality metrics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Publication date: August 30, 2018
    Inventors: Daozhi Wang, Ning Yeung Chan, Youngshik Yoon, Shizhe Shen, Torin Ross Herndon
  • Patent number: 9959678
    Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) in a VR system includes sensors for tracking the eyes and face of a user wearing the HMD. The VR system records calibration attributes such as landmarks of the face of the user. Light sources illuminate portions of the user's face covered by the HMD. In conjunction, facial sensors capture facial data. The VR system analyzes the facial data to determine the orientation of planar sections of the illuminated portions of face. The VR system aggregates planar sections of the face and maps the planar sections to landmarks of the face to generate a facial animation of the user, which can also include eye orientation information. The facial animation is represented as a virtual avatar and presented to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Oculus VR, LLC
    Inventors: Dov Katz, Michael John Toksvig, Ziheng Wang, Timothy Paul Omernick, Torin Ross Herndon
  • Publication number: 20170352183
    Abstract: A head mounted display (HMD) in a VR system includes sensors for tracking the eyes and face of a user wearing the HMD. The VR system records calibration attributes such as landmarks of the face of the user. Light sources illuminate portions of the user's face covered by the HMD. In conjunction, facial sensors capture facial data. The VR system analyzes the facial data to determine the orientation of planar sections of the illuminated portions of face. The VR system aggregates planar sections of the face and maps the planar sections to landmarks of the face to generate a facial animation of the user, which can also include eye orientation information. The facial animation is represented as a virtual avatar and presented to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Publication date: December 7, 2017
    Inventors: Dov Katz, Michael John Toksvig, Ziheng Wang, Timothy Paul Omernick, Torin Ross Herndon
  • Publication number: 20170352178
    Abstract: A facial tracking system generates a virtual rendering of a portion of a face of a user wearing a head-mounted display (HMD). The facial tracking system illuminates portions of the face inside the HMD. The facial tracking system captures a plurality of facial data of the portion of the face using one or more facial sensors located inside the HMD. A plurality of planar sections of the portion of the face are identified based at least in part on the plurality of facial data. The plurality of planar sections are mapped to one or more landmarks of the face. Facial animation information is generated based at least in part on the mapping, the facial animation information describing a portion of a virtual face corresponding to the portion of the user's face.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Publication date: December 7, 2017
    Inventors: Dov Katz, Michael John Toksvig, Ziheng Wang, Timothy Paul Omernick, Torin Ross Herndon
  • Publication number: 20170287194
    Abstract: A virtual reality system includes a head-mounted display (HMD) having one or more facial sensors and illumination sources mounted to a surface of the HMD. For example, the facial sensors are image capture devices coupled to a bottom side of the HMD. The illumination sources illuminate portions of a user's face outside of the HMD, while the facial sensors capture images of the illuminated portions of the user's face. A controller receives the captured images and generates a representation of the portions of the user's face by identifying landmarks of the user's face in the captured images and performing other suitable image processing methods. Based on the representation, the controller or another component of the virtual reality system generates content for presentation to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2016
    Publication date: October 5, 2017
    Inventors: Dov Katz, Michael John Toksvig, Ziheng Wang, Timothy Paul Omernick, Torin Ross Herndon