Patents Assigned to Meta Platform Technologies, LLC
  • Publication number: 20240094809
    Abstract: An eye tracking system with in-optical-assembly plane illumination is described. Side-emitting light emitting diodes (LEDs) aligned with a plane of an optical assembly of a near-eye display device are used to illuminate the eye of a user and generate glints that can be detected by an eye tracking camera. When a corrective optical lens or similar element is included in the optical assembly that may distort illumination beams from the light emitting diodes (LEDs), the distortion is mitigated by using in-package or externally modified LEDs that provide angled beams. In addition to in-package level mitigations such as reflectors or labels, edge portions of the distorting optical elements may be shaped or complemented with refractive elements to redirect the beams toward the eye.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2023
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Applicant: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Qi ZHANG, Chad Lichtenhan, Morteza Karami, Kuan Pei Yap, Mehmet Mutlu
  • Publication number: 20240094445
    Abstract: A liquid lens with flexible transparent active layers on both sides of a fluid is transformed along two distinct deformation axes. The flexible transparent active layers include piezoelectric materials that actuate the lens in response to applied voltage(s). The piezoelectric properties and actuation mechanism of the transparent layers are arranged to deform the lens cylindrically along different axes resulting in a net spherical deformation or a combination of spherical and cylindrical deformation with substantially less distortion than spherically deforming layers. The piezoelectric active layers may be polymer or ceramic with isotropic or anisotropic mechanical stiffness. Alternatively, a pair of transparent, internal layers are positioned between the front and rear surfaces. The active layers, front and/or rear, are dual layers affixed together with an adhesive or single layers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2022
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Applicant: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Nagi ELABBASI, Christopher Yuan Ting LIAO, Jonathan Robert PETERSON, Sheng YE, Eugene CHO, Spencer Allan WELLS, Andrew John OUDERKIRK, Emma MULLEN
  • Patent number: 11933975
    Abstract: An optical system includes an optical waveguide, and a first optical element configured to direct a first ray, having a first circular polarization and impinging on the first optical element at a first incidence angle, in a first direction so that the first ray propagates through the optical waveguide via total internal reflection toward a second optical element. The first optical element is configured to also direct a second ray, having a second circular polarization that is distinct from the first circular polarization and impinging on the first optical element at the first incidence angle, in a second direction that is distinct from the first direction so that the second ray propagates away from the second optical element. The second optical element is configured to direct the first ray propagating through the optical waveguide toward a detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Babak Amirsolaimani, Pasi Saarikko, Ying Geng, Yusufu Njoni Bamaxam Sulai, Scott Charles McEldowney
  • Patent number: 11936998
    Abstract: In one example, an apparatus comprises: a photodiode configured to generate a charge in response to light within an exposure period, a charge sensing unit configured to accumulate at least a part of the charge as an overflow charge, a quantizer, and a controller configured to: within a first time within the exposure period, control the quantizer to perform a first quantization operation to quantize the overflow charge accumulated at the charge sensing unit to generate a first measurement output; within a second time after the first time, and within the exposure period, control the quantizer to perform a second quantization operation to quantize the overflow charge accumulated at the charge sensing unit to generate a second measurement output; and generate a digital output to represent an intensity of the light based on at least one of the first measurement output or the second measurement output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Tsung-Hsun Tsai, Lu Jie, Xinqiao Liu
  • Patent number: 11934588
    Abstract: A method includes, at a controller, sensing a magnitude of a first force applied to the thumbstick in a substantially downward direction relative to a top portion of the housing while the thumbstick is in the stationary default position, and a magnitude of a second force applied to the thumbstick in the substantially downward direction relative to the top portion of the housing while the thumbstick is in a position other than the stationary default position. The method includes receiving the magnitude of the first and the second force, and determining whether the magnitude of the first force or the second force satisfies a predefined force value. The method further includes providing haptic feedback to the user in response to a determination that the magnitude of the first force or the second force satisfies the predefined force value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Robin Michael Miller, Raymond Louis Nicoli, Chin Yuan Cheng
  • Patent number: 11935575
    Abstract: An example apparatus having a heterogenous memory system includes a first sensor layer, of a plurality of stacked sensor layers, including an array of pixels; and one or more semiconductor layers of the plurality of stacked sensor layers located beneath the first sensor layer, the one or more semiconductor layers configured to process pixel data output by the array of pixels, the one or more semiconductor layers including a first memory to store most significant bits (“MSBs”) of data involved in the processing of the pixel data; a second memory to store least significant bits (“LSBs”) of the data; and wherein the first memory has a lower bit error rate (“BER”) than the second memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Syed Shakib Sarwar, Ziyun Li, Xinqiao Liu, Barbara De Salvo
  • Patent number: 11933995
    Abstract: An optical diffuser includes optically anisotropic molecules arranged in a predefined configuration such that the optical diffuser diffuses first light having a first polarization and transmits second light having a second polarization that is different from the first polarization upon receiving the second light. In addition to polarization selectivity, the optical diffuser may also exhibit wavelength selectivity and/or incident angle selectivity. A method of diffusing light using the optical diffuser and a method of making the optical diffuser are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Mengfei Wang, Gang Li, Lu Lu, Yunqi Li
  • Patent number: 11936100
    Abstract: According to examples, a lens configuration for a head-mounted display (HMD) device may include a base platform made from glass or plastic, an antenna layer deposited onto the base platform, an optical polymer film deposited onto the antenna layer, and a lens layer deposited onto the optical polymer film through a 3D printing technique. The antenna layer may include a transparent antenna embedded into or deposited onto a transparent layer. The lens layer may be 3D printed as multiple partial layers to have a shape that matches a prescription for the lens layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Kurt Jenkins, Sandro Pintz, Joseph O'keeffe
  • Patent number: 11935291
    Abstract: In one example, a mobile device comprises: a physical link; a plurality of image sensors, each image sensor being configured to transmit image data via the physical link; and a controller coupled to the physical link, whereby the physical link, the plurality of image sensors, and the controller form a multi-drop network. The controller is configured to: transmit a control signal to configure image sensing operations at the plurality of image sensors; receive, via the physical link, image data from at least a subset of the plurality of image sensors; combine the image data from the at least a subset of the plurality of image sensors to obtain an extended field of view (FOV); determine information of a surrounding environment of the mobile device captured within the extended FOV; and provide the information to an application to generate content based on the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Andrew Samuel Berkovich, Xinqiao Liu, Hans Reyserhove
  • Patent number: 11934445
    Abstract: An automatic memory system can automatically identify and present content items that match a user's natural language (NL) input. The automatic memory system can compute a match score between the NL input and each of multiple potential memory content items. The automatic memory system can compute the match score using a variety of algorithms and/or machine learning models such as an image/NL matching process to get a first match score, a tag matching process to get a second match score, and/or a combination match score from the first and second match scores. The automatic memory system can select one or more of the content items with the highest match score(s). The automatic memory system can provide the selected content items, such as by suggesting them to the NL providing user, automatically displaying or playing them, inserting them into the conversation thread, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Maheen Sohail, Hyunbin Park, Xinyue Zhang, Tali Zvi
  • Patent number: 11934578
    Abstract: The disclosed haptic feedback system may include an actuator, a supply valve coupled to the actuator, an exhaust valve, and a fluidic mass controller communicatively coupled to the supply valve and the exhaust valve. The fluidic mass controller may (1) place the exhaust valve in a state that prevents a fluid from escaping the actuator, (2) activate the supply valve to fill the actuator with an amount of the fluid, (3) determine that the actuator has filled with the amount of the fluid, and then in response to that determination, (4) deactivate the supply valve to trap the amount of the fluid in the actuator. Various other apparatuses, methods, and systems are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Priyanshu Agarwal, Nicholas Colonnese, Heng Xu, Benjamin Stephens-Fripp, Daniele Piazza
  • Patent number: 11935208
    Abstract: A virtual object system can orchestrate virtual objects defined as a collection of components and with inheritance in an object hierarchy. Virtual object components can include a container, data, a template, and a controller. A container can define the volume the virtual object is authorized to write into. A virtual object's data can specify features such as visual elements, parameters, links to external data, meta-data, etc. The template can define view states of the virtual object and contextual breakpoints for transitioning between them. Each view state can control when and how the virtual object presents data elements. The controller can define logic for the virtual object to respond to input, context, etc. The definition of each object can specify which other object in an object hierarchy that object extends, where extending an object includes inheriting that object's components, which can be modified or overwritten as part of the extension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Yeliz Karadayi, Wai Leong Chak, Michal Hlavac, Pol Pla I Conesa
  • Patent number: 11927475
    Abstract: In one example, an apparatus comprises: a photodiode configured to generate charge in response to incident light within an exposure period; and a quantizer configured to perform at least one of a first quantization operation to generate a first digital output or a second quantization to generate a second digital output, and output, based on a range of an intensity of the incident light, one of the first digital output or the second digital output to represent the intensity of the incident light. The first quantization operation comprises quantizing at least a first part of the charge during the exposure period to generate the first digital output. The second quantization operation comprises quantizing at least a second part of the charge after the exposure period to generate the second digital output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Xinqiao Liu
  • Patent number: 11927758
    Abstract: A display system includes a wearable eyewear arrangement with a projector for propagating display light associated with an image and a waveguide for propagating the display light to an eye box. The waveguide includes volume Bragg gratings (VBGs), which may be in groups of three or more gratings with same horizontal period allowing each color to be coupled out from the waveguide by the same type of grating, thus, at the same angle, reducing or eliminating image blurriness and ghost images while allowing a smaller size waveguide. A 100% reflective mirror or mirror array is used for broad spectrum reflection into the waveguide for light input. Selection of two or more wavelengths for each color at the projector provides spectral response matching to the waveguide allowing wider field of view (FOV) coverage for the entire wavelength spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: META PLATFORMS TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Wai Sze Tiffany Lam, Wanli Chi, Dominic Meiser, Yang Yang, Ningfeng Huang
  • Patent number: 11928308
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to an artificial reality system orchestrating interactions between virtual object “augments.” The orchestration can include linking, which can be forming two or more augments into a combination, embedding an augment within an existing combination, or triggering an action mapped to the linking of those augments. Another type of orchestration can include extracting, which can refer to taking an augment out of an existing combination, either by removing it from the combination or copying the augment to leave a version in the combination and having another version outside the combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Michal Hlavac, Benjamin Taylor Winn, Wai Leong Chak, Jasper Stevens, Alexander Michael Louie
  • Patent number: 11929099
    Abstract: The disclosed technology is a system and computer-implemented method for assembling and editing a video program from spoken words or soundbites. The disclosed technology imports source audio/video clips and any of multiple formats. Spoken audio is transcribed into searchable text. The text transcript is synchronized to the video track by timecode markers. Each spoken word corresponds to a timecode marker, which in turn corresponds to a video frame or frames. Using word processing operations and text editing functions, a user selects video segments by selecting corresponding transcribed text segments. By selecting text and arranging that text, a corresponding video program is assembled. The selected video segments are assembled on a timeline display in any chosen order by the user. The sequence of video segments may be reordered and edited, as desired, to produce a finished video program for export.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Shamir Allibhai, Roderick Hodgson
  • Patent number: 11930411
    Abstract: Disclosed herein a system, a method and a device for selecting between a primary link and a secondary link for AR/VR applications. A console can provide a VR/AR session to a user through a head wearable display. The console can determine that a first measurement of a primary link between the console and a head wearable display is less than a first threshold. The first measurement can include a quality metric of the primary link. The console can activate a secondary link between the console and the head wearable display. The console can determine whether a second measurement of the primary link between the console and the head wearable display is less than a second threshold. The console can transition when the second measurement is less than the second threshold, traffic on the primary link to the activated secondary link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Dong Zheng, Qi Qu, Gang Lu, Yuting Fan, William Louis Abbott
  • Patent number: 11927766
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method for an imaging system that may be used to support eye tracking in a head mounted display. The imaging system may include an image sensor positioned in a user's field of view and within a lens assembly to capture light that is reflected from an eye. The imaging system may include two optical elements that are configured to at least partially direct scene light around the image sensor to conceal the image sensor from the user's eye. The image sensor is positioned between the two optical elements within the lens assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Robin Sharma
  • Patent number: 11928314
    Abstract: Methods and systems described herein are directed to a virtual web browser for providing access to multiple virtual worlds interchangeably. Browser tabs for corresponding website and virtual world pairs can be displayed along with associated controls, the selection of such controls effecting the instantiation of 3D content for the virtual worlds. One or more of the tabs can be automatically generated as a result of interactions with objects in the virtual worlds, such that travel to a world, corresponding to an object to which an interaction was directed, is facilitated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Jeremy Edelblut, Matthaeus Krenn, John Nicholas Jitkoff
  • Publication number: 20240077986
    Abstract: An Adaptive Tangible User Interface (ATUI) for use in an extended reality environment in which tangible interfaces are composed in real time based on identified affordances of existing objects in the physical environment and the input tasks of a user. An extended reality system can be provided with instructions executable by one or more processors to perform processing including: generating a representation of the real-world environment within a field of view of the user; identifying physical objects within the real-world environment; generating a set of possible performable gestures afforded by available object affordance factors; determining potential input tasks; composing performable gestures for the potential input tasks; and selecting a physical object for use as an adaptive tangible user interface. Techniques for designing a virtual user interface, overlaying the virtual user interface on a selected ATUI physical object, and maintaining alignment of the virtual user interface, are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Applicant: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Stephanie Santosa, Frances Cin-Yee Lai, Michael Glueck, Daniel Clarke, Tovi Grossman, Weilun Gong