Patents by Inventor Brian Thomas MERRELL

Brian Thomas MERRELL 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).

  • User interface discovery and interaction for three-dimensional virtual environments
    Patent number: 10930075
    Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for interacting with a three-dimensional virtual environment, including receiving an input associated with a change in pose of a user's hand; estimating, based on at least the input, a first pose in the virtual environment for an input source associated with the hand; identifying a surface of a virtual object in the virtual environment; rendering a frame depicting elements of the virtual environment, the frame including a pixel rendered for a position on the surface; determining a distance between the position and a virtual input line extending through a position of the first pose and in a direction of the first pose; changing a pixel color rendered for the pixel based on the distance between the position and the virtual input line; and displaying the frame including the pixel with the changed pixel color to the user via a head-mounted display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Carlos Fernando Faria Costa, Mathew Julian Lamb, Brian Thomas Merrell
  • USER INTERFACE DISCOVERY AND INTERACTION FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
    Publication number: 20190114835
    Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for interacting with a three-dimensional virtual environment, including receiving an input associated with a change in pose of a user's hand; estimating, based on at least the input, a first pose in the virtual environment for an input source associated with the hand; identifying a surface of a virtual object in the virtual environment; rendering a frame depicting elements of the virtual environment, the frame including a pixel rendered for a position on the surface; determining a distance between the position and a virtual input line extending through a position of the first pose and in a direction of the first pose; changing a pixel color rendered for the pixel based on the distance between the position and the virtual input line; and displaying the frame including the pixel with the changed pixel color to the user via a head-mounted display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Publication date: April 18, 2019
    Applicant: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Carlos Fernando Faria COSTA, Mathew Julian LAMB, Brian Thomas MERRELL