Abstract: A remote control is used to control one or more media devices which may be in various media device states during operation. Based on media device state data, different media device control profiles may be applied. The media device control profiles may specify mapping of particular buttons on the remote control to particular functions on the media device, designate a communication path to use, and so forth.

Abstract: An architecture is provided to integrate multiple augmented reality environments to expand user experiences that might otherwise be limited in a single augmented reality environment. The architecture includes multiple augmented reality functional nodes located in separate locations to generate augmented reality environments within respective locations. The nodes are communicatively coupled together through a peer network, via cloud services, or other arrangements. The community of environments allows data, such as captured images, to be ported from one location to another, thereby allowing users to share in common experiences. Examples of such experiences might include team software coding, playing software games, virtually extending line-of-sight beyond physical boundaries, and controlling remote locations by virtually placing oneself in those locations.

Abstract: Devices and techniques are described for automatically calibrating a device such as a camera, projector, or both using a video stream. The device undergoing calibration is coupled to a computing device and configured to acquire video comprising a plurality of images. These images, at least some of the time, include targets having known characteristics present in an environment. From these acquired images calibration data comprising parameters such as intrinsic parameters, extrinsic parameters, or both, may be determined. The calibration data may be embedded or otherwise associated with the video stream as calibration matrix metadata.

Abstract: A broadcast radio architecture includes an internet-enabled radio and a remote audio services system. The internet-enabled radio receives broadcast audio content and plays through a speaker, the audio content that is received. The internet-enabled radio receives a user command to replay, from the beginning, a song that is currently being played. In response to the user command, the internet-enabled radio transmits over a network to the audio services system, a snippet of the song that is currently being played. Using the snippet of the song, the audio services system identifies a song from which the snippet was likely recorded and transmits a data stream that includes the song, in its entirety, back to the internet-enabled radio. To provide additional value, the audio services system may also identify and transmit to the internet-enabled radio, additional content that is deemed likely of interest to users interested in the identified song.

Abstract: Audio of electronic audio devices may be synchronized by a signal synchronization component that receives one or more signals corresponding to elements of the audio output by the electronic audio devices. The signal synchronization component may perform calculations to align signals corresponding to the output audio of the electronic audio devices and then determine a delay for the output audio transmitted from the electronic audio devices with respect to each other. Additionally, the signal synchronization component may operate in conjunction with audio sources of the electronic audio devices to modify the timing for transmitting output audio by one or more of the electronic audio devices based, at least in part, on the delay. In this way, the output audio transmitted by the electronic audio devices may be synchronized.

Abstract: A system for navigating content may be responsive to movement of a hand by a user toward and away from a display surface. The content may be visually arranged and presented as a stack of visual panes. Moving the hand away from the display surface causes the panes to move upwardly through the stack. Moving the hand toward the display surface causes the panes to move downwardly through the stack. When moving upward, the otherwise topmost pane is deactivated and hidden. Upon reaching the top of the stack, a pane is activated and displayed in full.

Abstract: In a content browsing environment, a system analyzes content to identify audio commands to be made available to users. The audio commands may be chosen so that they are easily differentiable from each other when using machine-based speech recognition techniques. When the content is displayed, the system monitors a user's speech to detect user utterances corresponding to the audio commands and performs content navigation in response to the user utterances.

Abstract: A two-dimensional (2D) image and a three-dimensional (3D) of an environment may be captured. Upon identifying a location and/or contour of an object from the 3D image, the object from the 3D image may be mapped onto the 2D image. The object, including its location and contour, may be identified from the 2D image. Based at least partly on a comparison between the object from the 3D image and the object from the 2D image, a disparity may be calculated. The location and contour of the object may be determined when it is determined that the disparity is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold. Otherwise, the object from the 3D image may be remapped onto the 2D image.

Abstract: Objects within a scene are modeled in two- or three-dimensions by acquiring slices of data from a distributed sensor array and generating the model of the object at least in part from those slices. The distributed sensor array may comprise optical transmitters and optical receivers configured such that they may be individually addressed and activated. The system described herein may be used to support an augmented reality environment.

Abstract: Techniques are described for performing automatic focusing of a projected image on a mobile projection surface. Specific regions of the projected image are identified that are likely to be desired to stay in optimal focus, and attributes of those specific regions, such as sharpness and contrast, can be used to determine the need to refocus the image. Advanced knowledge of the image data being projected can be utilized to determine the specific regions of the projected image that require monitoring for optimal focusing.

Abstract: A display system having a modulated light source is configured to include one or more non-visible wavelengths as part of the display sequence. In one implementation a color wheel, configured to modulate the wavelengths emitted by a projector, includes an infrared (IR) segment, allowing for projection of an IR image. The wavelength modulated non-visible light may be spatially modulated to generate a structured light pattern, for signaling, to synchronization with other devices, and so forth.

Abstract: Devices and techniques are described for generating three-dimensional (3D) models of objects. Depth data acquired from a depth camera system is used with data about surface normals to generate a 3D model of the object. The depth camera system may use cameras or projectors with different baseline distances to generate depth data. The use of different baseline distances may improve accuracy of the depth data. The data about surface normals may be calculated from images acquired when the object is illuminated from different angles. By using the depth data and relative depth changes from the surface normal data, high resolution spatial data may be generated at high frame rates. Data from multiple baseline distances may also be combined to improve performance.

Abstract: The location of a sound within a given spatial volume may be used in applications such as augmented reality environments. An artificial neural network processes time-difference-of-arrival data (TDOA) from a known microphone array to determine a spatial location of the sound. The neural network may be located locally or available as a cloud service. The artificial neural network is trained with perturbed and non-perturbed TDOA data.

Abstract: An augmented reality system is configured to identify and track user gestures, sounds, and interaction with physical objects to designate active zones. These active zones may be allocated additional processing and functional resources. Gestures may include particular hand or body motions, orientation of a user's head, and so forth. Sounds may include clapping, clicks, whistles, taps, footfalls, humming, singing, speech, and so forth. Active areas as well as inactive areas of lesser or no interest may be designated as well.

Abstract: Calibration of devices may be performed to determine a relative location of the devices. The devices may be used to determine distances of surfaces within an environment. The calibration may be performed at different times and/or in response to triggering events to determine a relative location of each of the devices in an environment. After the relative location of the devices is known, the devices may be used to determine a distance of a surface within the environment. In various embodiments, a light sensor may identify a light emitter based on characteristics of the light emitted by the light emitter.

Abstract: Techniques are described for selecting audio from locations that are most likely to be sources of spoken commands or words. Directional audio signals are generated to emphasize sounds from different regions of an environment. The directional audio signals are processed by an automated speech recognizer to generate recognition confidence values corresponding to each of the different regions, and the region resulting in the highest recognition confidence value is selected as the region most likely to contain a user who is speaking commands.

Abstract: An architecture has one or more systems for generating augmented reality environments configured to access cloud services over a network. A user is authenticated within the environments, and once authenticated is permitted to interact with the cloud services using the augmented reality environments as well as client resources provided within the environments. The client resources may include devices or things that are primary intended for use within the environments, and devices or things that are not typically associated with augmented reality environments. The architecture enables the client resources to function as thin client interfaces to the cloud services.

Abstract: An architecture for selecting and providing content items to a device includes cloud-based resources of a device management service and one or more content sources. The device is configured to receive instructions and a portion of the content item from the device management service. The instructions direct the device to obtain and buffer the content item from the content source, while simultaneously outputting the portion of the content item to a user.

Abstract: In some embodiments, distances associated with a surface may be calculated using time-of-flight (ToF) of a plurality of pulses of light occurring at a predetermined frequency. Reflected light from a light emitter may be captured by two or more light sensors. At least one light sensor may be located in a sensor pod that is separate from the light emitter, which may be housed in an emitter pod with or without a light sensor. The sensor pod may be synchronized with the emitter pod to enable ToF of light distance calculations. The calculated distance may be used to determine movement of a surface and/or one or more pixels of a surface. In some instances, the calculated distance may be used to identify a profile of a surface, which may then be used associate the profile with an object, a command, or another association.

Abstract: An augmented reality environment allows interaction between virtual and real objects. Multiple microphone arrays of different physical sizes are used to acquire signals for spatial tracking of one or more sound sources within the environment. A first array with a larger size may be used to track an object beyond a threshold distance, while a second array having a size smaller than the first may be used to track the object up to the threshold distance. By selecting different sized arrays, accuracy of the spatial location is improved.