Patents by Inventor Greg Alt

Greg Alt 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: 10649212
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
    Inventors: Aaron Burns, Ben Sugden, Laura Massey, Alexandre Da Veiga, Tom Salter, Greg Alt
  • Publication number: 20180003982
    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.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 17, 2017
    Publication date: January 4, 2018
    Inventors: Aaron Burns, Ben Sugden, Laura Massey, Alexandre Da Veiga, Tom Salter, Greg Alt
  • Patent number: 9766460
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Aaron Burns, Ben Sugden, Laura Massey, Alexandre Da Veiga, Tom Salter, Greg Alt
  • Patent number: 9508195
    Abstract: Methods for managing content within an interactive augmented reality environment are described. An augmented reality environment may be provided to an end user of a head-mounted display device (HMD) in which content (e.g., webpages) may be displayed to the end user using one or more curved slates that are positioned on a virtual cylinder that appears body-locked to the end user. The virtual cylinder may be located around the end user with the end user positioned in the middle of the virtual cylinder such that the one or more curved slates appear to be displayed at the same distance from the end user. The position and size of each of the one or more curved slates may be controlled by the end user using head gestures and a virtual pointer projected onto the virtual cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Joseph Van Den Heuvel, Ken Ouellette, Ben Sugden, Todd Omotani, Marcus Tanner, Greg Alt, Michael Hale, Jeff Sutherland
  • Publication number: 20160063762
    Abstract: Methods for managing content within an interactive augmented reality environment are described. An augmented reality environment may be provided to an end user of a head-mounted display device (HMD) in which content (e.g., webpages) may be displayed to the end user using one or more curved slates that are positioned on a virtual cylinder that appears body-locked to the end user. The virtual cylinder may be located around the end user with the end user positioned in the middle of the virtual cylinder such that the one or more curved slates appear to be displayed at the same distance from the end user. The position and size of each of the one or more curved slates may be controlled by the end user using head gestures and a virtual pointer projected onto the virtual cylinder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Inventors: Joseph Van Den Heuvel, Ken Ouellette, Ben Sugden, Todd Omotani, Marcus Tanner, Greg Alt, Michael Hale, Jeff Sutherland
  • Publication number: 20160027213
    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.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Publication date: January 28, 2016
    Inventors: Aaron Burns, Ben Sugden, Laura Massey, Alexandre Da Veiga, Tom Salter, Greg Alt