Abstract: A data processing apparatus includes: receiving circuitry to receive game state information and associated user data for a plurality of previous interactive sessions of an interactive gaming application, the plurality of previous interactive sessions associated with a plurality of users, wherein for each previous interactive session, the user data is indicative of one or more properties for a given user during the previous interactive session and the game state information is indicative of one or more in-game properties during the previous interactive session; analysis circuitry to: generate user emotion data indicative of one or more user emotion categories in dependence upon the user data for the plurality of previous interactive sessions; detect a correspondence between a set of one or more in-game properties and a given user emotion category for at least a threshold number of interactive sessions; and generate a notification element comprising notification data indicative of the set of one or more in-game

Abstract: There is provided a computer-implemented method for anti-aliasing an image frame in an image stream. The method comprises providing an input to a data model, the data model being configured to perform anti-aliasing on a present frame which is displayed after a previous frame in the image stream. The input comprises: an anti-aliased image of the previous frame; an aliased image of the present frame; an ID map of the previous frame; an ID map of the present frame; and a velocity map based on changes between the previous frame and the present frame. The data model processes the received inputs to correlate image portions of the previous frame and image portions of the present frame based on the inputs and performing anti-aliasing on the present frame based at least in part on the correlated image portions. An anti-aliased image of the present frame is received as an output of the data model.

Abstract: An affective gaming system includes: an administrator unit configured to host a session of a video game; a receiving unit configured to receive biometric data associated with two or more users participating in the session of a video game; a first generating unit configured to generate, based on at least part of the biometric data, current emotion data associated with each of the two or more users; a selecting unit configured to select a first user based on at least part of the current emotion data; a second generating unit configured to generate, based at least in part on the current emotion data that is associated with a second user, target emotion data associated with the first user; and a modifying unit configured to modify, responsive to the difference between the target emotion data and the current emotion data that is associated with the first user, one or more aspects of the video game that are specific to the first user.

Abstract: An affective gaming system includes: an administrator unit configured to host a session of a video game; a receiving unit configured to receive biometric data associated with a first user of a plurality of users participating in the session of a video game; a first generating unit configured to generate, based on at least part of the biometric data, current emotion data associated with the first user; a second generating unit configured to generate, based at least in part on the current emotion data associated with the first user, target emotion data associated with the first user; and a modifying unit configured to modify, responsive to the difference between the target emotion data associated with the first user and the current emotion data associated with the first user, one or more aspects of the video game that are specific to the first user.

Abstract: A processing device includes: a detection unit configured to detect input information representative of a sequence of input signals for a video game that are input by a user using one or more input controls; an identification unit configured to identify one or more input signal variations in dependence upon one or more differences between the detected input information and predetermined input information representative of one or more predetermined sequences of input signals for the video game; a generation unit configured to generate assistance information in dependence upon the one or more identified input signal variations; and a provision unit configured to provide the generated assistance information to the user.

Abstract: A method for protecting personal space in a multi-user virtual environment includes the steps of generating an avatar for a target user in the multi-user virtual environment, determining a relationship score between the target user and a peer user, creating a personal space around the avatar of the target user, wherein the dimensions of the personal space is computed based on the relationship score with the peer user, detecting the peer user's avatar crossing the boundary of the personal space, and applying rules to the peer user to restrict his/her interactions with the target user.

Abstract: A head-mountable display (HMD) system includes at least one detector to detect a gaze direction of an eye of a user wearing the HMD, receiving circuitry to receive a user input from the user indicating a type of eye condition for the eye of the user associated with at least partial vision loss for a region of vision, a display unit to display one or more images to the user, and a processor to generate the one or more images for display to the user by the display unit in dependence upon the type of eye condition and an output of the at least one detector indicative of the detected gaze direction of the eye.

Abstract: A content modification system comprising a content receiving unit operable to receive content comprising a virtual environment and one or more active elements, an input receiving unit operable to receive inputs from one or more users, an element addition unit operable to generate one or more virtual elements within the virtual environment in response to the received inputs, the virtual elements being unable to be interacted with by the one or more active elements, and a content generation unit operable to generate modified content comprising the virtual environment, the one or more active elements, and the one or more generated virtual elements.

Abstract: A method for preparing content includes: detecting a plurality of devices; detecting one or more properties in relation to the plurality of devices; identifying a first subset of the plurality of devices in dependence upon one or more of the detected properties, in which a subset of the plurality of devices comprises one or more devices from the plurality of devices; identifying a first set of one or more components of content in dependence upon the first subset of the devices; and transmitting a respective component of the first set of identified components to a respective device of the first subset of the devices for output by the respective device.

Abstract: A haptic feedback method includes: providing a wearable haptic feedback device comprising one or more bone-conduction haptic feedback units, and driving the one or more bone conduction haptic feedback units with at least a first signal processed using a bone conduction head related transfer function, ‘bHRTF’.

Abstract: A wearable data processing apparatus includes one or more attachment members for attaching the wearable data processing apparatus to a part of a limb of a user, one or more sensors to generate user input data in response to one or more user inputs, wireless communication circuitry to transmit the user input data to an external device and to receive control data based on the user input data from the external device, processing circuitry to generate one or more output signals in dependence upon the control data and an output unit to output one or more of the output signals.

Abstract: A content rendering and display system operable to display content to a viewer, the system comprising a rendering unit operable to render an image having a first resolution in a first render pass, and to generate supplementary information in additional render passes, wherein the rendered image and the supplementary information are stored in a multi-layer image structure, an upsampling unit operable to perform an upsampling process on the rendered image so as to generate an image having a portion at a second resolution higher than the first resolution, wherein the upsampling process comprises a morphological antialiasing process that uses the supplementary information as an input, and a display device operable to display the upsampled image, wherein the supplementary information comprises edge information for the rendered image.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus, comprising: an input unit configured to receive one or more images of a face of a user and one or more images of a face of a virtual avatar; a determining unit configured to determine, based on one or more of the images of the face of the user and one or more of the images of the face of the virtual avatar, a match score indicating a degree of resemblance between the face of the user and the face of the virtual avatar; an evaluation unit configured to evaluate whether the determined match score meets or exceeds a first threshold match score; and an output unit configured to output, for display, a virtual element associated with the virtual avatar that is responsive to whether the determined match score meets or exceeds the first threshold match score.

Abstract: A data processing apparatus includes avatar monitoring circuitry to receive gaze data for a first user associated with a first avatar in a virtual reality environment, the gaze data for the first user indicative of a gaze point for the first user with respect to the virtual reality environment, in which the avatar monitoring circuitry is configured to select one or more objects in the virtual reality environment in dependence upon the gaze data for the first user and to store first avatar information for the first avatar indicative of one or more of the selected objects, input circuitry to receive gaze data for a second user indicative of a gaze point for the second user with respect to the virtual reality environment, and processing circuitry to generate one or more images for the virtual reality environment for display to the second user, in which the processing circuitry is configured to: select the first avatar in dependence upon the gaze point for the second user with respect to the first avatar; and gen

Abstract: A gaze tracking system comprising a first camera operable to capture images of a user within an environment, a second camera, having a smaller field of view than the first camera, operable to capture images of at least one of the user's eyes, an eye identification unit operable to identify a location of at least one of the user's eyes from images captured by the first camera, a camera control unit operable to modify the position and/or orientation of the second camera in dependence upon the detected location of the at least one of the user's eyes, so as to cause the second camera to be able to capture images of at least one of the user's eyes, and a gaze direction identification unit operable to identify a gaze direction of the user from images captured by the second camera.

Abstract: A content generation system, the system comprising an input obtaining unit operable to obtain one or more samples of input text and/or audio relating to a first content, an input analysis unit operable to generate n-grams representing one or more elements of the obtained inputs, a representation generating unit operable to generate a visual representation of one or more of the generated n-grams, and a display generation unit operable to generate second content comprising one or more elements of the visual representation in association with the first content.

Abstract: A data processing apparatus includes input circuitry to receive viewpoint data indicative of respective viewpoints for a plurality of spectators of a virtual environment, detection circuitry to detect a portion of the virtual environment viewed by each of the respective viewpoints in dependence upon the viewpoint data, selection circuitry to select one or more regions of the virtual environment in dependence upon at least some of the detected portions, and output circuitry to output data indicative of one or more of the selected regions.

Abstract: A system configured to perform an eye tracking process using a head-mountable eye-tracking arrangement, the system comprising an eye tracking unit, located on the head-mountable arrangement, operable to detect motion of one or both of the user's eyes, a relative motion identification unit operable to identify motion of the head-mountable arrangement relative to the user's head, and a correction unit operable to determine a correction to the eye tracking process in dependence upon the identified motion of the user's head relative to the head-mountable arrangement.

Abstract: A system for obtaining content for display to a user of a head-mountable display device, HMD, the system comprising one or more audio detection units operable to capture audio in the environment of the user, a motion prediction unit operable to predict motion of the HMD in dependence upon the captured audio, and a content obtaining unit operable to obtain content for display in dependence upon the predicted motion of the HMD.

Abstract: A method of controlling at least a first non-player object within a virtual environment of an application includes: selecting a template non-player object behavioural AI model, the AI model being previously trained separately to the application using reinforcement learning to characterise behaviour of a respective non-player object type, from among a plurality of template AI models, associating one or more non-player objects of the application with the selected template AI model, and for the or each associated non-player object, inputting application state information to an input interface of the template AI model for receiving state information relevant to the associated non-player object's type, and receiving from an output interface of the template AI model non-player object state information, and then updating the state of the respective non-player object for the virtual environment of the application responsive to the received non-player object state information.