Patents by Inventor Nicholas Daniel Trail

Nicholas Daniel Trail 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: 10860842
    Abstract: A system includes at least two base stations that emit light beams to illuminate an area for positional tracking objects in the area. A base station emits at least two light beams that rotate around a rotation axis at a rotational speed unique to the base station. Responsive to being illuminated by the light beams emitted by the at least two base stations, an object being tracked generates illumination data. The system determines which illumination data corresponds to one of multiple base stations by analyzing the illumination data over time. The system analyzes the illumination data corresponding to one base station to determine an orientation and/or position of the object relative to that base station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: David Maurice Moore, Evan Paul Gander, Jason Victor Tsai, Zhaoming Zhu, Richard Andrew Newcombe, Renzo De Nardi, Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10859702
    Abstract: Systems described herein use outside-in positional tracking. A base station emits one or more rotational light beams to illuminate a local area. The rotational light beams rotate around a rotation axis and are used for positional tracking one or more objects in the local area. The one or more rotational light beams retroreflect from the one or more objects in the local area. The one or more objects include retroreflectors that retroreflect light beams incident on them. The base station detects the retroreflected light beams. The base station generates illumination data in response to the detected light beams. A system analyzes the illumination to determine an orientation and/or a location of an object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: David Maurice Moore, Evan Paul Gander, Jason Victor Tsai, Zhaoming Zhu, Richard Andrew Newcombe, Renzo De Nardi, Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10832051
    Abstract: A system tracks eye movement using optical coherence in a head mounted display. The system includes an illumination source configured to project low coherence interference light onto a portion of a user's eye. The system includes a scanning system to select an axial position within the illuminated portion of the user's eye. The system includes a detector configured to collect light reflected from the illuminated portion of the user's eye at the selected axial position, and the reflected light includes measurement data characterizing the illuminated portion of the user's eye. The system includes a controller configured to compare the measurement data with a trained baseline, and determine an eye position based the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Nicholas Daniel Trail, Robert Dale Cavin
  • Patent number: 10827163
    Abstract: A depth camera assembly (DCA) that captures data describing depth information in a local area. The DCA includes an imaging device, a controller, and an illumination source. The illumination source includes a plurality of emitters on a single substrate. The imaging device captures one or more images of the local area illuminated with the light from the illumination source. The controller determines depth information for objects in the local area using the one or more images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Nicholas Daniel Trail, Renzo De Nardi, Richard Andrew Newcombe
  • Publication number: 20200344754
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are related to a system and a method of remotely rendering artificial realty. In one approach, a console determines an expected transmission end time of a first session for wireless transmission of image data indicating an image of artificial reality to a head wearable display. In one approach, the console determines an expected process end time of generating additional data associated with the image of the artificial reality. In one approach, the console compares the expected transmission end time and the expected process end time. The console may transmit, to the head wearable display in the first session, the additional data together with the image data, in response to the expected process end time being less than the expected transmission end time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2020
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: Qi QU, Dong ZHENG, Gang LU, William Louis ABBOTT, Nicholas Daniel TRAIL
  • Patent number: 10789782
    Abstract: A near-eye display (NED) has an orientation detection device and a display block. The orientation detection device collects orientation data that describe an orientation of the NED. The display block has a display assembly, a focusing assembly, and a controller. The controller determines an orientation vector of the NED based in part on the orientation data and computes an angular difference between the orientation vector of the NED and a gravity vector. After comparing the angular difference to a threshold value, the controller generates multifocal instructions that adjusts the optical element to display an augmented scene at the selected image plane corresponding to the multifocal instructions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Lu Lu, Ji Luo, Nicholas Daniel Trail, Kevin James MacKenzie, Pasi Saarikko, Andrew John Ouderkirk, Scott Charles McEldowney
  • Patent number: 10775633
    Abstract: A near eye display (NED) includes an eye tracking system and a steering element. The eye tracking system tracks the location of a very small eyebox that is approximately the size of a user's pupil or smaller and provides this information to the steering element (e.g., MEMS, plurality of sources, liquid crystal prism, etc.). The very small eyebox provides for a very wide field of view and is optically efficient. The steering element adjusts the direction of light output (i.e., the exit pupil) from the NED such that it is directed toward the tracked location (i.e., a relatively small eyebox).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Hee Yoon Lee, Douglas Robert Lanman, Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10761602
    Abstract: A retinal imaging system includes a projector, an imaging device, and a controller coupled to an eye tracking system under test. The projector emits a light pattern to be delivered to a pupil of an eye, a location of the pupil being estimated by the eye tracking system under test. The imaging device captures one or more images of a retina of the eye illuminated with at least a portion of the light pattern. The controller determines one or more eye tracking parameters based on the captured one or more images of the retina. The controller compares each determined eye tracking parameter with each of estimated one or more eye tracking parameters, wherein values for the one or more eye tracking parameters are estimated by the eye tracking system under test. The controller characterizes each estimated eye tracking parameter based on the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Robin Sharma, Nicholas Daniel Trail, Robert Dale Cavin, Kyle Justin Curts
  • Patent number: 10761327
    Abstract: A head-mounted display (HMD) includes an electronic display element, a microlens array, and an optics block. The electronic display element outputs image light via sub-pixels having different colors, the sub-pixels separated from each other by a dark space region. The sub-pixels have associated emission distributions that describe ranges of angles of light emitted from the plurality of sub-pixels. The microlens array includes microlenses that are each coupled to at least one corresponding sub-pixel, of the sub-pixels, where the microlenses concentrate the emission distributions and direct the emission distributions toward a target region. The optics block, which is located in the target region optically corrects the image light and directs the optically corrected image light from the microlens array to an exit pupil of the HMD corresponding to a location of an eye of a user of the HMD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Publication number: 20200271938
    Abstract: A super-resolution scanning display. The scanning display includes a light source, a conditioning assembly, and a scanning mirror assembly. The light source is configured to emit source light from a plurality of columns of emitters formed along a first dimension, including at least a first column of emitters emitting in a first band of light and a second column of emitters emitting in a second band of light which are offset along the first dimension by a fraction of an emitter width and offset along a second dimension—that is orthogonal to the first dimension—by greater than the emitter width. The conditioning assembly receives and conditions the source light. The scanning mirror assembly scans the conditioned light along the second dimension to generate a portion of an image at a first location with a resolution that is more than a first threshold number of emitters in a unit angle in the first dimension.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Byron Taylor, Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10746854
    Abstract: Systems described herein use outside-in positional tracking. A base station emits one or more rotational light beams to illuminate a local area. The rotational light beams rotate around a rotation axis and are used for positional tracking of one or more objects in the local area. A beam waist of a source light beam for generating the rotational light beams is positioned to be within a distance range from a center of rotation of the rotational light beams. An apparent frequency of the particular rotational light beam can be constant or substantially constant throughout a local area. Because the apparent frequency of the particular rotational light beam is constant or substantially constant throughout the local area, the frequency response of a detector in response to the illumination by the rotational light beam is within a limited range of values irrespective of the detector's location within the local area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: David Maurice Moore, Evan Paul Gander, Jason Victor Tsai, Zhaoming Zhu, Richard Andrew Newcombe, Renzo De Nardi, Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10725308
    Abstract: A head-mounted display (HMD) presented herein comprises a shell and a controller. The shell encloses a display element and includes a dynamic attenuator having one or more controllable pixels that control an amount of light from the local area to an eye box of the HMD. The controller determines, based on positional information for one or more objects in a local area surrounding the HMD, whether a user wearing the HMD is within a threshold distance of an object in the local area. Responsive to the determination, the controller identifies a field of view that includes the object. The controller instructs the dynamic attenuator to allow light from the local area over the identified field of view into the HMD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10725537
    Abstract: An eye tracking system comprises a structured light emitter, a camera assembly, and a controller. The structured light emitter illuminates a portion of an eye of a user with a dense structured light pattern. The dense structured light pattern produces a distorted illumination pattern on the portion of the eye. The camera assembly captures one or more images of the distorted illumination pattern that is associated with the portion of the eye. The controller estimates a position of the eye based on the captured one or more images and a model of the eye. The eye tracking system may be part of a head-mounted display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Julian Iseringhausen, Robert Dale Cavin, Nicholas Daniel Trail, Douglas Robert Lanman
  • Patent number: 10708577
    Abstract: An augmented reality (AR) includes a depth camera assembly (DCA) to capture images of various depth zones of scenes of a local area. The DCA can focus on specific ranges in a scene, important aspects, and/or regions of interest. The DCA generates image data of the local area such that the image includes information pertaining to a single depth zone. The captured image is specific to the single depth zone and is representative of objects within the single depth zone. The DCA uses the generated image data for the depth zones to generate augmented or partially-augmented images that include depth information for the objects in the local area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10690922
    Abstract: A super-resolution scanning display. The scanning display includes a light source, a conditioning assembly, and a scanning mirror assembly. The light source is configured to emit source light from a plurality of columns of emitters formed along a first dimension, including at least a first column of emitters emitting in a first band of light and a second column of emitters emitting in a second band of light which are offset along the first dimension by a fraction of an emitter width and offset along a second dimension—that is orthogonal to the first dimension—by greater than the emitter width. The conditioning assembly receives and conditions the source light. The scanning mirror assembly scans the conditioned light along the second dimension to generate a portion of an image at a first location with a resolution that is more than a first threshold number of emitters in a unit angle in the first dimension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Byron Taylor, Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10685453
    Abstract: A depth camera assembly includes an illumination source, and an imaging device. The illumination source includes one or more emitters on a single substrate, and one or more folding elements folding at least an optical path of the projected light from each emitter. Each emitter emits a respective beam of light. The imaging device captures images of the local area illuminated with the light from the illumination source. In some configurations, the depth camera assembly includes a controller that provides images to a console that determines a depth information based in part on images of the local area illuminated with the light from the illumination source, and generates a virtual object based in part on the depth information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10670808
    Abstract: The disclosed system may include (1) a light projector that projects a two-dimensional image, (2) an optical waveguide that carries at least some light from the light projector before emitting at least a portion of the light from the optical waveguide, (3) a two-dimensional light detector that receives at least some of the portion of the light emitted from the optical waveguide, and (4) a controller that (a) causes the light projector to project light from at least one of multiple pixels, (b) receives information from the two-dimensional light detector based on light received at the two-dimensional light detector from the at least one of the multiple pixels, and (c) causes an alteration in an alignment of the light from the light projector relative to the optical waveguide based on the information. Various other systems and methods are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10627565
    Abstract: By tiling multiple waveguide displays in an artificial-reality system, and/or using multiple projectors per waveguide display, a large field of view for the artificial-reality system can be achieved using waveguide displays. By using waveguide displays, a form factor for a virtual-reality system can be reduced compared to conventional virtual-reality systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10607368
    Abstract: A coded tracking system includes an imaging device and a target object that includes a plurality of locators emitting light according to a first pattern. An image of the target object captured by the imaging device includes light received by the imaging device from a subset of the plurality of locators. A pattern controller is configured to determine a resolution value for an adjacent pair of light sources in the captured image. The resolution value is indicative of the pattern controller being able to resolve the adjacent pair of light sources as two separate sources. The pattern controller determines a second pattern for the locators based on the resolution value. The second pattern improves a likelihood that the pattern controller can resolve between individual light sources emitting light in the second pattern. The pattern controller instructs the target object for the locators to emit light according to the second pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 10606071
    Abstract: An eye tracker for determining a position of an eye, which may be integrated into a head-mounted display. The eye tracker includes at least one waveguides with an array of grating structures, an array of light sources, a detector, and a controller. The controller activates at least one light source at a time to emit at least one light beam that propagates through the at least one waveguide and couple out via the array of grating structures towards a user's eye. Light signals reflected from the user's eye and skin surfaces are coupled into the at least one waveguide and propagate to the detector that captures the reflected light signals. The controller calculates magnitudes of the reflected light signals to obtain a signature of converted light signals, and determines a position and orientation of the user's eye based on the signature of converted light signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Nicholas Daniel Trail, Douglas Robert Lanman