Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-03
2004-01-27
Cabeca, John (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S215000, C704S246000, C704S250000, C706S055000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06683625
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to systems that implement a three-dimensional virtual environment in which users can view and manipulate the objects within the virtual environment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention pertains to the input interface to a virtual environment (VE), which allows the user to manipulate objects in the environment, and the output interface from the virtual environment, which allows the user to view objects in the environment.
Natural interfaces such as speech and gesture promise to be the best input interfaces for use in such virtual environments, replacing current desktop-oriented devices like the keyboard and mouse which are not as appropriate for virtual environment systems. However, little is known about how to integrate such advanced interfaces into virtual environment systems. Commercial tools exist to construct 3-D “worlds” using objects described with the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) standard. This constitutes the visual interface to the virtual environment. However, no such tools exist to augment these objects with natural input interfaces most appropriate to immersive visualization, such as speech.
Research prototypes have demonstrated the power of natural interfaces in virtual environments, but this work has not generated methods for constructing natural interfaces to virtual environments that are comparable in power to common methods for building visual interfaces. For example, previous speech interfaces to virtual environments consist of specialized “speech aware” tools within the virtual environment (see for example Jason Leigh et al. article entitled “Multi-Perspective Collaborative Design in Persistent Networked Virtual Environments,” in Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality Annual Symposium. VRAIS'96, pages 253-260, Santa Clara, Calif., March 1996), and expert systems for mapping voice commands to actions within a specific domain (see for example Mark Billinghurst et al., “Adding Intelligence to the Interface,” Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium, pages 168-175, Santa Clara, Calif.). In both cases, the interface is separate from the objects it manipulates; if the configuration of the objects in the virtual environment changes, the interface must be reconfigured or re-trained. Thus, neither is applicable to rapid construction of flexible virtual environments for general use.
The purpose of this invention is to enable virtual environment creators to embed natural interfaces directly into the objects of the virtual environment. This permits rapid creation of virtual environments, intuitive interaction with virtual objects, and straightforward interface reconfiguration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention provides a method by which to construct virtual environments in which natural interfaces to the objects are encapsulated within the objects themselves and are therefore built into the environment from the beginning rather than added later.
The invention, according to one embodiment, concerns the integration of speech interfaces within virtual environments. The invention, according to a second embodiment, concerns the integration of gesture interfaces within virtual environments. According to a third embodiment, the invention concerns the use of role-dependent interfaces for manipulating and displaying information within three-dimensional virtual environments.
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Cole Edwin R.
Courtney Jonathan D.
Muthusamy Yeshwant K.
Brady III W. James
Cabeca John
Telecky , Jr. Frederick J.
Texas Instruments Incorporated
Thai Cuong T.
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