Virtual Path Presentation

Abstract

A head-mounted display (HMD) provides directional guidance to a user. The HMD obtains a path from a current real-world position of at least a body part of the user to a different real-world position through real-world space and renders an image representing at least a portion of the path through the real-world space. The rendered image is overlaid on a scene of the real-world space and presented to the user on the HMD. An additional sensory stimulus, directed to the user's sense of sound, touch, smell, or taste is provided to the user, in addition to the image, to encourage the user to move the body part along the path.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method to provide directional guidance to a user, the method comprising:
 obtaining a path from a current real-world position of at least a body part of the user to a different real-world position through real-world space;   rendering an image showing at least a portion of the path through the real-world space;   presenting the image overlaid on a scene of the real-world space to the user on a display; and   providing an additional sensory stimulus, directed to the user's sense of sound, touch, smell, or taste, in addition to the image, to the user to encourage the user to move the body part along the path.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a distance between the body part and the path; and   changing the additional sensory stimulus based on the distance.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein
 the body part comprises a hand;   the path indicates a hand motion through the real-world space;   the scene of the portion of the real-world space includes the hand; and   the additional sensory stimulus comprises a haptic stimulus applied to the hand in response to detecting that the hand is straying from the path.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 calculating a direction to move the body part along the path; and   sending a command related to the direction to haptic clothing worn by the user;   wherein the additional sensory stimulus comprises a haptic push applied by the haptic clothing worn by the user to encourage the user to move the body part in the calculated direction.   
     
     
         5 . An article of manufacture comprising a tangible medium, that is not a transitory propagating signal, encoding computer-readable instructions that, when applied to a computer system, instruct the computer system to perform a method comprising:
 obtaining a path from a current real-world position of at least a body part of a user to a different real-world position through real-world space;   rendering an image representing at least a portion of the path through the real-world space;   presenting the image overlaid on a scene of the real-world space to the user on a display; and   providing an additional sensory stimulus, directed to the user's sense of sound, touch, smell, or taste, in addition to the image, to the user to encourage the user to move the body part along the path.   
     
     
         6 . The article of manufacture of  claim 5 , wherein the scene of the real-world space comprises a picture or video of a portion of the real-world space around the user captured with a camera integrated with the display. 
     
     
         7 . The article of manufacture of  claim 5 , wherein the scene of the real-world space comprises a synthetic image or animation of a portion of the real-world space around the user created based on data about the real-world space around the user. 
     
     
         8 . The article of manufacture of  claim 5 , wherein the scene of the real-world space comprises a view of a portion of the real-world space around the user visible through a transparent portion of the display. 
     
     
         9 . The article of manufacture of  claim 5 , the method further comprising:
 determining a distance between the body part and the path; and   changing the additional sensory stimulus based on the distance.   
     
     
         10 . The article of manufacture of  claim 9 , wherein the additional sensory stimulus comprises a sound. 
     
     
         11 . The article of manufacture of  claim 5 , wherein the body part comprises a hand, the path indicates a hand motion through the real-world space, and the scene of the portion of the real-world space includes the hand. 
     
     
         12 . The article of manufacture of  claim 11 , wherein the additional sensory stimulus comprises a haptic stimulus applied to the hand in response to detecting that the hand is straying from the path. 
     
     
         13 . The article of manufacture of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 calculating a direction to move the body part along the path; and   communicating information related to the direction to an article of haptic clothing worn by the user;   wherein the additional sensory stimulus comprises a haptic push applied by the article of haptic clothing worn by the user to encourage the user to move the body part in the calculated direction.   
     
     
         14 . The article of manufacture of  claim 5 , wherein the additional sensory stimulus comprises an odor delivered through a breathing system worn by the user. 
     
     
         15 . A head-mounted display (HMD) comprising:
 a display;   a structure, coupled to the display and adapted to position the display in a field-of-view (FOV) of the user;   a processor, coupled to the display, the processor programmed to:
 obtain a path from a current real-world position of at least a body part of a user to a different real-world position through real-world space; 
 render an image representing at least a portion of the path through the real-world space; 
 present the image overlaid on a scene of the real-world space to the user on the display; and 
 providing an additional sensory stimulus, directed to the user's sense of sound, touch, smell, or taste, in addition to the image, to the user to encourage the user to move the body part along the path. 
   
     
     
         16 . The HMD of  claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the display is transparent to allow the scene of the real-world space overlaid by the image to be seen by the user wearing the HMD. 
     
     
         17 . The HMD of  claim 15 , wherein the image representing the at least the portion of the path through the real-world space has a correct perspective from a current real-world position of the HMD with respect to the real-world space. 
     
     
         18 . The HMD of  claim 15 , the processor further programmed to:
 determine a distance between the body part and the path; and   change the additional sensory stimulus based on the distance.   
     
     
         19 . The HMD of  claim 18 , the HMD further comprising an audio output coupled to the processor, wherein the additional sensory stimulus comprises an audio signal representing a sound, and the processor is further programmed to change a frequency or volume of the sound based on the distance. 
     
     
         20 . The HMD of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the body part comprises a hand, the path indicates a hand motion through the real-world space;   the scene of the portion of the real-world space includes the hand; and   the processor is further programmed to communicate with a device configured to be worn on a hand of the user to apply a haptic stimulus o the hand in response to detecting that the hand is straying from the path as at least a part of the additional sensory stimulus.