Method and system for viewing sports content within a virtual reality environment

Abstract

A virtual reality (VR) system including a head mounted display (HMD), a sensor or input device, and options, selection, and display modules. The HMD displays a VR environment including sports content of a live game, a prerecorded game, or a sports channel. The options module generates an options signal to show viewing options in the VR environment. The viewing options define viewing aspects for viewing the sports content within the VR environment. The sensor or input device generates signals based on detection of movement of the HMD, movement of an eyeball of a user, user voice communication, or user contact with the input device. The selection module, based on the signals: selects the sports content and a viewing option; and generates a selection signal. The display module displays the sports content in the VR environment based on the selection signal.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 presenting, by a virtual reality system, video content in a center window of a virtual reality display of a head-mounted device according to a first point of reference of a plurality of points of reference associated with live channel playback;   detecting at least one of movement of the head-mounted device or movement of an eyeball of a user;    generating, by the virtual reality system, a plurality of head-mounted display movement signals based on the detection of at least one of movement of the head-mounted device or movement of an eyeball of a user;   detecting a first head-mounted device signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals;    presenting, by the virtual reality system, data tiles left, right, above or below the center window of the virtual reality display of the head-mounted device by shifting the center window in a direction within the virtual reality display in response to the detection of a first head-mounted display movement signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals;   selecting, by the virtual reality system, a first viewing angle at a second point of reference of the plurality of points of reference for the live channel playbackin response to detection of a second head-mounted display movement signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals, the first viewing angle corresponding to a first camera at the second point of reference; and   presenting, by the virtual reality system, the video content in the center window of the virtual reality display according to from the selecting of first viewing angle at the second point of referenceof the plurality of points of reference for the live channel playback;   selecting a second viewing angle at the second point of reference, the second viewing angle corresponding to a second camera at the second point of reference; and   presenting the video content in the center window of the virtual reality display from the second viewing angle at the second point of reference.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising detecting, by the virtual reality system, a first head-mounted display movement signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals. 
     
     
         3 . The method of claim  2   1 , further comprising selecting, by the virtual reality system, the first point of reference of the plurality of points of reference associated with the live channel playback in response to the detecting the first head-mounted display movement signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the presenting the data tiles further comprises displaying sports scores. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating, by the virtual reality system, a scoreguide comprising the data tiles based on the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals, the scoreguide comprising the data tiles. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising changing, by the virtual reality system, a layout of the scoreguide as shown in the virtual reality display based on the plurality of head mounted display movement signals. 
     
     
         7 . The method  claim 5 , wherein each of the data tiles further includes at least one identifier, and wherein each of the identifiers of the data tiles correspond to a respective sports game, sports event, or sports channel. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein each of the data tiles further includes a live score of the respective sports game. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the presenting the data tiles further comprises displaying live sporting events. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the live sporting events are related to the video content in the center window. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data tiles are related to the video content in the center window. 
     
     
         12 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, a processor of a virtual reality system performs operations comprising:
 presenting video content in a center window of a virtual reality display of the virtual reality system head-mounted device according to a first point of reference of a plurality of points of reference associated with live channel playback;   detecting a head-mounted display movement signal;    presenting data tiles left, right, above or below the center window of the virtual reality display of a the virtual reality head-mounted device by shifting the center window in a direction within the virtual reality display according to the detection of a first the head-mounted display movement signalof a plurality of head-mounted display movement signals;   selecting a first viewing angle at a second point of reference of the plurality of points of reference for the live channel playback in response to detection of a second head-mounted display movement signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals video content, the first viewing angle corresponding to a first camera at the second point of reference; and   presenting the video content in the center window of the virtual reality display according to from the selecting of first viewing angle at the second point of referenceof the plurality of points of reference for the live channel playback;   selecting a second viewing angle at the second point of reference, the second viewing angle corresponding to a second camera at the second point of reference; and   presenting the video content in the center window of the virtual reality display from the second viewing angle at the second point of reference.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further compriseperformed by the processor include generating the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals signal based on detection of at least one of movement of the virtual reality head-mounted device or movement of an eyeball of a user. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further compriseperformed by the processor include detecting the first head-mounted display movement signal of the from a plurality of head-mounted display movement signals. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 14 , wherein the operations further compriseperformed by the processor include selecting the firstsecond point of reference of the plurality of points of reference associated with the live channel playbackvideo content in response to the detecting the first a second head-mounted display movement signal of from the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim  12 14, wherein the operations further compriseperformed by the processor include:
 generating a scoreguide comprising the data tiles based on the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals signal, the scoreguide comprising the data tiles; and   changing a layout of the scoreguide as shown in the virtual reality display based on the plurality of head mounted display movement signals.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 16  wherein each of the data tiles further includes at least one identifier, and wherein each of the identifiers of the data tiles correspond to a respective sports game, sports event, or sports channel. 
     
     
         18 . A virtual reality apparatus, comprising:
 a memory to store instructions; and   a processor coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the processor facilitates a performance of operations, the operations comprising:   selecting a first point of reference of a plurality of points of reference associated with live channel playback in response to detecting a first head-mounted display movement signal of a plurality of head-mounted display movement signals;    presenting data tiles left, right, above or below the center window of the virtual reality display of the head-mounted device by shifting the center window in a direction within the virtual reality display according to detection of detecting a second head-mounted display movement signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals; and   selecting a first viewing angle at a second point of reference of the plurality of points of reference for the live channel playback, the first viewing angle corresponding to a first camera at the second point of reference;    presenting the video content in the center window of the virtual reality display according to a selection of a from the first viewing angle at the second point of reference of the plurality of points of referencefor the live channel playback;   selecting a second viewing angle at the second point of reference, the second viewing angle corresponding to a second camera at the second point of reference; and   presenting the video content in the center window of the virtual reality display from the second viewing angle at the second point of reference.   
     
     
         19 . The virtual reality apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting the second point of reference of the plurality of points of reference for the live channel playback in response to the detection of the second head-mounted display movement signal of the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals. 
     
     
         20 . The virtual reality apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise generating the plurality of head-mounted display movement signals based on detection of at least one of movement of the head-mounted device or movement of an eyeball of a user. 
     
     
       21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions are stored in a content processing system at a head end.  
     
     
       22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions are stored in a memory of the virtual reality head mounted device.  
     
     
       23. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the first point of reference of the plurality of points of reference displays a two-dimensional view of a game as provided on a sports channel; and   the second point of reference of the plurality of points of reference displays the game from an alternate perspective.    
     
     
       24. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 23 , wherein the alternate perspective is a baseline perspective.