Social media sharing in a virtual reality application

A method which allows a user who is viewing panoramic images within a virtual reality (VR) head mounted device to share with a social media network pre-loaded images of the content being viewed and post a comment. Specifically, this invention will allow a user to share an image of a vehicle just viewed or currently being viewed by the user and upload a comment in regards to the vehicle while still maintaining the integrity of the virtual reality experience.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of photography and virtual reality. In particular, the present invention is in the field of enabling a user to share content with a social media account or network while viewing the interior and exterior of a vehicle within a virtual reality setting.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The following 8 patents and published patent applications are the closest prior art references known to the inventors.

1. United States Published Patent Application No. 2014/0280644 by applicant John Cronin on Sep. 18, 2014 for “Real Time Unified Communications Interaction Of A Predefined Location In A Virtual Reality Location”.

2. United States Published Patent Application No. 2015/0124051 by applicant to Robert Schinker on May 7, 2015 for “Methods And Apparatus For Enhanced Reality Messaging”.

3. U.S. Pat. No. 9,135,754 issued to Ng-Thow-Hing et al on Sep. 15, 2015 for “Method To Generate Virtual Display Surfaces From Video Imagery Of Road Based Scenery”.

5. International Application No. WO 2015/200732 by applicant Imagine Universe, Inc. on Dec. 30, 2015 for “User Interface Using Tagged Media, 3d Indexed Virtual Reality Images, And Global Positioning System Locations, For Electronic Commerce”.

6. U.S. Pat. No. 9,367,950 issued to Scranton et al on Jun. 14, 2016 for “Providing Virtual Reality Experiences Based On Three-Dimensional Designs Produced Using Three-Dimensional Design Software”.

7. International Application No. WO 2016/130935 by applicant Harvey, Gregory Lawrence on Aug. 18, 2016 for “System And Method To Integrate Content In Real Time Into A Dynamic 3-Dimensional Scene”.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is an apparatus and method which allows a user who is viewing panoramic images within a virtual reality (VR) head mounted device to share with a social media network pre-loaded images of the content being viewed and post a comment.

Specifically, this invention will allow a user to share an image of a vehicle just viewed or currently being viewed by the user and upload a comment with regard to the vehicle while still maintaining the integrity of the virtual reality experience.

It is an object of the present invention to create a method to allow a user to connect to the user's social account by using a virtual keyboard to enter account user name and password and then the application sends this information for verification and once verified, allows the user to share images (with or without custom commentary) from within the application.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a secondary application to connect to a user's social account in Facebook® and Twitter® to the device using the VR application (Samsung GearVR, Oculus Rift, etc.) via third party application.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an application that allows communication through the following key processes with a social sharing network while within a VR setting:

1. Providing the user a Call To Action (“CTA”) to connect their social accounts to the application. This CTA can appear at the start of the application (app), or show up when the user attempts to share content via a share icon CTA or some other user interface (UI) indicator.

2. The user enters the user's login information for their social account, typically their e-mail address. The VR application sends this information to a separate application, that allows the user to confirm their account as well as connect to their Facebook® and Twitter® accounts.

3. The user's account information is shared in a database associated with the device used to access the VR application, so that when the user returns to the app, they can share at will without having to reconnect their social accounts to the application.

4. When the user enters a VR experience, the app checks to see if the user's previously entered email account is associated with a Facebook® or Twitter® account.

5. Once confirmed, upon clicking the share icon in the application, the user is shown the image to be shared, allowed to select which social network to share on and allowed the option to enter a customized comment with the image.

Defined in detail, the present invention is a method comprising the steps of: (a) creating computer generated images of a virtual reality setting to form six faces of a cube and creating two identical cubes from said six faces, placing together two inverted cubes to form a skybox; (b) obtaining a multiplicity of panoramic images of interiors of a multiplicity of selected vehicles and a multiplicity of panoramic images of exteriors of said multiplicity of selected vehicles; (c) placing a specific one of said panoramic images of a selected vehicle from either said multiplicity of panoramic images of interiors and multiplicity of panoramic images of exteriors within said skybox; (d) placing a sharing graphic user interface in said skybox that opens a socialize virtual dialog box having a socialize display text, a set up graphic user interface, and a not now graphic user interface when selected by a user; (e) said set up graphic user interface connected to a keyboard virtual dialog box with a virtual keyboard that allows the user to enter there email address to connect to a users social network account; (f) said not now graphic user interface closing said socialize virtual dialog box when selected; (g) a database that stores user names, user email addresses, upload dates, and answers to boolean queries; and (h) a to-be-shared dialog box having a to-be-shared image, an experience display text, and a custom text graphic user interface; (i) whereby, said user shares with a social media network a to-be-shared image and a comment entered into said custom text graphic user interface for other users of said social media network to view.

Defined more broadly, the present invention is a method comprising the steps of: (a) creating computer generated images of a virtual reality setting to form six faces of a cube and creating two identical cubes from said six faces, placing together two inverted cubes to form a skybox; (b) obtaining a multiplicity of panoramic images of selected vehicles; (c) placing a specific one of said panoramic images of a selected vehicle within said skybox; (d) placing a sharing graphic user interface in said skybox that opens a socialize virtual dialog box having a socialize display text, a set up graphic user interface, and a not now graphic user interface when selected by a user; (e) said set up graphic user interface connected to a keyboard virtual dialog box with a virtual keyboard that allows the user to enter there email address to connect to a users social network account; (f) said not now graphic user interface closing said socialize virtual dialog box when selected; (g) a database that stores user names, user email addresses, upload dates, and answers to boolean queries; and (h) a to-be-shared dialog box having a to-be-shared image, an experience display text, and a custom text graphic user interface; (i) whereby, said user shares with a social media network a to-be-shared image and a comment entered into said custom text graphic user interface for other users of said social media network to view.

It is within the spirit and scope of the present invention to use similar, comparable or substitute equipment known to one skilled in the art as opposed to using the specific equipment and items set forth below. It will be appreciated that this is simply a recitation of the best method known to the inventors at the time this patent application was filed and is not intended to limit the course and scope of the specific equipment to achieve the new, novel and non-obvious results of the present invention.

The following invention will further being explained using panoramic images titled car spin panoramic images and pre-rendered computer graphic images. The car spin panoramic images are of a specific car that a user selects and the pre-rendered computer graphic images are used to create the environment, referred to as a skybox, in which the car spin panoramic images which are viewed.

The specific panoramic images used within this disclosure are panoramic images of the interior and exterior of a car. The method used in obtaining these panoramic car images is not specifically disclosed within this patent application because the method of obtaining the panoramic images is not the specific subject of this patent application but explained herein to accurately describe what is being viewed.

Similarly, the method of obtaining and generating the computer graphic images used to create the environment is not specifically disclosed, but the creation of the environment using computer graphic images is disclosed for a complete understanding of the present invention.

Referring toFIG. 1, the computer graphic (CG) images are placed to create a 360 degree pre-rendered CG virtual environment. The images are created in an equal rectangular format, then output as six cube faces for presentation in virtual realty.

This virtual environment is created by combining 6 cube faces as shown inFIG. 1. The textures are output with the following number indexing:0=FRONT1=RIGHT2=BACK3=LEFT4=TOP5=BOTTOM

Stereo images are differentiated by a set of left eye images and a set of right eye images. The left eye images fromFIG. 1are left front face302, left right face304, left back face306, left left face308, left top, face310, and left bottom face312. The eye images fromFIG. 1are right front face314, right right face316, right back face318, right left face320, right top face322, and right bottom face324. These images are then formed into a cube and skybox400(shown inFIG. 2) to create the background environment for car230(seeFIG. 4) to be viewed. Skybox400is created from two inverted cubes to create the virtual showroom environment that the external panoramic images (filenames exterior spinframes) can be placed into to form a shutterbox (shown inFIG. 9).

Once the textures are correctly set up on the cube object, a virtual realty (VR) camera object500(as shown inFIG. 3) is placed in the center of the cube. It is important that the VR camera is placed at a fixed point directly in the center of the cube.

Further referring toFIG. 3, the camera object500is a left eye camera and a right eye camera parented to a “neck” control rig, with the following setup:Both cameras are parented to the parent “neck” control rig object.The left eye camera has the following unique settings:Local position to the parent is (0, −0.03, 0)Layermask excludes the “Right” layer.The right eye camera has the following unique settings:Local position to the parent is (0, 0.03, 0)Layermask excludes the “Left” layer.

Referring toFIG. 4, the car spin panoramic images are placed onto the skybox400by having the car spin panoramic images line up with the front face of skybox400. This ensures the images has the perfect amount of distortion and is scaled precisely on import.

Referring toFIG. 4, once the car is lined up, a special Shutterbox script is synced to an invisible rotating “anchor” object that determines the current rotation of the car. Depending on the number of images available for the spin, the Shutterbox script seamlessly switches out the appropriate left and right images depending on what angle the anchor object is currently rotated to.

Referring toFIGS. 5 and 6, there is illustrated a view within a virtual reality setting created by a skybox400with a socialize virtual dialog box510open having socialize display text516that explains to the user that the user may share their social experience with social media using two graphic user interfaces titled “Set Up” and “Not Now”. When a user selects Set Up graphic user interface512, a keyboard virtual dialog box610with a virtual keyboard612open that allows the user to enter their email address to connect to a user's social network account. If a user selects Not Now graphic user interface514, then virtual dialog box510is closed and the user continues to view panoramic car spins within skybox400.

Referring toFIG. 7, there is illustrated a screen display of a database700with stored user criteria illustrating in a first column user names710, a second column read and write storage information720. a third column and seventh column upload dates730and770, a fourth column user email addresses740and a fifth and sixth column with answers to Boolean queries750and760.

Referring toFIG. 8, and by way of example, superimposed graphic user interface (GUI) allows the user of the head mounted display to select the elements. InFIG. 8, there are four (4) graphic user interfaces illustrated: a steering wheel834which changes the view from exterior panoramic images to internal panoramic images, two cars836which changes the vehicle being viewed by the user, a home838which brings the user to the home screen within the application and a sharing graphic user interface840which allows the user to share an image and a comment with their social media page. Also illustrated inFIG. 8are the surrounding skybox400and an external view of a panoramic car spin850.

Referring toFIG. 9there is illustrated a to-be-shared dialog box910having a to-be-shared image920. Also illustrated in the to-be-shared dialog box910, is a Facebook® graphic user interface930, a share your experience display text940, and a click here to add custom text graphic user interface950. A user while wearing the head mounted display can thus share the image as shown by to-be-shared image920inFIG. 9with a comment when entered into custom text graphic user interface950. To-be-shared image920and custom text graphic user interface950will then be shared with a social network so that other users of that same social network can see the image and comment.

Some of the social networks that this image and comment can be shared with, but not limited to, are Twitter®, Facebook®, Google+®, Linkedin®, Pinetrest®, Instagram®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Tumblr®, Flixster® and Snapchat®.

Each of the disclosed portions of the invention—the interior panoramic images, the exterior panoramic images, the virtual environment, the graphic user interface elements—are created as separate panoramic layers as a first layer, second layer, third layer, and continuing on. These panoramic layers are then brought together using gaming software such as Unity to create a final product that can be then viewed as an interactive seamless environment using a Virtual Reality Headset.