Patent Description:
Software based simulative environments which are also known as virtual reality environments and increasingly being a part of the modern world are used in a great range of areas covering computer games, education applications etc..

While it is a significant challenge to create a virtual reality environment in terms of hardware and the software, another critic technical handicap which needs to be eliminated in order to use virtual reality environments effectively is to enable an interaction between a user and a virtual reality environment.

No matter what type of a hardware such as desktop based, console based or a specific hardware developed for a particular aim is used, the interaction between the user and the virtual reality environments is provided by means of the auxiliary equipment including a keyboard, a mouse, a game controller, etc. This leads to a user to perform his/her interaction with the environment with the help of the movements which are allowed by the hardware which he/she uses instead of their natural movements. Limited movements restrict the movement freedom of the users as the most basic principle of the virtual reality environment and cause their experiences to be halted.

Some applications which are separately known in the prior art of the invention from hardware-dependent interaction methods and which can transfer the user movements to a virtual reality environment by tracking are also provided. In said systems, movements of the user are transferred to a virtual reality environment by tracking them via optical sensors (a camera, IR, thermal screening, etc.). At this point, the most important technical problem is that the system would fail to continue tracking and even stop performing upon giving an error if a user gets out of the tracking range of a sensor.

Therefore, a great number of equipment have been developed in the prior art to provide transferring the user movements to virtual reality environments while preserving the most natural states of users. The most prominent examples among the equipment which have been able to find the most common usage area are the motion platforms which enable the user to interact with a virtual reality environment without restricting their movement freedom in a restricted range.

There are many motion platforms which consist of one or more components, which can transfer some specific movements or all body movements of the user to a virtual reality environment. The inventions which are disclosed in some Patent documents such as <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>,<CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT> can be referred to as examples of the motion platforms which are known in prior art.

<CIT> discloses a system for simulating motion in a virtual environment. This system comprising a constraining element and footwear that allow the user freedom of movement while limiting one to a circumscribed area.

<CIT> discloses a system for use with a virtual environment technology includes a platform configured to support a user, a harness support assembly coupled to the platform and extending upwardly from the platform, and a safety harness configured to be worn by the user.

<CIT> discloses a method for generating and outputting an optical simulation representation taking into account personal movements in a localized real space.

A virtual reality motion platform according to claim <NUM> and an operation method thereof according to claim <NUM> are provided.

Advantageous embodiments are provided according to the dependent claims.

The figures of a virtual reality motion platform according to the present invention are disclosed as follows.

The parts/portions/elements which are illustrated in the appended figures disclosed in order to describe a virtual reality motion platform according to the invention are individually numbered and the description of each number is provided below.

The virtual reality motion platform according to the present invention which is developed to provide body movements and directions such as walking, running, jumping, bending, etc. to be transferred to the software based simulative environments which are also known as virtual reality essentially consists of <NUM> main parts.

The mounting apparatus (<NUM>) is an apparatus which enables a gaming vest / harness (<NUM>) to be worn by a user to be mounted on a stable structure such as a wall or a ceiling and also has the electronic and mechanical equipment which can sense, restrict and apply a certain force against the user's movements.

The mounting apparatus (<NUM>) may consist of;.

The damper system (<NUM>) can be a hydraulic damper system as well as a spring damper system according to different embodiments of the invention.

The damper system (<NUM>) is connected to eight different points and provides force against the user's movements in a suitable manner depending on the conditions of a virtual reality environment. However, the magnitude of an applied counterforce can also be adjusted.

The rotary head (<NUM>) is a part of which the upper portion is stable and the lower portion is movable and enables the users to turn around their own axis together with the gaming vest (<NUM>) worn by the user.

The interconnection element (<NUM>) is embedded in the balancing rod (<NUM>) and is a part which enables the user to perform various movements such as jumping and bending.

The analogue potentiometer and motion system (<NUM>) is a movable analogue sensor system which enables four-direction movements of the balancing rod (<NUM>) to which it is coupled to and said movements to be sensed.

The balancing rod (<NUM>) is connected to the gaming vest (<NUM>) which is worn by the user and allows the users to be able to turn around their own axis at <NUM>° by balancing them and enabling them to move up and down. Furthermore, the balancing rod (<NUM>) can delimit the user movements at a certain range by means of the movement limiting steel ring (<NUM>) placed between the outer body (<NUM>) and the connection point.

The wall mounting apparatus (<NUM>) is a movable part which allows movement up to <NUM> degrees and also a friction part which can correspond to a wall to which it would be mounted and allows pressing between two walls.

The load drawbar (<NUM>) is in a retractable configuration.

The ceiling mounting apparatus (<NUM>) is a part which enables the mounting apparatus (<NUM>) to be mounted on a ceiling without any need of the wall mounting apparatus (<NUM>) and the load drawbar (<NUM>).

The gaming vest (<NUM>) or harness is a part which a user can wear and also include a leg belt set (<NUM>); may consist of;.

Gaming vest (<NUM>) can enable the user to keep his/her balance without restricting the movement abilities of said users and can also prevent them to change their locations in a real environment. While users freely move on the floors (<NUM> or <NUM>), the users can also move in place as if walking, running etc they would not have to actually run in the real world with the help of this gaming vest (<NUM>).

Once the users connect themselves to the platform by wearing the gaming vest (<NUM>), they should get on a floor on which they can move in a virtual environment but in a real environment they are only allowed to perform dynamic movements on where they are.

This requirement is achieved by two different floors and two different shoes according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A floor used in an embodiment of the present invention is a high friction coefficient smooth and plain floor (<NUM>), said floor can be used with an adjustable foot sole (not shown) in a fixable configuration to a shoe with balls (<NUM>) or a normal foot sole. Because said foot sole has the very same technical characteristics with the shoe with balls (<NUM>), the shoe with balls (<NUM>) will be preferred in the description.

Shoe with balls (<NUM>) has a plurality of balls (<NUM>) on its bottom (<NUM>) to enable the user to perform walking and jumping movements in all directions on a high friction coefficient smooth and plain floor (<NUM>). Moreover, said shoe with balls may also have a shoe electronic circuit and sensor slot (<NUM>) including the sensors and the electronic circuit elements which provide detecting the foot movements in the shoe (<NUM>) and measuring the load on the shoe. The aforementioned foot sole has the very same technical features with the shoe with balls (<NUM>) and it also has an adjustable configuration which can be subsequently attached to user's shoe.

A floor which is used in another embodiment of the invention is a ball covered floor (<NUM>) and has a plurality of floor balls (<NUM>) which are located on the bearing balls on the floor and a plurality of micro bearing balls (<NUM>). A user can move in any desired direction while wearing any type of shoes by means of the balls (<NUM>) on the floor (<NUM>) and the micro bearing balls.

The platform according to the present invention which is contemplated to be used in virtual reality technologies is a motion device which can be also called as a motion platform. After the users wear the ball shoe (<NUM>) which is specifically designed or a scalable foot sole with which they can also use their shoes, they get on the floor (<NUM>) of the platform and wear the gaming vest (<NUM>). The platform would be opened once the users complete the dressing process.

The gaming vest (<NUM>) can keep the user at a balance while connecting them on a wall or a ceiling by means of the balancing rod (<NUM>) and the mounting apparatus (<NUM>). When the user start to walk or run on the platform, the gaming vest (<NUM>) would secure the user and will also prevent them from changing their locations in the real world.

The range of motion of the user in the real world is confined to an approximately <NUM><NUM> area as allowed by the motion limiting steel ring (<NUM>). In this range, because the user is provided with a high friction between the floor (<NUM>) and the shoe (<NUM>), they would move in a similar way as that in natural walking sense.

The platform according to the present invention is connected to the virtual reality system in which it is used (A computer, The virtual reality glasses, The game consoles or Smart phones) via wireless technology and it collects the user movements by means of the sensors which are included therein. The sensors are an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) sensor, a Bend (BEND) sensor, a Touch (Touch) sensor, a Pressure (Pressure) sensor, an Optical sensor and a Strain gauge (Strain Gauge) and also a potentiometer can be used. The measurements which are received from a plurality of points in the entire system are cleaned by means of noise suppression filters such as Kalman Filter, DeadReckoning and the directions and rates of the body can be detected in the fastest way by using various algorithms in the background. The detected directions and rates are transferred to the receiving platform in a wireless manner and converted into movement within the virtual reality application. All of the process is completed in less than <NUM>.

The damper system (<NUM>) which is placed in the mounting apparatus (<NUM>) can increase and decrease the tensile depending on the harmony between the used virtual reality application and the platform, thereby the simulation of the user's movements in different conditions such as air, water or rough weather can be performed.

The electronic sensors and circuit components are located in the platform and on the outer body (<NUM>), the gaming vest (<NUM>), the shoe (<NUM>) and the leg belts (<NUM>) and are in communication with each other and also they are connected to the virtual reality system in a wired or wireless way.

As long as the motion process of the user is continued, their movements such as walking ahead or back, running, jumping, bending and turning around their own axis at <NUM> degrees are measured continuously and at very high frequencies and transferred to the system in a wireless manner.

Claim 1:
A virtual reality motion platform configured to provide body movements and directions of a user, the body movements comprising walking, running, jumping, bending to be transferred to a software based simulative virtual reality environment, wherein the virtual reality motion platform comprises:
a mounting apparatus (<NUM>) comprising,
• An outer body (<NUM>) including a balancing rod (<NUM>), a rotary head (<NUM>),
a gaming vest (<NUM>) / harness connected to the balancing rod (<NUM>),
a shoe (<NUM>) has a plurality of balls (<NUM>) on its bottom (<NUM>) ,
a floor (<NUM>, <NUM>),
characterized in that
the mounting apparatus (<NUM>) further comprises :
• A plurality of ceiling mounting apparatuses (<NUM>) which enable the outer body (<NUM>) to be mounted on a ceiling or a wall, and a plurality of wall mounting apparatuses (<NUM>),
• a motion limiting steel ring (<NUM>) placed between the outer body (<NUM>) and the connection point, a damper system connected to eight different points (<NUM>) and an analog potentiometer and a motion system (<NUM>) coupled to the balancing rod (<NUM>)
• the gaming vest (<NUM>) / harness further comprising: an electronic circuit and/or sensor slot (<NUM>) including sensors and circuit components which enable the body directions of the user to be detected,
• two leg belts (<NUM>) being configured to secure the user's upper legs and having a form such that it can carry the user's weight when they sit down on the floor (<NUM>),
the shoe (<NUM>) further comprising:
• an electronic circuit and sensor slot (<NUM>) including sensors and electronic circuit components that provides detecting the feet movements and measuring a load on the user's feet,
• an IMU sensor or an optical sensor and
• a touch sensor and a pressure sensor.