Search

EP-4290340-B1 - FURNITURE DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING MOVEMENT IN VIRTUAL SPACE

EP4290340B1EP 4290340 B1EP4290340 B1EP 4290340B1EP-4290340-B1

Inventors

  • IKEYA, Hidesato

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20221122

Claims (7)

  1. A furniture-type apparatus (1) on which a user can sit, wherein the furniture-type apparatus (1) comprises: a leg sensor (11) configured to be disposed in a seat part of the apparatus (1), in a front curtain part of a seat surface of the apparatus (1), in a cushion mountable on the seat surface, or in a cover for covering thighs of the seated user in the apparatus (1), and to obtain a measurement value representing a displacement of each of the left and right legs of the user, the user moving the legs in a walking-in-place or marching-in-place manner, as a virtual movement amount representing a magnitude of movement of the user in a virtual space; and a back sensor (12) configured to be disposed in a backrest part of the apparatus (1) or in a cushion mountable on the backrest part, and to recognize that a direction of movement of the user in the virtual space is backward when detecting leaning back of the user and recognize that the direction is forward when not recognizing that the direction is backward, based on a displacement of the back of the user, the virtual movement amount and a recognition result indicating whether the direction is forward or backward being output as a virtual movement amount of forward movement or a virtual movement amount of backward movement, each of which specifies a combination of the magnitude and the direction of movement of the user in the virtual space.
  2. The furniture-type apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the leg sensor (11) is configured to detect a speed of the displacement as a speed of the virtual movement amount, and the furniture-type apparatus (1) is configured to output the speed of the virtual movement amount and the recognition result indicating whether the direction is forward or backward as a speed of the virtual movement amount of forward movement or a speed of the virtual movement amount of backward movement, and/or wherein the leg sensor (11) is configured to detect an acceleration of the displacement as an acceleration of the virtual movement amount, and the furniture-type apparatus (1) is configured to output the acceleration of the virtual movement amount and the recognition result indicating whether the direction is forward or backward as an acceleration of the virtual movement amount of forward movement or an acceleration of the virtual movement amount of backward movement.
  3. The furniture-type apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the leg sensor (11) is disposed for each of the right leg and the left leg of the user and obtains a measurement value alternately from the right leg and the left leg to be used as a virtual movement amount corresponding to a walking motion of the user in the virtual space.
  4. The furniture-type apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the leg sensor (11) is disposed in the seat part or the cover of the apparatus (1) in proximity to a thigh of the seated user or in the front curtain part of the apparatus (1) in proximity to a calf of the leg of the seated user.
  5. The furniture-type apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising a rotation sensor (13) configured to be disposed on a rotation part of a leg part of furniture or on a seat part on which the user sits and to output a measurement value representing a displacement in a motion of the user rotating his or her body to the left or right as a virtual movement amount to the left or right.
  6. The furniture-type apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the furniture-type apparatus (1) is in a form of a chair, or a wheelchair, or wherein the cushion is in the form of a mat, or a sheet.
  7. The furniture-type apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the furniture-type apparatus (1) is configured to cause a terminal to transmit an alarm to the user or a monitoring person when the virtual movement amount is equal to or more than a first predetermined threshold or when the virtual movement amount is continuously equal to or less than a second predetermined threshold for a predetermined period of time.

Description

[Technical Field] The present invention relates to a technique for an apparatus that serves as a user interface in a virtual space. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for operating movement of a virtual object (an avatar or a character) in a space of virtual reality or a game. Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. JP2021-205898 filed December 20, 2021 under the Paris Convention. [Background Art] Virtual reality refers to a technique for allowing a user wearing a head mounted display (HMD) terminal to visually recognize a three-dimensional virtual space. In virtual reality, users can move in the virtual space by their own operations and can obtain a sense of immersion in the virtual space. The HMD terminal may be a terminal that accesses a virtual space server via a network or may be a terminal that is equipped with its own virtual space server. The HMD terminal detects a movement of the head of a user by a posture sensor and controls the field of view and the position of the user in the virtual space in accordance with a measurement value obtained by the detection. FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic diagrams for explaining conventional user operations for the virtual space. In FIG. 8A, the user wears an HMD terminal on the head. In FIG. 8B, the user is looking at a display of a terminal such as a personal computer, tablet, or smartphone. The terminal accesses a virtual space server via a network and displays a virtual space on its display. The user moves in the virtual space by operating a stick device or a game controller while visually recognizing the virtual space. The virtual space server may be a server that is dedicated to the virtual space and provided on the Internet or may be a server that is dedicated to the virtual space and provided locally. Examples of the service that provides a virtual space include social virtual reality (VR) platforms such as VRChat (registered trademark), Metaverse (registered trademark), and Second Life (registered trademark). Conventionally, for example, as disclosed in Patent Literature (PTL) 1 and Non-Patent Literature (NPTL) 1, there has been proposed a technique in which a user operates movement in a virtual space by pressing thighs of the user against a cushion in front of the thighs. This technique includes a thigh support unit that supports the thighs of a user such that the thighs are movable in a traveling direction, a first sensor that detects a force received from the thighs, a second sensor that detects a rotation angle of the thigh support unit, and a third sensor that detects a posture of the user. A walking motion of the user is estimated from the detection results obtained by these sensors, and an image corresponding to the estimated walking motion is presented to the user. More specifically, by supporting the thighs of the user to be movable in traveling direction, a change of the center of gravity is caused to occur in the traveling direction, and further, by presenting the image corresponding to the walking motion of the user, a walking feeling is provided to the user. With this technique, a compact and lightweight device is realized at a low cost without using a large-scale device for moving a floor to be synchronized with the movement of the legs or a driving unit for raising and lowering the thighs. PTL 2 discloses a chair-like apparatus equipped with a transducer serving as a user interface that replaces a mouse, which is a different type of interface from that for moving the user in a virtual space, though. In this chair-like apparatus, a transducer for detecting a horizonal movement from a rotation movement of the chair and a transducer for detecting a vertical movement are used. Detected signals are output to a display device so that the position of a cursor on the display device can be moved. For example, when the user rotates his or her body, the cursor on the display device is moved horizontally, and when the user moves forward or backward, the cursor on the display device is moved vertically. Further, the detection result obtained by a seat sensor may be used as a left/right click, the detection result obtained by a back sensor may be used as a middle click, and the detection result obtained by a rotation sensor may be used as a scroll by a scroll wheel. In addition, various operation apparatuses for moving in a virtual space have been proposed. For example, NPTL 2 discloses an apparatus that operates movement of a user in a virtual space by using a walking board disposed under the legs of the user. Further, for example, NPTL 3 discloses an apparatus in which a step device is disposed under the legs of a user seated on a chair and the user operates movement by stepping on the step device. US 2008/0153592 discloses a controller means for controlling a computer game. It includes a seat on which a player may sit, disposed on a bearing means incorporating or associated with a control means. In use the control