Portable proprioceptive peripatetic polylinear video player

Abstract

Departing from one-way linear cinema played on a single rectangular screen, this multi-channel virtual environment involves a cinematic paradigm that undoes habitual ways of framing things, employing architectural concepts in a polylinear video/sound construction to create a type of experience that allows the world to reveal itself and permits discovery on the part of participants. Techniques are disclosed for peripatetic navigation through virtual space with a handheld computing device, leveraging human spatial memory to form a proprioceptive sense of location, allowing a participant to easily navigate amongst a plurality of simultaneously playing videos and to center in front of individual video panes in said space, making it comfortable for a participant to rest in a fixed posture and orientation while selectively viewing any one of the video streams, and providing spatialized 3D audio cues that invite awareness of other content unfolding simultaneously in the virtual environment.

1 . A computer comprised of a microprocessor and microprocessor-supporting hardware components configured to:
 a. generate a virtual environment;   b. establish a location of a virtual camera in the virtual environment;   c. establish an orientation of the virtual camera in the virtual environment;   d. update the location of the virtual camera in the virtual environment using x-axisometer data and an x-axisometer sensor reference data; and   e. update the orientation of the virtual camera in the virtual environment using v-axisometer data and a v-axisometer sensor reference data.   
     
     
         2 . The computer of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual environment comprises a plurality of video panes and a plurality of virtual speakers, wherein:
 a. a plurality of videos play simultaneously in distinct locations in the virtual environment; and   b. a plurality of sounds are produced for display as if coming from distinct locations in the virtual environment.   
     
     
         3 . The computer of  claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of videos comprises a videoconference stream. 
     
     
         4 . The computer of  claim 1 , wherein:
 a. the updated location of the virtual camera is established in the direction of the orientation of the virtual camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot down posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data; and   b. the updated location of the virtual camera is established in the opposite direction of the orientation of the virtual camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot up posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data.   
     
     
         5 . The computer of  claim 1 , wherein the x-axisometer sensor reference data comprises one or more neutral zone thresholds. 
     
     
         6 . The computer of  claim 1 , wherein the magnitude of virtual camera location change is based on the x-axisometer data relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data. 
     
     
         7 . The computer of  claim 1 , wherein:
 a. the updated orientation of the virtual camera is established left if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim left posture relative to the v-axisometer sensor reference data; and   b. the updated orientation of the virtual camera is established right if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim right posture relative to the v-axisometer sensor reference data.   
     
     
         8 . The computer of  claim 1 , wherein the v-axisometer sensor reference data comprises one or more neutral zone thresholds. 
     
     
         9 . The computer of  claim 1 , further configured to update the location of the virtual camera in the virtual environment using z-axisometer data and a z-axisometer sensor reference data. 
     
     
         10 . The computer of  claim 9 , wherein:
 a. the updated location of the virtual camera is established in the direction perpendicularly left of the orientation of the virtual camera if the z-axisometer data indicates that tip left posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data; and   b. the updated location of the virtual camera is established in the direction perpendicularly right of the orientation of the virtual camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip right posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data.   
     
     
         11 . The computer of  claim 1 , further configured to jump the virtual camera to a viewing location in relation to content in the virtual environment. 
     
     
         12 . The computer of  claim 1 , further configured to establish a view lock of the virtual camera in the virtual environment, wherein the location of the virtual camera is locked or the orientation of the virtual camera is locked or both the location of the virtual camera and the orientation of the virtual camera are locked. 
     
     
         13 . A computer comprised of a microprocessor and microprocessor-supporting hardware components configured to:
 a. generate a virtual environment;   b. establish a location of a virtual camera in the virtual environment;   c. establish an orientation of the virtual camera in the virtual environment; and   d. update the location of the virtual camera in the virtual environment using z-axisometer data and a z-axisometer sensor reference data wherein:
 i. the location of the virtual camera is established in the direction perpendicularly left of the orientation of the virtual camera if the z-axisometer data indicates that tip left posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data; and 
 ii. the location of the virtual camera is established in the direction perpendicularly right of the orientation of the virtual camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip right posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data. 
   
     
     
         14 . The computer of  claim 13 , wherein the virtual environment is produced to appear three-dimensional. 
     
     
         15 . The computer of  claim 13 , wherein the z-axisometer sensor reference data comprises one or more neutral zone thresholds. 
     
     
         16 . The computer of  claim 13 , wherein the magnitude of virtual camera location change is based on the z-axisometer data relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data. 
     
     
         17 . A computer comprised of a microprocessor and microprocessor-supporting hardware components configured to:
 a. generate a three-dimensional virtual environment comprising a plurality of video panes and a plurality of virtual speakers, wherein:
 i. a plurality of videos play simultaneously in distinct locations in the virtual environment; and 
 ii. a plurality of sounds are produced for display as if coming from distinct locations in the virtual environment; 
   b. establish a location of a virtual camera in the virtual environment;   c. establish an orientation of the virtual camera in the virtual environment;   d. update the location of the virtual camera in the virtual environment using x-axisometer data and an x-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein:
 i. the location of the virtual camera is established in the direction of the orientation of the virtual camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot down posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data; 
 ii. the location of the virtual camera is established in the opposite direction of the orientation of the virtual camera if the x-axisometer data indicates a pivot up posture relative to the x-axisometer sensor reference data; and 
 iii. the magnitude of virtual camera location change is based on x-axisometer data relative to x-axisometer sensor reference data; and 
   e. update the orientation of the virtual camera in the virtual environment using v-axisometer data and a v-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein:
 i. the orientation of the virtual camera is established left if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim left posture relative to a v-axisometer sensor reference data; and 
 ii. the orientation of the virtual camera is established right if the v-axisometer data indicates an aim right posture relative to the v-axisometer sensor reference data. 
   
     
     
         18 . The computer of  claim 17 , further configured to update the location of the virtual camera in the virtual environment using z-axisometer data and a z-axisometer sensor reference data, wherein:
 i. the location of the virtual camera is established in the direction perpendicularly left of the orientation of the virtual camera if the z-axisometer data indicates that tip left posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data;   ii. the location of the virtual camera is established in the direction perpendicularly right of the orientation of the virtual camera if the z-axisometer data indicates a tip right posture relative to the z-axisometer sensor reference data; and   iii. the magnitude of virtual camera location change is based on z-axisometer data relative to z-axisometer sensor reference data.   
     
     
         19 . The computer of  claim 17 , further configured to jump the virtual camera to a viewing location in relation to content in the virtual environment in response to a push and pull movement sequence. 
     
     
         20 . The computer of  claim 17 , further configured to establish a view lock of the virtual camera in the virtual environment in response to a push and pull movement sequence, wherein the location of the virtual camera is locked or the orientation of the virtual camera is locked or both the location of the virtual camera and the orientation of the virtual camera are locked.