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MetaGranted patentAR, VR & displaysInterest 7/10

Meta patents auto-pause for VR headsets when you take them off

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This patent describes a method where a head-mounted device uses built-in motion sensors to detect when a user takes the headset off. It uses small, efficient machine-learning models to recognize this action and automatically pauses any media currently playing.

Why it mattersIt improves the user experience by preventing audio from continuing to play when the user is no longer wearing the device, saving battery and avoiding awkward moments.

In the filing’s own words

In one embodiment, a method includes accessing signals from inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors of a head-mounted device associated with a user from the head-mounted device, wherein the head-mounted device is worn on the user's head, detecting a removal of the head-mounted device from the user's head by machine-learning models based only on the signals from the IMU sensors, determining a media file is playing on the head-mounted device, and providing instructions for pausing the playing of the media file to the head-mounted device.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: accessing, from a head-mounted device associated with a user, one or more signals from one or more inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors of the head-mounted device, wherein the head-mounted device is worn on the user's head; detecting, by one or more machine-learning models subject to a memory, computation, or binary size constraint to be executable on a computationally-constrained microcontroller unit of the head-mounted device, a removal of the head-mounted device from the user's head based on the one or more signals from the IMU sensors; determining a media file is playing on the head-mounted device; and providing, to the head-mounted device, instructions for pausing the playing of the media file.

Facts

Company
Meta (Meta Platforms, Inc.)
Official title
Proactively pausing media playing based on ambient motion for assistant systems
Patent number
US12756900B1
Application number
18531392
Filed
Dec 6, 2023
Granted
Oct 6, 2026
Inventors
6
Claims
20

Classified under

H04N 21/47217 Electricity & electronicsG01P 15/02 Physics & computingG02B 27/017 Physics & computing

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.