Sony patents VR head tracking that uses motion sensors when cameras fail
Sony describes a system for virtual reality headsets that tracks your face position using a camera fixed to the display. If the camera cannot detect your face, the system switches to data from a motion sensor (IMU) worn by the user to keep tracking your head movement.
In the filing’s own words
An information processing apparatus includes a control unit. The control unit acquires a camera image from a camera a relative position of which with respect to a display is fixed. The control unit acquires IMU data that is measurement data of an IMU worn by a user viewing the display. The control unit executes face recognition processing of estimating a position and posture of a face of the user on the basis of the camera image. The control unit determines whether the execution of the face recognition processing is successful. In a case where it is determined that the execution of the face recognition processing has failed, the control unit continues the estimation of the position and posture of the face of the user on the basis of the IMU data.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An information processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that acquires a camera image from a camera a relative position of which with respect to a display is fixed, acquires IMU data that is measurement data of an IMU worn by a user viewing the display, executes face recognition processing of estimating a position and posture of a face of the user on a basis of the camera image, determines whether the execution of the face recognition processing is successful, and continues the estimation of the position and posture of the face of the user on a basis of the IMU data in a case where it is determined that the execution of the face recognition processing has failed.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (Sony Group Corporation)
- Official title
- INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD
- Publication number
- US20260261642A1
- Application number
- 19159894
- Filed
- Mar 6, 2024
- Published
- Sep 3, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 13
Classified under
H04N 13/302 Electricity & electronicsG06F 3/0346 Physics & computingG06V 40/172 Physics & computingH04N 13/282 Electricity & electronicsH04N 13/366 Electricity & electronicsMore from Sony in AR, VR & displays
- Sony patents device that warms or cools you when you touch virtual objects Sep 15, 2026
- Sony patents VR box that mimics a transparent fish tank Oct 13, 2026
- Sony patents cloud gaming that puts characters in your room Oct 15, 2026
- Sony patents LED screens that show unique views to each person in a room Oct 15, 2026
- Sony patents cloud gaming that adjusts to your brain state Sep 8, 2026
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.