US 11,854,223 B2
Mixed-reality device positioning based on shared location
Erik Alexander Hill, Woodinville, WA (US); Kathleen Carol Heasley, Redmond, WA (US); Jake Thomas Shields, Bellevue, WA (US); Kevin James-Peddicord Luecke, Seattle, WA (US); Robert Neil Drury, Seattle, WA (US); and Garret Paul Jacobson, Mountlake Terrace, WA (US)
Assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on May 28, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/333,431.
Prior Publication US 2022/0383539 A1, Dec. 1, 2022
Int. Cl. G06K 9/00 (2022.01); G06T 7/73 (2017.01); G01S 19/25 (2010.01); G02B 27/01 (2006.01); G06F 3/04815 (2022.01); G06T 19/00 (2011.01)
CPC G06T 7/73 (2017.01) [G01S 19/25 (2013.01); G02B 27/017 (2013.01); G06F 3/04815 (2013.01); G06T 19/006 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A device comprising an inside out tracking device configured to determine positioning of the device based on image data captured by the device, the device comprising:
one or more processors;
one or more camera sensors configured to image data within an environment; and
one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices that store instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the device to determine positioning of the device within the environment based at least in part based on positioning information obtained from a separate inside out tracking device in the environment and by at least:
identifying a mixed-reality map corresponding with the environment;
performing position tracking of the device within the environment, while in a first tracking state, to identify a relative position of the device within the mixed-reality map as the device moves within the environment in the first tracking state;
detect an event associated with an interruption of the position tracking of the device during which the device transitions from the first tracking state to a second tracking state that is less certain than the first tracking state and that causes a reduced certainty of the relative position of the device within the environment and corresponding mixed-reality map;
obtaining positioning information from the separate inside out tracking device in the environment, the positioning information from the separate inside out tracking device identifying a relative position of the separate inside out tracking device inside of a sub-region of the mixed-reality map and that also indicates the device is within a same sub-region of the mixed-reality map as the separate inside out tracking device;
obtaining one or more images with the one or more camera sensors;
identifying one or more imaged features in the environment from the one or more images;
searching a particular sub-region of the mixed-reality map for a matching set of one or more matching features that match the one or more imaged features and while refraining searching other sub-regions of the mixed-reality map for the matching set of one more matching features and in a manner that conserves computational expense that would otherwise be associated with searching the other sub-regions of the mixed-reality map for the one or more matching features;
determining a new position of the device within the sub-regions of the mixed-reality map based on finding the matching set of one or more matching features in the sub-region of the mixed-reality map and based on correlating a relative position of the device from the one or more imaged features and corresponding one or more matching features in the sub-region; and
resuming the position tracking of the device based on the determined new position of the device.