The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses permitting commands to be issued to a computer program presenting a virtual reality environment to users of the program through necessary hardware interfacing with the computer program.
Interacting with a computer using a virtual reality environment requires means to give commands to the computer. Standard methods, such as use of keyboard and/or mouse plus a pull-down menu, of giving commands to a computer application do not function well in, and are not suited for, a virtual reality system. Voice commands are useful, but they are at present limited to only simple suites of commands because of the heavy computational power required for voice word recognition. Voice commands also require the user to memorize the exact phrasing of each command.
The present invention allows the programmer to easily create a collection of virtual buttons and menus in a virtual reality environment and the user to select commands by looking at a virtual button.
Perhaps the closest art is provided by the "haptic button", wherein the user inserts his or her hand in a device which simulates the tactile sensations which would be caused if the hand contacted a real object corresponding to an object in the virtual reality environment. Buttons can be simulated thereby and depressed by tactile push. The problem with this means is that it is also computationally expensive and requires an additional device which is expensive and prevents both hands from being free for manipulation of objects outside the virtual reality environment.