PROTECTIVE GLOVE FOR USE WITH A VIRTUAL REALITY HAND CONTROLLER

Abstract

A protective glove for protecting a hand while using a Virtual Reality (VR) headset. The protective glove includes a plurality of polyurethane foam padding attached to the dorsal side of the glove, in locations corresponding to a human hand's joints, knuckles, metacarpals, and carpals, and gripping elements on the palmer side of the glove at locations corresponding to a human hand's palm and on each fingertip.

Claims

1. A protective glove for utilizing a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, comprising: a glove body; a plurality of padding adhered on a dorsal side of said glove body; wherein, said padding is configured in positions corresponding to a human hand's joints, knuckles, fingertips, metacarpals, and carpals; wherein, said padding is a polyurethane foam; and a material covering said padding; wherein said material is selected from the group consisting of: faux leather, leather, synthetic leather, vinyl, and spandex; and gripping elements configured on a palmer side of said glove; wherein, said gripping elements are configured in positions corresponding to a human hand's palm and fingertips.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0012] FIG. 1 depicts a top-down, isometrical view of an embodiment of a protective glove for use with a virtual reality hand controller.

[0013] FIG. 2 depicts a top-town, three-dimensional view of the protective glove of FIG. 1, better illustrating padding on the glove.

[0014] FIG. 3 depicts a bottom view, or palm-side view, of the protective glove of FIG. 1, depicting the glove grips.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

[0015] The following detailed description and disclosure illustrates by way of example and not by way of limitation. This description will clearly enable one skilled in the art to make and use the disclosed systems and methods, and describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives and uses of the disclosed systems and methods. As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the disclosures, it is intended that all matter contained in the description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

[0016] There is described herein protective gloves designed to inhibit injury from hand and hand controller motion while utilizing a virtual reality (VR) headset. While operating a VR system, the user operating typically wears a VR headset, which in turn obstructs the individual's view of their surroundings. Additionally, many of these VR systems include a controller that the user must grasp ahold of to properly operate the VR system. While grasping the controller, the user's back of the hand is exposed, while the palm of the hand is in contact with the controller. Because of this, and because of the VR headset obstructing the user's perception of their surroundings, an opportune environment for the user to forcefully contact an object or a wall in their surroundings is created.

[0017] A protective glove (100) of this disclosure includes, at a high level, a glove body (200), various pads (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111) secured to the top of the glove, which corresponds with the back of the user's hand, gripping elements (303) secured to the palm of the glove, and fingertip shields (301) secured to the tip of each finger on the glove. In some embodiments, the protective glove (100) may also include an interface with a VR system. In yet other embodiments, a protective glove (100) may include a conductive material that is known to one skilled in the art, which is embedded in each fingertip (301) of the glove to permit the glove to interact with a touchscreen device.

[0018] The padding (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111), described in detail further later, provides protection to the user's hand in the event the user contacts an object, wall, or other obstruction, while using the VR system. If included, gripping elements (303) may assist the user in grasping the controller to prevent the controller from slipping out of the user's hand. If included, fingertip shields (301) may protect the user's fingertips in the event the user contacts an object, wall, or other obstruction while using the VR system.

[0019] FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 show various embodiments of protective gloves (100). In an embodiment, the glove is generally created from spandex Lycra? nylon as the base. In the embodiments depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the top of the glove (100) is configured with various pads (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111), which are sewn or attached to the dorsal side of the protective glove (100) in positions that generally correspond to the joints, knuckles, fingertips, metacarpals, carpals, and palmer side of the glove. This adhering means is, however, not required. In other embodiments, the pads (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111) are not sewn or adhered to the glove (100), rather, the pads are placed in prefabricated slots that allow the pads to be removable by the user. In this alternative embodiment, the prefabricated slots may be sewn on three sides, leaving one side open for the pad to be slid into, or the pads may be velcroid to the protective glove (100).

[0020] In an embodiment, the pads (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111) are constructed from polyurethane foam and provide cushioning and protection against impact by absorbing a portion of the force that results from impact. The pads may vary in thickness, depending on placement and desired level of protection, with the fingertip pads (101) generally being the thinnest, followed by the middle joint pads (103) and proximal joint pads (105) generally being the second thinnest, and the knuckle pads (107), metacarpal pads (109), and carpal pad (111) generally being the thickest. However, this is by no means required, and in some embodiments, the thickness of the pads (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111) may all be the same. In yet other embodiments, the proximal joint pads (105) and knuckle pads (107) may be the thickest.

[0021] In the depicted embodiment, faux leather may be sewn or attached around the pads (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111) to provide a coating that protects the padding as well for aesthetic purposes. Alternatively, other materials, such as leather, synthetic leather, spandex, vinyl or other materials may be used to provide the coating around the padding (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111).

[0022] In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 3, the faux leather coating material (301) covers the tips of the fingers on side of the palm of the hand to assist in gripping. This coating material (301) works in conjunction with gripping elements (303), which are adhered to the fingertips and palm of glove, to provide easier gripping while wearing the protective gloves (100). Additionally, the coating material (301) may be integrated with a conductive material that permits interfacing with touchscreen devices, as would generally be known by one skilled in the art.

[0023] Protective gloves (100) of this disclosure may be manufactured in any size or cosmetic design as desired. The glove (100), regardless of the size or cosmetic features, may be configured in the same manner and include and or all the features described above.

[0024] The glove's (100) intention is to solve the problem of hand pain and injury while playing VR games or using VR for professional applications while still being capable and comfortable to use with VR controllers. The cushioning of potential impacts that is provided by the padding (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111) also has the potential to mitigate damage to surrounding objects, walls, or people. This is achieved through the polyurethane cushioning absorbing a portion of the shock or force caused by or resulting from an impact with an object, a wall, or a person. By structuring the polyurethane padding (101), (103), (105), (107), (109), and (111) in segments, as described above, the glove (100) will still allow the user's fingers to be mobile and able to press buttons on the controller.

[0025] The qualifier generally and similar qualifiers, as used in the present case, would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to accommodate recognizable attempts to conform a device to the qualified term, which may nevertheless fall short of doing so. This is because terms such as cylinder are purely geometric constructs and no real-world component is a true cylinder in the geometric sense. Variations from geometric and mathematical descriptions are unavoidable due to, among other things, manufacturing tolerances resulting in shape variations, defects and imperfections, non-uniform thermal expansion, and natural wear. Moreover, there exists for every object a level of magnification at which geometric and mathematical descriptors fail due to the nature of matter. One of ordinary skill would thus understand the term generally, and relationships contemplated herein regardless of the inclusion of such qualifiers, to include a range of variations from the literal geometric meaning of the term in view of these and other considerations.

[0026] While the invention has been disclosed in conjunction with a description of certain embodiments, including those that are currently believed to be the preferred embodiments, the detailed description is intended to be illustrative and should not be understood to limit the scope of the present disclosure. As would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, embodiments other than those described in detail herein are encompassed by the present invention. Modifications and variations of the described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0027] It will further be understood that any of the ranges, values, properties, or characteristics given for any single component of the present disclosure can be used interchangeably with any ranges, values, properties, or characteristics given for any of the other components of the disclosure, where compatible, to form an embodiment having defined values for each of the components, as given herein throughout. Further, ranges provided for a genus or a category can also be applied to species within the genus or members of the category unless otherwise noted.