Wide area augmented reality location-based services

• US 10,140,317 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2017
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nant Holdings IP, LLC (NantWorks, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nant Holdings IP, LLC (NantWorks, LLC)
• Inventors: McKinnon, David, Wnuk, Kamil, Sudol, Jeremi, Siddiqui, Matheen, Wiacek, John, Song, Bing, Witchey, Nicholas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tseng, Charles
• Application Number:
  US15/794,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20180046648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 397 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/50 of still image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5854 using shape and object relationship
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/20 Perspective computation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/003 Navigation within 3D models or images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/024 Multi-user, collaborative environment
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 999/99 dummy group

Abstract

Apparatus, methods and systems of providing AR content are disclosed. Embodiments of the inventive subject matter can obtain an initial map of an area, derive views of interest, obtain AR content objects associated with the views of interest, establish experience clusters and generate a tile map tessellated based on the experience clusters. A user device could be configured to obtain and instantiate at least some of the AR content objects based on at least one of a location and a recognition.

Claims

1. A mobile augmented reality (AR) device, the device comprising:

at least one sensor, including a location sensor;

a display;

a non-transitory, computer readable memory storing software instructions; and

a processor coupled with the computer readable memory, the at least one sensor, and the display; and

, upon execution of the software instructions, is configurable to;

obtain sensor data from the at least one sensor wherein the sensor data includes a device location obtained from the location sensor;

access a map of an area of interest from an area database based on at least the device location within the sensor data;

identify a subarea from a set of subareas that covers at least a portion of the map of the area of interest, where the subarea is identified based at least in part on the device location relative to locations of subareas in the set of subareas; and

render AR content that is bound to the subarea on the display based on a point of view of the device.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the location sensor comprises a global positioning system (GPS) sensor.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the device location includes at least one of the following:

a global positioning system (GPS) location, a wireless signal location, a depth of field location, and an image-based simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) location.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor further includes one or more of the following:

a camera, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensor data further includes at least one of device position data and device orientation data.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the AR content is rendered based on the point of view derived from at least one of the device position data and the device orientation data.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein a virtual item is provided to a user when the user executes a navigation event with respect to the area of interest.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the navigation event comprises at least one of:

the user being located in the area of interest at any time, the user being located in the area of interest for a predetermined minimum amount of time, the user being located in the area of interest at a predetermined time, or the user being located in the area of interest and capturing an image viewable from the area of interest.

9. The device of claim 5, wherein a virtual item is provided to a first user and a second user when the first user and the second user execute a navigation event with respect to the area of interest.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the navigation event comprises the first user and the second user each performing at least one of the following:

being located in the area of interest at any time, being located in the area of interest for a predetermined minimum amount of time, being located in the area of interest at a predetermined time, or being located in the area of interest and capturing an image viewable from the area of interest.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the AR content is rendered as an overlay on real-world imagery.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the area of interest comprises one of the following:

a landmark, user-defined boundaries, state-defined boundaries, natural boundaries, a city, a country, a business, a shopping center, a warehouse, a stadium, a wilderness area, a road, a garden, a zoo, an amusement park, a beach and a building.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the area of interest comprises a restaurant.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the area of interest comprises a coffee shop.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the area of interest comprises an outdoor setting.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the device communicatively couples with the area database over a network.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the AR content is obtained from an AR content database.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the device is communicatively coupled with the AR content database over a network.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein the AR content is rendered relative to a recognized object.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the recognized object represents an attachment point for the AR content.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the attachment point includes at least one of the following:

a billboard, a wall, a floor, a plant, a sign, a logo, a landmark, and a car.

22. The device of claim 1, wherein the AR content comprises a game.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein the AR content comprises an interactive game experience.

24. The device of claim 1, wherein the AR content comprises at least one of the following:

a virtual object, a digital image, a digital video, audio data, an application, a script, a promotion, an advertisement, a graphic, a sprite, and an animation.

25. The device of claim 1, wherein the AR content comprises an exclusive content bound to the subarea.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the exclusive content bound to the subarea is rendered based on a paid fee.

27. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory, the processor, the at least one sensor, and the display comprise at least one of the following:

a smart phone, augmented reality goggles, a watch, a tablet, a drone, a vehicle, and a robot.

28. The device of claim 1, wherein the AR content is determined based on the device'"'"'s movement relative to the area of interest.

29. The device of claim 28, wherein the AR content is auto-populated in the memory and rendered based on the movement relative to the area of interest.

30. The device of claim 1, wherein the subarea or the AR content is identified based on time.

31. The device of claim 1, wherein modification of the AR content by a first user is viewable by a subset of users.

32. A mobile augmented reality (AR) method, the method comprising:

obtaining sensor data from at least one sensor, the at least one sensor including a location sensor, wherein the sensor data includes a device location of a device obtained from the location sensor;

accessing a map of an area of interest from an area database based on at least the device location within the sensor data;

identifying a subarea from a set of subareas that covers at least a portion of the map of the area of interest, where the subarea is identified based at least in part on the device location relative to locations of subareas in the set of subareas; and

rendering AR content that is bound to the subarea on a display based on a point of view of the device.

33. A computer program product embedded in a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for rendering augmented reality (AR) content, which, when executed, configure one or more computer processors to perform a method comprising:

obtaining sensor data from at least one sensor, the at least one sensor including a location sensor, wherein the sensor data includes a device location of a device obtained from the location sensor;

accessing a map of an area of interest from an area database based on at least the device location within the sensor data;

identifying a subarea from a set of subareas that covers at least a portion of the map of the area of interest, where the subarea is identified based at least in part on the device location relative to locations of subareas in the set of subareas; and

rendering AR content that is bound to the subarea on a display based on a point of view of the device.