Virtual reality for cognitive messaging

• US 10,168,857 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2016
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Alnatsheh, Feras N. Y., DeLuca, Lisa Seacat, Kotecha, Pooja M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang, Yi
• Application Number:
  US15/334,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20180113594A1
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 345633
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Systems and methods for virtual reality cognitive messaging are disclosed. In embodiments, a computer-implemented method, comprises: obtaining, by a computing device, a virtual reality space based on a physical venue; creating, by the computing device, an enhanced virtual reality space by inserting one or more colliders into the virtual reality space, wherein the placement of the one or more colliders in the enhanced virtual reality space maps to a placement of one or more beacons in the physical venue; initiating, by the computing device, a virtual tour of the enhanced virtual reality space; sensing, by the computing device, that a virtual user has collided with one of the one or more colliders in the enhanced virtual reality space during the virtual tour; and sending, by the computing device, a request for event information associated with the one or more beacons in the physical venue to a messaging server.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

obtaining, by a computing device, a virtual reality space that is based on a physical venue;

creating, by a collider tool of the computing device, an enhanced virtual reality space by inserting one or more colliders into the virtual reality space, wherein the placement of the one or more colliders by the collider tool in the enhanced virtual reality space maps to a placement of one or more beacons in the physical venue, and the one or more colliders have a scaled perimeter matching a range of the one or more beacons in the physical venue;

initiating, by the computing device, a virtual tour of the enhanced virtual reality space by a virtual user remote from the physical venue;

sensing, by the computing device, that the virtual user has virtually collided with one of the one or more colliders in the enhanced virtual reality space during the virtual tour;

sending, by the computing device, a request for event information associated with the one or more beacons in the physical venue to a remote messaging server based on the sensing that the virtual user has virtually collided with the one of the one or more colliders, wherein the request includes information regarding the physical venue associated with the virtual reality space, an identifier indicating that an event was triggered in the virtual reality space, and information regarding the one of the one or more colliders;

receiving, by the computing device, the event information from the remote messaging server based on the request for event information; and

displaying content associated with the event information to a user of the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event information received by the computing device is identical to event information presented to a user triggering one of the one or more beacons in the physical venue.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the displaying the content associated with the event information is implemented within the virtual reality space.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more colliders are selected from the group consisting of sphere colliders and polygon colliders; and

the one or more colliders are virtual objects or spaces that, once collided with in the enhanced virtual reality space, trigger the sending of the request for event information associated with the one or more beacons in the physical venue upon the sensing that the virtual user has virtually collided with one of the one or more colliders.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying content comprises displaying the content through a virtual reality headset.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is displayed on a virtual mobile device within the enhanced virtual reality space.

7. A computer program product for virtual reality cognitive messaging, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:

obtain a digital floor plan of a physical venue;

create a virtual reality space based on the digital floor plan;

create an enhanced virtual reality space by inserting one or more colliders into the virtual reality space, the colliders comprising virtual objects that trigger an event when collided with in the enhanced virtual reality space, wherein the placement of the one or more colliders in the enhanced virtual reality space maps to a placement of one or more beacons in the physical venue;

initiate a virtual tour of the enhanced virtual reality space by a user remote from the physical venue;

sense a triggering event within the enhanced virtual reality space when the user virtually collides with one of the one or more colliders;

generate a request for event information associated with the one or more beacons in the physical venue based on the sensing the triggering event, the request including information regarding the physical venue associated with the virtual reality space, an identifier indicating that an event was triggered in the virtual reality space, and information regarding the one of the one or more colliders;

send the request to a remote messaging server;

receive event information from the remote messaging server associated with the physical venue based on the request for event information; and

display content to the user based on the event information, wherein the content is marketing event content identical to marketing event content presented to a user triggering one of the one or more beacons in the physical venue.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein:

the one or more colliders are selected from the group consisting of sphere colliders and polygon colliders, each having a scaled perimeter to match a range of the one or more beacons in the physical venue; and

the one or more colliders are virtual objects or spaces that, once collided with in the enhanced virtual reality space, trigger the generation of the request for event information associated with the one or more beacons in the physical venue.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the inserting one or more colliders into the virtual reality space is conducted using a collider tool of a virtual reality device.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the displaying the content comprises displaying the marketing content through a virtual reality headset in communication with the virtual reality device.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the creating the virtual reality space is performed by a virtual reality module of a virtual reality device.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the floor plan is obtained from a location management tool.

13. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the program instructions further cause the computing device to:

provide the event information associated with the physical venue to a virtual reality display, wherein the displaying the content to the user is performed by the virtual reality display.

14. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the displaying the content to the user comprises sending the marketing content to a mobile user device for display.

15. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the marketing event content is displayed on a virtual mobile device within the enhanced virtual reality space.

16. A system for virtual reality cognitive messaging, comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium associated with a computing device;

program instructions to obtain a digital floor plan of a physical venue;

program instructions to create a virtual reality space based on the digital floor plan;

program instructions to create an enhanced virtual reality space by inserting one or more colliders into the virtual reality space, the colliders comprising virtual objects that trigger an event when collided with in the enhanced virtual reality space, wherein the placement of the one or more colliders in the enhanced virtual reality space maps to a placement of one or more beacons in a corresponding physical venue and the one or more colliders have a scaled perimeter matching a range of the one or more beacons in the physical venue;

program instructions to initiate a virtual tour of the enhanced virtual reality space by a user remote from the physical venue;

program instructions to sense a triggering event within the enhanced virtual reality space upon the user virtually colliding with one of the one or more colliders in the enhanced virtual reality space;

program instructions to send a request for marketing information associated with the one or more beacons in the physical venue to a remote messaging server based on the sensed triggering event, wherein the request includes information regarding the physical venue associated with the virtual reality space, an identifier indicating that an event was triggered in the virtual reality space, and information regarding the one of the one or more colliders, including a beacon identification;

program instructions to receive marketing event information associated with the physical venue from the remote messaging server based on the request for marketing information; and

program instructions to display marketing content to the user based on the received marketing event information, wherein the marketing content is identical to marketing content presented to a user device triggering one of the one or more beacons in the physical venue;

wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more colliders are selected from the group consisting of sphere colliders and polygon colliders.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the inserting one or more colliders into the virtual reality space is performed by a collider tool of a virtual reality device.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the displaying marketing content comprises displaying the marketing content on a virtual mobile device within the enhanced virtual reality space.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the displaying marketing content comprises displaying the marketing content on a mobile user device of the user.