DIFFERENTIAL TRIALS IN AUGMENTED REALITY

• US 20110090219A1
• Filed: 10/15/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Asia Pte Ltd (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Kruglick, Ezekiel J. J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,424,583 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/420
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00

Abstract

Techniques for displaying virtual objects on devices in differential situations are provided. Augmented reality authoring ensures that users have a consistent experience with virtual objects, including augmented reality images, by delivering the same versions of the virtual objects to devices that are close in terms, for instance, of at least distance and/or time. Devices that are not sufficiently close may receive different versions of the virtual object, thus ensuring that the users of devices that are sufficiently near each other do not experience different versions of the virtual object.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a virtual object to users, the method comprising:

displaying a first version of the virtual object on a first device, wherein the first version of the virtual object includes computer-generated content;

determining a separation factor of the first device relative to a second device; and

displaying a second version of the virtual object on the second device when the separation factor exceeds a separation threshold, wherein the second version includes different computer-generated content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a first version of the virtual object on a first device comprises delivering a tracking cookie to the first device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring a location of the first device and a location of the second device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a distance between the first device and the second device without revealing either a location of the second device or a location of the first device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the separation factor includes a time period between a first interaction of the first device with a real world object included in the virtual object and a second interaction of the second device with the real world object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual object comprises an augmented reality image wherein the computer-generated content is merged into an image of a real world object to generate the first version of the virtual object displayed on the first device and wherein the different computer-generated content is merged with the image of the real world object to generate the second version of the virtual object displayed on the second device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to display the first version of the virtual object or the second version of the virtual object on the second device when the separation factor changes from exceeding the separation threshold to being below the separation threshold.

8. A method for delivering computer-generated content that is used to create an augmented reality image to multiple device, the method comprising:

receiving first information from a first device, wherein the first information identifies a first attribute of the first device and wherein the first device displays an image of an object;

receiving second information from a second device, wherein the second information identifies a second attribute of the second device and wherein the second device displays the image of the object;

comparing the first attribute and the second attribute to determine a separation factor; and

delivering computer-generated content to the first device and to the second device when the separation factor is below a separation threshold, wherein a first version of the augmented reality image is generated from the image of the object mixed with the computer-generated content.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying the first version of the augmented reality image on the first device and displaying a second version of the augmented reality image on the second device when the separation factor is above the separation threshold, wherein the second version is generated from different computer-generated content.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first attribute is a location of the first device and the second attribute is a location of the second device and wherein the separation factor identifies a distance between the first device and the second device that is compared to a threshold distance included in the separation threshold.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the first attribute includes at least one of a first time identifying when the first device displays the image of the object or when the first device is at a location; and

the second attribute includes at least one of a second time identifying when the second device displays the image of the object or when the second device is at substantially the same location.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the separation factor includes a time, further comprising displaying either the first version of the augmented reality image or a second version of the augmented reality image on the second device based on a difference between the first time and the second time compared to the threshold time included in the separation threshold.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising

monitoring a first location included in the first information;

and

delivering the first version to the second device when a comparison of the first location and a second location included in the second information is less than the separation threshold; and

delivering a second version of the augmented reality image to the second device when the comparison is above the separation threshold, wherein the second version includes the image of the object merged with different computer-generated content.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising ensuring that the first device and the second device receive the same version of the augmented reality image when the comparison is below the separation threshold and when the separation factor has changed from exceeding the separation threshold to being below the separation threshold.

15. A method for delivering computer-generated content to devices that interact with an object, the method comprising;

delivering a first version of computer-generated content to a first device, wherein the first version is mixed with an image of the object to display a first version of a virtual object;

detecting a second device;

determining a separation factor between the first device and the second device; and

delivering a second version of the computer-generated content to the second device when the separation factor exceeds a separation threshold, wherein the second version, mixes the image of the object merged with the second version of the computer-generated content to display a second version of the virtual object.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising delivering the first version of the computer-generated content to the second device when the separation factor is less than the separation threshold.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the separation factor comprises at least one of (i) a distance between the first device and the second device, (ii) a time between displaying the image of the object on the first device and detecting the second device, and (iii) a second time between when the first device is at a location and when the second device is at the location.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

detecting a plurality of users; and

delivering either the first version or the second version of the computer-generated content based on a testing balance desired between the first version and the second version.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising delivering the first version of the computer-generated content to the first device when the separation factor changes and is below the separation threshold.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising delivering the first version of the computer-generated content to subsequent devices associated with separation factors, relative to the first device, that are below the separation threshold.

21. An apparatus for generating computer-generated content for inclusion in a virtual object, the apparatus comprising:

a server configured to communicate with a first device and a second device over a network, wherein the server receives information from each of the first device and the second device; and

a content module stored on a storage device accessible to the server, wherein the content module includes computer executable instructions that cause the server to;

receive the information from the first device and from the second device; and

determine at least one separation factor between the first device and the second device; and

generate first computer-generated content for the first device and second computer-generated content for the second device, wherein the server transmits the first computer-generated content to the first device and transmits the second computer-generated content to the second device.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the information from the first device identifies one or more of a first location of the first device, a first time associated with the first location, or a real-world object being displayed by the first device and wherein the information from the second device identifies one or more of a second location of the second device, a second time associated with the second location or the real-world object being displayed by the second device.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first computer generated content and the second computer-generated content are substantially identical when the separation factor is below a separation threshold, wherein the separation factor is defined in at least one of a time between when the first device displayed the real world object and when the second device displayed the real world object and a distance between the first device and the second device;

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first computer-generated content and the second computer-generated content are different when the separation factor is above a separation threshold.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the server tracks the first location and the second location over time and changes at least one of the first computer-generated content and the second computer-generated content when the separation factor changes from exceeding a separation threshold to being below the separation threshold.