Personal Augmented Reality

• US 20130170697A1
• Filed: 12/29/2011
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Zises, Matthew Scott
• Granted Patent: US 9,240,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes

Abstract

A method, article of manufacture and system for receiving, from a user device located at an environment at which a user is viewing an event both with and without the use of the user device, image data containing an image of the environment; receiving a request from the user device for an item of information that relates to the event, for placement into the image of the environment; responsive to receiving the request, accessing a database to retrieve the item of information; generating a scaled image of the item of information based on dimensions of the environment; and transmitting the scaled image for placement into the image of the environment on the user device to generate an augmented reality image.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a user device located at an environment at which a user is viewing an event both with and without the use of the user device, image data containing an image of the environment;

receiving a request from the user device for an item of information that relates to the event, for placement into the image of the environment;

responsive to receiving the request, accessing a database to retrieve the item of information;

generating a scaled image of the item of information based on dimensions of the environment; and

transmitting the scaled image for placement into the image of the environment on the user device to generate an augmented reality image.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location where the scaled image is to be placed into the image of the environment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location of placement of the scaled image into the image of the environment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a location in the environment using a marker located in the environment.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an orientation of the placement of the scaled image; and

orienting the scaled image to the determined orientation.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the image of the environment comprises a video of the environment.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the placement of the scaled image is being repeatedly performed for the video.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the augmented reality image to a display device of the user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing additional information with the item of information in conjunction with the augmented reality image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional information comprising the image of an arrow or other location indicator.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the arrow or other location indicator includes further image information.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the event comprises a sporting event played by players and the item of information comprises statistics relating to at least one of the players.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the sporting event is a ball game played by teams of players in a ballpark and the item of information comprises one of the group consisting of statistics of the players, statistics of relevant teams, statistics by positions played by the players of the relevant teams, pitching rotation of pitchers playing for the relevant teams, current league standings of the relevant teams, and possible playoff scenarios for the relevant teams.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the image of the environment includes recognizable objects, and identity of at least one of the objects is recognized by one of the group consisting of RFID detection, GPS, triangulation, and facial recognition.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the sporting event includes using a ball that includes an RFID chip, and RFID detection enables display of a trajectory of the ball.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the item of information comprises one of the group consisting of the location in the ball park of:

a seat, a person, a selected vendor store, a desired facility, a desired path to a parking area, and a route from the ballpark to a desired location separate from the location of the environment.

17. The method of claim 1, further including targeting an advertisement to the user device based on the user'"'"'s purchase history, interest, or location.

18. Computer-readable storage having embedded therein a set of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a computer, causes the computer to execute the following operations:

receiving, from a user device located at an environment at which a user is viewing an event both with and without the use of the user device, image data containing an image of the environment;

receiving a request from the user device for an item of information that relates to the event for placement into the image of the environment;

responsive to receiving the request, accessing a database to retrieve the item of information;

generating a scaled image of the item of information based on dimensions of the environment; and

transmitting the scaled image for placement into the image of the environment on the user device to generate an augmented reality image.

19. The computer storage of claim 18, the operations further including determining the location where the scaled image is to be placed into the image of the environment.

20. The computer storage of claim 18, the operations further including determining the location of placement of the scaled image into the image of the environment.

21. The computer storage of claim 18, the operations further including determining a location in the environment using a marker located in the environment.

22. The computer storage of claim 18, the operations further including:

determining an orientation of the placement of the scaled image; and

orienting the scaled image to the determined orientation.

23. The computer storage of claim 18 wherein the image of the environment comprises a video of the environment.

24. The computer storage of claim 23, the placement of the scaled image being repeatedly performed for the video.

25. The computer storage of claim 18, the operations further including providing the augmented reality image to a display device of the user.

26. The computer storage of claim 18, the operations further including providing additional information with the item of information in conjunction with the augmented reality image.

27. The computer storage of claim 26, the additional information comprising the image of an arrow or other location indicator.

28. The computer storage of claim 27 wherein the arrow or other location indicator includes further image information.

29. The computer storage of claim 18 wherein the event comprises a sporting event played by players and the item of information comprises statistics relating to at least one of the players.

30. The computer storage of claim 29 wherein the sporting event is a ball game played by teams of players in a ballpark and the item of information comprises one of the group consisting of statistics of the players, statistics of relevant teams;

statistics of players by position played by players of the relevant teams, pitching rotation of pitchers playing for the relevant teams, current league standings of the relevant teams, and possible playoff scenarios for the relevant teams.

31. The computer storage of claim 18 wherein the image of the environment includes recognizable objects, and identity of at least one of the objects is recognized by one of the group consisting of RFID detection, GPS, triangulation, and facial recognition.

32. The computer storage of claim 30 wherein the sporting event includes using a ball that includes an RFID chip, and RFID detection enables display of a trajectory of the ball.

33. The computer storage of claim 29 wherein the item of information comprises one of the group consisting of the location in the ball park of:

a seat, a person, a selected vendor store, a desired facility, a desired path to a parking area, and a route from the ballpark to a desired location separate from the location of the environment.

34. The computer storage of claim 18, the operations further including targeting an advertisement to the user device based on the user'"'"'s purchase history, interest, or location.

35. A system comprising at least one processor and computer storage configured to execute:

a receiving module to receive, from a user device located at an environment at which a user is viewing an event both with and without the use of the user device, image data containing an image of an environment, the receiving module also to receive a request from the user device for an item of information that relates to the event for placement into a location of the image of the environment;

a database accessing module to, responsive to receipt of the request, access a database to retrieve the item of information;

an image generating module to generate a scaled image of the item of information based on dimensions of the environment; and

a transmitting module to transmit the scaled image for placement into the image of the environment on the user device to generate an augmented reality image.

36. The system of claim 35 further including a targeting module to target an advertisement to the user device based on the user'"'"'s purchase history, interest, or location.