System and Method for Enhanced Augmented Reality Tracking

• US 20130281207A1
• Filed: 06/14/2013
• Published: 10/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Lyons, Martin S., Ang, Roderick, Jackson, Brett, Hendrick, Joseph Randy
• Granted Patent: US 9,511,291 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/33
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/214 for locating contacts on a surface, e.g. floor mats or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/53 involving additional visual information provided to the game scene, e.g. by overlay to simulate a head-up display [HUD] or displaying a laser sight in a shooting game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/69 Involving elements of the real world in the game world, e.g. measurement in live races, real video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/405 using Z-buffer
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3206 Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/323 wherein the player is informed, e.g. advertisements, odds, instructions

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for enabling an augmented reality tracking system and a mobile device to display augmented reality by overlaying a virtual 3D object over a physical 3D object. The method includes: enabling a user to capture a live camera image of a 3D object via camera on the mobile device; determining if there are image tags on the 3D object in the live camera image; using the one or more image tags to access information used by the augmented reality system; and overlaying virtual 3D objects onto a live camera image of the virtual 3D object on a display of the mobile device to produce augmented reality effects, wherein the augmented reality tracking system establishes a communication channel with the gaming machine enabling additional elements of the game to be augmented on the mobile device, and elements of the game content to be influenced by the augmented state.

Claims

1. A method of enabling an augmented reality tracking system and a mobile device to overlay a virtual 3D component over a physical 3D component with which the virtual 3D component interacts, the method comprising:

enabling a user to capture a live camera image of a gaming machine cabinet via a camera on the mobile device;

determining if there are image tags on the gaming machine cabinet in the live camera image;

in response to identifying images tags on the gaming machine cabinet, producing a virtual rendering of the gaming machine cabinet;

determining virtual 3D components to be displayed over an image of a virtual gaming machine cabinet, wherein the virtual 3D components includes a plurality of elements each having a depth value and the virtual gaming machine cabinet includes a plurality of elements each having a depth value;

comparing a virtual depth rendering of the virtual 3D components to a virtual depth rendering of the virtual gaming machine cabinet;

in response to the comparison, subtracting the elements of the virtual 3D components that have a lower depth value than elements of the virtual gaming machine cabinet at corresponding spatial positions; and

overlaying virtual 3D components without the subtracted elements onto a live camera image of the virtual gaming machine cabinet on a display of the mobile device to produce augmented reality effects, wherein the augmented reality tracking system establishes a communication channel with the gaming machine enabling additional elements of the game to be augmented on the mobile device, and elements of the game content to be influenced by the augmented state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device establishes a wireless connection to a gaming machine by connecting to a network socket at an IP address of the gaming machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein data from the mobile device is used to adjust the gaming machine display content.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein adjustments to the gaming machine display content include enabling player-selectable touchscreen buttons on the mobile device that perform a same action as pressing a physical button on the gaming machine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein known individual pixels of a game cycle through colors to uniquely identify a gaming machine or uniquely identify associated information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the uniquely identified associated information is an IP address.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein Bluetooth or NFC transmission is employed as a transport technology or to identify a gaming machine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple viewers of augmented content are enabled to view individualized augmented content from each viewer'"'"'s independent viewpoint.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein only one augmented reality tag is used to enable multiple display elements to act as though each display element is individually tagged, even when these display elements are spread across multiple displays.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the gaming machine cabinet includes image tags inside of the cabinet that assist with displaying augmented reality effects within the gaming machine cabinet.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein augmented reality content is overlaid over a captured camera image if an image tag identified in the captured image within the gaming machine cabinet.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a depth buffer to determine which elements of a 3D rendering are visible to a virtual camera.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a z-value of each element is compared against an existing depth buffer z-value at the same screen co-ordinate, wherein if the existing z-value is greater, the pixel is drawn, and wherein if the existing z-value is less than an existing depth buffer z-value at the same screen co-ordinate, then the pixel is discarded.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

rendering the virtual gaming machine cabinet by mapping the image tag co-ordinates to the gaming machine cabinet co-ordinates using vector subtraction.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

combining the camera video image with the rendering of the additional virtual 3D component minus the virtual gaming machine cabinet.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein a CAD model having spatial parameters is associated with an image tag.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual rendering of the gaming machine cabinet is a virtual depth-only rendering of the gaming machine cabinet.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein virtual rendering of the gaming machine cabinet extracts 2D information from the display of the gaming machine to produce a 3D image of the gaming machine.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

overlaying virtual graphics in a position within 3D space on a display of the mobile device that augment the display of the gaming machine with 3D to create complex augmented reality.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the augmented reality translation system of the augmented reality assistance component extracts a first language from the display of the gaming machine and translates the first language into a second language that is visible to the user in place of the first language.

21. A method of enabling an augmented reality tracking system and a mobile device to overlay a virtual 3D component over a physical 3D component with which the virtual 3D component interacts, the method comprising:

enabling a user to capture a live camera image of a 3D object via camera on the mobile device;

determining if there are image tags on the 3D object in the live camera image;

in response to identifying images tags on the 3D object, producing a virtual rendering of the 3D object;

determining virtual 3D components to be displayed over an image of a 3D object, wherein the virtual 3D components includes a plurality of elements each having a depth value and the virtual 3D object includes a plurality of elements each having a depth value;

comparing a virtual depth rendering of the virtual 3D components to a virtual depth rendering of the virtual 3D object;

in response to the comparison, subtracting the elements of the virtual 3D components that have a lower depth value than elements of the virtual 3D object at corresponding spatial positions; and

overlaying virtual 3D components without the subtracted elements onto a live camera image of the virtual 3D object on a display of the mobile device to produce augmented reality effects, wherein the augmented reality tracking system establishes a communication channel with the 3D object enabling additional elements to be augmented on the mobile device, and elements to be influenced by the augmented state.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the mobile device establishes a wireless connection to a gaming machine by connecting to a network socket at an IP address of the gaming machine.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein data from the mobile device is used to adjust the gaming machine display content.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein adjustments to the gaming machine display content include enabling player-selectable touchscreen buttons on the mobile device that perform a same action as pressing a physical button on the gaming machine.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein known individual pixels of a game cycle through colors to uniquely identify a gaming machine or uniquely identify associated information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the uniquely identified associated information is an IP address.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein Bluetooth or NFC transmission is employed as a transport technology or to identify a gaming machine.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein multiple viewers of augmented content are enabled to view individualized augmented content from each viewer'"'"'s independent viewpoint.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein only one augmented reality tag is used to enable multiple display elements to act as though each display element is individually tagged, even when these display elements are spread across multiple displays.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein the gaming machine cabinet includes image tags inside of the cabinet that assist with displaying augmented reality effects within the gaming machine cabinet.

31. The method of claim 21, wherein augmented reality content is overlaid over a captured camera image if an image tag is identified in the captured image within the gaming machine cabinet.

32. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

using a depth buffer to determine which elements of a 3D rendering are visible to a virtual camera.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

determining a z-value of each element is compared against an existing depth buffer z-value at the same screen co-ordinate, wherein if the existing z-value is greater, the pixel is drawn, and wherein if the existing z-value is less than an existing depth buffer z-value at the same screen co-ordinate, then the pixel is discarded.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

rendering the virtual 3D object by mapping the image tag co-ordinates to the 3D object co-ordinates using vector subtraction.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

combining the camera video image with the rendering of the additional virtual 3D component minus the virtual 3D object.

36. The method of claim 21, wherein a CAD model having spatial parameters is associated with an image tag.

37. The method of claim 21, wherein the virtual rendering of the 3D object is a virtual depth-only rendering of the 3D object.

38. The method of claim 21, wherein virtual rendering of the 3D object extracts 2D information from the display of the gaming machine to produce a 3D image of the gaming machine.

39. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

overlaying virtual graphics in a position within 3D space on a display of the mobile device that augment the display of the gaming machine with 3D to create complex augmented reality.

40. The method of claim 21, wherein an object recognition system of the augmented reality gaming assistance component establishes a communication channel between the augmented reality component and the gaming machine so that additional elements of the game may be augmented on the mobile device and elements of the game content may be influenced by the augmented state.

41. The method of claim 21, wherein the augmented reality translation system of the augmented reality assistance component extracts a first language from the display of the gaming machine and translates the first language into a second language that is visible to the user in place of the first language.

42. A method of enabling an augmented reality tracking system and a mobile device to display augmented reality by overlaying a virtual 3D object over a physical 3D object, the method comprising:

enabling a user to capture a live camera image of a 3D object via camera on the mobile device;

determining if there are image tags on the 3D object in the live camera image;

using the one or more image tags to access information used by the augmented reality system; and

overlaying virtual 3D objects onto a live camera image of the virtual 3D object on a display of the mobile device to produce augmented reality effects, wherein the augmented reality tracking system establishes a communication channel with the 3D object enabling additional elements to be augmented on the mobile device, and elements to be influenced by the augmented state.