USER-TO-USER COMMUNICATION ENHANCEMENT WITH AUGMENTED REALITY

• US 20130293584A1
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Published: 11/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Glen J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,990,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/633
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• 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: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services

Abstract

The enhancement of user-to-user communication with augmented reality is described. In one example, a method includes receiving virtual object data at a local device from a remote user, generating a virtual object using the received virtual object data, receiving an image at the local device from a remote image store, augmenting the received image at the local device by adding the generated virtual object to the received image, and displaying the augmented received image on the local device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving virtual object data at a local device from a remote user;

generating a virtual object using the received virtual object data;

receiving an image at the local device from a remote image store;

augmenting the received image at the local device by adding the generated virtual object to the received image; and

displaying the augmented received image on the local device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving virtual object data comprises receiving location data and wherein augmenting the received image comprises adding the generated virtual object at a location in the received image corresponding to the received location data.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining a position of the local device and wherein augmenting the received image comprises adding the generated virtual object at locations between the location corresponding to the received location data and the determined position over time and wherein displaying the augmented received image comprises displaying the virtual object in motion across the received image between the location corresponding to the received location data and the determined position.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving an image comprises receiving a plurality of images for locations between the location and the determined position and wherein augmenting the received image comprises adding the generated virtual object to the received images to display the virtual object in motion across the images in a sequence corresponding to travel between the location and the determined position.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the travel between the location and the determined position corresponds to a route selected by the remote user.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving an alert from the remote user to look for the virtual object;

receiving user input at the local device in response to the alert; and

modifying a course of travel between the location and the determined position based on the user input.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user input comprises direction commands.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual object corresponds to a message sent from the remote user to the local device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving user input at the local device to interact with the virtual object and displaying the interaction on the augmented received image on the local device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving an alert from the remote user to look for the sent message.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving user input at the local device in response to the alert, the user input affecting the course of travel of the sent message from the location to the determined position.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving user input at the local device in response to the alert, the user input allowing the local device to capture the virtual object corresponding to the sent message.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

capturing a facial expression of a user of the local device after receiving the alert;

converting the facial expression to an avatar representing the facial expression; and

sending the avatar to the remote user.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising sending an identification of the determined location to the remote user with the avatar.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising sending an image of the current location of the local device to the remote user with the avatar.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a virtual object comprises generating audio and haptic effects for the virtual object and wherein displaying the augmented received image comprises producing audio and haptic effects associated with the virtual object.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a user input system of the local device to receive direction commands and wherein the combine module modifies the motion of the virtual object based on the received direction commands.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

a camera to capture a facial expression of a user of the local device; and

an avatar representation module to generate an avatar representing the captured facial expression,

wherein the data communication module sends the generated avatar to the remote user.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a data communication module to receive virtual object data from a remote user and to receive an image from a remote image store at a local device;

a combine module to generate a virtual object using the received virtual object data and to augment the received image at the local device by adding the generated virtual object to the received image; and

a screen rendering module to display the augmented received image on the local device.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a location determination system to determine a position of the local device and wherein the combine module adds the generated virtual object at locations between a location corresponding to received virtual object and the determined position over time and wherein the augmented received image shows the virtual object in motion across the received image between the location corresponding to the received virtual object and the determined position.

21. A machine-readable non-transitory medium having instruction thereon that, when operated on by the machine cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving virtual object data at a local device from a remote user;

generating a virtual object using the received virtual object data;

receiving an image at the local device from a remote image store;

augmenting the received image at the local device by adding the generated virtual object to the received image; and

displaying the augmented received image on the local device.

22. An apparatus comprising:

a network radio to receive virtual object data from a remote user and to receive an image from a remote image store at a local device;

a processor having a combine module to generate a virtual object using the received virtual object data and to augment the received image at the local device by adding the generated virtual object to the received image; and

a display to display the augmented received image on the local device.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a positioning system radio receiver to determine a position of the local device and wherein the processor augments the received image by adding the generated virtual object at locations between the location corresponding to the received location data and the determined position over time and wherein the processor renders the virtual object in motion across the received image between the location corresponding to the received location data and the determined position.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising a camera to capture a facial expression of a user of the local device after receiving an alert and wherein the processor converts the facial expression to an avatar representing the facial expression and the network radio sends the avatar to the remote user.