Enhanced Information Delivery Using a Transparent Display

• US 20140002486A1
• Filed: 06/29/2012
• Published: 01/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Ratcliff, Joshua J., Lyons, Kenton M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,646,522 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/629
• 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 3/04815 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: G09G 3/003 to produce spatial visual effects

Abstract

Information is delivered about a particular external environment using a transparent display. In one embodiment, a method includes determining a position of a mobile transparent display, determining an orientation of the display, retrieving information about the environment of the display using the determined position and orientation, and overlaying the retrieved information over a view on the transparent display.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a position of a mobile transparent display;

determining an orientation of the display;

retrieving information about the environment of the display using the determined position and orientation; and

overlaying the retrieved information over a view on the transparent display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an orientation comprises determining the direction in which the display is oriented and inferring what may be seen through the transparent display.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an orientation comprises using a compass.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an orientation comprises using accelerometers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an orientation comprises using a camera facing the direction of the view on the transparent display.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining an orientation comprises comparing an image from the camera to reference images at the determined position, each reference image being associated with an orientation, selecting a reference image corresponding to the image from the camera, and using the orientation associated with the selected reference image as the determined orientation.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining an orientation includes determining a pitch.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein overlaying the information comprises using a camera oriented in the direction of the view on the transparent display to determine reference points in the view and positioning the overlaid information with respect to the reference points.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the reference points are identified as stars and the information is information concerning an identified star.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising observing user hand gestures and interpreting the observed gestures as commands to control the presentation of information on the transparent display.

11. A machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, that when operated on by the machine cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

determining a position of a mobile transparent display;

determining an orientation of the display;

retrieving information about the environment of the display using the determined position and orientation; and

overlaying the retrieved information over a view on the transparent display.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein determining an orientation comprises determining the direction in which the display is oriented and inferring what may be seen through the transparent display.

13. The medium of claim 11, wherein determining an orientation comprises comparing an image from the camera to reference images at the determined position, each reference image being associated with an orientation, selecting a reference image corresponding to the image from the camera, and using the orientation associated with the selected reference image as the determined orientation.

14. The medium of claim 11, wherein retrieving information comprises sending a request including position information to a remote information service and receiving the retrieved information from the remote information service in response to the request.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a transparent display;

a positioning system to determine a position of the display;

an orientation system to determine an orientation of the display; and

a computing system to receive the determined position and orientation, to retrieve information about objects in view of a user viewing through the transparent display, and to overlay information on the transparent display over the view of the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a wireless communications interface coupled to the computing system to send the position and orientation information to a remote server and to receive the information about objects from the remote server.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a camera to observe real objects in view of the display, wherein the computing system determines reference points in the objects observed by the camera and positions the overlaid information with respect to the reference points.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a camera oriented in the direction of the view of the user through the transparent display to observe user gestures and wherein the computing system interprets the observed user gestures as commands to control the presentation of information on the transparent display.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the transparent display is head-mounted.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the transparent display is in the form of eyeglasses that project information in the view of the user through the lenses of the eyeglasses.