INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, CLIENT DEVICE, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20150356787A1
• Filed: 11/21/2013
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: ABE, Shinichiro, FUKUCHI, Masaki, HOMMA, Shunichi, WU, Jianing, KASHITANI, Tatsuki
• Granted Patent: US 10,453,259 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/497 Partially or entirely replaying previous game actions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5255 according to dedicated instructions from a player, e.g. using a secondary joystick to rotate the camera around a player's character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• 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 13/40 of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00

Abstract

There is provided an information processing device including an image acquisition unit that acquires a captured image of a real space from an image capture device, a setting unit that sets, in association with the real space, an augmented reality space that virtually augments the real space depicted in the captured image, the augmented reality space differing according to related information that relates to the captured image, and a control unit that causes an image of a virtual object placed for each user within the augmented reality space to be displayed on a screen.

Claims

1. An information processing device comprising:

an image acquisition unit that acquires a captured image of a real space from an image capture device;

a setting unit that sets, in association with the real space, an augmented reality space that virtually augments the real space depicted in the captured image, the augmented reality space differing according to related information that relates to the captured image; and

a control unit that causes an image of a virtual object placed for each user within the augmented reality space to be displayed on a screen.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the virtual object includes an avatar for each user.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the related information includes an attribute of a reference object depicted in the captured image.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the related information includes a capture location of the captured image.

5. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the related information includes an attribute of the image capture device.

6. The information processing device according to claim 3,

wherein the setting unit sets the augmented reality space selected according to the related information from among multiple augmented reality space candidates prepared in advance.

7. The information processing device according to claim 6,

wherein the setting unit selects the augmented reality space specified by a user from among a subset determined according to the related information from among the multiple augmented reality space candidates.

8. The information processing device according to claim 3,

wherein the setting unit adjusts, according to the related information, a variable parameter of the augmented reality space to set.

9. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the setting unit adjusts a variable parameter of the augmented reality space to set, on a basis of performance of a device involved in displaying the augmented reality space.

10. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit determines, on a basis of the related information, an initial position of the virtual object placed within the augmented reality space.

11. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit determines, on a basis of an attribute of the user, an initial position of the virtual object placed within the augmented reality space.

12. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein, in the case in which the augmented reality space to set is not determined from the related information, the setting unit sets a default augmented reality space candidate that does not depend on the related information as the augmented reality space.

13. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the virtual object includes an avatar for each user, and

wherein the control unit places an avatar of one or more users accessing the same augmented reality space in real-time within the augmented reality space.

14. The information processing device according to claim 13,

wherein the control unit additionally places an avatar of a user who previously accessed the same augmented reality space within the augmented reality space.

15. The information processing device according to claim 13,

wherein the control unit expresses a trail of an avatar of a user who previously accessed the same augmented reality space within the augmented reality space.

16. The information processing device according to claim 13,

wherein the control unit shares an action scenario of a non-user character placed within the augmented reality space among devices of the one or more users.

17. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the virtual object includes an avatar for each user, and

wherein the setting unit places, within the set augmented reality space, a path enabling the avatar to move to another augmented reality space.

18. A client device comprising:

an image capture unit that generates a captured image by capturing a real space;

a communication unit that communicates with a server device that sets, in association with the real space, an augmented reality space that virtually augments the real space depicted in the captured image, the augmented reality space differing according to related information that relates to the captured image; and

a control unit that causes an image of a virtual object placed for each user within the augmented reality space set by the server device to be displayed on a screen.

19. An information processing method executed by a client device provided with an image capture unit and a communication unit that communicates with a server device,

wherein the server devices sets, in association with a real space, an augmented reality space that virtually augments the real space depicted in a captured image, the augmented reality space differing according to related information that relates to the captured image,

the information processing method comprising:

generating the captured image by using the image capture unit to capture a real space; and

causing an image of a virtual object placed for each user within the augmented reality space set by the server device to be displayed on a screen.

20. A program for causing a computer that controls a client device to function as:

an image acquisition unit that acquires a captured image of a real space from an image capture device; and

a control unit that causes an image of a virtual object placed for each user within an augmented reality space to be displayed on a screen, the augmented reality space being set by a server device that sets, in association with the real space, the augmented reality space that virtually augments the real space depicted in the captured image, the augmented reality space differing according to related information that relates to the captured image.