Augmented reality and location determination methods and apparatus

• US 8,519,844 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2010
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gravity Jack, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Gravity Jack, Inc.
• Inventors: Richey, Luke, Greaves, Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): MCNALLY, KERRI L
• Application Number:
  US12/847,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20120025976A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.13
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

Augmented reality and location determination methods and apparatus are disclosed according to some aspects of the description. In one aspect, an augmented reality method includes accessing first location information regarding a location of a user interaction device in a physical world, wherein the user interaction device is configured to generate an augmented reality representation with respect to the physical world, using the first location information, generating second location information which has increased accuracy regarding the location of the user interaction device in the physical world, and communicating augmented data to the user interaction device, and wherein the augmented data comprises the augmented reality representation.

Claims

1. An augmented reality method comprising:

accessing first location information regarding a location of a user interaction device in a physical world, wherein the user interaction device is configured to generate an augmented reality representation with respect to the physical world;

using the first location information, generating second location information which has increased accuracy regarding the location of the user interaction device in the physical world;

communicating augmented data to the user interaction device, and wherein the augmented data comprises the augmented reality representation;

receiving information regarding wireless communications of the user interaction device with a plurality of wireless communications devices, and wherein the generating comprises generating the second location information using the information regarding the wireless communications; and

wherein the accessing, the generating and the communicating comprise acts implemented by a management device, and further comprising managing the wireless communications of the user interaction device with the wireless communications devices using the management device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the communicating comprises communicating the second location information to the user interaction device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the augmented reality representation comprises a virtual object, and further comprising associating the virtual object with the physical world.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the first location information, identifying an image of a marker which is proximately located to the user interaction device, and wherein the generating comprises generating using the image of the marker.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising receiving an image from the user interaction device, and wherein the generating comprises processing the received image with respect to the image of the marker to generate the second location information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the managing comprises communicating control signals from the management device to the user interaction device and the wireless communications devices to control the wireless communications.

7. A computing system comprising:

communications circuitry configured to implement communications externally of the computing system;

processing circuitry coupled with the communications circuitry, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to access first location information received by the communications circuitry regarding a location of a user interaction device in a physical world, to generate second location information which has increased accuracy regarding the location of the user interaction device in the physical world, and to control the communications circuitry to communicate augmented data comprising an augmented reality representation to the user interaction device; and

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to use the first location information to identify an image of a marker which is proximately located to the user interaction device, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to generate the second location information using the image of the marker.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the communications circuitry to communicate the second location information to the user interaction device.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the augmented reality representation comprises a virtual object.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to receive an image from the user interaction device, and the processing circuitry is configured to process the image with respect to the image of the marker to generate the second location information.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to receive information regarding wireless communications of the user interaction device with a plurality of wireless communications devices, and the processing circuitry is configured to use the information regarding the wireless communications to generate the second location information.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to manage the wireless communications of the user interaction device with the wireless communications devices.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to output control signals to the user interaction device and the other wireless communications devices to control the wireless communications.

14. An augmented reality user interaction device comprising:

a camera;

a display system;

communications circuitry configured to implement wireless communications externally of the user interaction device; and

processing circuitry coupled with the camera, the display system, and the communications circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the display system to generate a plurality of images which comprise image data generated by the camera and augmented data which augments the image data with an augmented reality representation, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to control the communications circuitry to communicate first location information regarding a location of the user interaction device in a physical world externally of the user interaction device, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to access second location information regarding the location of the user interaction device after the outputting of the first location information and wherein the second location information has increased accuracy regarding the location of the user interaction device in the physical world compared with the first location information.

15. The device of claim 14 further comprising location determination circuitry configured to generate the first location information.

16. The device of claim 14 wherein the communications circuitry receives an image of a marker after the outputting the first location information, and the processing circuitry is configured to process a plurality of images captured by the camera with respect to the image of the marker, and to generate the second location information using the processing of the images.

17. The device of claim 16 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive information regarding a location from which the image of the marker was captured, and to generate the second location information using the information regarding the location from which the image of the marker was captured.

18. The device of claim 16 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the display system to generate the image of the marker.

19. The device of claim 14 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the communications circuitry to output a plurality of images captured by the camera, and the communications circuitry receives the second location information as a result of the outputting of the images.

20. The device of claim 14 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to implement wireless communications with respect to a plurality of wireless communications devices which are within a communications range of the user interaction device, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the communications circuitry to output information regarding the wireless communications with respect to the wireless communications devices, and the communications circuitry receives the second location information as a result of the outputting of the information regarding the wireless communications.

21. The device of claim 20 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to output a wireless communications signal to the other wireless communications devices, and the communications circuitry is configured to output the information regarding the wireless communications comprising information regarding a moment in time when the wireless communications signal was outputted by the communications circuitry.

22. The device of claim 21 wherein the communications circuitry comprises a speaker configured to output the wireless communications signal comprising a sound wave.

23. The device of claim 22 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the speaker to output the wireless communications signal comprising a sound wave having a frequency defined before the outputting.

24. The device of claim 21 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to output the wireless communications signal comprising an electromagnetic wave.

25. The device of claim 21 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to receive a control signal instructing the user interaction device to operate as a sender, and the processing circuitry is configured to control the communications circuitry to output the wireless communications signal as a result of the reception of the control signal.

26. The device of claim 20 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to receive a wireless communications signal from one of the wireless communications devices, and the processing circuitry is configured to control the communications circuitry to output the information regarding the wireless communications comprising information regarding a moment in time when the wireless communications signal was received by the communications circuitry.

27. The device of claim 26 wherein the communications circuitry is configured to receive a control signal instructing the user interaction device to operate as a receiver, and the processing circuitry is configured to monitor the communications circuitry for reception of the wireless communications signal to determine the moment in time when the wireless communications signal was received.

28. The device of claim 27 wherein the communications circuitry comprises a microphone configured to receive the wireless communications signal comprising a sound wave.

29. The device of claim 28 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor the microphone for reception of the sound wave comprising a frequency defined before the reception.

30. The device of claim 14 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the communications circuitry to output an image externally of user interaction device which was captured by the camera and which includes a marker.