Method and system for coordinating collisions between augmented reality and real reality

• US 8,681,179 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Rolleston, Robert John, Kingsley, Jeffrey David, Wang, Jia
• Primary Examiner(s): Richer, Aaron M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Akhavannik, Mohammad H
• Application Number:
  US13/331,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20130155106A1
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 345/633
• US Class Current: 345/633
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/21 Collision detection, intersection

Abstract

A method and system for coordinating placement of an augmented reality/virtual world object(s) into a scene relative to position and orientation. The object(s) can be connected to an anchor point having an absolute location relative to the marker via a connector (e.g., spring-like connector) in such a way that the behavior of the object responds to a physical force and a collision which exists in the augmented reality scene. The connection between the virtual object and location of the marker permits the object to exactly track the marker when there are no real world collisions between the markers. The virtual objects can be displaced so the objects do not pass through one another when the real world markers come into a close spatial proximity and the corresponding virtual objects begin to collide.

Claims

1. A method for coordinating an augmented reality and a real reality, said method comprising:

connecting an object to an anchor point having an absolute location relative to a marker via a spring connector in such a manner that a behavior of said object responds to a physical force and a collision that exists in an augmented reality scene;

tracking said marker by said object via said spring connector between said object and a location of said marker if a real world collision between said marker does not exist;

displacing said object so that said object does not pass through a corresponding object when said marker comes into a close spatial proximity and said corresponding object begins to collide;

placing a central small box at a location of said marker;

attaching said object to a center of said central small box by a set of invisible virtual springs;

capturing a real-world image by an image capturing unit and placing said object on top of said real world image using said marker; and

displaying an augmented reality rendered image on an image display unit, thereby permitting a smoother and intuitive connection between a motion of said marker and said object.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising responding to said collision and a kinetic force exerted by other objects by said object wherein said object is kept in proximity to said location of said marker.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising rendering said object around said marker and attaching said marker by said set of invisible virtual springs to a non-augmented reality object which matches said marker.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said object sits with said marker hidden in a center thereof when there are no collisions in said augmented reality environment.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said collisions result in an offset of centroids of said marker and said augmented reality rendered object.

6. A system for coordinating an augmented reality and a real reality, said system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to said processor; and

a non-transitory computer-usable medium embodying computer code, said computer-usable medium being coupled to said data bus, said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said processor and configured for;

connecting an object to an anchor point having an absolute location relative to a marker via a spring connector in such a manner that a behavior of said object responds to a physical force and a collision that exists in an augmented reality scene;

tracking said marker by said object via said spring connector between said object and a location of said marker if a real world collision between said marker does not exist;

displacing said object so that said object does not pass through a corresponding object when said marker comes into a close spatial proximity and said corresponding object begins to collide;

placing a central small box at said location of said marker;

attaching said object to a center of said central small box by a set of invisible virtual springs;

capturing a real-world image by an image capturing unit and placing said object on top of said real world image using said marker; and

displaying an augmented reality rendered image on an image display unit, thereby permitting a smoother and intuitive connection between a motion of said marker and said object.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said instructions are further configured for responding to said collision and a kinetic force exerted by other objects by said object wherein said object is kept in proximity to said location of said marker.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein said instructions are further configured for rendering said object around said marker and attaching said marker by said set of invisible virtual springs to a non-augmented reality object which matches said marker.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein said object sits with said marker hidden in a center thereof when there are no collisions in said augmented reality environment.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein said collision results in an offset of centroids of said marker and said augmented reality rendered object.

11. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a process to perform a process to coordinate an augmented reality and a real reality, said code comprising code to:

connect an object to an anchor point having an absolute location relative to a marker via a spring connector in such a manner that a behavior of said object responds to a physical force and a collision that exists in an augmented reality scene;

track said marker by said object via said spring connector between said object and a location of said marker if a real world collision between said marker does not exist;

displace said object so that said object does not pass through a corresponding object when said marker comes into a dose spatial proximity and said corresponding object begins to collide;

place a central small box at said location of said marker;

attach said object to a center of said central small box by a set of invisible virtual springs

capture a real-world image by an image capturing unit and placing said object on top of said real world image using said marker; and

display an augmented reality rendered image on an image display unit, thereby permitting a smoother and intuitive connection between a motion of said marker and said object.