Range of focus in an augmented reality application

• US 9,858,726 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2016
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Tseng, Erick
• Primary Examiner(s): Du, Haixia
• Application Number:
  US15/219,679
• Publication Number:
  US 20160335804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 525 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3611 using character input or menus, e.g. menus of POIs character input methods in general G06F3/0233
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3632 Guidance using simplified or iconic instructions, e.g. using arrows G01C21/365 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3673 Labelling using text of road map data items, e.g. road names, POI names
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/60 Analysis of geometric attributes

Abstract

A computer-implemented augmented reality method includes receiving one or more indications, entered on a mobile computing device by a user of the mobile computing device, of a distance range for determining items to display with an augmented reality application, the distance range representing geographic distance from a base point where the mobile computing device is located. The method also includes selecting, from items in a computer database, one or more items that are located within the distance range from the mobile computing device entered by the user, and providing data for representing labels for the selected one or more items on a visual display of the mobile computing device, the labels corresponding to the selected items, and the items corresponding to geographical features that are within the distance range as measure from the mobile computing device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

transmitting, by a mobile computing device to a computing system, a search query that was entered at the mobile computing device;

receiving, by the mobile computing device from the computing system, a plurality of items that are search results responsive to the search query and that pertain to geographical features that are located within a geographic zone, the geographic zone including a base geographic point, wherein the geographic zone is an area in which at least a portion of a boundary of the area is a geographic distance from the base geographic point;

identifying, by the mobile computing device and after receiving the plurality of items, a first set of one or more labels that correspond to a first sub-set of the plurality of items, each label in the first set of labels corresponding to a respective geographical feature;

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the identified first set of one or more labels that correspond to the first sub-set of the plurality of items;

detecting, by the mobile computing device and after identifying and displaying the first set of one or more labels, movement of the mobile computing device;

identifying, by the mobile computing device and in response to detecting the movement of the mobile computing device, a second set of one or more labels that correspond to a second sub-set of the plurality of items, each label in the second set of labels corresponding to a respective geographical feature, the second set of one or more labels including at least one label that is not in the first set of one or more labels; and

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the identified second set of one or more labels that correspond to the second sub-set of the plurality of items, wherein identifying and displaying the second set of one or more labels is performed without resubmitting the search query to the computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that the mobile computing device has moved from a first geographic location to a second geographic location toward a geographic feature to which a particular item of the second sub-set of the plurality of items pertains such that the geographic feature to which the particular item pertains has become within the geographic distance of the second geographic location of the mobile computing device after the detected movement.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first geographic location is the base geographic point.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that the mobile computing device has rotated from a first field of view to a second field of view such that the a geographic feature to which a particular item of the second sub-set of the plurality of items pertains does not lie within the first field of view and the geographic feature to which the particular item pertains does lie within the second field of view after the detected movement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the field of view represents a direction in which a camera on the mobile computing device is pointed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein

detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that a direction in which the mobile computing device is pointed has changed;

the second set of one or more labels are identified based on the direction in which the computing device is pointed after the detected movement; and

displaying the second set of one or more labels comprises displaying the second set of one or more labels without obtaining additional labels from the computing system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the base geographic point corresponds to the current location of the mobile computing device; and

displaying the first set of one or more labels that correspond to the first sub-set of the plurality of items comprises displaying the first set of one or more labels over an image captured by a camera of the mobile computing device in locations on a display screen that are selected to correspond to distances from the base point to geographical locations of the geographical features to which the first set of labels pertain.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a presentation on the display of the mobile computing device from an augmented reality presentation to a map presentation in response to identifying a user input of a specified motion to the mobile computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile computing device, data indicating that the user selected a label that corresponds to a first one of the first sub-set of the plurality of items, and, in response, generating a second search query that includes at least one term representative of the first one of the items; and

transmitting the second search query that includes the at least one term representative of the first one of the items to the computing system.

10. A tangible, non-transitory recordable medium having recorded thereon instructions that, when executed, perform actions comprising:

transmitting, by a mobile computing device to a computing system, a search query that was entered at the mobile computing device;

receiving, by the mobile computing device from the computing system, a plurality of items that are search results responsive to the search query and that pertain to geographical features that are located within a geographic zone, the geographic zone including a base geographic point, wherein the geographic zone is an area in which at least a portion of a boundary of the area is a geographic distance from the base geographic point;

identifying, by the mobile computing device and after receiving the plurality of items, a first set of one or more labels that correspond to a first sub-set of the plurality of items, each label in the first set of labels corresponding to a respective geographical feature;

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the identified first set of one or more labels that correspond to the first sub-set of the plurality of items;

detecting, by the mobile computing device and after identifying and displaying the first set of one or more labels, movement of the mobile computing device;

identifying, by the mobile computing device and in response to detecting the movement of the mobile computing device, a second set of one or more labels that correspond to a second sub-set of the plurality of items, each label in the second set of labels corresponding to a respective geographical feature, the second set of one or more labels including at least one label that is not in the first set of one or more labels; and

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the identified second set of one or more labels that correspond to the second sub-set of the plurality of items, wherein identifying and displaying the second set of one or more labels is performed without resubmitting the search query to the computing system.

11. The tangible, non-transitory recordable medium of claim 10, wherein detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that the mobile computing device has moved from a first geographic location to a second geographic location toward a geographic feature to which a particular item of the second sub-set of the plurality of items pertains such that the geographic feature to which the particular item pertains has become within the geographic distance of the second geographic location of the mobile computing device after the detected movement.

12. The tangible, non-transitory recordable medium of claim 11, wherein the first geographic location is the base geographic point.

13. The tangible, non-transitory recordable medium of claim 10, wherein detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that the mobile computing device has rotated from a first field of view to a second field of view such that the a geographic feature to which a particular item of the second sub-set of the plurality of items pertains does not lie within the first field of view and the geographic feature to which the particular item pertains does lie within the second field of view after the detected movement.

14. The tangible, non-transitory recordable medium of claim 13, wherein the field of view represents a direction in which a camera on the mobile computing device is pointed.

15. The tangible, non-transitory recordable medium of claim 10, wherein

detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that a direction in which the mobile computing device is pointed has changed;

the second set of one or more labels are identified based on the direction in which the computing device is pointed after the detected movement; and

displaying the second set of one or more labels comprises displaying the second set of one or more labels without obtaining additional labels from the computing system.

16. The tangible, non-transitory recordable medium of claim 10, wherein:

the base geographic point corresponds to the current location of the mobile computing device; and

displaying the first set of one or more labels that correspond to the first sub-set of the plurality of items comprises displaying the first set of one or more labels over an image captured by a camera of the mobile computing device in locations on a display screen that are selected to correspond to distances from the base point to geographical locations of the geographical features to which the first set of labels pertain.

17. The tangible, non-transitory recordable medium of claim 10, the actions further comprising changing a presentation on the display of the mobile computing device from an augmented reality presentation to a map presentation in response to identifying a user input of a specified motion to the mobile computing device.

18. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

transmitting, by a mobile computing device to a computing system, a search query that was entered at the mobile computing device;

receiving, by the mobile computing device from the computing system, a plurality of items that are search results responsive to the search query and that pertain to geographical features that are located within a geographic zone, the geographic zone including a base geographic point, wherein the geographic zone is an area in which at least a portion of a boundary of the area is a geographic distance from the base geographic point;

identifying, by the mobile computing device and after receiving the plurality of items, a first set of one or more labels that correspond to a first sub-set of the plurality of items, each label in the first set of labels corresponding to a respective geographical feature;

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the identified first set of one or more labels that correspond to the first sub-set of the plurality of items;

detecting, by the mobile computing device and after identifying and displaying the first set of one or more labels, movement of the mobile computing device;

identifying, by the mobile computing device and in response to detecting the movement of the mobile computing device, a second set of one or more labels that correspond to a second sub-set of the plurality of items, each label in the second set of labels corresponding to a respective geographical feature, the second set of one or more labels including at least one label that is not in the first set of one or more labels; and

displaying, by the mobile computing device, the identified second set of one or more labels that correspond to the second sub-set of the plurality of items, wherein identifying and displaying the second set of one or more labels is performed without resubmitting the search query to the computing system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that the mobile computing device has rotated from a first field of view to a second field of view such that the a geographic feature to which a particular item of the second sub-set of the plurality of items pertains does not lie within the first field of view and the geographic feature to which the particular item pertains does lie within the second field of view after the detected movement.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein:

detecting movement of the mobile computing device comprises detecting that a direction in which the mobile computing device is pointed has changed;

the second set of one or more labels are identified based on the direction in which the computing device is pointed after the detected movement; and

displaying the second set of one or more labels comprises displaying the second set of one or more labels without obtaining additional labels from the computing system.