Virtual affordance sales tool

• US 10,614,625 B1
• Filed: 11/30/2018
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Steelcase Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Steelcase Incorporated
• Inventors: Goetzinger, Jr., Stephen E., Dhyne, Kyle R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Craddock, Robert J
• Application Number:
  US16/205,620
• Time in Patent Office: 494 Days
• 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: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/00 General purpose image data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/003 Navigation within 3D models or images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/04 Architectural design, interior design
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/022 Centralised management of display operation, e.g. in a server instead of locally
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/06 Remotely controlled electronic signs other than labels

Abstract

A system and method for modeling visual and non-visual experiential characteristics of a work space environment, the system comprising at least a first emissive surface useable to view a virtual world (VW) representation, a processor that is programmed to perform the steps of (a) presenting a VW representation via the at least a first emissive surface, the VW representation including an affordance configuration shown in the VW representation, (b) model at least one non-visual experiential characteristic associated with an environment associated with the VW representation and (c) present at least some indication of the non-visual experiential characteristic to the system user.

Claims

1. A system for automatically generating at least one virtual affordance configuration for a user to virtually experience, the system comprising:

a database including affordance models, at least a first three dimensional virtual space layout and a set of rules of thumb related to affordance configuration layout;

an input device;

at least a first emissive surface;

a processor programmed to perform the steps of;

receiving an indication from a user indicating at least a number of employees to be supported by an affordance configuration;

receiving an indication of at least one user preference associated with affordance choices for an affordance configuration wherein the at least one user preference does not include all of the information required to arrange an affordance configuration;

using the rules of thumb related to affordance configuration layout and the user indications related to number of employees and user preference to generate at least a first affordance configuration option; and

presenting the at least a first affordance configuration option via the at least a first emissive surface for consideration by a system user.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further programmed to use the rules of thumb related to affordance configuration layout and the user indications related to number of employees and user preference to generate a plurality of affordance configuration options in addition to the at least a first affordance configuration, the system presenting the other options to the user for selection.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one user preference relates to a non-appearance experiential characteristic.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the at least one user preference relates to a noise level for at least one type of affordance configuration within the affordance configuration.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one user preference is related to environmental friendliness of the affordance configuration.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one user preference includes a plurality of user preferences.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein at least one of the plurality of user preferences is related to a non-appearance experiential characteristic and at least one of the plurality of user preferences is related to an appearance characteristic of the affordance configuration.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one user preference includes a budget limit.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one user preference includes selection of specific types of office furniture.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one user preference includes specification of a value related to privacy of at least one type of space within the affordance configuration.

11. The system of claim 1 further including presenting a configuration dashboard via the emissive surface that includes characteristics of the affordance configuration presented on the emissive surface.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the configuration dashboard includes on screen tools for adjusting user preferences wherein, as a user preference is modified via the dashboard, the affordance configuration is modified in real time to reflect the changes specified via the dashboard.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the step of using the rules of thumb and the user indications related to number of employees and user preference to generate at least a first affordance configuration option includes generating a configuration option that is consistent with most but not all of the rules of thumb, number of employees and user preference, the processor further programmed to indicate any deviations from the rules of thumb, number of employees and user preference that are associated with the generated affordance configuration.

14. The system of claim 2 wherein the step of presenting other options to the user for selection includes presenting on screen selectable icons for each of the other affordance configurations adjacent the presented first affordance configuration.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the first affordance configuration is presented as a three dimensional virtual representation on the emissive surface so that the user is immersed within the first affordance configuration.

16. The system of claim 15 further including an interface that enables a user to virtually move within the presented first affordance configuration and wherein, upon a virtual move within the affordance configuration, the virtual representation changes to provide a different view of the presented configuration.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the first affordance configuration is presented as a three dimensional virtual representation on the emissive surface so that the user is immersed at a specific location within the first affordance configuration.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the processor is further programmed to indicate the non-appearance experiential characteristic while presenting the first affordance configuration via the emissive surface.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor is programmed to indicate the non-appearance experiential characteristic visually within the first affordance configuration on the emissive surface.

20. The system of claim 17 further including a speaker wherein the non-appearance experiential characteristic includes a level of sound associated with at least some locations within the affordance configuration and, wherein, the processor indicates the characteristic by generating sound via the speaker.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving an indication from a user indicating at least a number of employees to be supported by an affordance configuration includes receiving indications of numbers of employees for at least two categories of employees where affordances within the configuration depend at least in part of employee categories.

22. A system for suggesting affordance configurations for building out an office space to a system user, the system comprising:

an input device for receiving at least a subset of non-appearance experiential characteristic preferences from the user; and

a processor programmed to use the user'"'"'s characteristic preferences to generate at least a first suggested affordance configuration that is at least substantially consistent with the user'"'"'s characteristic preferences, the processor also presenting the at least a first suggested affordance configuration to the user as a three dimensional virtual world (VW) view on at least a first emissive surface where the user is capable of moving about within a VW corresponding to the VW view to cause the processor to change the view to match the user'"'"'s VW location.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the processor is further programmed to compare actual non-appearance experiential characteristic values corresponding to the VW to the user'"'"'s characteristic preferences and to present an indicator where at least one of the user'"'"'s characteristic preferences has not been met by the actual values.

24. A system for specifying an office space affordance configuration, the system comprising:

at least a first emissive surface;

a user interface;

a processor linked to the surface and the interface and programmed to perform the steps of;

receiving space defining information specifying layout and dimensions of a space for which the affordance configuration is to be configured;

receiving employee specifying information indicating at least a number of employees to be accommodated by the space;

receiving desired space characteristics including at least one non-visual space characteristic for the office space to be configured;

using the space defining information, the employee specifying information and the desired space characteristics to automatically generate at least a first affordance configuration that is at least substantially consistent with the received information and characteristics; and

presenting the at least a first affordance configuration via the emissive surface as a three dimensional virtual world (VW) representation for consideration by a user.

25. The system of claim 24 further including receiving a desired budget limit for the affordance configuration and generating the at least a first affordance configuration as a function of the budget limit.

26. The system of claim 24 further including presenting a configuration dashboard along with the at least a first affordance configuration indicating how closely the desired space characteristics have been met.