METHODS, APPARATUSES AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING SUGGESTED INFORMATION LAYERS IN AUGMENTED REALITY

• US 20120001939A1
• Filed: 06/30/2010
• Published: 01/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Sandberg, Jesper
• Granted Patent: US 9,910,866 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/633
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/587 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00

Abstract

An apparatus for automatically suggesting information layers in augmented reality may include a processor and memory storing executable computer program code that cause the apparatus to at least perform operations including providing layers of information relating to virtual information corresponding to information indicating a current location of the apparatus. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to determine that a layer(s) of information is enabled to provide virtual information for display. The virtual information corresponds to locations of real world objects in or proximate to the current location. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to determine other information layers associates with content for the current location based on the number of items virtual information for the enabled layer being below a threshold and automatically suggest one or more other layers of information for selection. Corresponding methods and computer program products are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

facilitating provision of a plurality of layers of information, the layers of information relate in part to one or more items of virtual information corresponding to information indicative of a current location of an apparatus;

determining that at least one of the layers of information is enabled to provide one or more items of virtual information for display, the items of virtual information correspond to locations of real world objects in or proximate to the current location;

determining whether one or more other information layers of the layers are associated with content for the current location based on a determination that the number of items of virtual information for the enabled layer of information is below a predetermined threshold; and

automatically suggesting one or more of the other layers of information for selection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to automatically suggesting, the method further comprises determining whether information associated with the enabled layer of information is in the same category as information associated with the suggested layers of information, and wherein the one or more items of virtual information comprises one or more virtual objects.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically suggesting further comprises enabling provision of the suggested layers of information for the selection via a device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein enabling provision further comprises providing the suggested layers of information that are associated with information in the same category as the information associated with the enabled layer of information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receipt of the information indicative of the current location further comprises receiving information indicative of one or more coordinates of the real world objects that are currently being displayed.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the information of each of the plurality of layers is provided by different content providers; and

providing virtual information for overlay on corresponding real world objects currently being displayed in response to receipt of a selection of at least one of the suggested information layers.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

overlaying the virtual information on the corresponding real world objects in response to determining that location data of the virtual information corresponds to location information of at least one of the corresponding real world objects.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the suggested information layers in a semi-transparent manner prior to selection; and

providing at least one of the suggested information layers for display in a non-transparent manner to denote that the suggested information layer is active in response to receipt of a selection of the suggested information layer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the virtual information comprises one or more items of information in augmented reality that are usable to augment real world objects currently being displayed in an instance in which the items of information are overlaid on the real world objects, and

wherein providing virtual information further comprises enabling provision of the items of information for selection, via a device, to obtain additional information corresponding, in part, to geographical coordinates of at least one selected item of information.

10. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

facilitate provision of a plurality of layers of information, the layers of information relate in part to one or more items of virtual information corresponding to information indicative of a current location of the apparatus;

determine that at least one of the layers of information is enabled to provide one or more items of virtual information for display, the items of virtual information correspond to locations of real world objects in or proximate to the current location;

determine whether one or more other information layers of the layers are associated with content for the current location based on a determination that the number of items of virtual information for the enabled layer of information is below a predetermined threshold; and

automatically suggest one or more of the other layers of information for selection.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to determine whether information associated with the enabled layer of information is in the same category as information associated with the suggested layers of information.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to automatically suggest by enabling provision of the suggested layers of information for the selection via a device.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to enable provision by providing the suggested layers of information that are associated with information in the same category as the information associated with the enabled layer of information.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to facilitate the receipt of the information indicative of the current location by receiving information indicative of one or more coordinates of the real world objects that are currently being displayed.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine that the information of each of the plurality of layers is provided by different content providers; and

provide virtual information for overlay on corresponding real world objects currently being displayed in response to receipt of a selection of at least one of the suggested information layers.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

overlay the virtual information on the corresponding real world objects in response to determining that location data of the virtual information corresponds to location information of at least one of the corresponding real world objects.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

provide the suggested information layers in a semi-transparent manner prior to selection; and

provide at least one of the suggested information layers for display in a non-transparent manner to denote that the suggested information layer is active in response to receipt of a selection of the suggested information layer.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine that the virtual information comprises one or more items of information in augmented reality that are usable to augment real world objects currently being displayed in an instance in which the items of information are overlaid on the real world objects; and

provide the virtual information by enabling provision of the items of information for selection, via a device, to obtain additional information corresponding, in part, to geographical coordinates of at least one selected item of information.

19. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

program code instructions for facilitating provision of a plurality of layers of information, the layers of information relate in part to one or more items of virtual information corresponding to information indicative of a current location of an apparatus;

program code instructions for determining that at least one of the layers of information is enabled to provide one or more items of virtual information for display, the items of virtual information correspond to locations of real world objects in or proximate to the current location;

program code instructions for determining whether one or more other information layers of the layers are associated with content for the current location based on a determination that the number of items of virtual information for the enabled layer of information is below a predetermined threshold; and

program code instructions for automatically suggesting one or more of the other layers of information for selection.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

program code instructions for determining whether information associated with the enabled layer of information is in the same category as information associated with the suggested layers of information, and wherein the one or more items of virtual information comprises one or more virtual objects.