CONTEXT-AWARE TAGGING FOR AUGMENTED REALITY ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20140244595A1
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cardonha, Carlos H., Kraemer, James R., Koch, Fernando L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,286,323 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/689
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• 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: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092

Abstract

A method for tag-based search includes capturing an image, extracting a tag from the image, identifying a location associated with the captured image, and querying stored content for information that matches the location and the tag. Local storage is checked for the information first, and remote storage may be checked subsequently. Any located information may be used to augment the image. Information located in the remote storage may be saved in the local storage until it reaches a certain age, until it fails to be accessed for a threshold period of time, or until the location moves outside a threshold radius associated with a location of the information located in the remote storage.

Claims

1. A method for tag-based search, the method comprising:

capturing an image;

extracting a tag from the image;

identifying a location associated with the captured image; and

querying stored content for information that matches the location and the tag.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tag is a machine readable label.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the tag is a bar code.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the tag is a color code.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying is performed using information from an open-air tracking system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the open-air tracking system comprises a global positioning system.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the open-air tracking system comprises a Bluetooth beacon.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the open-air tracking system comprises a cellular communications tower.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the open-air tracking system comprises a radio frequency identification tag.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying comprises:

checking local storage for the information.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

checking remote storage for the information after checking the local storage.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

saving in the local storage a portion of the information that is located in the remote storage.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

deleting from the local storage the portion of the information when the portion of the information reaches a threshold age.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

deleting from the local storage the portion of the information when the location is determined to be outside a threshold radius of a location associated with the portion of the information.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

deleting from the local storage the portion of the information when the portion of the information is not accessed for a threshold period of time.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the information includes a distribution of content associated with tags that are similar to the tag and with the location.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

augmenting the image using the information.

18. The method of claim 17, where the image is augmented visually.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturing, the extracting, the identifying, and the querying are performed by a mobile device.

20. (canceled)