Virtual reality applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9690457-B2
Application number	US-201213821560-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2012
Priority date	Aug 24, 2012
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

Augmented reality technology is described. The technology can detect objects in a scene, identifying one or more installed or available applications based on the detected objects, and place icons representing the identified applications proximate to the detected objects in a display of the scene, e.g., so that a user can start or install the identified applications. The technology can also facilitate interaction with an identified object, e.g., to remotely control a recognized object.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method performed by a computing system having a processor, the method comprising:
digitizing a vision of a scene received from an image capture device to provide a digitized scene;
detecting multiple objects in the digitized scene, wherein detecting the multiple objects comprises recognizing digitized objects in the digitized scene;
receiving contextual information associated with a user, wherein the contextual information comprises first contextual information and second contextual information;
identifying installed applications based on the detected objects, wherein the identifying includes identifying the installed applications based on one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information, further wherein the identifying includes searching a list of attributes for an attribute associated with one or more of the detected objects, the list of attributes provided by the user and associated with at least one of the installed applications;
identifying an object from the detected objects based on another one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information to provide the identified object;
placing an icon that represents at least one of the identified installed applications proximate to the identified object in a display of the digitized scene, wherein the at least one of the identified installed applications is selected based on the identified object;
receiving a user selection of the icon;
responsive to the reception of the user selection of the icon, selecting the identified object;
determining that the identified object can be interacted with, wherein the determination comprises querying a database about the identified object;
obtaining at least one specification regarding an interaction with the identified object, wherein the at least one specification includes information regarding commands to interact with the identified object and information regarding user interface elements; and
providing a user interface to interact with the identified object based on the at least one specification in accordance with the user interface elements.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digitized scene is displayed on an output device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information is received via an input from the user.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information is based on detected positional information.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the multiple objects includes employing one or more image recognition methods.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing an installed application that corresponds to the icon to launch.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of attributes is received via a keyboard input.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving an input to associate an installed application not identified with an object detected in the digitized scene, and associating the installed application with the detected object; receiving an input to disassociate an application identified in correspondence with an object detected in the digitized scene, and disassociating this application from the detected object; or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information comprises time of day information, and wherein identifying the object from the multiple objects is based on the time of day information.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information includes time of day information, and wherein the time of day information is received via an input from the user.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying applications not stored locally on the computing system based on the detected objects, wherein identifying the applications includes identifying applications not stored locally based on one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information, wherein identifying the applications includes searching a list of attributes for an attribute associated with one or more of the detected objects, and wherein the list of attributes provided by the user and associated with at least one of the applications is not stored locally; and
placing an icon that, when selected by the user, installs a corresponding application on the computing device, wherein the icon is placed proximate to the identified object in a display of the digitized scene.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the user interface to interact with selected object based on the at least one specification comprises:
providing, from the at least one specification, instructions to provide aspects of the user interface; and
providing the aspects of the user interface to control the selected object.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the user interface to interact with selected object based on the at least one specification comprises:
providing, from the specification, instructions regarding the user interface; and
providing the user interface to control the selected object.

14. A computer-readable storage device having stored thereon instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
digitize a vision of a scene to provide a digitized scene;
detect multiple objects in the digitized scene, wherein the detection of the multiple objects comprises recognition of digitized objects in the digitized scene;
receive contextual information associated with a user, wherein the contextual information comprises first contextual information and second contextual information;
identify installed applications based on the detected objects, wherein the identification includes identification of the installed applications based on one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information, further wherein the identification includes searching a list of attributes for an attribute associated with one or more of the detected objects, the list of attributes provided by the user and associated with at least one of the installed applications;
identify an object from the detected objects based on another one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information;
place an icon, that when selected by the user, launches at least one of the identified installed applications proximate to the identified object in a display of the digitized scene, wherein the at least one of the identified installed applications is selected based on the identified object;
receive a user selection of the icon;
responsive to the reception of the user selection of the icon, select the object;
determine that the object can be interacted with, wherein the determination comprises querying a database about the object,
obtain a specification regarding an interaction with the object, wherein the specification includes commands to interact with the object and user interface elements; and
provide a user interface to interact with the object based on the specification in accordance with the user interface elements.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the digitized scene is displayed on an output device.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the first contextual information or the second contextual information is received via an input from the user.

Assignees

• Levien Roy
• Malamud Mark
• Empire Technology Dev Llc

Inventors

• Levien Roy
• Malamud Mark

Classifications

• G06T11/00

  Two-dimensional [2D] image generation · CPC title

• G06F8/61

  Installation · CPC title

• G06F3/04817 Primary

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06F3/04842 Primary

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/048 Primary

  Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title