AR BIM Navigation With Real-World Object Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing BIM viewer software tools provide an inadequate user experience due to unintuitive navigation controls and require significant user comprehension to identify construction project issues, while existing AR technologies struggle with accurate alignment and stability of virtual content on real-world environments, especially in large or complex settings.
Innovation Solution
An AR software application that includes components for positioning, aligning, and navigating virtual 3D models within a real-world environment, utilizing sensors and predictive models to enhance alignment and user interaction, and an insights application for comparing 3D models over time to provide project progress insights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional BIM viewer software is used, then construction project information can be viewed, but navigation controls are unintuitive and require significant user comprehension
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical navigation controls (mouse clicks, keyboard commands, complex UI buttons) with gesture-based interaction and natural movement control. Users can navigate the 3D model by physically moving their device or making hand gestures, eliminating the need to learn complex control schemes while maintaining precise navigation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically tracks user position and orientation through sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS) and autonomously updates the BIM view without requiring manual control inputs. The navigation system serves itself by interpreting natural user movements as navigation commands, reducing the learning curve and operational complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If AR technology is used to overlay virtual content, then real-world context is enhanced, but alignment accuracy deteriorates in large or complex environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediate reference markers or anchor points distributed throughout the construction site that serve as known spatial references. These markers act as mediators between the virtual BIM model and the physical environment, enabling continuous and accurate alignment even in large or complex areas where direct sensor tracking becomes unreliable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors device position, orientation, and environmental features through sensors and adjusts the virtual content alignment in real-time based on this feedback. This closed-loop feedback mechanism compensates for drift and maintains precise alignment as users move through large or complex environments.
3Loss of information
If virtual content is overlaid on real-world view, then construction information becomes accessible, but misalignment occurs reducing reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary alignment calibration when the user first accesses a construction site area, establishing accurate spatial relationships between virtual and real environments before information display begins. This preliminary setup ensures that subsequent information overlay remains reliable and properly aligned.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic alignment that automatically adjusts in response to changes in device position, orientation, and environmental conditions. Rather than static pre-aligned content, the system continuously adapts the virtual content positioning to maintain reliability as the user moves through the environment or environmental conditions change.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing device is configured to determine an initial position and orientation of the computing device within a virtual 3D model of a real-world environment, (ii) capture sensor data that is representative of the real-world environment surrounding the computing device, (iii) based on an analysis of the sensor data, detect an object in the real-world environment, (iv) compare the detected object to data defining physical elements that are represented within the virtual 3D model, (v) identify a given physical element represented within the virtual 3D model that matches the detected object, (vi) update one or more of a position, an orientation, or a presentation of the virtual 3D model in order to align the given physical element with the detected object, and (vii) cause a display screen to present the aligned virtual 3D model as overlaid virtual content on a view of the real-world environment surrounding the computing device.