Augmented Reality Floor Plane Detection for Virtual Tile Overlay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Online retailers face challenges in allowing customers to visualize flooring or other surface coverings in their home environments before purchase, as customers increasingly demand to see products in-person, but brick-and-mortar stores are limited in showcasing a variety of products.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for visualizing flooring or surface coverings within an image captured by a smartphone, using augmented reality to identify the floor plane, classify pixels, and overlay a selected flooring tile pattern, allowing users to see how the flooring would appear in their space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If brick-and-mortar stores are established to allow customers to see products in-person, then customer satisfaction improves, but the ability to showcase a variety of products is limited by physical space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of flooring products that can be overlaid onto images of customer spaces using augmented reality technology. This allows unlimited product variety to be showcased without requiring physical display space, as digital representations of products can be instantly changed and displayed in the customer's actual environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from physical three-dimensional product displays to virtual augmented reality overlays in the customer's space. By projecting flooring patterns onto the floor plane detected in camera images, the system adds a new dimensional layer that allows product visualization without consuming physical retail space.
2Ease of operation
If physical sample tiles are provided for customers to view, then customers can see products in-person, but logistics and distribution complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of physically distributing sample tiles to customers, the patent uses augmented reality to project virtual flooring patterns directly into the customer's space via smartphone camera. This eliminates the need for physical sample distribution, storage, and return logistics while providing the same visualization benefit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical logistics system for physical sample tile distribution with a digital software-based system. The augmented reality application runs on the customer's smartphone, eliminating the need for physical handling, storage, and transportation of sample materials.
3Adaptability or versatility
If augmented reality visualization is implemented, then product variety showcase capability improves, but computational processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing task by first detecting the floor plane using feature points and homography calculations, then separately rendering the flooring pattern overlay. This segmentation allows the system to process only the relevant floor area rather than the entire image, reducing computational energy requirements while maintaining product variety showcase capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus for visualizing a surface covering on at least a portion of a surface in an image of a scene. The method comprises identifying, using at least one computer processor, a surface plane from the image of the scene, determining, for each pixel of a plurality of pixels corresponding to the surface plane, whether the pixel corresponds to at least a portion of the surface in the scene, and generating an updated image of the scene by overlaying on the surface plane, a visualization of a plurality of surface covering tiles on pixels along the surface plane determined to correspond to at least a portion of the surface in the scene.