AR Item Obscuring for Budget-Constrained Shopping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face challenges in filtering shopping choices based on budget or preferences in the physical world, leading to potential purchases outside their financial or personal limits, especially for big-ticket items like cars or electronics, due to the lack of real-time filtering capabilities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing augmented reality (AR) technology that allows users to set budgets or preferences, enabling their devices to obscure or hide items exceeding these limits in real-time, using methods such as blurring, graying, or removing source-identifying information, while providing recommendations for more suitable alternatives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If AR technology is used to add virtual objects to enhance user experience, then information richness is improved, but information overload and user distraction increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively applying different visual treatments to different regions of the display. Specific items that match user preferences or budget criteria are obscured (blurred, grayed out, or covered with overlays), while other items remain clearly visible. This localized modification allows the system to filter information precisely where needed without affecting the overall visibility and usability of the entire display.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes specific unwanted visual elements from the display by obscuring items that do not meet user-defined criteria. The system identifies target items based on preferences or budget constraints and selectively applies obscuring effects to extract these elements from the user's visual field, thereby reducing information overload while preserving relevant information.
2Loss of information
If AR technology provides comprehensive shopping information, then decision-making quality is improved, but cognitive load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes unnecessary information elements from the user's view by obscuring items that fall outside their budget or preferences. This selective extraction maintains the completeness of available information (users can still see what they're filtering) while reducing cognitive load by automatically highlighting only the relevant options that meet their criteria.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the system continuously monitors user interactions and adjusts the obscuring display dynamically. When users interact with obscured items or adjust their preferences, the system provides immediate visual feedback by updating which items are obscured or highlighted, helping users make decisions without overwhelming them with all possible information simultaneously.
3Productivity
If real-time item filtering is implemented, then shopping efficiency is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing user preferences and budget constraints before the shopping experience begins. The system stores these criteria in advance and automatically applies them in real-time as users view items, eliminating the need for manual filtering during shopping. This preliminary setup enables instant filtering decisions without adding processing delays during actual item viewing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements skipping by rapidly processing and filtering items in real-time without requiring users to manually evaluate each item's details. The AR display quickly compares item attributes against stored preferences and budget constraints, instantly obscuring non-matching items and highlighting relevant ones, thereby rushing through the filtering process transparently without user-perceived delays.
Data Source
AI summary
Augmented reality (AR) technology can be used to perform a real-time overlay on an image displayed on a user device. A user device can receive image data of an area comprising an item from the real-world. Based on the image data, an identity and a value of the item can be obtained by the user device. If the value of the item is greater than a pre-determined value for the item or a category of the item, then the user device can obscure in real-time on the displayed image the item or category of the item having the value that is greater than the pre-determined value.