Offloading AR Processing to Reduce Portable Device Power
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Solution Overview
Problem
Small portable devices have limited computing resources, making it difficult to efficiently render and track augmented reality data, which can be overcome by offloading these processes to external servers.
Innovation Solution
A system and method where a server offloads augmented reality rendering and tracking processes to a network, using external sensors to track the device's location and orientation, and streams the processed data back to the device for visualization, allowing the device to focus on rendering virtual objects with reduced computational load.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If augmented reality rendering and tracking processes are performed locally on portable devices, then real-time processing capability is maintained, but computing resource limitations prevent efficient rendering and tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computationally intensive rendering and tracking processes from the portable device and relocates them to remote servers. The device sends captured images and sensor data to servers that perform the heavy computational work, then receives back the rendered augmented reality overlays. This extraction resolves the contradiction by maintaining high productivity through server-based processing while dramatically reducing local power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces network communication as an intermediary between the portable device and remote servers. The device communicates captured images, sensor data, and processing requests through the network to servers, which return processed augmented reality content. This intermediary mechanism enables the device to access powerful remote computing resources without requiring local hardware upgrades, resolving the productivity-power consumption contradiction.
2Productivity
If more computing resources are allocated to rendering and tracking on portable devices, then processing performance improves, but device complexity and resource limitations are exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts complex rendering and tracking computations from the portable device architecture, eliminating the need for the device to possess high-end graphics processors, large memory resources, or sophisticated processing units. By moving these functions to servers, the device complexity is reduced to basic image capture, sensor data collection, and network communication capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal server-based processing platform that can serve multiple devices simultaneously. The same server infrastructure can handle rendering and tracking for numerous different portable devices with varying capabilities, making the solution universally applicable without requiring each device to be individually optimized for high-performance AR processing.
3Use of energy by moving object
If augmented reality processing is offloaded to external servers, then local computational load is reduced, but network dependency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-processing and preparing augmented reality content on servers before it is needed by the device. Servers can pre-render 3D models, pre-track objects in the environment, and pre-generate overlays based on available data, so that when the device requests content, it is already prepared or can be quickly generated. This reduces the need for real-time network communication during active AR usage, mitigating network dependency while maintaining low power consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for offloading augmented reality processing is described. A first sensor of a server generates a first set of sensor data corresponding to a location and an orientation of a display device. The server receives a request from the display device to offload a combination of at least one of a tracking process and a rendering process from the display device. The server generates offloaded processed data based on a combination of at least one of the first set of sensor data and a second set of sensor data. The second set of sensor data is generated by a second sensor at the display device. The server streams the offloaded processed data to the display device.