Background Virtual Element Tagging for Remote Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional parallel-reality applications limit user interaction with virtual elements to proximity and require the application to be open on the user's device, leading to missed opportunities for engagement with virtual elements.
Innovation Solution
A background process monitors the user's client device location and tags virtual elements in proximity, allowing users to interact with these elements remotely at a later time, even when the application is not open.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the application requires the user to have it open on their device to interact with virtual elements, then the interaction is real-time and responsive, but the user cannot discover or interact with virtual elements when the application is closed or in the background
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by monitoring user location and pre-tagging virtual elements in the user's proximity even when the application is closed. This allows the user to later interact with these pre-tagged elements without having missed the opportunity, effectively performing the tagging action in advance before the user actually opens the application.
Solution Approach 2:
The server acts as an intermediary between the user's device and the virtual elements. It receives location data from the device, autonomously tags virtual elements based on proximity, and stores this information for later interaction. This intermediary enables the connection between user location and virtual elements without requiring the application to be actively running on the user's device.
2Productivity
If the application continuously monitors location and tags virtual elements in real-time, then the user experience is enhanced with immediate discovery, but the energy consumption and device resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computational workload of monitoring location and tagging virtual elements from the user's device and relocates it to the server. The device only needs to provide periodic location data, while the server performs the intensive task of determining proximity to virtual elements and performing tagging operations, significantly reducing device energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of continuous real-time monitoring, the system uses periodic location updates from the device. The server receives location data at intervals and performs batch processing to tag virtual elements, converting the continuous action into periodic action that consumes less energy while still achieving effective virtual element discovery.
3Reliability
If the application processes and tags all virtual elements in the user's proximity, then complete coverage is achieved, but the data processing load and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex processing logic for determining proximity and selecting virtual elements to tag from the user's device and places it on the server. This centralizes the complexity in one location where it can be managed more efficiently, while the device remains simple and focused on providing location data and displaying results.
Data Source
AI summary
A parallel-reality application enables users to tag virtual elements in their proximity for later interaction. A geographic location of a user is received and used to identify a virtual location, in a virtual world, that maps to the geographic location of the user. A region of the virtual world is identified based on the identified virtual location and one or more virtual elements within the region of the virtual world are selected. An identifier of the one or more virtual elements is stored in conjunction with an identifier of the user and a list of tagged virtual elements is provided for display to the user. At a later time, the user interacts with a selected one of the tagged virtual elements.