Head-Mounted Visual Search Thumbnails for Target Disambiguation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic devices with cameras struggle to accurately distinguish the target of a visual search among multiple physical objects in the environment.
Innovation Solution
The device selects a subset of the physical environment for visual search using gaze detection, head pose, and depth information, and presents a thumbnail image of the target object on the display to clarify the search result.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the device performs visual search on multiple physical objects in the environment, then the coverage of visual search is improved, but the ambiguity in identifying the target object increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the visual search process into distinct components: capturing multiple images of different physical objects, generating separate thumbnails for each object, and presenting these thumbnails as discrete search results. This segmentation allows the system to maintain comprehensive search coverage while enabling the user to clearly distinguish and select the intended target object from multiple candidates.
2Quantity of substance
If the device captures images of multiple physical objects, then the completeness of visual search results is improved, but the difficulty in distinguishing the target object increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates visual copies (thumbnails) of each captured physical object and presents these copies as distinct search results. Each thumbnail serves as a representative copy that allows the user to identify and distinguish the target object without directly viewing the original complex scene with multiple objects, thereby reducing the difficulty of target distinction while maintaining complete search results.
3Loss of information
If the device presents all captured images as search results, then the comprehensiveness of visual feedback is improved, but the complexity of the display increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential visual information from each captured image by generating simplified thumbnails that represent key objects. These extracted thumbnails are then presented as the visual search results, maintaining comprehensive visual feedback while significantly reducing display complexity compared to showing all original captured images.
Data Source
AI summary
A head-mounted device may be used to perform a visual search on a physical environment around the head-mounted device. A user may wish to visually search one out of multiple physical objects in the physical environment. To clearly show the user which physical object was the target of a visual search, the head-mounted device may present a thumbnail of the candidate physical object on a display. The thumbnail may be cropped and/or zoomed using an image from a camera on the head-mounted device. By displaying a thumbnail that is taken by a camera on the head-mounted device, the thumbnail will directly match the physical object in the user's physical environment, eliminating ambiguity regarding which physical object is the subject of the visual search.