Mirror-Display Device for Real-Time Appearance Capture and Comparison
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional mirrors and camera-based systems fail to convincingly replicate the real-time self-appearance experience, leading to inefficient shopping experiences due to the inability to accurately compare different articles tried on, as users struggle to recall their appearance across trials.
Innovation Solution
An interactive imaging and display system with a mirror-display device capable of operating in both mirror and display modes, using a camera to capture user appearances and control unit to manage image transformation, allowing real-time comparison of different trials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a camera and screen are used to replace the conventional mirror, then the system can capture and display user appearances for comparison, but the image generated is very different from a mirror reflection and does not provide a convincing mirror-like experience
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual copy of the mirror reflection experience by capturing the user's appearance with a camera and displaying it on a screen. The captured image is processed to simulate the optical characteristics of a mirror reflection, including the virtual image position at distance 2xD and the field of view constraints, providing a convincing digital replica of the mirror experience
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms the camera-captured image through various parameter changes including geometric transformation to correct perspective distortion, flipping to achieve mirror reversal, and scaling to match the apparent size of mirror reflections. These parameter adjustments convert the raw camera image into a convincing mirror-like display
2Adaptability or versatility
If a customer tries on numerous articles across different trials, then more comparison options are available, but the customer cannot recall appearances from previous trials and must repeatedly retry articles
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures and stores the user's appearance during each trial before the user leaves the store or before memory fades. By preliminarily recording the appearance data and making it readily retrievable, the system eliminates the need for users to rely on memory, allowing them to accurately compare appearances from multiple trials conducted at different times
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides visual feedback by displaying captured appearances on a screen, allowing users to immediately review and compare their appearance from different trials. This feedback mechanism enables informed decision-making by presenting actual visual evidence from previous trials rather than relying on user memory
3Ease of operation
If the user approaches the mirror to see more detail, then the field of view angle increases, but the distance to the virtual image changes and the perspective shifts
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the displayed image parameters based on the user's distance from the screen. As the user moves closer or farther away, the system modifies the scaling and perspective of the displayed appearance to maintain the optical characteristics of a mirror reflection, ensuring that the virtual image always appears at the correct distance 2xD regardless of user position
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems, devices and methods enabling appearance comparison. The system includes at least one interactive imaging and display station. The station includes a mirror-display device capable of selectably operating in either or both a mirror mode or a display mode; an imaging device to capture one or more appearances appearing in a field of view in front of the mirror-display device; and/or an image control unit to select the mode of operation of the mirror-display device according to a user command.