Portable Device for AR Virtual Effects
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Solution Overview
Problem
AR glasses and headsets are costly, inconvenient, and prevent multiple users from sharing an enhanced vision experience due to sanitation concerns and the need for individual use.
Innovation Solution
A portable device, such as a handheld device simulating a laser pointer or flashlight, is used to actuate and provide virtual effects overlaying real-world objects or environments without the need for AR eyewear, utilizing a base station and tracking device to determine position, orientation, and user perspective for displaying virtual effects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If AR glasses or headsets are used to provide enhanced vision experience, then virtual projections can be overlaid on real-world objects, but the system becomes costly and inconvenient to wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a portable device that visually copies or simulates the appearance of AR eyewear (such as a handheld device resembling a laser pointer or flashlight). This copy allows users to interact with the AR system without actually wearing the expensive AR glasses or headset, thereby reducing cost and improving convenience while maintaining the enhanced vision experience through alternative interaction methods
2Adaptability or versatility
If AR eyewear or headgear is required for enhanced vision experience, then virtual overlays can be displayed, but multiple users cannot share the same experience due to sanitation concerns and individual use requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The portable device serves as a shared, non-contact interface that multiple users can interact with without physical contact or sanitation concerns. Since the device projects or displays virtual effects in the shared environment rather than requiring individual wearable equipment, multiple users can experience the enhanced vision together without sanitation risks associated with sharing AR eyewear
Solution Approach 2:
The portable device acts as an intermediary between the AR system and multiple users. Instead of requiring direct contact with AR eyewear, users interact with the portable device which mediates the AR experience, allowing shared usage while eliminating sanitation concerns through non-contact interaction
3Reliability
If AR headsets or glasses are used to overlay virtual projections, then enhanced vision is achieved, but the device complexity and requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a simplified portable device that copies the essential function of AR eyewear without requiring the complex hardware. This portable device has fewer components and lower complexity compared to actual AR glasses or headsets, while still enabling the enhanced vision experience through alternative projection or display mechanisms
Data Source
AI summary
In one implementation, an enhanced vision system includes a portable user device, a base station including a hardware processor and a memory storing a virtual effects rendering software code, and a display device communicatively coupled to the base station. The hardware processor executes the virtual effects rendering software code to detect the presence of the portable user device in a real-world environment, obtain a mapping of the real-world environment, and identify one or more virtual effect(s) for display in the real-world environment. The hardware processor further executes the virtual effects rendering software code to detect actuation of the portable user device, and to control the display device to display the virtual effect(s) in the real-world environment based on the mapping, and the position and orientation of the portable user device during the detected actuation.