AR Visualization of Smart-Home Field of View for Device Placement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The installation and optimization of smart-home devices are challenging due to invisible fields of view that affect their operation and coverage, making it difficult for non-expert users to ensure proper placement and coverage without activating and viewing the device's feed.
Innovation Solution
A method using a mobile computing device with a camera to render and display virtual objects representing the field of view of smart-home devices, allowing users to visualize coverage areas and optimize device placement through augmented reality, including obstruction clipping and sensitivity adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If smart-home devices are installed without visualization tools, then device complexity is reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but installation difficulty increases and user ability to ensure proper placement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses color-coded visualizations to represent different aspects of the field of view and coverage areas. Virtual objects display colors indicating signal strength, coverage quality, and optimal placement zones, making invisible electromagnetic fields perceptible to users through color variations on the mobile device display.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a mobile computing device as an intermediary between the smart-home device and the user. This intermediary runs an application that receives data from the smart-home device, processes it, and presents visualized information about the field of view and coverage areas, bridging the gap between the invisible technical parameters and user comprehension.
2Loss of information
If augmented reality visualization is implemented, then user ability to visualize coverage is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a mobile computing device (smartphone or tablet) that the user already possesses, rather than requiring a dedicated visualization device. This multi-functional device serves both as the primary interface for the smart-home system and as the augmented reality display, eliminating the need for additional specialized hardware and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates virtual copies or representations of the invisible field of view and coverage areas. Instead of directly displaying physical measurements or technical data, the system generates virtual objects that replicate and visualize the spatial characteristics of the electromagnetic fields, making them perceivable and understandable to users through familiar augmented reality interfaces.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
A method for optimizing the placement of smart-home devices may include receiving, by a mobile computing device, a location for a smart-home device, where the mobile computing device comprises a display and a camera; rendering a view of a virtual object that represents a field-of-view of the smart-home device, where the view of the virtual object is rendered based on a position corresponding to a position of the mobile computing device; and displaying, by the mobile computing device, the view of a virtual object that represents a field-of-view of the smart-home device on the display of the mobile computing device.