Virtual Object Annotations for Privacy-Preserving Guided Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing customer support systems lack an efficient and privacy-preserving way to provide guided instructions or annotations to users, especially in extended reality environments, without requiring constant interaction with customer service representatives.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that uses computing devices to capture product identity and state, transmit it to a customer service representative, and enable annotations or animations on both physical and virtual representations of the product, allowing users to interact with virtual objects as if they were real, while maintaining user privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If customer support systems provide guided instructions through constant interaction with customer service representatives, then the quality of support and accuracy of annotations improve, but the complexity of the system and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual copy or digital twin of the physical product that can be annotated and interacted with. This virtual representation allows customer service representatives to provide guided instructions by interacting with the copy, which then automatically transfers annotations to the user's view, eliminating the need for constant direct interaction while maintaining support quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual product representation serves as an intermediary between the customer service representative and the end user. Annotations and guided instructions are applied to the virtual object, which then mediates the transmission of this information to the user, reducing system complexity by automating the annotation transfer process.
2Measurement precision
If customer support systems capture and transmit product identity and state data, then the precision of guided instructions improves, but the loss of user privacy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system processes and analyzes product data locally on the user's device to determine product identity and state. Only essential, anonymized information is transmitted to generate annotations, while detailed personal data remains local, thus maintaining precision of guided instructions while preserving user privacy through localized data processing.
3Ease of operation
If annotations are presented directly on the physical product through augmented reality, then the ease of operation improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring complex augmented reality hardware to overlay annotations directly on physical objects, the system uses a virtual product representation as a copy that displays annotations. This approach achieves ease of operation by presenting clear visual guidance while reducing device complexity by using software-based virtual representations rather than hardware-based augmented reality overlays.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a method for providing guided instructions or support using a virtual object. The method comprises at a first computing device in communication with one or more input devices and a second computing device, capturing, using the one or more input devices, one or more images, determining an identity of an object using the one or more images, and transmitting the identity of the object to the second computing device. The method further comprises receiving from the second computing device an indication of a first input received at the second computing device and presenting a first view of the object comprising a first annotation that corresponds to the first input received at the second computing device.