Virtual Portal Synchronization for Hybrid Conference Engagement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hybrid conferences face challenges in creating an inclusive and engaging experience for both in-person and remote attendees due to the lack of integrated and meaningful interactions, with remote participants often limited to passive viewing and minimal opportunities for dynamic engagement.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that synchronizes a physical portal device in a physical environment with a virtual portal in a virtual environment, enabling seamless interaction by streaming augmented reality video and audio, allowing remote users to participate through avatars and gestures, and ensuring real-time alignment and synchronization between the two environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If remote participants use video conferencing or livestreams to attend hybrid conferences, then they can access conference content, but they are limited to passive viewing with minimal opportunities for dynamic interaction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual replica of the physical conference environment including spatial relationships, objects, and participants. Remote users interact with a digital twin of the physical space, allowing them to navigate and engage as if physically present, thereby transforming passive viewing into active participation while maintaining accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a virtual dimension to the traditional video conferencing model by creating an immersive 3D environment. Instead of flat 2D video screens, remote participants enter a volumetric virtual space that mirrors the physical conference, enabling natural spatial interactions and gestures that were impossible in conventional remote meeting formats
2Adaptability or versatility
If in-person participants engage in spontaneous conversations and informal discussions, then they experience dynamic socialization, but remote participants remain isolated in parallel activities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the physical and virtual conference environments into a unified hybrid experience. Physical participants wear AR glasses that overlay virtual elements in their field of view, while remote participants join as virtual avatars in the same spatial environment, allowing all participants regardless of location to share the same interaction context and engage in spontaneous conversations together
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces AR glasses and virtual avatars as intermediaries that bridge the gap between physical and remote participants. The AR glasses capture and transmit spatial context, gestures, and environmental information to remote users, while virtual avatars represent physical participants in the virtual space, preserving interaction context across the physical-digital boundary
3Adaptability or versatility
If a virtual conference environment is created for remote participants, then interaction opportunities increase, but synchronization with the physical environment becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the physical portal device universal by enabling it to function both as a physical object in the real world and as a virtual object in the digital environment. The same device serves dual purposes: capturing physical spatial data for the virtual replica and displaying virtual content to physical users through AR overlays, thereby simplifying synchronization through a single unified interface
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional approach by having the physical environment adapt to the virtual framework rather than the reverse. Physical portal devices are equipped with sensors and AR capabilities that allow them to be captured and replicated in the virtual environment, while virtual content is projected back onto physical devices. This inversion simplifies synchronization by making the physical world conform to the virtual coordinate system
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for providing interactions between virtual and physical participants are disclosed. A synchronizing computer program receives a physical location and orientation of a physical portal device in a physical environment. The physical portal device includes a monitor and a computer processor executing an augmented reality application. The synchronizing computer program aligns the physical location and orientation with a virtual location and orientation of a virtual portal rendered in a virtual environment. A remote user computer program executed by a remote user electronic device receives the virtual location and orientation from the synchronizing computer program and renders the virtual portal in the virtual environment. The augmented reality application streams augmented reality video of the physical environment from the physical portal device to the remote user computer program, which displays the augmented reality video in the virtual portal. The system enables dynamic interactions and synchronization between environments.