Virtual Room Interface for Intuitive Device Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing home automation and electronic device control systems face challenges in efficiently generating and updating virtual rooms to control devices, as they require custom creation for each physical room and are costly to maintain, especially when the room's appearance changes.
Innovation Solution
A technique that allows users to rapidly and economically generate virtual rooms using a mobile device by selecting services, capturing images of the physical room in different states, aligning them, and designating hit boxes to create a virtual room-based user interface, which can be tested and finalized without specialized training.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If virtual rooms are custom created for each physical room to provide intuitive device control, then user interface intuitiveness is improved, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the physical room environment that mirrors the actual spatial arrangement of devices and furniture. This virtual replica serves as an intuitive interface where users can interact with device representations that match their physical locations, eliminating the need to memorize switch functions while maintaining visual correspondence between the virtual and physical spaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional flat, abstract control interfaces to a three-dimensional virtual environment that replicates the physical room's spatial relationships. By adding the dimension of spatial visualization, users can intuitively understand device locations and functions through visual correspondence rather than memorization, resolving the contradiction between interface intuitiveness and system complexity.
2Ease of operation
If virtual rooms are custom created for each physical room to provide intuitive device control, then user interface intuitiveness is improved, but maintenance cost increases when room appearance changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic virtual room system that can automatically update when physical changes occur. Rather than requiring manual recreation of virtual rooms when furniture is rearranged or devices are added, the system dynamically adapts the virtual representation to match the current physical state, reducing maintenance effort while preserving interface intuitiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual room system automatically detects and adapts to changes in the physical environment without requiring manual intervention. When devices are added, removed, or relocated, or when furniture arrangements change, the system self-updates the virtual representation, eliminating the need for costly professional recreation of virtual rooms and enabling users to maintain intuitive control interfaces independently.
3Reliability
If traditional mechanical switches are used to control devices, then reliability is improved, but usability decreases when many devices are located in the same room
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtual room interface as an intermediary between users and physical devices. This virtual layer provides visual representations of devices and their states, allowing users to understand and control devices intuitively without relying on memorized switch functions. The intermediary maintains reliable control while dramatically improving usability by providing visual context and spatial correspondence.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a technique is utilized to generate a virtual-room of a virtual room-based user interface that controls one or more devices within a physical room of a structure. A user is prompted to select one or more services provided by the one or more devices within the physical room. A plurality of images of the physical room are obtained that each share substantially a same perspective. The plurality of images include an all-off image, in which all of the one or more of the services are in an inactive state, and one or more service-specific images, in which a single service is in an active state and any other services are in the inactive state. The plurality of images are aligned to create an aligned image stack. One or more hit boxes are designated. The virtual room is generated based on the aligned image stack and the designated one or more hit boxes.