Windshield Map Projection for AR Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing navigation systems, including GPS and augmented reality applications, provide limited information about a user's surroundings and can be distracting and disorienting, as they require users to correlate animated map views with real-world images, making navigation challenging.
Innovation Solution
A navigation system that displays a reflected virtual map projection of real-time objects within a user's viewing area, superimposing aerial or satellite imagery onto the real-time image with markers to connect virtual and real-world objects, allowing for improved navigation and understanding of surroundings by correlating virtual and real-world images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If GPS systems display animated map views on secondary devices, then navigation information is provided, but user distraction and disorientation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the vehicle's windshield as an intermediary surface to project navigation information directly in the driver's field of view. Instead of requiring the driver to look at a secondary device, the map projection is displayed on the windshield, serving as a mediator between the navigation system and the driver, thereby reducing distraction while maintaining information delivery
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from 2D animated map displays on handheld devices to a projected display on the windshield surface. This dimensional change allows navigation information to be presented in the driver's peripheral vision field, eliminating the need to shift attention to a separate device and reducing cognitive load associated with correlating map views with real-world surroundings
2Loss of information
If augmented reality displays overlay virtual elements on live video, then information about physical world is enhanced, but occlusion of live scene and difficulty in relating virtual to physical increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a reflected copy of the map view that mirrors the actual geographical layout. By displaying a reflected aerial or satellite map view on the windshield that corresponds to the driver's current orientation and position, the system provides an intuitive visual copy of the physical world layout, making it easy for drivers to understand their location and orientation without difficulty
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional AR approach by displaying a reflected view rather than a direct overhead view. The map projection shows reflected aerial or satellite imagery that mirrors how the driver perceives the physical world, creating an intuitive correspondence between the virtual display and the actual environment, thereby eliminating the disorientation caused by non-reflected map views
3Ease of operation
If heads up displays project basic directional information on windshields, then user distraction is reduced, but navigation information completeness is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the windshield display multi-functional by integrating both basic directional information and comprehensive navigational map data. The system can display reflected aerial or satellite imagery, vector map images, raster map images, and directional cues all on the same windshield surface, allowing a single display to serve multiple navigation functions simultaneously, thereby providing complete navigation information without increasing distraction
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a method and system for creating and displaying a map projection of a device's real-time viewing area to depict virtual objects, the virtual objects providing a reflected view of real-time objects displayed within the device's viewing area, the method comprising: displaying a real-time image of the device's viewing area taken from a geographical location on a display; retrieving the map projection for revealing the reflected view as an elevated view of a ground surface about the device's current geographical location and in accordance with the device's viewing area; superimposing the map projection on the display and overlaid in an upper portion of the real-time image; and defining one or more markers configured to show a relationship between the map projection and the real-time image, each marker overlaid on the display and configured to connect between the virtual object in the map projection and the corresponding real-time object on the real-time image.