ES2318989A1 - Interior decoration system through increased reality. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Interior decoration system through augmented reality. The invention consists of a system that allows the visualization of virtual furniture modeled in three dimensions and positioned first in a catalog, and secondly in a room or real environment, allowing the user the possibility of observing how his house will look furnished through this system, the client can select the furniture in the catalog, place them in real size in the room and interact with them by changing the position of the same, also offering the possibility of placing a virtual piece of furniture on a real piece of furniture and even a virtual piece of furniture. Another virtual on the other hand, through a graphic interface of windows, you have the option to rotate, change size, position and even texture the virtual furniture in different ways. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

Interior decoration system through augmented reality.

Technical sector

The invention consists of a system based on Augmented Reality in which you interact with virtual objects and with concrete application for use in the field of decoration of interiors

State of the art

Computers today are used by a wide range of people for all types of objectives. Some computer systems work with little human intervention but the  they are mostly interactive, interacting with people or users They are involved in solving tasks. In these cases the person-computer interface, which is also known as the user interface, it is usually a very factor important of the success or failure of an interactive system.

Strictly speaking, the interface is made up of the input and output devices and the programs that make it work, but from a more general point of view it includes everything what has to do with the experience of a user and the computer, such as the work environment, the organization in which he works, the training he has had, the help he receives, etc.

The interfaces used for communication man-machine have been evolving considerably. For decades, input devices Standard to the machine have been the mouse and keyboard. Advances Recent have allowed the use of mice and wireless keyboards that communicate with a receiving terminal using communication by Bluetooth or Radio Frequency, thus eliminating the presence of unnecessary cables, but having to resort to batteries that allow the operation of the devices so autonomous.

Other input system may be the speech recognition. In this case, a process of previous training in which the computer memorizes certain patterns so that recognition of User phrases and the execution of the corresponding command. Without However, this system is too dependent on the machine power, microphone quality and clarity with The words have been pronounced.

Currently, computers are used by a wide range of people, who in many cases are not familiar with the technology. For them, the interfaces of Previously described entry are uncomfortable and not very intuitive. The system defined below uses the Augmented Reality, offering the user a form of interaction with the simple, intuitive and consistent use computer Application specific.

Detailed description of the invention

The invention consists of a system that allows the visualization of virtual furniture modeled in three dimensions and positioned first in a catalog, and secondly in a room or real environment, allowing the user the possibility to observe how your house will be furnished. Through this system, the customer can select the furniture from the catalog, place them in real size in the room and interact with these changing their position, also offering the possibility of placing a virtual piece of furniture on a real piece of furniture and even a virtual piece of furniture over a virtual one. On the other hand, to through a graphical window interface, you have the option of rotate, change size, position and even texturing of various Forms virtual furniture.

The system of the invention is formed by a set of positioning objects characterized by marks or patterns, a real-time image capture device, a microprocessor with ability to find out the position and Object orientation by identifying a brand. In addition, the microprocessor must respond with specific actions before the manipulation of said positioning objects. By Lastly, an output or display device is included. mixed reality.

They are described in more detail below. This elements:

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A real-time image capture device that you get information from the first scene, that is, from the real environment and from the brand or pattern from which a piece of furniture is to be placed Virtual in a real room. Said output device can be a webcam or any type of video camera digital.

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A group of brands or patterns that are placed in the furniture catalog interactive or anywhere in the room to decorate. These brands are made with a semi-rigid material on which place a white plane, and in the center of it is a black square In the center of it is included an image white monochrome with thick strokes, asymmetric shape both vertically and horizontally, and simple geometric shape to facilitate the detection system the detection of said brand.

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A catalog showing virtual 3D models of the furniture. The leaves on the left side of it include descriptive images of the furniture, as well as measurements, price and Manufacturing materials. On the right sheets, the positioning objects characterized by marks or patterns, each one of them being different for each piece of furniture. The user You can see on each page of the catalog a virtual model using augmented reality, listen to information about price, materials, etc., and at the same time see said printed information.

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A microprocessor that must be configured to generate a specific multimedia content (3D modeled furniture) for each brand detected, as well as to create a second scene as a result of the superposition of the multimedia object on the first scene in a position relative to the detected mark , so that the experience of mixed or augmented reality is offered to the user. The microprocessor can be located on a PC, laptop, Tablet PC, PDA or mobile phone.

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A user interface with graphical window environment that has the following functionalities: selection with the mouse of a piece of furniture virtual allowing its rotation, scaling or change of position. Choice of a specific texture and color and assignment to the furniture previously selected All this is executed in time. real.

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An output device that allows the appreciation by the user of the mixed reality, that is, the visualization of his house furnished with real-size virtual furniture, being able to perceive the relationship of volumes, textures and final finish that this entails. The display device can be a conventional monitor, plasma screen, TFT monitor, projector or viewfinders built into augmented reality glasses. In any case, it should have a rate of 12 to 30 frames per second.

The operation of the system of the invention is as follows: the image capture device is positioned focusing on the interactive furniture catalog. The microprocessor analyzes the images received from the real environment or first scene continuously, so that when a mark or pattern is recognized, the position of the camera with respect to that mark is calculated. Next, a second scene is generated (3D virtual furniture overlay to mock-up size and audio corresponding to the first scene) and the user is shown through the display device. The user selects from the catalog those furniture they want. To do this, take the right sheets corresponding to the selected objects and place them in a certain position in the room. The microprocessor is responsible for changing the dimensions of the virtual furniture from mockup size to real size at the time it detects that the REAL SIZE flag has been activated, that is, when the distance of the positioning object (brand or pattern) to the capture device exceeds a certain threshold. Finally, once the user has placed all the virtual furniture in the room, it has the possibility of interacting with the system through a graphic window interface. The following options are allowed: scaling, rotation, change of position and change of texture and color of a piece of furniture previously selected with the mouse; Activation of the "virtual furniture overlay" mode by pressing the button with this mouse. With this last option, it is possible to position a virtual piece of furniture on top of another, such as a lamp on a table, or a TV on a shelf.

System particularities:

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Possibility of providing certain transparency to virtual furniture.

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The multimedia contents that overlap on the first scene to generate the second scene or augmented reality in the case of Interactive furniture catalog can be 3D models, audio, 2D video or images.

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He image capture device, display device and Software can be integrated into a single device.

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He pickup and display device can be integrated in an augmented reality glasses and that these are connected in a way wireless (via Radio Frequency or Bluetooth) to microprocessor.

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He image capture device, display device and Software can be located in remote positions.

Description of the drawings

They are described very briefly below. a series of figures that help to better understand the invention and that expressly relate to an embodiment of said invention presented as a non-limiting example of is.

Figure 1 shows a diagram or diagram of blocks of the system of the invention.

Figure 2 shows an image of the catalog of furniture.

Figure 3 shows a real room furnished with virtual furniture.

Embodiments of the invention

The system of the invention is composed of generic form for all the blocks that appear in Figure 1 and defined below:

The general operation of the system consists in which the processing Block 1 or C.P.U. is responsible for generating a specific multimedia content (3D modeling furniture) for each brand detected, as well as to create a second scene as result of the superimposition of the multimedia object (Block 6) about the first scene in a position relative to the brand detected, so that the user is offered the experience of mixed or augmented reality. To do this, it makes use of Blocks 4 and 5, Positioning and Detection of marks, respectively, obviously specifying the information in Block 3 obtained from the input device or Block 2. Once that the second scene or Augmented Reality has been generated, is show the user through the output device or Block 7.

Block 1. Processing System or C.P.U .: Starting from an input image extracted from the real world, it detects a mark or pattern, from which, the coordinates of the image capture device with respect to positioning object (brand). As of this moment, the microprocessor has all the necessary information to overlay multimedia information (virtual furniture in 3D) at the first scene, resulting in a second scene showing the Augmented Reality experience.

Block 2. Image Capture Device: Input interface that captures information from the first scene or real world in which positioning objects or marks are positioned. It should have a rate of around 30 frames per second.

Block 3. First Scene. OBJECTS POSITIONING: This block represents the information of the world real. In one case, the POSITIONING OBJECTS are located the catalog sheets, and in a second case, these are placed on the floor or walls of the room to decorate.

Block 4. Mark Detection: This block is is responsible for locating an object of positioning through image processing, and once located, recognize a specific brand by comparing a existing pattern in it with another previously memorized pattern in a previous phase of training.

Block 5. Positioning: Once the brand, this block is responsible for finding out the position of the display device with respect to the positioning object, to allow the microprocessor to mix the Virtual and real information in a consistent way.

Block 6. Multimedia information: Files of 3D models, audio files, video or flat images.

Block 7. Display Device: This block allows to show the user the information mix multimedia with the real world in a consistent and timely manner real.

Block 8. Second scene or Augmented Reality: Information obtained as a result of the execution of all System processes of the invention. On the one hand, it consists of a virtual furniture catalog modeled in 3D and with information on audio type, and on the other hand, it consists of a decorated room with real size virtual furniture.

For an ideal embodiment of the system the characteristics of the previously defined elements would be the following:

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Microprocessor located in a latest generation desktop computer equipped with a GeForce Nvidia graphics card with double input and double output, capable of modeling in real time more than one million polygons and 256 Mbytes of textures. It has the ability to render large amounts of information, and process all the data that comes to it, modifying the second scene or mixed reality in real time.

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The image capture device and the display device are integrated into the same element known as HMD ( Head Mounted Display ) glasses. The integrated micro-camera has the following characteristics: array size of 754 x 482 pixels, active pixel size 6pm x 6pm, 1.3 '' optical width format, allows the use of multiple cameras in parallel. On the other hand, the micro-viewers are characterized by: resolution of 800x600, 480,000 pixels and 18 bits of color each, built with LCOS ( Liquid Crystal On Silicon ) material that provides a very high image quality, image rate in the 360 Hz color displays. HMD glasses offer the user a field of view of 40º diagonally.

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At If the system is installed in a commercial premises to demonstration to the general public, it is desired that the result of the application be observed by several people simultaneously, by which also includes the use of a plasma screen of fifty''.

- The positioning objects have some dimensions of 14 x 14 cm.

Once described the elements that make up the system of the invention, the operation thereof would be the next:

The user is positioned in front of the catalog and the HMD glasses are placed, so that the micro-camera is focusing at all times at pages where the positioning objects are located. On going passing the sheets, thanks to augmented reality, the user can  visualize virtual furniture modeled in 3D to model size, you can read furniture information and listen to information additional. Once seen all the furniture, the user selects from the catalog those marks located on the right pages corresponding to the desired furniture. to place them in Any position of the room you want to furnish. Have also the possibility of placing a virtual piece of furniture over a real one or one virtual over another also virtual. Finally you can view the room furnished with virtual furniture to size real on the plasma screen or in the viewfinders of the HMD glasses, being able to change the position, size and textures of the furniture to through the graphical window interface.

Claims (7)

1. Mixed reality system or reality augmented with concrete application for interior decoration that understands:

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Capture device images.

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Large graphics card microprocessor data storage capacity

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Display device

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Positioning objects or brands.

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Application software

2. System according to claim 1 which also incorporates a graphical window interface that allows the User interaction with virtual furniture. 3. System according to any of the previous claims that includes a furniture catalog in 3D through augmented reality. 4. System according to any of the previous claims which includes the function of changing Real size mockup size of furniture when the distance of the camera to the positioning object exceeds a certain threshold. 5. System according to any of the previous claims that may include different types of Capture and display devices: webcams, video digital cameras, PC, laptop, tablet PC, PDA, mobile, HMD glasses, etc. 6. System according to any of the previous claims that also offers the possibility of place virtual furniture on other virtual furniture. 7. System according to any of the previous claims that allows the use of any type of 3D file, since the application software supports the adaptation of any format to augmented reality.