U.S. patent application number 17/540593 was filed with the patent office on 2022-03-24 for gaze-driven augmented reality.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS, INC.. The applicant listed for this patent is INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS, INC.. Invention is credited to Eduardo Asbun, Ralph Neff, Yuriy Reznik, Gregory S. Sternberg, Ariela Zeira.
Application Number | 20220092308 17/540593 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | |
Filed Date | 2022-03-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220092308 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Asbun; Eduardo ; et
al. |
March 24, 2022 |
GAZE-DRIVEN AUGMENTED REALITY
Abstract
Augmented reality (AR) systems, methods, and instrumentalities
are disclosed. A user's gaze point may be estimated and may be used
to search for and present information, e.g., information relating
to areas on which the user is focusing. The user's gaze point may
be used to facilitate or enable modes of interactivity and/or user
interfaces that may be controlled by the direction of view of the
user. Biometric techniques may be used to estimate an emotional
state of the user. This estimated emotional state may be used to be
the information that is presented to the user.
Inventors: |
Asbun; Eduardo; (Santa
Clara, CA) ; Reznik; Yuriy; (Seattle, WA) ;
Zeira; Ariela; (Encinitas, CA) ; Sternberg; Gregory
S.; (Mt. Laurel, NJ) ; Neff; Ralph; (San
Diego, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS, INC. |
Wilmington |
DE |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
INTERDIGITAL PATENT HOLDINGS,
INC.
Wilmington
DE
|
Appl. No.: |
17/540593 |
Filed: |
December 2, 2021 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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15924956 |
Mar 19, 2018 |
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17540593 |
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15028233 |
Apr 8, 2016 |
9922253 |
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PCT/US2014/060016 |
Oct 10, 2014 |
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15924956 |
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61889900 |
Oct 11, 2013 |
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International
Class: |
G06K 9/00 20060101
G06K009/00; A61B 5/16 20060101 A61B005/16; G06F 3/01 20060101
G06F003/01; A61B 5/00 20060101 A61B005/00; A61B 5/11 20060101
A61B005/11; G16H 40/67 20060101 G16H040/67; G02B 27/01 20060101
G02B027/01; H04W 4/30 20060101 H04W004/30 |
Claims
1-21. (canceled)
22. A method for providing augmented reality (AR) to a user viewing
a real world scene through an AR device, comprising: determining a
region of interest (ROI), wherein the ROI contains one or more
physical objects currently in proximity to the user; searching for
information regarding the one or more physical objects in the ROI;
and displaying a zoomed ROI, wherein the zoomed ROI comprises at
least one of: a more detailed view of a portion of the real world
scene; retrieved imagery overlaid over the real world scene; or
fewer physical objects than were present in the ROI.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the zoomed ROI exhibits a
clarity or magnification beyond capability of the AR device.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61/889,900, filed Oct. 11, 2013, the disclosure of
which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] In augmented reality (AR), a user's view of the real world
may be digitally enhanced (or augmented) by adding a layer, or
layers, of digital information on top of an image being viewed
through a device (such as a smartphone, tablet, or wearable
electronic device (such as the GOOGLE GLASS.RTM. system)). Some
applications of AR may include sightseeing (e.g., providing
information on nearby businesses or attractions), gaming (e.g.,
digital game play in a real world environment), navigation, and
others.
[0003] Applications of AR may be suitable for wireless
transmit/receive units (WTRUs), such as mobile devices, because
mobile devices may be equipped with cameras, sensors, a global
positioning system (GPS), and a gyroscope (such as to determine the
direction of the camera view). A WTRU also has send/receive
capabilities to interact with a server.
SUMMARY
[0004] Augmented reality (AR) systems, methods, and
instrumentalities are disclosed. A user's gaze point may be
estimated and may be used to search for and present information,
e.g., only present information relating to areas to which the user
is focusing his or her direction of view. The user's gaze point may
be used to facilitate or enable modes of interactivity and/or user
interfaces that may be controlled by the direction of view of the
user.
[0005] Biometric techniques may be used to estimate an emotional
state of the user. This estimated emotional state may be used to
refine the information that is presented to the user.
[0006] A method of presenting information in an AR system may
involve determining a gaze point of a user and a region of interest
(ROI) as a function of the gaze point. Information pertaining to an
object in the ROI may be presented. An emotional state of a user
may be determined as a function of biometric data pertaining to the
user. The search result may be filtered as a function of the
determined emotional state.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating example elements of an
augmented reality (AR) system.
[0008] FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating example AR information
superimposed on an image.
[0009] FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of
incorrectness or inconsistency of AR information superimposed on an
image.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example system for
implementing an AR technique.
[0011] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating another example
system for implementing an AR technique.
[0012] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example AR search
result.
[0013] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example AR system
that may use location-based and visual search techniques.
[0014] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example AR user
interface.
[0015] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example gaze-point
detection system.
[0016] FIG. 9 illustrates an example eye tracking system.
[0017] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of using gaze-point detection
to limit a search over a region of interest (ROI).
[0018] FIG. 11A is a diagram illustrating different results from a
ROI resulting from differing distances to a target.
[0019] FIG. 11B is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a size of a
ROI.
[0020] FIG. 12 depicts an example AR system comprising a
gaze-driven user interface (UI).
[0021] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of use of gaze-point
detection on a gaze-driven user interface (UI).
[0022] FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example module
that may be used for estimating emotional state.
[0023] FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an example
gaze-driven AR system.
[0024] FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a gaze-driven AR user
interface.
[0025] FIG. 17 depicts an example of adaptively adjusting a size of
a ROI to reduce a number of objects of interest.
[0026] FIG. 18A is a system diagram of an example communications
system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be
implemented.
[0027] FIG. 18B is a system diagram of an example wireless
transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 18A.
[0028] FIG. 18C is a system diagram of an example radio access
network and an example core network that may be used within the
communications system illustrated in FIG. 18A.
[0029] FIG. 18D is a system diagram of another example radio access
network and another example core network that may be used within
the communications system illustrated in FIG. 18A.
[0030] FIG. 18E is a system diagram of another example radio access
network and another example core network that may be used within
the communications system illustrated in FIG. 18A.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0031] A detailed description of illustrative embodiments will now
be described with reference to the various Figures. Although this
description provides a detailed example of possible
implementations, it should be noted that the details are intended
to be exemplary and in no way limit the scope of the
application.
[0032] FIG. 1 illustrates example elements of an augmented reality
(AR) system including a mobile device, such as a WTRU 100. User
experience in an AR system may be enhanced by presenting
information that may be relevant to the user. By estimating a
user's direction of view, a search space may be characterized,
e.g., limited. The quality of results may be improved, and the
usage of processing and network resources may be reduced. A user's
gaze point may be estimated and may be used to search for and
present information, e.g., only present information relating to
areas to which the user is focusing his or her direction of view.
The user's gaze point may be used to facilitate or enable modes of
interactivity and/or user interfaces that may be controlled by the
direction of view of the user. Biometric techniques may be used to
estimate an emotional state of the user. This estimated emotional
state may be used to refine the information that is presented to
the user.
[0033] A camera may be used to capture an image 102 or video of a
scene. GPS may be used to determine a geographical location, e.g.,
GPS coordinates 104, of the mobile device, and a gyroscope may be
used to determine a direction of the camera view 106. This
information may be sent to a server 108, which may determine
whether the WTRU 100 is located close to objects of interest and
whether they are within the field of view of the camera. The
results may be provided to an AR client 110, and the AR client 110
may highlight these objects by superimposing text or images on the
device's display.
[0034] In location-based AR, relevant information may be selected
based on the user's geolocation (e.g., obtained using GPS or
wireless networks) and/or orientation information (e.g., obtained
using gyroscope or compass). This type of AR may be used with
mapping or navigation applications, where users may want to find
stores or services near their location.
[0035] FIG. 2A illustrates that results may be superimposed on
preexisting images or video, or may be overlaid on images or video
captured using a camera. An advantage of this technique is that
relatively little information may be sent to and received from the
server; therefore, the communication overhead may be reduced and
the response time may be improved. However, the geolocation and/or
orientation information may be inaccurate, the view of the camera
may be blocked, and/or the camera may be pointing to an unrelated
object. These conditions may result in incorrect or inconsistent
information being shown to the user, as in FIG. 2B, in which the
view of the camera may have little or no relation to the
information overlaid on the screen.
[0036] FIG. 3 depicts an example system 300 that may implement an
AR technique that may use an image or images captured by a camera
302, e.g., in real-time to perform a visual search about objects in
the user's visual proximity. A visual search may be performed by a
server 304, e.g., entirely by the server 304. For example, an image
or images may be sent by a client 306 to the server 304, which may
perform the search. Results may then be sent back to the client 306
for display by the client 306. This approach may offload most of
the processing to the server 304, but may involve transmission of a
possibly large amount of information over a network 308, which may
increase latency.
[0037] FIG. 4 depicts an example system 400 that may implement an
AR technique in which part of the processing may be done by a
client 402 (e.g., a "client-server" model). The client 402 may
extract relevant features from the captured image(s) to obtain a
set of descriptors that are used by a server 404 to perform the
search. With this approach, the amount of information sent over a
network 406 may be significantly reduced, improving the system
response time. However, processing requirements at the client 402
may increase. If client capability is high, a subset of a database
408 may be cached at the client 402 to further improve system
performance.
[0038] Users may capture image or video under a variety of
conditions, e.g., lighting, occlusion, camera tilt, etc. Improving
the robustness of the system may improve performance under these
conditions. In addition, reducing search latency may improve
real-time operation. To improve the performance of visual search, a
visual search may be conducted on a subset of data available at the
server. For example, irrelevant data may be limited, e.g., by
considering locations that are close to the user's position.
[0039] Information presented to the user may correspond to the view
being shown on the device's display, thus increasing its relevance.
However, for client-server models, processing time may be spent on
descriptor extraction for objects that are of no interest to the
user. Further, for server-centric systems, query images may be sent
from clients to a remote server. This may create a significant
amount of network traffic.
[0040] Other issues may be related to the user interface. For
example, a search may result in a large number of matching objects,
potentially complicating on-screen annotations.
[0041] FIG. 5 illustrates an example screenshot 502. The system may
find it difficult or impossible to reduce the number of displayed
objects if it has no way of knowing which of the displayed objects
are important to the user. Some users may experience information
overload as they may be presented with results that may not be
relevant to them. In addition, with small screens or if annotations
are overlapping, selecting a particular result from multiple
results may be challenging.
[0042] FIG. 6 depicts an example AR system 600 that may use both
location-based and visual search techniques. Location-based search
may use input from sensors 602, such as GPS and wireless networks,
to estimate a user's location. The location may be provided to a
server 604, which may perform a search prior to presenting results
to the user on the device's display 606. A visual search may be
performed by extracting features, e.g., descriptors, from images
that may be captured, for example, by a camera 608. This
information may be sent as part of a request to the server 604. One
example feature extraction algorithm is known as Scale Invariant
Feature Transform (SIFT) 610, but other algorithms may be used. An
image retrieval algorithm that may be used is known as "bag of
features" 612. These features may be used to create a retrieval
request that may be sent to the server 604 to obtain more relevant
results. Other input methods, such as voice recognition, may be
used to create a retrieval request.
[0043] The example AR system 600 may comprise a client 614 that may
have capabilities to implement visual search and that may maintain
a local database 616 to speed up computation and reduce network
traffic. The local database 616 may be built up by collecting
requests and corresponding results as they are sent to and received
from the server 604. To maintain relevance of results and avoid
providing stale results, the local database 616 may remove results
after a period of time. The local database 616 may remove results
using one or more location criteria, e.g., when the user changes
location, some results may be removed from the cache because the
results may be less likely to be needed again, or based on whether
cached contents may still be viewable from the user's current
location. For example, a content result may be removed from the
cache based on a comparison of the user's current location to a
location associated with the content result. As described herein,
visual search may be implemented at the server, e.g., only at the
server. In this case, local search may be omitted.
[0044] FIG. 7 depicts an example AR user interface 702 that may be
presented by an AR system, such as the GOOGLE GLASS.RTM. system.
The AR user interface 702 may be used to allow users to perform
functions that may be performed by smartphones. As shown in FIG. 7,
a variety of information (e.g., icons, alerts, directional arrows,
and/or other visual cues) may be displayed on the AR user interface
702, e.g., may be projected on the surface of a wearable electronic
device. As AR becomes more closely integrated with wearable
electronic devices, such as eyewear or contact lenses, visual
search functionality will improve the functionality of such
devices.
[0045] AR systems that have visual search functionality may enable
retrieval of information about objects in the field of view of the
camera. However, with some visual search techniques, at least some
of the presented information may not be of interest to the user.
Also, system and network resources may be used on searching results
that the user is not interested in. Further, the user interface may
be cumbersome to use.
[0046] According to the disclosed subject matter, the relevance of
the information presented to the user of an AR system may be
improved using a number of techniques individually or in
combination. The gaze point of a user may be estimated, and
information may be presented in the areas, (e.g., only in the
areas) where the user is focusing his or her direction of view. The
estimated gaze point of a user may be used to enable or facilitate
modes of interactivity and/or user interfaces that may be
controlled by the user's direction of view. Biometric techniques
may be used to estimate the emotional state of a user to further
refine the information that is presented to the user.
[0047] A gaze-driven visual search engine may be used to improve
the relevance and/or quality of search results in an AR system.
FIG. 8 depicts an example gaze-point detection system 800. It will
be appreciated that architectures other than the particular
architecture shown in FIG. 8 may be implemented. A camera or
cameras 802 facing a user 804 may capture one or more images, which
may be used to determine the presence of human body features (e.g.,
face, nose, ears) to facilitate the identification of human eyes.
If the camera or cameras 802 are located close to the face of the
user, they may capture images of sufficient resolution to
facilitate estimation of gaze point. For wearable devices, a camera
may be placed on the device itself facing the user's eyes, enabling
gaze-point detection.
[0048] A gaze-point detection subsystem 806 may use one or more eye
gaze point direction estimation and/or detection techniques to
estimate and/or detect a direction of view. A region of interest
(ROI) subsystem 808 may determine coordinates 810 of a ROI 812 on
an image 814 being captured by the camera. The size of the ROI and
confidence level of accurate detection may be determined by the
technique or techniques used for gaze-point detection. Either or
both of these parameters may be used by the system 800 to determine
the size of the ROI in which to perform a search.
[0049] Gaze-point detection may be based on any of a variety of
technologies and may use devices mounted on the user's head or less
intrusive systems (e.g., remote or non-head mounted systems). For
example, a gaze-point detection system may analyze an image of the
eye and may determine the gaze direction by computing the vector
defined by the pupil center and a set of glints generated in the
eye by an infrared illuminator. To increase the resolution of the
vector, a camera with a narrow field of view may be used
Maintaining the eyes centered in the image, the camera may move to
follow the eyes and compensate for the head movements.
[0050] Another example gaze-point detection system may allow
combined tracking of the user's eye positions and the gaze
direction in near real-time. Such a system may use two video
cameras mounted on the left and right side of a display and may use
facial feature detection to determine the position of the pupil in
the eyes. A cornea-reflex method may be used to determine the gaze
direction. For example, a low-power infrared-light emitting diode
(LED) array may illuminate the eye and may generate a highlight on
the cornea surface. An algorithm may identify and localize the
center of both the pupil and the corneal surface reflection. The
distance between the two centers and their orientation (e.g., gaze
vector) may provide a measure of the gaze direction.
[0051] FIG. 9 illustrates an example eye tracking system 900 that
may use components, for example, including a webcam and infrared
lighting. FIG. 9 illustrates how such a system may determine the
direction of gaze, for example, based on a determined pupil center
902 and a reflection 904 of a screen 906 in the user's eye.
[0052] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of using gaze-point detection
to limit a search over a ROI. Features from the user's ROI may be
sent to the server, where the search may take place. In a
server-only approach, the server may perform feature extraction
using the ROI information provided by the client. Communication
with the server may be reduced by performing a local search
first.
[0053] At 1002, a gaze-point may be determined. At 1004, the ROI
may be identified, for example, by the client. After determining
the user's ROI, the scope of the search may be further refined.
[0054] FIG. 11A illustrates that the same ROI may yield different
results depending on the distance to the target. When the user is
close to the target, only object A may be found in the search. If
the user is far from the target, objects A-E may be found in the
search. To address this situation, the size of the ROI may be
adaptively adjusted when multiple objects of interest are found.
This is illustrated in FIG. 11B, where the original ROI size is
reduced in order to reduce the number of objects of interest.
Adaptation of ROI size may be triggered by staring, by pushing a
button, by voice command or automatically when the number of
objects of interest is above a threshold.
[0055] Returning to FIG. 10, if the confidence of the determined
gaze-point is greater than a minimum threshold, a ROI may be
determined at 1004. The client may perform feature extraction in
the ROI at 1006. The client may send the resulting features from
the ROI to the server at 1008. The server may perform a search over
the determined ROI and may return the results to the client at
1010. The client may display relevant information pertaining to
features extracted from the ROI at 1012.
[0056] As a result of using gaze-point detection, a visual search
may be focused in or around the ROI. Extracting relevant features
from the ROI may reduce the processing requirements to conduct a
search, reduce the amount of information that may be sent to the
server, and/or improve the relevance of the results shown to the
user.
[0057] A system may present results in the area where the user
focuses his or her direction of view. A different use case may
occur when the user is looking for particular objects and may not
know where they are located. The user may provide input to the
system (e.g., via voice command, keyboard or touch screen) to
direct the search to the objects that the user is looking for. The
input may be general (e.g., categories such as "museum" or "food")
or specific (e.g., "Starbucks coffee"). The user may scan the field
of view of the camera by directing his or her direction of view to
different regions in the field of view of the camera. Results may
be shown in the estimated ROI, allowing the user to determine
whether the object is within the ROI. The user may temporarily
disable the gaze-driven feature so that all results within the
field of view of the camera are presented.
[0058] Gaze-point direction may be used to improve user interaction
and/or facilitate or enable modes of interactivity in an AR system.
For example, a user interface may be controlled by a user's
direction of view. In this type of interface, a menu or set of
choices may be shown on the display. The user may make choices
using his or her eyes. This mode of interactivity may be more
natural and may be faster than using hands, e.g., keyboard, mouse,
and/or touch screen. For some systems, e.g., wearable systems,
gaze-driven interactive processing may be a natural method for
interaction, as peripherals that may be used for interaction, such
as mouse and keyboard, may not be available.
[0059] FIG. 12 depicts an example AR system 1200 comprising a
gaze-driven user interface (UI) 1202. Gaze-point detection may be
determined by a gaze-point detection subsystem 1204. This
information may be passed to an interactive processing (e.g., UI)
engine 1206, where the gaze-point direction and ROI 1208 may be
combined with input from a camera 1210 and/or results from
location-based or visual search. Interactive processing may be
achieved by determining if the user's gaze point corresponds to the
location of an object of interest in the field of view of the
camera. If so, the system may respond by taking an action that
corresponds to the object of interest, for example, showing
additional information 1212 on the object of interest, as shown in
the user interface 1202.
[0060] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of use of gaze-point
detection on a gaze-driven user interface. At 1302, the client may
determine the objects of interest in the field of view of the
camera. To improve system performance, a coarse visual search may
be conducted first or location-based search may be used. At 1304,
the user's ROI may be determined.
[0061] The user may be looking at a distant target that may have
many objects of interest associated with it (e.g., a distant
building with many small shops). In this case, the client may
adaptively adjust the size of the ROI at 1306 to present only a
subset of the objects of interest. In addition, at 1308, the
objects may be arranged and/or the image may be zoomed such that
the user is able to `gaze trigger` the objects accurately. If the
device is not be capable of zooming the image itself (e.g., the
camera is not equipped with zoom or its capabilities are limited),
additional imagery could be obtained from the server. The server
may be able to provide a detailed picture that the device camera
may not produce by camera zoom from the distance.
[0062] After the user's gaze has been focused on a ROI that
contains an object of interest for a pre-determined number of
seconds, the client may fetch information about the object either
from the server or from a local database at 1310, and the
information may be displayed to the user at 1312. To improve system
performance, a limited amount of information may initially be
fetched and shown to the user.
[0063] The user may obtain additional information about the object
of interest by focusing on the information shown on the display.
After the user's gaze has been focused on a ROI that contains the
information for a pre-determined number of seconds, the client may
fetch more information about the object at 1314 and display it to
the user at 1316. The client may also call an external application
(e.g., web browser or media player) instead of showing the
additional information itself
[0064] To increase the relevancy of search results in an AR system,
the emotional state of the user may be inferred or estimated.
Emotional state could include traditional emotional states, such as
joy and anger, as well as physiological states (e.g., tiredness,
alertness, and/or hunger) or psychological states (e.g.,
nervousness and/or anxiety) that may not traditionally be
considered emotions. A variety of sensors, such as Galvanic Skin
Response (GSR) and/or Electroencephalography (EEG), may be used to
estimate the user's emotional state. Other methods (such as voice
analysis, advanced computer vision techniques for recognizing
emotion from facial expressions, biometrics and/or others) may also
be used to perform this estimation, for example, as a point in a
Valence/Arousal (V/A) chart.
[0065] FIG. 14 illustrates an example module 1400 that may be used
for estimating emotional state. The result may be used to filter
and/or rank the search results that are presented to the user. For
example, if the user is tired, choices related to food or beverages
may rank higher than museums. As shown in FIG. 14, the module 1400
may receive as inputs data from GSR, EEG, and/or other sensors,
camera data, voice data, and/or other biometric data. The module
1400 may output an estimated emotional state, which may have
valence and arousal values and/or may map to descriptors such as
angry, sad, joyful, and/or relaxed.
[0066] Estimating the emotional state of the user from various
inputs may be done using one or more of the techniques described
herein. Each of these techniques may yield a point in a V/A chart.
Some or all of the inputs to the module may be available. The
available points in the V/A chart may be combined to estimate the
user's emotional state with some degree of confidence.
[0067] Galvanic skin response (GSR) may measure the electrical
conductance of the skin. GSR may be highly sensitive to emotions
(e.g., fear, anger, startle response) and sympathetic responses
(e.g., aroused). GSR sensor data may be mapped to a user's
emotional state. Electroencephalography (EEG) data may be used to
detect user thoughts, feelings, and expressions and may have a high
degree of temporal resolution.
[0068] Computer vision techniques may be used for recognizing
emotion from the user's facial expressions and gestures. Age,
gender, ethnicity, demographics, height, and weight may be
estimated from camera input.
[0069] Speech analysis techniques (e.g., speech pattern
recognition, machine learning, study of prosodic and acoustic
features, vocal energy, speech rate, and pausing) may be used to
estimate user's emotion.
[0070] Some smart headphones can measure biometric data such as
heart rate, distance traveled, steps taken, respiration rate,
speed, metabolic rate, energy expenditure, calories burned,
recovery time, etc. Biometric data, such as respiration rate and
heart rate, may be correlated to the emotional state of the
user.
[0071] If multiple sensors are used in conjunction with one
another, an emotional estimate may be computed using a mean
operation to combine the output from the sensors. The mean
operation may be performed in a weighted manner (for example, such
that the output from sensors types that are more error prone may be
weighted less than the output from sensors types that are more
accurate). If a certain sensor does not produce an output, the
weight for that output in a mean operation to determine an emotion
estimate may be zero.
[0072] After obtaining an estimate of the user's emotional state,
the result may be used to refine a retrieval request to the server
or for local search, or to filter results that are presented to the
user. For example, a user's emotional state may be used to restrict
the search space by adding conditions in order to increase the
relevance of the results. Points in the V/A chart may be mapped to
categories of objects that may be used as qualifiers in the search
terms. Therefore, search results may contain objects related to
these search terms and may be more relevant to the user. For
example, if the client estimates that the user is "Joyful", then
terms such as "shopping" or "food" may be used. As another example,
if the state is estimated to be "Relaxed", then terms such as
"drink" or "art" may be used. Emotional state may also be used to
filter and/or rank results to increase their relevance. For
example, if the client estimates that the user is "Sad", then
search results that are related to "health" or "music" may be
ranked higher prior to presenting them to the user. As another
example, if the state is estimated to be "Angry", then results
related to "travel" or "nature" may be ranked higher.
[0073] FIG. 15 illustrates an example gaze-driven AR system 1500.
The gaze-driven AR system 1500 may comprise a gaze-point
detection/estimation subsystem 1502 and/or an emotional state
detection/estimation subsystem 1504. One or more eye-facing cameras
1506 may be used to enable gaze-point detection. This information
may be used to determine a ROI 1508 on which search will be
focused. Relevant features may be extracted from the ROI, (e.g.,
only from the ROI), potentially reducing the processing
requirements to conduct a search and/or reducing the amount of
information that may be sent to a server 1510.
[0074] A variety of sensors, such as Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
and Electroencephalography (EEG) sensors 1512, may be used to
estimate the user's emotional state. Other methods, such as voice
analysis or advanced image analysis techniques, may be used to
perform this estimation. The results may be used to further narrow
the search, potentially improving the quality of the results shown
to the user.
[0075] A gaze-driven rendering and interactive processing module
1514 may enable users to interact with the results and options
presented on a display 1516.
[0076] Gaze/visual search history may be stored and/or maintained
in a local database 1518, e.g., as part of a local search module
1520. Keeping track of this history may reduce the burden on the
network, as it may reduce traffic between clients and server. This
may facilitate scaling the system to a large number of clients.
[0077] Search results may be improved by maintaining a profile of
the user. The user may be able to configure search parameters, for
example, by entering biometric or demographic information.
Alternatively, with the user's permission, the system 1500 may
infer this data by using sensors, cameras, and/or other methods.
User profiles may be maintained locally at a client 1522 or at the
server 1510.
[0078] Emotional responses may also be a useful guide in triggering
visual search that is most relevant to the user. For example, if
the system 1500 has detected on multiple occasions that a
particular search result or a class of search results caused a
reaction of disgust for the user, the search result or the class of
search results may be lowered in priority in the future, or may be
filtered out entirely. For example, the system 1500 may detect
instances where the display of AR content for a particular sandwich
shop ("Harry's sandwiches") causes a negative emotional response to
the user, and as a result the system may give lower priority to the
display of "Harry's Sandwich Shop" when it would appear in search
results in the future. If the system 1500 were to subsequently
detect a pattern where the display of AR content for multiple
different sandwich shops caused a negative emotional response for
the user, the system 1500 may give a lower priority to the display
of sandwich shops generally, or may give a higher priority to the
display of classes of restaurants other than sandwich shops. If the
system 1500 has detected on multiple occasions that a particular
search result or a class of search results caused a reaction of joy
for the user (e.g. evoking a happy expression or a smile), then the
search result or the class of search results may be given higher
priority in the future. A history of emotional responses (e.g.
multiple records comprising emotional response, date and/or time of
the emotional response, and the AR content and/or real content
which evoked the emotional response) may be kept locally or at the
server 1510.
[0079] Gaze tracking may be used with wearable electronic devices,
such as head-worn AR devices, e.g., the GOOGLE GLASS.RTM. system.
Knowledge of user's gaze point may be used to localize search and
improve relevance and effectiveness of annotations. Gaze point
detection can also be used to facilitate or enable interactivity
with AR applications. For example, by using gaze-driven visual
search enhanced AR, search results may appear in the vicinity,
e.g., only in the vicinity, of his/her gaze point. By focusing on a
specific annotation, the user may invoke the expansion of the
annotation into more detailed annotations with information about
the object of interest.
[0080] FIG. 16 illustrates a gaze-driven AR user interface 1600. In
FIG. 16, an image 1602 represents the view seen by the user through
the AR user interface. The user may focus his or her gaze,
represented by a circle 1604, on signs placed next to recognized
objects, e.g., a restaurant icon shown in a detailed image 1606. If
the user focuses his or her view on a sign for a few seconds, extra
information about the recognized object may be presented on the
screen, shown in a detailed image 1608.
[0081] FIG. 17 depicts an example of adaptively adjusting a size of
a ROI to reduce a number of objects of interest. An image 1702
represents the view seen by the user through an AR user interface.
The user may focus his or her gaze on a ROI 1704. The client may
determine an ROI. As shown in an image 1706, the ROI 1704 may
contain a number of objects that may be of interest to the user.
The client may adaptively adjust the ROI size to present a limited
number of objects to the user in an overlapped window 1708. The
user may focus his or her attention on an object within the new
window 1708. The client may determine a new ROI 1710. As shown in
an image 1712, the client may obtain additional imagery from
server, as its zooming capabilities may be limited, and may present
additional information to the user in a new window 1714 (e.g.,
"Store hours"). The user may focus his or her attention on the new
window 1714, and the client may launch a new application (e.g., web
browser).
[0082] The additional imagery from the server may include
prerecorded images or video content. For example, the server may
have a database of additional imagery previously recorded from
locations of interest, from locations corresponding to businesses
or landmarks, or from all locations visible from a street or from a
set of streets. For example, the server may have a database of
continuous street imagery indexed by geographical location, and
such imagery may be used to display zoomed ROI images. For example,
such imagery may be used to display more detailed images than those
obtainable from a camera available on the user's device. The server
may correlate and/or match the location of the user's gaze point in
the physical world to the locations corresponding to the additional
imagery, as indexed in the database, in order to identify suitable
imagery to display for a given ROI.
[0083] The additional imagery from the server may include images or
video content captured from a live camera. For example, the server
may have access to one or more cameras which have views of
locations of interest, of locations corresponding to businesses or
landmarks, or of street views. Image and/or video content from a
live camera may be available to the server via a fixed connection,
or via a communication network. The server may correlate and/or
match the location of the user's gaze point in the physical world
to the locations of the available cameras, and in this way the
server may locate a suitable camera and/or may determine whether a
suitable camera is available. The server may communicate with a
camera to obtain images and/or video content which correspond to a
given ROI, and may transmit such images to the user device for
display on the user device.
[0084] The additional imagery from the server displayed by the user
device may be displayed together with information about objects of
interest which are associated with the scope of the additional
imagery. The user interface may allow the user to select objects of
interest displayed in this way, or may allow the user to zoom
further into the imagery using techniques disclosed herein.
[0085] The user interface may allow the user to pan within the
additional imagery. For example, if the user device is a tablet
computing device, the device may pan the imagery within the zoomed
view shown in the image 1712 of FIG. 17 in response to the user
moving the tablet computing device in a panning motion. As another
example, if the user device is a wearable camera device with a
head-mounted display, then the device may pan the imagery within
the zoomed view shown in the image 1712 of FIG. 17 in response to
panning head movements of the user. The user device may detect
panning movements using orientation sensors on the user device, or
may infer panning movements by detecting motion from a camera of
the user device. The user device may send updated information to
the server which describes the panning motion, the user device
orientation, and/or the gaze point of the user. In response, the
server may provide updated imagery that corresponds to the updated
information, and the user device may display the updated imagery in
order to pan within the additional imagery. In this way, the user
may navigate within a magnified view of the physical world which
may have more detail than could be captured using the camera
available on the user's device.
[0086] FIG. 18A is a diagram of an example communications system
1800 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented.
The communications system 1800 may be a multiple access system that
provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast,
etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 1800
may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through
the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For
example, the communications systems 1800 may employ one or more
channel access methods, such as code division multiple access
(CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division
multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier
FDMA (SC-FDMA), and the like.
[0087] As shown in FIG. 18A, the communications system 1800 may
include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 1802a, 1802b,
1802c, and/or 1802d (which generally or collectively may be
referred to as WTRU 1802), a radio access network (RAN)
1803/1804/1805, a core network 1806/1807/1809, a public switched
telephone network (PSTN) 1808, the Internet 1810, and other
networks 1812, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed
embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations,
networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b,
1802c, 1802d may be any type of device configured to operate and/or
communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs
1802a, 1802b, 1802c, 1802d may be configured to transmit and/or
receive wireless signals and may include user equipment (UE), a
mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a pager, a
cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a
smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless
sensor, consumer electronics, and the like.
[0088] The communications systems 1800 may also include a base
station 1814a and a base station 1814b. Each of the base stations
1814a, 1814b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly
interface with at least one of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, 1802d
to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as
the core network 1806/1807/1809, the Internet 1810, and/or the
networks 1812. By way of example, the base stations 1814a, 1814b
may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, an eNode B, a
Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a site controller, an access point
(AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations
1814a, 1814b are each depicted as a single element, it will be
appreciated that the base stations 1814a, 1814b may include any
number of interconnected base stations and/or network elements.
[0089] The base station 1814a may be part of the RAN
1803/1804/1805, which may also include other base stations and/or
network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller
(BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base
station 1814a and/or the base station 1814b may be configured to
transmit and/or receive wireless signals within a particular
geographic region, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown).
The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the
cell associated with the base station 1814a may be divided into
three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 1814a may
include three transceivers, e.g., one for each sector of the cell.
In another embodiment, the base station 1814a may employ
multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and, therefore,
may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell.
[0090] The base stations 1814a, 1814b may communicate with one or
more of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, 1802d over an air interface
1815/1816/1817, which may be any suitable wireless communication
link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, infrared (IR),
ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface
1815/1816/1817 may be established using any suitable radio access
technology (RAT).
[0091] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system
1800 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more
channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA,
and the like. For example, the base station 1814a in the RAN
1803/1804/1805 and the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c may implement a
radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air
interface 1815/1816/1817 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may
include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access
(HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed
Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High-Speed Uplink Packet
Access (HSUPA).
[0092] In another embodiment, the base station 1814a and the WTRUs
1802a, 1802b, 1802c may implement a radio technology such as
Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish
the air interface 1815/1816/1817 using Long Term Evolution (LTE)
and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).
[0093] In other embodiments, the base station 1814a and the WTRUs
1802a, 1802b, 1802c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE
802.16 (e.g., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
(WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard
2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856
(IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced
Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the
like.
[0094] The base station 1814b in FIG. 18A may be a wireless router,
Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may
utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in
a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a
campus, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 1814b and
the WTRUs 1802c, 1802d may implement a radio technology such as
IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In
another embodiment, the base station 1814b and the WTRUs 1802c,
1802d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to
establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another
embodiment, the base station 1814b and the WTRUs 1802c, 1802d may
utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE,
LTE-A, etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG.
18A, the base station 1814b may have a direct connection to the
Internet 1810. Thus, the base station 1814b may not be required to
access the Internet 1810 via the core network 1806/1807/1809.
[0095] The RAN 1803/1804/1805 may be in communication with the core
network 1806/1807/1809, which may be any type of network configured
to provide voice, data, applications, and/or voice over internet
protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b,
1802c, 1802d. For example, the core network 1806/1807/1809 may
provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based
services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video
distribution, etc., and/or perform high-level security functions,
such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 18A, it
will be appreciated that the RAN 1803/1804/1805 and/or the core
network 1806/1807/1809 may be in direct or indirect communication
with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 1803/1804/1805
or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to
the RAN 1803/1804/1805, which may be utilizing an E-UTRA radio
technology, the core network 1806/1807/1809 may also be in
communication with another RAN (not shown) employing a GSM radio
technology.
[0096] The core network 1806/1807/1809 may also serve as a gateway
for the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, 1802d to access the PSTN 1808,
the Internet 1810, and/or other networks 1812. The PSTN 1808 may
include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old
telephone service (POTS). The Internet 1810 may include a global
system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use
common communication protocols, such as the transmission control
protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and the internet
protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. The networks
1812 may include wired or wireless communications networks owned
and/or operated by other service providers. For example, the
networks 1812 may include another core network connected to one or
more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 1803/1804/1805
or a different RAT.
[0097] Some or all of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, 1802d in the
communications system 1800 may include multi-mode capabilities,
e.g., the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, 1802d may include multiple
transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks
over different wireless links. For example, the WTRU 1802c shown in
FIG. 18A may be configured to communicate with the base station
1814a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with
the base station 1814b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio
technology.
[0098] FIG. 18B is a system diagram of an example WTRU 1802. As
shown in FIG. 18B, the WTRU 1802 may include a processor 1818, a
transceiver 1820, a transmit/receive element 1822, a
speaker/microphone 1824, a keypad 1826, a display/touchpad 1828,
non-removable memory 1830, removable memory 1832, a power source
1834, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 1836, and other
peripherals 1838. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 1802 may
include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while
remaining consistent with an embodiment. Also, embodiments
contemplate that the base stations 1814a and 1814b, and/or the
nodes that base stations 1814a and 1814b may represent, such as but
not limited to transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, a site
controller, an access point (AP), a home node-B, an evolved home
node-B (eNodeB), a home evolved node-B (HeNB or HeNodeB), a home
evolved node-B gateway, and proxy nodes, among others, may include
some or all of the elements depicted in FIG. 18B and described
herein.
[0099] The processor 1818 may be a general purpose processor, a
special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital
signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more
microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a
microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs),
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of
integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The
processor 1818 may perform signal coding, data processing, power
control, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality
that enables the WTRU 1802 to operate in a wireless environment.
The processor 1818 may be coupled to the transceiver 1820, which
may be coupled to the transmit/receive element 1822. While FIG. 18B
depicts the processor 1818 and the transceiver 1820 as separate
components, it will be appreciated that the processor 1818 and the
transceiver 1820 may be integrated together in an electronic
package or chip.
[0100] The transmit/receive element 1822 may be configured to
transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g.,
the base station 1814a) over the air interface 1815/1816/1817. For
example, in one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 1822 may
be an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals. In
another embodiment, the transmit/receive element 1822 may be an
emitter/detector configured to transmit and/or receive IR, UV, or
visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the
transmit/receive element 1822 may be configured to transmit and
receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the
transmit/receive element 1822 may be configured to transmit and/or
receive any combination of wireless signals.
[0101] In addition, although the transmit/receive element 1822 is
depicted in FIG. 18B as a single element, the WTRU 1802 may include
any number of transmit/receive elements 1822. More specifically,
the WTRU 1802 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment,
the WTRU 1802 may include two or more transmit/receive elements
1822 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving
wireless signals over the air interface 1815/1816/1817.
[0102] The transceiver 1820 may be configured to modulate the
signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element
1822 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the
transmit/receive element 1822. As noted above, the WTRU 1802 may
have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 1820 may
include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 1802 to
communicate via multiple RATs, such as UTRA and IEEE 802.11, for
example.
[0103] The processor 1818 of the WTRU 1802 may be coupled to, and
may receive user input data from, the speaker/microphone 1824, the
keypad 1826, and/or the display/touchpad 1828 (e.g., a liquid
crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode
(OLED) display unit). The processor 1818 may also output user data
to the speaker/microphone 1824, the keypad 1826, and/or the
display/touchpad 1828. In addition, the processor 1818 may access
information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory,
such as the non-removable memory 1830 and/or the removable memory
1832. The non-removable memory 1830 may include random-access
memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other
type of memory storage device. The removable memory 1832 may
include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a
secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other
embodiments, the processor 1818 may access information from, and
store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU
1802, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).
[0104] The processor 1818 may receive power from the power source
1834, and may be configured to distribute and/or control the power
to the other components in the WTRU 1802. The power source 1834 may
be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 1802. For example, the
power source 1834 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g.,
nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride
(NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and
the like.
[0105] The processor 1818 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset
1836, which may be configured to provide location information
(e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of
the WTRU 1802. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from
the GPS chipset 1836, the WTRU 1802 may receive location
information over the air interface 1815/1816/1817 from a base
station (e.g., base stations 1814a, 1814b) and/or determine its
location based on the timing of the signals being received from two
or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU
1802 may acquire location information by way of any suitable
location-determination implementation while remaining consistent
with an embodiment.
[0106] The processor 1818 may further be coupled to other
peripherals 1838, which may include one or more software and/or
hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality
and/or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals
1838 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite
transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs or video), a
universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television
transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth.RTM. module, a
frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a
media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, and
the like.
[0107] FIG. 18C is a system diagram of the RAN 1803 and the core
network 1806 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN
1803 may employ a UTRA radio technology to communicate with the
WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c over the air interface 1815. The RAN 1803
may also be in communication with the core network 1806. As shown
in FIG. 18C, the RAN 1803 may include Node-Bs 1840a, 1840b, 1840c,
which may each include one or more transceivers for communicating
with the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c over the air interface 1815. The
Node-Bs 1840a, 1840b, 1840c may each be associated with a
particular cell (not shown) within the RAN 1803. The RAN 1803 may
also include RNCs 1842a, 1842b. It will be appreciated that the RAN
1803 may include any number of Node-Bs and RNCs while remaining
consistent with an embodiment.
[0108] As shown in FIG. 18C, the Node-Bs 1840a, 1840b may be in
communication with the RNC 1842a. Additionally, the Node-B 1840c
may be in communication with the RNC 1842b. The Node-Bs 1840a,
1840b, 1840c may communicate with the respective RNCs 1842a, 1842b
via an Iub interface. The RNCs 1842a, 1842b may be in communication
with one another via an Iur interface. Each of the RNCs 1842a,
1842b may be configured to control the respective Node-Bs 1840a,
1840b, 1840c to which it is connected. In addition, each of the
RNCs 1842a, 1842b may be configured to carry out or support other
functionality, such as outer loop power control, load control,
admission control, packet scheduling, handover control,
macrodiversity, security functions, data encryption, and the
like.
[0109] The core network 1806 shown in FIG. 18C may include a media
gateway (MGW) 1844, a mobile switching center (MSC) 1846, a serving
GPRS support node (SGSN) 1848, and/or a gateway GPRS support node
(GGSN) 1850. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as
part of the core network 1806, it will be appreciated that any one
of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other
than the core network operator.
[0110] The RNC 1842a in the RAN 1803 may be connected to the MSC
1846 in the core network 1806 via an IuCS interface. The MSC 1846
may be connected to the MGW 1844. The MSC 1846 and the MGW 1844 may
provide the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with access to
circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 1808, to facilitate
communications between the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c and
traditional land-line communications devices.
[0111] The RNC 1842a in the RAN 1803 may also be connected to the
SGSN 1848 in the core network 1806 via an IuPS interface. The SGSN
1848 may be connected to the GGSN 1850. The SGSN 1848 and the GGSN
1850 may provide the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with access to
packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 1810, to facilitate
communications between and the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c and
IP-enabled devices.
[0112] As noted above, the core network 1806 may also be connected
to the networks 1812, which may include other wired or wireless
networks that are owned and/or operated by other service
providers.
[0113] FIG. 18D is a system diagram of the RAN 1804 and the core
network 1807 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN
1804 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the
WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c over the air interface 1816. The RAN 1804
may also be in communication with the core network 1807.
[0114] The RAN 1804 may include eNode-Bs 1860a, 1860b, 1860c,
though it will be appreciated that the RAN 1804 may include any
number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment.
The eNode-Bs 1860a, 1860b, 1860c may each include one or more
transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c
over the air interface 1816. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 1860a,
1860b, 1860c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B
1860a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless
signals to, and receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 1802a.
[0115] Each of the eNode-Bs 1860a, 1860b, 1860c may be associated
with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle
radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling
of users in the uplink and/or downlink, and the like. As shown in
FIG. 18D, the eNode-Bs 1860a, 1860b, 1860c may communicate with one
another over an X2 interface.
[0116] The core network 1807 shown in FIG. 18D may include a
mobility management gateway (MME) 1862, a serving gateway 1864, and
a packet data network (PDN) gateway 1866. While each of the
foregoing elements are depicted as part of the core network 1807,
it will be appreciated that any one of these elements may be owned
and/or operated by an entity other than the core network
operator.
[0117] The MME 1862 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 1860a,
1860b, 1860c in the RAN 1804 via an Si interface and may serve as a
control node. For example, the MME 1862 may be responsible for
authenticating users of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, bearer
activation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway
during an initial attach of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, and the
like. The MME 1862 may also provide a control plane function for
switching between the RAN 1804 and other RANs (not shown) that
employ other radio technologies, such as GSM or WCDMA.
[0118] The serving gateway 1864 may be connected to each of the
eNode-Bs 1860a, 1860b, 1860c in the RAN 1804 via the Si interface.
The serving gateway 1864 may generally route and forward user data
packets to/from the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c. The serving gateway
1864 may also perform other functions, such as anchoring user
planes during inter-eNode B handovers, triggering paging when
downlink data is available for the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c,
managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, and
the like.
[0119] The serving gateway 1864 may also be connected to the PDN
gateway 1866, which may provide the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with
access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 1810, to
facilitate communications between the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c and
IP-enabled devices.
[0120] The core network 1807 may facilitate communications with
other networks. For example, the core network 1807 may provide the
WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with access to circuit-switched networks,
such as the PSTN 1808, to facilitate communications between the
WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c and traditional land-line communications
devices. For example, the core network 1807 may include, or may
communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem
(IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the core network
1807 and the PSTN 1808. In addition, the core network 1807 may
provide the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with access to the networks
1812, which may include other wired or wireless networks that are
owned and/or operated by other service providers.
[0121] FIG. 18E is a system diagram of the RAN 1805 and the core
network 1809 according to an embodiment. The RAN 1805 may be an
access service network (ASN) that employs IEEE 802.16 radio
technology to communicate with the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c over
the air interface 1817. As will be further discussed below, the
communication links between the different functional entities of
the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c, the RAN 1805, and the core network
1809 may be defined as reference points.
[0122] As shown in FIG. 18E, the RAN 1805 may include base stations
1880a, 1880b, 1880c, and an ASN gateway 1882, though it will be
appreciated that the RAN 1805 may include any number of base
stations and ASN gateways while remaining consistent with an
embodiment. The base stations 1880a, 1880b, 1880c may each be
associated with a particular cell (not shown) in the RAN 1805 and
may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with
the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c over the air interface 1817. In one
embodiment, the base stations 1880a, 1880b, 1880c may implement
MIMO technology. Thus, the base station 1880a, for example, may use
multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receive
wireless signals from, the WTRU 1802a. The base stations 1880a,
1880b, 1880c may also provide mobility management functions, such
as handoff triggering, tunnel establishment, radio resource
management, traffic classification, quality of service (QoS) policy
enforcement, and the like. The ASN gateway 1882 may serve as a
traffic aggregation point and may be responsible for paging,
caching of subscriber profiles, routing to the core network 1809,
and the like.
[0123] The air interface 1817 between the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c
and the RAN 1805 may be defined as an R1 reference point that
implements the IEEE 802.16 specification. In addition, each of the
WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c may establish a logical interface (not
shown) with the core network 1809. The logical interface between
the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c and the core network 1809 may be
defined as an R2 reference point, which may be used for
authentication, authorization, IP host configuration management,
and/or mobility management.
[0124] The communication link between each of the base stations
1880a, 1880b, 1880c may be defined as an R8 reference point that
includes protocols for facilitating WTRU handovers and the transfer
of data between base stations. The communication link between the
base stations 1880a, 1880b, 1880c and the ASN gateway 1882 may be
defined as an R6 reference point. The R6 reference point may
include protocols for facilitating mobility management based on
mobility events associated with each of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b,
1802c.
[0125] As shown in FIG. 18E, the RAN 1805 may be connected to the
core network 1809. The communication link between the RAN 1805 and
the core network 1809 may defined as an R3 reference point that
includes protocols for facilitating data transfer and mobility
management capabilities, for example. The core network 1809 may
include a mobile IP home agent (MIP-HA) 1884, an authentication,
authorization, accounting (AAA) server 1886, and a gateway 1888.
While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the
core network 1809, it will be appreciated that any one of these
elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the
core network operator.
[0126] The MIP-HA may be responsible for IP address management, and
may enable the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c to roam between different
ASNs and/or different core networks. The MIP-HA 1884 may provide
the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with access to packet-switched
networks, such as the Internet 1810, to facilitate communications
between the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c and IP-enabled devices. The
AAA server 1886 may be responsible for user authentication and for
supporting user services. The gateway 1888 may facilitate
interworking with other networks. For example, the gateway 1888 may
provide the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with access to
circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 1808, to facilitate
communications between the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c and
traditional land-line communications devices. In addition, the
gateway 1888 may provide the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c with access
to the networks 1812, which may include other wired or wireless
networks that are owned and/or operated by other service
providers.
[0127] Although not shown in FIG. 18E, it will be appreciated that
the RAN 1805 may be connected to other ASNs and the core network
1809 may be connected to other core networks. The communication
link between the RAN 1805 the other ASNs may be defined as an R4
reference point, which may include protocols for coordinating the
mobility of the WTRUs 1802a, 1802b, 1802c between the RAN 1805 and
the other ASNs. The communication link between the core network
1809 and the other core networks may be defined as an R5 reference,
which may include protocols for facilitating interworking between
home core networks and visited core networks.
[0128] The processes and instrumentalities described herein may
apply in any combination, may apply to other wireless technology,
and for other services (e.g., not limited for proximity
services).
[0129] A WTRU may refer to an identity of the physical device, or
to the user's identity such as subscription related identities,
e.g., MSISDN, SIP URI, etc. WTRU may refer to application-based
identities, e.g., user names that may be used per application.
[0130] The processes described above may be implemented in a
computer program, software, and/or firmware incorporated in a
computer-readable medium for execution by a computer and/or
processor. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not
limited to, electronic signals (transmitted over wired and/or
wireless connections) and/or computer-readable storage media.
Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not
limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM),
a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic
media such as, but not limited to, internal hard disks and
removable disks, magneto-optical media, and/or optical media such
as CD-ROM disks, and/or digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor
in association with software may be used to implement a radio
frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base
station, RNC, and/or any host computer.
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