Method for simulating and training for visual inspection operations in virtual or augmented reality environments and system for implementing said method

1 . A method for simulating and training for visual inspection operations in virtual or augmented reality environments, suitable for use in simulating operations of investigation reports, evidence inspection or forensic examination performed in a physical space, comprising the operation of a simulation system, said simulation system comprising:

a processing equipment comprising an information storage module and an evaluation module;

a visual display equipment connected to the processing equipment and configured to generate a simulation environment representing the physical space, and to show said simulation environment to a user; and

at least one selected from an actuator and a sensor, connected to the processing equipment and configured to record information about actions performed by the user in the physical space, wherein said actions represent interactions in the simulation environment;

wherein the method comprises performing the following steps:

a) generating, with the visual display equipment, the simulation environment;

b) defining at least one avatar of the user in the simulation environment by using the visual display equipment;

c) defining a set of objects in the simulation environment of the visual display equipment, wherein said objects are representations of physical objects, and wherein, by using the at least one selected from the actuator and the sensor, the avatar of the user can interact with one or more of said objects of the simulation environment, wherein the interactions of the avatar with the one or more objects of the simulation environment are associated with actions performed by the user in the physical space;

said method being characterized in that it further comprises performing the following steps:

d) defining, in the processing equipment, a reference sequence of operations, and storing the reference sequence of operations in the information storage module, wherein the reference sequence of operations is associated with the interaction, by using the at least one selected from the actuator and the sensor, of the avatar with one or more objects of the simulation environment, and wherein said operations comprise at least one or more direct interactions with an object, one or more indirect interactions with an object, one or more operations of marking the simulation environment, and an order of execution of two or more operations of the reference sequence of operations;

e) showing to the user, with the visual display equipment, the simulation environment, the user performing actions in the physical space, and acquiring, with the at least one selected from the actuator and the sensor, information about the actions performed by the user, wherein said actions are associated with a sequence of operations associated with the interaction, by using the at least one selected from the actuator and the sensor, of the avatar with one or more objects of the simulation environment, wherein said operations comprise at least one or more direct interactions with an object, one or more indirect interactions with an object, one or more operations of marking the simulation environment, and the order of execution of two or more operations of the sequence of operations;

f) detecting, with the at least one selected from the actuator and the sensor and the visual display equipment, the sequence of operations performed by the user;

g) recording, with the information storage module of the processing equipment, the sequence of operations performed by the user, and calculating, with the evaluation module of the processing equipment, the similarity thereof with the reference sequence of operations.

2 . The method according to claim 1 comprising calculating with the processing equipment, a meta-path in the simulation environment comprising a set of points of said simulation environment at which the user has performed one or more operations in the virtual space, or a set of points through which the user's avatar has moved in the virtual space.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising at least one selected from:

graphically representing the meta-path in the simulation environment using the visual display equipment;

recording one or more user's operations in the simulation environment.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising:

generating a random or predetermined distribution of a set of objects in the simulation environment by using the processing equipment; wherein said objects comprise one or more properties, one of said properties consisting of the visibility or not of said virtual object in the simulation environment; and

representing with the visual display equipment and according to the distribution generated in the preceding step, a subset of objects in the simulation environment that are visible.

5 . The method according to claim 1 for simulating and training for visual inspection operations assisted by artificial illumination, comprising:

calculating with the processing equipment, the distance and/or direction of observation from the user's avatar to an object;

calculating with the processing equipment, the distance and/or direction of illumination from a virtual artificial illuminator carried by the user's avatar to the object; wherein said virtual artificial illuminator comprises an artificial illumination source suitable for illuminating the simulation environment and, optionally, one or more optical filters; and

representing with the visual display equipment, an illumination result in the simulation environment selected from a plurality of results dependent on the distance and/or direction of observation and the distance and/or direction of illumination.

6 . The method according to claim 1 for simulating operations of marking paths in a virtual environment, comprising:

h1) defining with the interaction of the avatar with the simulation environment, a plurality of virtual signaling points in said simulation environment;

h2) representing, at the virtual signaling points defined in the preceding step, objects that are corresponding signaling markers, wherein said objects have one or more physical interaction properties in the simulation environment;

h3) defining a virtual path between two or more points of the simulation space; and

h4) graphically representing said virtual path as a meta-path in the simulation environment that delimits a subset of points of the simulation space.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , further comprising detecting with the processing equipment, the handling of objects present in the virtual path, wherein said handling occurs when the virtual path overlaps the position of an object or with the user's avatar.

8 . The method according to claim 1 for simulating operations of taking at least one selected from fingerprints and/or footprints in a virtual environment, comprising:

applying one or more objects, said objects comprising at least one virtual artificial illuminator and/or virtual tools for handling objects, on a subset of points of the simulation environment to modify the visibility of a new object located in said subset of points of the simulation environment; and

optionally, transferring said new object to storage containers for objects.

9 . The method according to claim 1 for simulating operations of acquiring one or more images and metadata from the simulation environment, comprising:

i1) selecting at least one of the objects as image acquisition device;

i2) configuring a type of image, and optionally an optical filter, and applying said configuration to the image acquisition device;

i3) positioning the avatar at a distance from the subset of the simulation environment, and with the direction of observation with which the image(s) will be taken;

i4) capturing an image of the subset of the simulation environment that is in the field of view of the image acquisition device configured according to step i2); wherein said image comprises metadata of the objects in the image;

i5) evaluating the image captured in the preceding step according to one or more quality criteria set by the user and metadata of the objects of the image captured in step i4); and

i6) repeating steps i1)-i4) if the evaluation of step i5) does not exceed the quality criteria.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising generating a score of the user's performance depending on the similarity of the user's operations and the reference sequence of operations.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of users interacting cooperatively or not in the same simulation environment are further defined, wherein a role is optionally assigned to each user and wherein the sequence of operations comprises one or more interactions allowed for each user with respect to the objects and/or other users depending on said role; all the users in said simulation environment being synchronized.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the processing equipment comprises at least one selected from:

an audio device for at least one selected from reproducing and recording audio, for the interaction of the user with the simulation environment;

a display for external viewing of the simulation environment for the viewing of said environment and of the operations performed by a user to other different users;

a feedback module for recording the information obtained from the users during the performance of operations in the simulation environment; and

a communications device for transmitting at least one selected from information stored by the processing equipment and information processed by the processing equipment, to external devices or remote locations through telematic networks.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the feedback module further performs the following steps:

calculating a score depending on the user's recorded information, according to the similarity between reference patterns and operations performed by the user;

providing a plurality of indications to the user of those interactions different from those comprised in the reference sequence of operations; said indications comprising at least one of the following: time used for interactions with the objects, total time used for performing the operations, incorrect order of performing the sequence of operations, number of objects stored.

14 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises another module for recording and reproducing information, wherein said another module performs the following steps:

generating a record from the point of view of one or more users of the simulation environment, of the set of operations performed by one or more users of the simulation environment;

optionally at least one selected from synchronizing said record with the set of operations performed by one or more users of the simulation environment, and reproducing said record.