System and method for using augmented reality to visualize network service quality
The quality of service one may expect from a given network is often hard to determine in advance. Further, given agreements between network service providers and a variety of content providers, the complexity inherent in selecting a given available network is increasing for consumers. Embodiments described herein provide mechanisms for creating an augmented reality presentation of networks and the service quality of those networks. The presentation may display information regarding a variety of factors including content transit agreements with content providers, quality-of-service or prioritization guarantees for certain types of content, or low-level Wi-Fi signal quality. These presentations allow users to ascertain where in a given spatial area good quality is available for whichever services they intend to use.
1. A method performed by an augmented reality (AR)-capable device of a user, the method comprising:
determining a current location and a viewing orientation of the AR-capable device;
querying a database based on the determined current location to retrieve data describing an attribute of a network as a function of space in a real-world area in the viewing orientation of the AR-capable device;
generating from the data a 3D visualization of the network attribute as a function of space registered to the real-world area; and
displaying the 3D visualization.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network attribute comprises a signal strength of the network.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network attribute comprises a bandwidth of the network.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network attribute comprises a cost associated with accessing or using the network.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network attribute is selected from the group consisting of service set identifier, network service provider, and service benefit.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the network attribute is crowd-sourced.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the 3D visualization comprises displaying the 3D visualization as a graphical overlay on top of a camera view from the AR-capable device.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the 3D visualization comprises different levels of opacity representing different levels of the network attribute.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the 3D visualization comprises different levels of color saturation representing different levels of the network attribute.
10. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the 3D visualization comprises different levels of a graphical attribute representing different levels of the network attribute, and
wherein the graphical attribute is selected from the group consisting of color, texture, size, shape, and ornamentation.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the 3D visualization comprises displaying a 3D perspective rendering of a spatial volume registered to a region in the real-world area, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining whether at least a portion of the region is within a current field of view of the AR device,
wherein displaying the spatial volume is performed only after determining that at least a portion of the region is within the current field of view.
12. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein displaying the 3D visualization comprises displaying a graphical overlay registered to a region in the real-world area,
wherein the graphical overlay indicates a service benefit provided by a content provider at a network access point.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the 3D visualization of the network attribute comprises:
selecting a region in the real-world area in which the data indicates the network attribute is above a threshold; and
generating the 3D visualization of the network attribute for the selected region.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising filtering the data corresponding to a user setting of the threshold.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining data describing a user rating of the current location; and
displaying a graphical overlay corresponding to the data describing the user rating of the current location.
16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a second location of the AR-capable device;
measuring the network attribute at the second location; and
transmitting to the database the second location and the measured network attribute at the second location.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining, measuring, and transmitting occur prior to determining the current location of the AR-capable device.
18. An augmented reality (AR)-capable device comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions operative, when executed by the processor, to:
determine a current location and a viewing orientation of the AR-capable device;
query a database based on the determined current location to retrieve data describing an attribute of a network as a function of space in a real-world area in the viewing orientation of the AR-capable device,
generate from the data a 3D visualization of the network attribute as a function of space registered to the real-world area; and
display the 3D visualization.
19. The device of claim 18 , further comprising an augmented reality display.
20. A method comprising:
determining a current location of an AR-capable device and a current orientation of the AR-capable device at the current location;
querying a database based at least on the determined current location to retrieve data describing an attribute of a network as a function of space in a real-world area proximate to the current location;
determining that a portion of the real-world area is within a current field of view of the AR-capable device based at least in part on the current orientation of the AR-capable device;
displaying a 3D visualization of the network attribute in the current field of view;
measuring a change in the current orientation of the AR-capable device;
regenerating the 3D visualization of the network attribute consistent with the change in the current orientation of the AR-capable device; and
displaying the regenerated 3D visualization.