Augmented e-commerce: making augmented reality usable in everyday e-commerce with laser projection tracking

Abstract

Advances in network and mobile communication technologies enabled transformations of markets to the forms of E-commerce. However, current E-commerce technologies cannot provide enough information on the physical dimension, material color, and tactile impression of the products. There exists fundamental discrepancy between the internet-based cyber world and the user's real environment. By superimposing 3D virtual products on the user's real environment, Augmented Reality (AR) technologies might resolve this discrepancy. However, AR implementations often require bulky infrastructures and/or laborious installations, and hence are not easily available. In this paper, we present a marker-free, easy-to-use, and stand-alone AR system based on laser projection tracking (AR Pointer). A prototype of Augmented E-commerce system was developed based on AR Pointer technology. Using this system, untrained users can just "Put & feel a product" in order to find the match of the virtual model of a product in the real environment. © Springer-Verlag 2004.