Augmented Reality Marker for Operating Home Appliances

The popularity of network home appliances that can interconnect with other home appliances through networks increases. The operation and function of these appliances are complex since they can share contents and data with other network home appliances. However, it remains difficult for users to identify network home appliances, since their locations are not installed and cannot be displayed easily when operating them. Because these problems, more obvious and intuitive operations are needed for controlling network home appliances. For this solution, we have implemented augmented reality (AR) technology in our past proposed system for easier, intuitive operation to control multiple network home appliances connected by home networks. AR technology can provide virtual graphics and apply additional information to specific areas through camera displays. In current AR technology, an AR marker made from a graphical image (an image marker) is necessary to display the virtual AR graphics to the devices´s identified location. Unfortunately, such image markers are not suitable when they are implemented on network home appliances due to poor recognition when lighting environments or distances are changed. In this paper, we explain the LED augmented reality marker (LED marker), implement a new marker, and evaluate it, and consider a collaboration system for controlling multiple network home appliances connected to home networks.