CSPM: A Novel Curtain Style Pictorial Marker for Enhancing Augmented Reality Experiences

Background and objective: Most of the today's Augmented Reality (AR)applications would use either black and white data markers or pictorial (template)markers to allocate, identify, and render the virtual information on the real scene. The data markers, in general, do not deliver meaningful visual information to users; whereas, the template markers suffer from the system processing complexity. However, they both survive until today as each of these markers has many uniquely worthy points which could resolve other's drawbacks. Methods: We propose a novel concept design for the curtain style pictorial marker (CSPM), which is capable of embedding a quick response (QR)code in a coloured figure to enhance augmented reality (AR)experiences. The proposed CSPM is specially designed to combine the technical advantages of both data markers and template markers. It is not only capable of improving the system performance but also present the useful and meaningful realistic-looking graphical content to the users. Results: We have conducted some experiments, and the results showed that CSPM had given higher storage capacity as well as more accurate virtual information orientation than previous research methods. Moreover, the system processing performance is equivalent to it of data markers, and the CSPM also offers self-error detection and correction capability for restoring lost data.