This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. ยง119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0052391, filed on Jun. 3, 2010, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a method for supporting a service based on an information terminal and a system for supporting a service using the method, and more particularly, to a method for supporting a service based on an information terminal and a system for supporting a service using the method that provide virtual experience using virtual reality and augmented reality and support the use of a realistic service.
Even general persons as well as disabled persons and old persons undergo a lot of time and difficulties in using complex services such as a medical service in a general hospital. In particular, a user who firstly uses medial institutions undergoes more difficulties in using the complex services.
With the development and generalization of the Internet, most medical institutions and institutions providing other services provide a lot of information required to use services through homepages. However, the information is provided in a fragmentarily arranged pattern and difficult for the user to intuitively understand.
Various medical institutions computerize the whole course of medical treatment reservations, receptions, various examinations, treatments, medical prescriptions, and payment of medical fee, and manage information on patients by generating a database associated with information on patients.
This access just provides business convenience of persons who engage in hospitals but do not directly help the patients to conveniently use services. That is, an environment, which provides intelligent and efficient services such as finding in advance that patients arrive at the medical institution and automatically performing receptions, preparing for an existing medical treatment record, and preparing various examinations and treatments in order beforehand, cannot be prepared.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a method for supporting a service based on an information terminal, including: executing, by an information terminal of a user, a virtual experience service application program stored therein in order for the user to virtually experience in advance a predetermined service received by actually visiting a predetermined institution; accessing, by the information terminal, a server providing a virtual experience service through a router in accordance with the virtual experience service application program; requesting, by the information terminal, the virtual experience service for the predetermined institution to the server; and constructing, by the server, a virtual reality space corresponding to the predetermined institution in accordance with the request for the virtual experience service and associating service elements associated with the predetermined service with the constructed virtual reality space to transmit the service elements to the information terminal.
Another exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a method for supporting a service based on an information terminal, including: accessing, by the information terminal of a user, a server through a wireless access point device installed in a predetermined institution; executing, by the information terminal, a virtual experience service application program installed therein; transmitting, by the information terminal, present positional information indicating a present location of the user to the server through the wireless access point device in real time when the user moves in the predetermined institution; constructing, by the server, an augmented reality space corresponding to the present location by receiving the present positional information and associating the constructed augmented reality space with a service element corresponding to a predetermined service provided at the present location to transmit the service element to the information terminal; and receiving, by the information terminal, the augmented reality space associated with the service element and providing the predetermined service provided at the present location in the augmented reality space through the virtual experience service application program.
Yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a system for supporting a service based on an information terminal, including: an application server accessing the information terminal through a router, constructing a virtual reality space and an augmented reality space associated with a service element corresponding to a predetermined service provided by a predetermined institution, and transmitting the constructed virtual reality space and augmented reality space to the information terminal through the router; a service element server being associated with the application server and providing the service element to the application server in accordance with a request from the application server; and a virtual reality/augmented reality server being associated with the application server and providing the virtual reality space and the augmented reality space to the application server in accordance with the request from the application server.
Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims.
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless otherwise described, the same drawing reference numerals will be understood to refer to the same elements, features, and structures. The relative size and depiction of these elements may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience. The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses, and/or systems described herein. Accordingly, various changes, modifications, and equivalents of the methods, apparatuses, and/or systems described herein will be suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. Also, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for increased clarity and conciseness.
Referring to
In the exemplary embodiment, a medical institution as the predetermined institution will be described as an example. Therefore, in the specification, the information terminal based service supporting system is written as an information terminal based medical service supporting system. Of course, the predetermined institution is not limited to a medical institution and may include various public institutions and private institutions. That is, the information terminal based service supporting system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may allow the user to experience in advance predetermined services provided from the various institutions or provide realistic additional information to the user, in the virtual realistic space or the augmented realistic space.
The information terminal based medical service supporting system 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes an information terminal 110, a wireless access point device 130, a router 140, and a server 160.
The information terminal 110 includes a fixed information terminal 110A and a portable information terminal 110B. The fixed information terminal 110A incorporates a local area network (LAN) device, is connected to the router 140 through the LAN device, and may access the Internet through the router 140. Examples of the fixed information terminal 110A may include an IPTV, a game console, and the like. The portable information terminal 110B is connected to the wireless access point device 130 installed in the vicinity thereof by using the wireless LAN device incorporated therein. The portable information terminal 110B is connected to the router 140 by using the wireless access point device. The portable information terminal 110B may access the Internet through the wireless access point device 130 and the router 140 and examples of the portable information terminal 110B may include a smart phone, a portable game machine, and the like.
The router 140 connects the fixed information terminal 110A and the portable information terminal 1110B to the Internet through the Internet and ultimately connects both terminals to the server 160.
The server 160 includes an application server 162, a service element server 164, and a virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR) server 166.
The application server 162 transmits service applications associated with the medical service to the information terminal 110 through the Internet. Therefore, the information terminal 110 including 110A and 110B receives a predetermined service of a user's desired medical institution, i.e., the medical service.
The information terminal 110 including 110A and 110B executes a virtual experience service application program provided by the application server 162 and selects a medical institution from which the user intends to experience the service through the executed virtual experience service application program.
The application server 162 retrieves the medical service provided by the medical institution selected by the user in association with the service element server 164 and receives a service element corresponding to the medical service provided by the selected medical institution. Further, the application server 162 receives virtual reality information and/or augmented reality information required for the user to experience the medical service of the medical institution in association with the virtual reality/augmented reality server 166.
Thereafter, the application server 162 constructs the virtual reality space and/or the augmented reality space based on the received virtual reality information and/or augmented reality information and associates the service element received in the service element server with the virtual reality space and/or augmented reality space.
The application server 162 transmits the service element associated with the virtual reality space and/or augmented reality space to the information terminal 100 through the router 140 and the wireless access point device 130. As a result, the user experiences in advance the medical service in the virtual reality space through his/her own information terminal 110 or receives various additional information associated with the realistic medical service in the augmented reality space.
As described above, the information terminal based medical service supporting system 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a virtual medical experience service for the user to virtually experience the medical service in advance, remotely through the information terminal 110. Further, the information terminal based medical service supporting system 100 provides a site support service of the medical service for the user to receive a required service even at the time of arriving at a hospital, by using the augmented reality. The site support service of the medical service, i.e., the medical service which the user receives at the time of arriving at the hospital may be received from the portable information terminal 110B which is relatively convenient to carry, such as the smart phone or the portable game machine. For example, when the user arrives at the hospital, the user's own portable information terminal 110B accesses the Internet through the wireless access point device 130 installed at an entrance of the hospital and accesses the application server 162 through the accessed Internet. The application server 162 receives terminal information including user information from the accessed portable information terminal 110B to perform authentication. When the authentication is succeeded, the application server 162 recognizes that the user arrived at the hospital. That is, the application server 162 recognizes that the user's own portable information terminal is positioned at the entrance of the hospital. Therefore, the application server 162 prepares for a medical service which should be provided to the recognized portable information terminal 110B and provides the prepared medical service to the portable information terminal 110B. Further, this system 100 recognizes in real time a status in which the user moves in the hospital and when an event to reach a predetermined location in the general hospital occurs, the system 100 provides a prepared medical service corresponding to the event. For example, when the user comes close to a reception desk, a system installed at the reception desk recognizes the user who comes close and automatically prepares for reception information regarding the user in advance. Further, the medical service supporting system provides various medical service guides and using methods required at a present location of the user through the augmented reality space displayed in the user's portable information terminal.
As described above, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the virtual medical experience service is provided in order for the user to easily use the medical service in the general hospital, but the present invention is not limited thereto and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the user can experience various predetermined services through virtual experiences. In this case, a database storing other types of service information in addition to various service information associated with the medical treatment is constructed in the application server 162, the service element server 164, and the virtual reality/augmented reality server 166 of
Referring to
When the user uses a fixed information terminal 110A such as an IPTV or a game console, the user selects a virtual experience service of an interactive medical service provided by the remote medical institution through various interfaces provided from the virtual experience service application program executed by the fixed information terminal 110A (S210).
When the user uses a portable information terminal 110B such as a smart phone or a portable game machine, like the user using the fixed information terminal 110A, the user selects and executes the virtual experience application service of the medical service through various interfaces provided from the virtual experience service application program executed by the portable information terminal 110B (S220).
Through the processes (steps S210 and S220), the information terminal requests a virtual experience service for a medical institution to a server.
Subsequently, the user's information terminals 110A and 110B select a user's desired medical institution (S230).
When the medical institution is selected, the user performs virtual experience of various medical services such as a reception service, an examination service, a medical treatment service, an administration service, an expense payment service, and the like provided from the corresponding medical institution by using his/her own information terminals 110A and 110B (S240). That is, the server constructs a virtual reality space and/or an augmented reality space corresponding to the medical institution according to the request for the virtual experience service from the information terminal, and associates service elements related with various medical services with the constructed virtual reality space and augmented reality space to transmit the service elements to the information terminal.
The process (step S240) will be described below in detail. When the information terminal requests the virtual experience service for the medical institution to the server, the information terminal requests information on the medical institution list registered in the server. The server transmits the registered predetermined institution list to the information terminal in response to the request for the information on the medical institution list. The information terminal selects a predetermined institution which the user intends to experience from the received medical institution list and requests the virtual experience service corresponding to the medical institution selected by the information terminal to the server.
Thereafter, the information terminal requests the service element list provided from the selected medical institution and the server transmits the service element list to the information terminal in response to the request for the service element list. The information terminal selects one service element from the received service element list and requests the virtual experience service corresponding to the selected service element to the server.
Thereafter, the server inquires into a service element database provided therein to retrieve the service element selected by the information terminal. At the same time, the server inquires into a virtual reality database provided therein to retrieve virtual reality information of the medical institution selected by the information terminal. The server constructs the virtual reality space based on the retrieved virtual reality information, associates the retrieved service element with the constructed virtual reality space, and transmits the service element associated with the virtual reality space to the information terminal.
The virtual experience of the medical service is continued until the user transmits a termination message to the server 160 of
Referring to
Thereafter, in the user's portable information terminal 110B, the virtual experience service application program for supporting the medical service using the augmented reality space is executed (S320). In this case, the server transmits to the portable information terminal 110B the fact that the user having the portable information terminal 110B arrived at the hospital, as a verification message and the portable information terminal 110B may automatically execute the virtual experience service application program in response to the verification message.
Thereafter, as the portable information terminal 110B transmits situational information such as the positional information and the movement path information of the user to the server 160 in real time, the portable information terminal 110B guides a medical service and a using method required at a present location of the user in the hospital (S330). During this process, the user uses various medical services such as reception, examination, medical treatment, administration, expense payment, and the like (S340).
Therefore, when the user goes out of the hospital after receiving all the medical services, the application for supporting the medical service is terminated (S350).
Referring to
The command receiving unit 162A receives a user command from the fixed information terminal 110A such as the IPTV or game console and the portable information terminal 110B such as the smart phone or portable game machine through the router 140 of
The command analyzing unit 162B analyzes and executes the user command received from the command receiving unit 162A.
The application service selecting unit 162C selects a user's desired application service among application services included in an application service database 470 in association with the command analyzing unit.
When the user's desired application service is selected by the application service selecting unit, the application service executing unit 162E executes the selected application service and transmits an executed result to the fixed information terminal 110A or the portable information terminal 110B.
Thereafter, the user virtually experiences the service through his/her own terminal.
While experiencing the service, the service elements that are basic elements constituting the service are received from the service element server 164 through the service element server associating unit 166G. Herein, the service elements are called subservices acquired by subdividing the medical service, such as the reception service, the examination service, the medical treatment service, the administration service, the expense payment service, and the like in the case of the medical service as an example. That is, the application server 162 receives service information associated with the reception service, service information associated with the examination service, service information associated with the medical treatment service, and the like, as the service elements of the medical service, through the service element server associating unit 166G provided therein.
The application server 162 constructs a service space corresponding to each service element, i.e., a virtual space in order to execute the received service elements. The virtual reality information or augmented reality information required to construct the service space is acquired from the VR/AR server 166 through the VR/AR server associating unit 162F.
As described above, the application server 162 constructs the service elements and each service element in the virtual space and transfers the service elements constructed in the virtual space to the information terminals 110A and 110B to allow the user to virtually experience the service through a display screen provided in the information terminal.
Referring to
The application server associating unit 166A transfers a retrieval word for the VR/AR element from the application server 160 to the VR/AR element retrieving unit 166B.
The VR/AR element retrieving unit 166B receives the retrieval word received from the application serve; associating unit 166A and retrieves VR/AR elements required to experience the virtual service corresponding to the received retrieval word by accessing the VR/AR element DB 166D.
The retrieved VR/AR elements are transferred to the application server 162 through the VR/AR element providing unit 166C and the application server associating unit 166A.
Referring to
The application server associating unit 164A receives the retrieval world for the service element from the application server 162.
The service element retrieving unit 164B inquires into the service element DB 164D to retrieve the service elements required for the service experience.
The retrieved service elements are transferred to the application server 162 of
As described above, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a user who is not familiar with using a service experiences various services in advance by using virtual reality implemented through various information terminals (the IPTV, the game console, the smart phone, and the portable game machine) to conveniently and easily use a real medical service without difficulty.
Further, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an operation which uses in order to select and execute service elements while a user experience the service is generated as an event and the user interfaces with a service which the user intends to experience by the event.
During such a service navigation process, a confusion generated at the time of executing the service which the user is not familiar with can be removed through a function to recommend the service.
When the user receives the service in a real service site by using augmented reality based on the portable information terminal such as the smart phone or the portable game machine in addition to virtually experiencing the service remotely, appropriate information required to use of the service can be received through recognition of a situation including the location of the user.
As described above, the servers of
As described above, the present invention allows the user to virtually experience the predetermined service such as the medical service by using the virtual reality and augmented reality and supports convenient use of the real service. In particular, the present invention allows the user to experience in advance all processes of a complex service by using the virtual reality technology and supports convenient use of the service in using the complex service using user identification, location recognition and situation recognition, and an augmented reality technology in the real service site.
As described above, in the present invention, an information terminal with a high-performance graphic and a processor accesses the server providing a predetermined service of a predetermined institution through a wired/wireless communication network to provide a service to virtually experience the predetermined service in advance in the virtual reality and additional information is provided through the augmented reality in real time to allow the user to conveniently use a predetermined complicated service.
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a user can conveniently and easily use a real service by experiencing various kinds of services in advance and being familiar with the services by using a virtual reality based on various information terminals.
The user receives various services in which the virtual reality and a real reality are mixed with each other by using an augmented reality, such that the user can receive appropriate information required to use the services through recognition of a situation including the position of the user when receiving the services in a real service site.
A number of exemplary embodiments have been described above. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made. For example, suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2010-0052391 | Jun 2010 | KR | national |