Google gets patent for tech on augmented reality-based virtual graffiti

Google has received a patent in India for its technology for creating virtual graffiti in a mobile virtual and augmented reality system, something that would help you leave a message for you or your friend at a location in future. 

The company in its patent specification filed with the Patent Office says that with virtual graffiti, if one may wish to leave a message for his or her friend to try a particular menu item at a restaurant, the message may be virtually written on the door of the restaurant, and left for the second user to view. When the friend visits the restaurant, he or she will receive an indication that virtual graffiti is available for their view. The message will then appear to them on the door of the restaurant when viewed with an augmented reality system. 

It claims that when a user with an enabled device wishes to send a virtual graffiti to another user as part of an augmented reality scene, they can create the graffiti and associate it with a location and provide a list of users who can be allowed to view it. The device will send the information to a server, which will periodically monitor the location of the devices of the listed users and when a particular device is near the location, will notify that user through an alert. They can view the graffiti, embedded in or merged with the user's view of the real-world. The virtual graffiti will be only available to those designated able to view it (preferably by the individual who created the virtual graffiti). 

The patent application, for a 'Method and Apparatus for creating virtual graffiti in a mobile virtual and augmented reality system', was filed by smartphone manufacturer Motorola Mobility Inc, in June, 2011 and was changed to Google Technology Holding LLC through an application in 2016. Google has acquired Motorola in 2012, for $12.5 billion and later sold it to Lenovo in 2014 for $2.91 billion, according to reports.

Google has been nurturing the Augmented Reality (AR) research through its AR developor platform ARCore, by providing tools to developers for creating AR experiences. The Google Creative Lab applications have a few AR-based apps such as Just a Line - Draw Anywhere with AR, an AR experiment that lets the user to make simple drawings in AR and share it with a short video.