Invisible Marker-Based Augmented Reality

To estimate camera pose, existing augmented reality (AR) techniques usually require fiducial markers with known geometry. However, placing a marker in the workspace of the user can be very visually intrusive. To overcome this limitation, a nonintrusive AR method using invisible markers that are created/drawn with an infrared (IR) ink is proposed and an IR marker tracking system is presented. This system includes additional algorithms to maintain reliable performance in a cluttered background. Then, the working conditions of IR markers are examined and compared with those of visual markers, and the optimal working conditions of IR markers are discussed. Next, the qualitative evaluation of an IR marker-based AR is presented through a variety of experiments and user evaluations. Finally, the potential applications of IR marker-based AR are explored.