Inpresso AR: a generic augmented book

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that enables to show virtual information superimposed on the real world and interact with it. In recent years, this technology has been heavily explored in various contexts, with a focus on enriching the experience provided by smartphones and wearables. AR books techniques consist of adding interactive and immersive properties to physical books, transforming the reading activity into a unique experience. In this paper, it is proposed a generic augmented book that is capable of downloading and playing different AR experiences for any existing book. A hybrid experiences specification schema was defined to characterize the AR experiences. The proposed augmented book application recognizes a book, downloads from the server the experiences specification file associated with it, builds the necessary AR experiences assets and plays them. A prototype was built and some preliminary tests were conducted. The approach described here allows physical books to be connected with remote servers, transforming them into dynamic sources of information and into products much more immersive, interactive and attractive.