A magazine advertisement is one way basic augmented reality technology can be used. Others include superimposing directions from online mapping software in real-time to provide directions or information on city landmarks/exhibits in a museum for tourists.

Georgia Tech and Alcatel-Lucent recently demonstrated mobile augmented reality by providing an interface into a virtual environment. Imagine setting up a conference meeting and having the attendees appear in 3D on a table in your home office. By using augmented reality a user could see this virtual conference superimposed on the real table.

To fully experience Internet content the end user will move to and from augmented reality to a more traditional Web experience, but the discovery and hook into the content initially comes from the environment, meaning the keyboard is much less of an issue and the discovery is more natural.

The architecture for mobile augmented reality must allow for content change, just like the Web does today. You may go to a Web site and see one thing on one day and then go back to the same site to see different content on the next. The architecture for mobile augmented reality must therefore rely on services provided by the network interpreting patterns and delivering content in real-time.

The idea behind the service is to essentially setup a video conference from the end-user to a server in the network. The server in the network can do all the "heavy lifting" required by augmented reality of pattern recognition, pattern tracking, and superimposition of content. The example architecture below shows how the IP Multi-Media Subsystem (IMS) standard can be used to implement a mobile augmented reality service. In this case, the IMS standard is used to setup a video stream (reality) from an end-user to an IMS application server. The IMS application server interprets patterns and orientations of those patterns in the video and matches them against known patterns.

Artificial content appropriate for the known pattern is then folded into the video stream (now the stream is "augmented reality"). The IMS application server then sends the augmented video stream back to the end user. In addition to this basic functionality, the IMS application allows for various types of interactivity between the content and the end user.

Mobile augmented reality, while possible on current networks and services, will improve with better cameras on mobile devices and the launching of higher bandwidth 4G mobile services such as WiMAX or LTE. This is, in part, why the expectation is to see 2D bar codes evolving into the full mobile augmented reality user interface, but this technology is compelling enough that it is extremely likely to be the main way of access content in the future.

The mobile phone has become one of the most personal devices people own. It is something they always have with them, twenty four hours a day, seven days per week. There are many choices of mobile devices available, allowing people to choose the device that meets their needs. Today, these devices have so much more computing power, more memory, and greater flexibility, and the network is increasing its bandwidth and availability.

The continuous improvements have brought new technology such as mobile-to-mobile video calls within reach of the every day user. Augmented reality, using your mobile phone, is not too far behind. Recent Alcatel-Lucent research finds consumers believe the augmented services have broad appeal, easy to use, and a service they would use frequently.