Use Case Categories

A procedure involving a human’s perception of digital information in conjunction with and registered on the real world (in context) is a use case. The specific information delivery or capture challenge (and the benefits of using AR to address it) can be known by evaluating it against the non-AR version of the procedure. For example, if the average error rate in a procedure due to insufficient information, or information that is too complex for a user to understand can be measured, then the error rate or time to complete a procedure without error using AR can also be measured.

As a result of the diversity of enterprise AR customers, use cases, and workplace settings, there are many different potential requirements to support employees in their workplaces. In order to ensure that research is relevant and to increase the applicability of results, the AREA recommends that research projects specifically focus on addressing a single use-case category at a time and state in their publications the use case or category which they target.

Conversely, the AREA recommends that when calling for proposals funding organizations specify the use category (or categories) in which the proposed projects would address requirements. Selecting and specifying a use case category in calls for proposals and research publications has at least the following benefits:

• A category contains many use cases, hence the research results are likely to meet the needs of a variety of customer requirements, as well as customers in a variety of industries
• Providers of AR-enabling technologies and customers are more likely to identify the research results (e.g., using well-defined key words or codes to consistently capture/express use case “patterns”) using search engines, and
• The research sponsor and/or the researchers can quickly and easily identify the context for the project (where in a technology stack, and to whom in an ecosystem, the new work can offer value).

Based on their knowledge of the domain of industrial and enterprise AR, AREA members recommend the following five categories of use cases.

• Procedural assistance (instructions unregistered or registered on real world)
  • Assembly
  • Configuration
  • Repair/service
  • Inspection/quality assurance
  • Navigation
• Collaboration (locally and remote assistance)
• Training (prior to real world performance, valuable for haptic/kinetic learning)
• Current status (connected devices, machines, people, compared with or without, what’s most important?)
• Product feature visualization/demonstration (marketing, compare with or without)

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