System and method using sound signal for material and texture identification for augmented reality

A system comprising a processor and a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions operative, when executed by the processor, to perform the functions of:

• determining, using a depth camera function of an AR display device, a distance to an object;
• emitting, using a speaker of the AR display device, a generated sound signal;
• responsive to emitting the sound signal, detecting a reflected sound signal;
• determining, relative to the sound signal emitted by the speaker of the AR display device, attenuation levels for a temporal portion of the reflected sound signal for at least two frequency ranges of the reflected sound signal, the temporal portion of the reflected sound signal corresponding to a computed round-trip travel time of the sound signal traveling the determined distance to and from the object;
• and
• determining a material of the object based upon the determined attenuation levels for the at least two frequency ranges.

A method of determining a material of an object, comprising:

• determining, using a depth camera, a distance to an object;
• emitting a generated sound signal;
• responsive to emitting the sound signal, detecting a reflected sound signal;
• determining, relative to the emitted sound signal, attenuation levels for a temporal portion of the reflected sound signal for at least two frequency ranges of the reflected sound signal, the temporal portion of the reflected sound signal corresponding to a computed round-trip travel time of the sound signal traveling the determined distance to and from the object;
• and
• determining a material of the object based upon the determined attenuation levels for the at least two frequency ranges.