The present invention relates to a presentation device for carrying out a product presentation. The present invention also relates to a method for presenting the product at a presentation location at which the customer is present.
Before a customer purchases a particular product, for example, a motor vehicle, he/she would generally like to obtain an impression of the article to be purchased. For this purpose, the customer may visit the vendor's premises. However, in markets covering a wide area, for example, in rural areas, the business premises of the commercial establishment and the domicile of the customer, for example, his/her place of residence, may be separated by great distances. This makes it unappealing for the customer to visit the business premises. Internet commerce allows customers to obtain an impression of the goods for sale conveniently from home. However, this impression is generally not highly realistic, and the photographs of the products depicted on the Internet pages often do not address the particular questions that a customer may have. For example, it is not possible to estimate how large a particular object is, based on a photograph of the product. For example, if the customer is interested in a motor vehicle and would like to know how spacious the rear seat is, he/she is not able to assess this based on the photographs.
DE 10 2005 048 926 A1 describes a method for simulating the appearance of items of furniture at their place of destination. In this method, a customer at a home computer is able to create virtual models of both the items of furniture and the place of destination. The customer generates the model of the place of destination based on two-dimensional images, for example, photos of his/her living room. The virtual models of the item of furniture and the place of destination may then be combined with the aid of the computer.
US 2010/0289817 A1 also describes a method for illustrating a virtual object in real surroundings. In this method as well, the real surroundings are imaged by photographs, and a virtual model of the surroundings is formed from the photographs. The virtual objects may then be inserted into the model, overlaps of real objects imaged in the photographs with the virtual object being taken into account, so that the virtual object in the model may also be situated behind the real objects.
DE 102 30 911 A1 describes a sales portal for the Internet, via which a customer may obtain product data which describe the product three-dimensionally, so that the user is able to superimpose images of the product into his/her field of vision by so-called augmented-reality glasses, thereby obtaining the impression that the product is in front of the user in his/her familiar living environment. However, to generate the three-dimensional virtual objects, the user needs a relatively high-powered computer as well as the expensive augmented-reality data glasses. Therefore, this purchasing portal is usable only by people who have both hardware components, the high-powered personal computer and the expensive data glasses.