Apple patents new augmented reality system for future iPhones
Apple is known to be working on the field of augmented and virtual reality for quite some time. This week the company has been granted two new patents, suggesting the tech giant has serious plans on integrating immersive technologies into the next generation of iPhones.
First reported by Apple Insider, the patents describe a mobile augmented reality system that can detect its surroundings and displays virtual information to users in real time.
Titled as “Wearable information system having at least one camera” the U.S. Patent No: 9,560,273 imagines a wearable information system having at least one camera, with low and high power modes. The information system is configured such that the high-power mode is activated when an object is detected by the camera.
U.S. Patent No: 9,558,581 details a particular method of representing virtual information on top of a real environment. Both patents were originally filed by German Augmented Reality company Metaio. Apple acquired the firm in 2015 for an undisclosed sum.
Earlier in 2016, Tim Cook has confirmed his interest on implementing virtual and augmented reality technologies into the company’s product lineup.
“There’s virtual reality and there’s augmented reality — both of these are incredibly interesting, but my own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far,” Tim Cook said.
Technology journalist Robert Scoble says this year Tim Cook is going to announce a clear glass iPhone that pops up into a head display which will allow consumers to move, walk, shoot and play in six-degrees of freedom. According to Scoble the new iPhone will map every surface we’ll see.
