Apple Patents Augmented Reality Apps, One Uses Translucent LCDs

[Phillip Swanson]

If I could wear a pair of glasses that augmented reality so I didn't have to watch 98% of reality television programming, I'd probably take out a second mortgage to pay for them.

Those don't exist, but a couple Apple Patents dug up by Apple Insider detail a wonderful world viewed through your future transparent iPad. The first example utilizes a split screen video mode, with a live video feed on top, and 3-D generated imagery of recognizable elements in the live feed. Using all the possible sensors in the world crammed into the device, the 3-D rendering of the live feed would change as the device is moved. The real draw those is allowing the user to interact with whats on screen by lets say picking a building in the distance and having directions displayed in the 3-D model below.

The second patent deals with an application that uses an LCD device capable of becoming transparent, or creating a transparent window. The application could then overlay interactive information about the users surroundings and what the user sees through the window. That would be kind of sweet. But, these are patents for possible applications, not real actual products to be created any time soon.

Source: USPTO [via Apple Insider]

[mmaboi21]

3d is killer... On your eyes I mean

[Subtenko]

a lot of people already know about these possibility, and this is just a patent, we wanna know when is someone gonna make one for the public... >_>

just like sony and their "matrix-like technology" they patented. we just wanna know when the thing is gonna come out!