Apple has been granted another patent involved augmented reality (AR) headwear. Patent number 9,482,869 is for a “head-mounted display apparatus” for retaining a portable electronic device with display.”
Similar to patent number 8,957,835, it’s for VR goggles that would connect with an iPhone. It seems to involve connecting an iPhone (or perhaps an iPod touch) to a GoPro-ish head mount for viewing media on a private display.
The patent is for head-mounted display systems and methods of operation that allow users to couple and decouple a portable electronic device with a separate head-mounted device and temporarily integrates the separate devices into a single unit. The iDevice may be physically coupled to the head-mounted device such that the portable electronic device can be worn on the user’s head.
The connected devices would communicate and operate with one another. Each device may be allowed to extend its features and/or services to the other device for the purpose of enhancing, increasing and/or eliminating redundant functions between the head-mounted device and the portable electronic device, according to Apple. The company says that “such a configuration can allow the user to view media on a private display, while the media is provided by a personal handheld device.”
Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.
