Apple is almost certainly working on its own augmented reality/virtual reality headset (usually dubbed “Apple Glasses” and expected in 2020). A new patent filing (number 20180232942) dubbed “method for representing virtual information in a real environment’ underscores this.
AR systems enhance information of a real environment by providing a visualization of overlaying computer-generated virtual information with a view of the real environment or a part of the real environment. The virtual information can be any type of visually perceivable data such as objects, texts, drawings, videos, or their combination.
The view of the real environment or the part of the real environment, as understood by Apple in its patent filing, could be perceived as visual impressions by user’s eyes and/or be acquired as one or more images by a camera, e.g., worn by a user or attached on a device held by a user. The overlaid or blended in virtual information may be virtual information.
For example, an item of virtual information which could enhance information of a real environment may be a point of interest, as for example known in map or navigation applications. A point of interest (POI) may represent a location of a real object of the real environment (e.g., a building or a landmark) and often includes digital content that is related to the real object.
For instance, the location is a global location (e.g., a geo-coordinate such as a 2D coordinate of longitude and latitude, or a 3D coordinate of longitude, latitude and altitude) or an address (e.g., a floor number, street, postcode, country). The post address and the global location could be converted to each other. The digital content of the POI could contain various data, such as a name, description, and contact related to the real object.
Here’s Apple’s summary of the patent: “A method for representing virtual information in a view of a real environment is provided that includes: providing a system setup including at least one display device, wherein the system setup is adapted for blending in virtual information on the display device in at least part of the view, determining a position and orientation of a viewing point relative to at least one component of the real environment, providing a geometry model of the real environment, providing at least one item of virtual information and a position of the at least one item of virtual information, determining whether the position of the item of virtual information is inside a 2D or 3D geometrical shape, determining a criterion which is indicative of whether the built-in real object is at least partially visible or non-visible in the view of the real environment, and blending in the at least one item of virtual information on the display device in at least part of the view of the real environment.”
Of course, 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.
