Monday, November 4, 2024
OpinionsPatents

Future iPhones could be used to compare products in a virtual environment when shopping

This graphic illustrates a 3D environment including a physical product for comparison with one or more virtual representations of one or more products.

Future iPhones could be used to compare products in a virtual environment when shopping. Apple has filed for a patent (number US 20240273597 A1) for “Product Comparison and Upgrade in a Virtual Environment.”

About the patent filing

In the patent filing Apple notes that computer-generated environments are environments where at least some objects displayed for a user’s viewing are generated using a computer, and in some instances, some displayed objects are physical objects. 

Users may interact with a computer-generated environment by interacting with both computer-generated and physical objects. Apple apparently thinks this would be a great way to use an iPhone check out products a user may wish to purchase. 

Summary of the patent filing

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “Some embodiments described in this disclosure are directed to methods for comparing products in a three-dimensional environment. In particular, some embodiments described in this disclosure are directed to methods for comparing physical objects (e.g., physical products) and virtual object representations in the three-dimensional environment. 

“These comparisons can provide an efficient and intuitive way for a user to identify differences between a particular physical object and a virtual object representation, and enable a user to select an upgrade or replacement for the physical object. Some embodiments described in this disclosure are directed to methods for presenting object information for a physical object in a three-dimensional environment, and comparing the physical object to a virtual upgrade object.”

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.