Apple has been granted a patent for a video headset that can change perspective based on a user’s movements. The patent (number 9,880,720) is for “adjusting media display win a personal display system based on perspective.”
Using one or more optical and digital components, the personal display device — which I’ll refer to as Apple Glasses —may adjust displayed media to overlay features of a theater, giving the user of the gadget the impression of being in the theater.
In some embodiments, the Apple Glasses may receive a user selection of a seat in the theater from which to watch the media, and may adjust the media display accordingly. In some embodiments, the Apple Glasses may detect the user’s movements using one or more sensors and may adjust the displayed image based on the user’s movements. For example, the device may detect a user’s head movement and cause the portion of media displayed to reflect the head movement.
In addition to adjusting the displayed media, the Apple Glasses could adjust other characteristics of played back media. For example, it could adjust the sound output to the user to reflect the acoustics of a selected theater, or to reflect the user’s selected location within the theater. As another example, the Apple Glasses may introduce additional noise to reflect the environment in which the user may be viewing the media (e.g., a sports stadium).
Apple has applied for multiple patents regarding AR and scooped up some AR-related companies.
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.
