Apple has been granted a patent (number 11,080,932) for a “method and apparatus for representing a virtual object in a real environment.” It involves allowing the rumored “Apple Glasses” to record a merging of virtual and real environments.
About the patent
Apple says the invention relates to a method and apparatus for representing a virtual object in a real environment. In particular, it involves merging the virtual object with an image of the real environment generated by a recording device.
The recording device would be Apple Glasses, the rumored virtual reality/augmented reality head-mounted display (HMD).
Another goal of the invention is to make it easy to represent a virtual object in a real environment. Apple wants this to be accomplished in which “occurring collisions” of virtual objects with real objects upon merging with a real environment can be represented in a way largely close to reality.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “The invention relates to a method for representing a virtual object in a real environment, having the following steps: generating a two-dimensional image of a real environment by means of a recording device, ascertaining a position of the recording device relative to at least one component of the real environment, segmenting at least one area of the real environment unmarked in reality in the two-dimensional image for identifying at least one segment of the real environment in distinction to a remaining part of the real environment while supplying corresponding segmentation data, and merging the virtual object with the two-dimensional image of the real environment with consideration of the segmentation data such that at least one part of the segment of the real environment is removed from the image of the real environment. The invention permits any collisions of virtual objects with real objects that occur upon merging with a real environment to be represented in a way largely close to reality.”
About Apple Glasses
When it comes to Apple Glasses, such a device will arrive this year or 2022, depending on which rumor you believe. The Sellers Research Group (that’s me) thinks Apple will at least preview it before the end of the year.
It will be a head-mounted display. Or may have a design like “normal” glasses. Or it may be eventually be available in both. The Apple Glasses may or may not have to be tethered to an iPhone to work. Other rumors say that Apple Glasses could have a custom-build Apple chip and a dedicated operating system dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system.”
