Apple hopes you’ll wear the Vision Pro to sporting events for ‘visual augmentation’

Apple has been granted a patent (US 11688168 B1) for a “Method And Device For Visual Augmentation Of Sporting Events” on the upcoming Vision Pro.

The tech giant debuted the US$3,499 (and up)  “spatial computing” headset at this month’s Worldwide Developer Conference. It goes on sale in early 2024, and Apple wants it to appeal to sports fans.

About the patent filing

The newly granted patent involves systems, methods, and devices for visual augmentation of sporting events. Apple notes that folks have become accustomed to supplemental infor being displayed while watching a sporting event on television. For example, a yellow first-down line may be displayed over the field during broadcast of a football game. 

As another example, the score may be displayed in the lower right corner during broadcast of a basketball game. However, when physically present at a sporting event, a person watching the sporting event live does not receive the same experience. Apple wants to change this — well, at least for folks wearing Vision Pros at such events. 

Apple’s method includes detecting, in the image of the sporting event, an object. The method includes obtaining data regarding a current state of the sporting event with respect to the object. The method includes displaying, on the display in association with the physical environment, a representation of the data.

Of course, how many of us will actually wear the Vision Pro to a game is yet to be seen.

Summary of the patent filing

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “In one implementation, a method of displaying sports data is performed by a device including an image sensor, a display, one or more processors, and non-transitory memory. The method includes obtaining, using the image sensor, an image of a physical environment including a sporting event. The method includes detecting, in the image of the physical environment, an object. The method includes obtaining data regarding a current state of the sporting event with respect to the object. The method includes displaying, on the display in association with the physical environment, a representation of the data.”