Apple wants the Vision Pro to be companion/assistant for disabled and impaired folks

Apple wants the Vision Pro (or a follow-up device) to be a constant companion/assistant for disabled and impaired folks. The tech giant has filed for a patent (number US 20240221301 A1) for “Extending Reality Assistant Based on User Understanding.”

About the patent filing

The patent filing generally relates to presenting content via electronic devices (that would be the Vision Pro), and in particular, to systems, methods, and devices that present extended reality (XR) content to provide assistance to users. Apple says that existing XR systems may not adequately assist users that need or desire user assistance in particular circumstances, e.g., when such users are unfamiliar with or otherwise needed help with how to navigate to particular objects, people, or destinations in a new environment.

Apple’s idea is for Vision Pro methods that provide augmentations in XR using sensor data from a user worn device or other device in a physical environment. The sensor data may be used to understand that a user’s state is associated with the user needing or wanting user assistance, e.g., a user’s appearance or behavior or an understanding of the environment may be used to recognize a user’s need or desire for assistance. 

Summary of the patent filing

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “Various implementations disclosed herein provide augmentations in extended reality (XR) using sensor data from a user worn device. The sensor data may be used understand that a user’s state is associated with providing user assistance, e.g., a user’s appearance or behavior or an understanding of the environment may be used to recognize a need or desire for user assistance. The augmentations may assist the user by enhancing or supplementing the user’s abilities, e.g., providing guidance or other information about an environment to disabled/impaired person.

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