Friday, November 22, 2024
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Apple granted a patent for a funky looking head-mounted projector

Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,819,962) for a “method of and system for projecting digital information on a real object in a real environment.” It involves a head-mounted projector hat looks pretty awkward to me. 

In all fairness to Apple, it appears that the projector could also be hand held or attached to a stand. 

Augmented reality (AR) systems could enhance a real environment by directly visually augmenting the real environment by computer-generated digital information. For example, such digital information is virtual information for augmenting visual impressions of the real environment. 

Apple says that typical applications are known as, for example, so-called projector-based AR, projective AR or spatial AR. The digital information can be any type of data you can see, such as objects, texts, drawings, videos, or a combination of these. Apple’s idea is to project a computer-generated digital information onto a surface of a real object of the real environment or a part of the real environment using a projector. 

Here’s the summary of the patent: “A method of projecting digital information on a real object in a real environment includes the steps of projecting digital information on a real object or part of a real object with a visible light projector, capturing at least one image of the real object with the projected digital information using a camera, providing a depth sensor registered with the camera, the depth sensor capturing depth data of the real object or part of the real object, and calculating a spatial transformation between the visible light projector and the real object based on the at least one image and the depth data. The invention is also concerned with a corresponding system.”

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.