Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200356162) for an “electronic device system with controllers.” It’s for hand-worn devices that would interact with “Apple Glasses,” the rumored augmented reality/virtual reality/mixed reality head-mounted display (HMD) that the tech giant is purportedly working on.
The idea is to have the HMD work in tandem with hand controllers that in providing ad interacting with visual content. A controller may, for example, detect hand movements that are used in manipulating items on a display.
Input-output devices such as optical sensors and other sensors may be used to gather information on the position of the user’s fingers as the user interacts with real-world objects. For example, the tips of the user’s fingers may touch tabletops and other real-world surfaces.
Other information such as the position of real-world objects in the user’s environment may also be gathered using the sensors. The sensors may gather finger position information and other information in real time as the position sensor is detecting housing motion. Among other things, this would be very helpful in playing augmented reality/virtual reality games.
When it comes to Apple Glasses, such a device will arrive next year or 2022, depending on which rumor you believe. It will be a head-mounted display. Or may have a design like “normal” glasses. Or it may 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.”
