Grandparents and parents of today might fondly recall the View-Master of Fisher-Price, one of the phenomenal toys of yesteryear that one used to see 3D images. Kids today may know of virtual reality and 3D TVs but Apple might have something for the kids of tomorrow as it has just been awarded a patent for a head mounted display that may tickle the imagination of users in the world of virtual reality.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a patent to the iPhone and iPad manufacturer for a virtual reality head-mounted display that has an uncanny resemblance to the Oculus Rift.
"A goggle system for providing a personal media viewing experience to a user is provided. The goggle system may include an outer cover, a mid-frame, optical components for generating media display, and a lens on which the generated media displayed is provided to the user," the abstract of the new patent stated.
"In some embodiments, the goggle system may include data processing-circuitry operative to adjust left and right images generated by the optical components to display 3-D media, or account for a user's eyesight limitations," it added.
The patent application was filed in 2008 way before any head-mounted display for gaming purposes went mainstream.
The claims of the patent indicate that the design form of the goggle is actually just secondary.
"It will be understood that this invention may be implemented in any suitable device for supporting the display generation components. For example, the principles of this invention may also be applied to glasses (e.g., sunglasses), a helmet, a hat, or any other suitable device for supporting the display generation components on a user," the patent clarified.
Patently Apple that first reported about the publication of the newest patent of Apple, pointed out that the virtual reality device can be connected to another electronic device such as a computer, smartphone, or a gaming device that will feed media to the goggles.
The said goggles of Apple may also make use of fingerprint scanner, voice analysis, or retina scan to identify and grant access to the user, making us wonder whether Apple will make use of this patent to take on Google Glass.
