Apple has today been granted a patent for augmented reality apps for interior design and animated movie posters. The patent award comes the day after we learned more about plans for an AR app in partnership with Swedish furniture company Ikea.
Apple recently announced ARKit as part of iOS 11, providing hands-on demos at WWDC …
The patent was assigned from augmented reality app company Metaio, which Apple acquired back in 2015.
The patent specifically references the virtual placement of furniture in a room.
It also discusses one of the key challenges of providing a realistic image on a handheld device.
The movie poster application describes how a user can point their device at a movie poster and see a video trailer.
While most of the text is device-agnostic, it does specifically include two references to a head-mounted display.
Although Apple’s AR efforts are undoubtedly focused on the iPhone and iPad, the company has long been rumored to be working on a Google Glass-like device, getting at least as far as the prototype stage. Apple has revealed that a new iMac Pro will be powerful enough to be used for virtual reality applications. IDC recently predicted that AR and VR headset shipments will hit 100M by 2021.
Via Patently Apple. Photo: Cimagine.
