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Apple Outlines How Augmented Reality Glasses Could Overlay Points of Interest

cmaier said:
Who has apple sued for patent infringement in the last 10 years other than Samsung?
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Didn't they sue HTC for patent infringement back in 2010? Not exactly patent infringement (trademark really), but they also sued Amazon in 2011 over the usage of "app store". As a member of the cabal known as Rockstar, they went all H.A.M. on Android back in 2013. Sued erbody and they momma.
 
69Mustang said:
Didn't they sue HTC for patent infringement back in 2010? Not exactly patent infringement (trademark really), but they also sued Amazon in 2011 over the usage of "app store". As a member of the cabal known as Rockstar, they went all H.A.M. on Android back in 2013. Sued erbody and they momma.
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None of that was patents (other than Rockstar, which they are not the only owners of)
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paulcons said:
They sold millions of "watches" that were not much more than glorified remote controls for the ifone in your pocket. Maybe one will need both the phone and the watch to use these AR glasses? Not so sure there's much need to, say, look at the Mona Lisa with your glasses telling you it IS that painting. Or looking at the Statue of Liberty with the glasses telling you it's the big girl in the harbor. Gosh, sound like we need way more tax breaks for the uber rich so they can keep the fruit the world's most valuable company... then again, I DO seem to have an issue with spending a grand on a damn phone.
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Are you really so unimaginative that you can’t think of compelling use cases for this? Here are some examples:

1) look at a sign in another language and have the language translated right in front of you
2) have arrows superimposed over your vision telling you which way to turn when you are navigating somewhere
3) standing at a bus stop or on train platform and have it tell you when the next bus/train is going to arrive, or warn you of delays
4) walking through a supermarket, have your shopping list right in front of you at all times
5) at a party, see people’s spouse’s names so you don’t embarrassingly forget them when you are introduced :)
6) putting together ikea furniture, have arrows superimposed on tab A and slot B so you see how to put it together
 
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cmaier said:
"I don't know what is in the patent, but the patent office must be bad!"

Here's there patent: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=40&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1="apple+inc".ASNM.&OS=AN/"apple+inc"&RS=AN/"apple+inc"

Here's claim 1:
Code: 
1. A method for representing points of interest in an image of a real environment, comprising: displaying, by a display element, an image of a real environment; determining at least one point of interest in the image; determining a position of the at least one point of interest within the image; displaying, by the display element, a computer-generated indicator associated with the at least one point of interest on the image, a location of the computer-generated indicator based on the position of the at least one point of interest; displaying, by the display element, a computer-generated virtual object related to the at least one point of interest at a location based on the location of the computer-generated indicator; displaying a visually perceivable relation indication indicative of a relation between the computer-generated virtual object and the computer-generated indicator; determining a change in position of the at least one point of interest within a second image of the real environment; updating, on the display element, display of the computer-generated indicator based on the change in position of the at least one point of interest; and updating, on the display element, display of the visually perceivable relation indication based on the updated location of the computer-generated indicator.

mTrip didn't do that
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That's pretty much exactly what mTrip did. It used an image of a real environment (the camera display) and overlaid indicators with POI information over the computed location. The app used GPS coordinates and compass direction of the phone relative to the POI database to ensure accurate positioning of the computer generated display element. The display would be updated as the relative POI position changed due to movement of the phone, either side to side or movement across the ground, and would show the latest direction and distance information in real-time.

Now I'm not a lawyer and I'm sure Apple pays theirs very, very well to parse words for specific meaning in extremely detailed contexts, but in the grand scheme of things mTrip effectively did everything in the claim almost a decade ago.
 
mozumder said:
AR & VR are dead as consumer products. They may have some use for professionals, but the general consumer isn't going to wear a device that blocks their mobility.

Right now the display technology isn't there to make it mobile friendly. There's an extremely limited field-of-view and low resolution in headsets. If a wrap-around light-field display could be made, then it might be possible to use AR/VR.
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So what? If companies don't keep investing and researching solutions we will never get to a point that the technology will be useful for everyone. There is a big difference big been "dead" and "not being there yet" and it's not like AR and VR will "go there" by themselves if tech companies don't keep working on them.
 
cmaier said:
None of that was patents (other than Rockstar, which they are not the only owners of)
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Not sure your info is correct. Apple v. HTC definitely was a patent suit. Apple claimed 20 patents were infringed.
Yes, we know Apple wasn't the only owner. That's why I said: "As a member of the cabal known as Rockstar..."
So even leaving out the trademark dispute with Amazon, you're still left with HTC and Rockstar. You asked the question about their patent litigation in the past 10 years. There's your answer.
 
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How did this passed the patent troll BS test? Not only is it obvious but there are tons of prior art.
 
mozumder said:
AR & VR are dead as consumer products. They may have some use for professionals, but the general consumer isn't going to wear a device that blocks their mobility.

Right now the display technology isn't there to make it mobile friendly. There's an extremely limited field-of-view and low resolution in headsets. If a wrap-around light-field display could be made, then it might be possible to use AR/VR.
Click to expand...
...but it's getting closer every day.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/771310/Welcome_to_Light_Fields/
 
Oh yeah, I really need this headset to find my way through town. Amazing product, clearly something we need.
 
I’ve said here a few times I’m convinced this will be their next big product. I’ve tried Hololens and augmented reality is the most incredible technology I’ve ever experienced. I think the potential for it is absolutely enormous both for consumers and for businesses.

I was working on an oil platform construction and we used Hololens to overlay the 3d model as we walked around the construction site. So I could easily look at any item and bring up every piece of data on it in my field of vision, or see what extra things were to be built. It was really mind blowing.
 
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69Mustang said:
Not sure your info is correct. Apple v. HTC definitely was a patent suit. Apple claimed 20 patents were infringed.
Yes, we know Apple wasn't the only owner. That's why I said: "As a member of the cabal known as Rockstar..."
So even leaving out the trademark dispute with Amazon, you're still left with HTC and Rockstar. You asked the question about their patent litigation in the past 10 years. There's your answer.
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Ah, the suit back in 2012? Remember HTC first sued Apple in 2011. So this was merely a counter-suit. If someone sued you for patent infringement you’d retaliate, too.
 
mozumder said:
They limit your field-of-view and are distracting with lag.

You wouldn't drive with it.
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I’m guessing you haven’t used any augmented reality? Or not any proper ones anyway. I’ve tried Hololens, it doesn’t limit your field of vision in any way whatsoever so I don’t know what you’re talking about. And there is virtually no lag.

I used it on a construction site, the headset was overlaying the 3d model of the site onto how the construction site currently was. It fit almost perfectly with everything and it could show me everything that was still to be constructed and give me any information I wanted just if I pinched my fingers to click on any real object.

And these are just the very early days of AR. Their hardware will get much faster and slimmer.

But when you say there is limited field of vision and laggy I didn’t experience that at all when using it multiple times...

They are distracting for sure and that is what will be an issue for them. But their potential is enormous.
 
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macfacts said:
This looks like an overly broad patent. No invention is displayed or explained. Just concept shots. Patent troll to the max.

Everything shown is done by an artist (concept shots, like when a apple fan makes a concept iPhone design), not a software developer.
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You do understand that those drawings are not the patent.
 
cmaier said:
Ah, the suit back in 2012? Remember HTC first sued Apple in 2011. So this was merely a counter-suit. If someone sued you for patent infringement you’d retaliate, too.
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You seem to be misremembering the timeline. :) As I stated in my first reply to you, Apple sued HTC in 2010. HTC is the one who counter-sued in 2011. The judge ordered mediation in 2012. They settled. Part of that settlement was a 10 year agreement to cross licence current and future patents.

And yes, if someone sued me for patent infringement, I'd retaliate too... just like HTC did. ;)
 
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Yeah, look up at an apartment building and it shows you the names of all the people in the apartments, using location services from their iPhones. Can't wait for that.
 
cmaier said:
1) look at a sign in another language and have the language translated right in front of you
Click to expand...

Like this
bixby_vision_translation.jpg



2) have arrows superimposed over your vision telling you which way to turn when you are navigating somewhere
Click to expand...
google-maps-ar.png


etc.

Most of them have already been done with the added bonus that some are available for free.
A pair of AR glasses would add slightly more convenience in the mix but would it be enough to convince people to pay real money for it? I doubt it.
 
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If/when the technology exists for people to wear a pair of glasses (that don't look like a VR headset) that could overlay digital information on the real world as we look at it, that could be pretty awesome. I'm sure the tech isn't ready, but it would be cool. Notifications, mapping, pretty much anything. But who knows, maybe we'll all go blind constantly shifting focus to something an inch from our to eye to the real world.
 
69Mustang said:
You seem to be misremembering the timeline. :) As I stated in my first reply to you, Apple sued HTC in 2010. HTC is the one who counter-sued in 2011. The judge ordered mediation in 2012. They settled. Part of that settlement was a 10 year agreement to cross licence current and future patents.

And yes, if someone sued me for patent infringement, I'd retaliate too... just like HTC did. ;)
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Ok, fair enough. It was a long time ago. The essence of my point is Apple isn’t going around suing folks for patent infringement. Take a look at AMD, Nokia, etc. if you want to see what it looks like when companies go around suing.
 
cmaier said:
Ok, fair enough. It was a long time ago. The essence of my point is Apple isn’t going around suing folks for patent infringement. Take a look at AMD, Nokia, etc. if you want to see what it looks like when companies go around suing.
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It's all good. Your original question about Apple initiated patent lawsuits just piqued my curiosity. I had to scratch that brain itch. Whether they filed none, one, or a hundred didn't really matter to me.
 
Jyby said:
I would expect Apple to be curious - but that doesn't mean they will actually make a product... Apple does patent trolling as well.

I believe great augmented reality glasses will kill off the Apple Watch some day... Maybe even the iPhone.
Click to expand...

That should be there goal in my humble opinion. If they can kill the iPhone with a new product it might just be the thing that will keep them going for another 15 years...
 
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