Apple got a very interesting patent this week, one related to holographic displays that you can interact with. The invention is meant for the Macs and iDevices of the future, including iPods, iPhones and iPads. The Cupertino giant did already have a patent related to a 3D holographic display back in 2008, but the USPTO awarded a new one.
This one related to a three dimensional viewing and interacting experience, without needing a reflective medium or wearing 3D glasses. The invention relies on a light source that produces one or more beams, based on obtained image data or an object to display. The lens assembly can be configured to direct one or more beams, by changing a deflection angle and forming a holographic image of the object based on a focal length of the lens and a location of the observer.
One or more optical sensors can be configured to obtain information about the interruptions of the beams, caused by the user’s fingers. Such technologies have been tried in the past and in case you’re wondering why we don’t already have them on the PCs, well they use a ton of power, they’re not intuitive and they’re not very cheap to produce. Could Apple find a way to solve all those problems?
