Apple has filed a patent application for a “Three-dimensional Display System,” the United States Patent Office revealed today.
Apple’s Abstract:
A three-dimensional display system provides a projection screen having a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function. Three-dimensional images are respectively modulated in coordination with the predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function to define a programmable mirror with a programmable deflection angle.
Claims include:
A three-dimensional display system, comprising:providing a projection screen having a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function;determining the left and right eye locations of at least one observer;projecting left and right three-dimensional sub-images toward the projection screen; andmodulating the sub-images respectively in coordination with the predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function to respectively direct the left and right sub-images substantially exclusively to the respective left and right eye locations.
A three-dimensional display system, comprising:providing a projection screen having a spatial filter defining a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function;determining the left and right eye locations of at least one observer substantially facing and in proximity with the projection screen;projecting left and right sub-images of a three-dimensional image toward the projection screen; andangularly and intensity modulating the left and right sub-images respectively in coordination with the predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function to define respective discrete light paths that respectively direct the left and right sub-images to reflect from the projection screen substantially exclusively to the respective left and right eye locations to provide a three-dimensional viewing experience.
Descriptions include:
Although much more realistic, a dynamically presented holographic image also requires far greater computational ability and bandwidth than is generally required for a two-view stereo display. Effective means are also noticeably wanting for dynamically recreating the original wavefront, or an acceptable facsimile thereof, in real time and at commercially acceptable costs. Thus, a need still remains for highly effective, practical, efficient, uncomplicated, and inexpensive autostereoscopic 3D displays that allow the observer complete and unencumbered freedom of movement. Additionally, a need continues to exist for practical autostereoscopic 3D displays that provide a true parallax experience in both the vertical as well as the horizontal movement directions.
The patent app was originally filed on September 20, 2006.
Full patent application filing here.
I want one!
I don’t care how big it is or how much it costs – I want one!!
I’ll mortgage my house, my wife & my grandkids to do it, but I WANT ONE!!!!
Apple, Inc.: still dead serious, and running away with the future as fast as they can. The rest of the industry is still trying to get outa the gate!
New cinema displays coming on Tuesday!
Too bad this wouldn’t do me any good since I can only see through one eye at a time.
As my uncle Victor Meldrew would say, “Unbelievable!”
Imagine a pair of glasses (or something more elegant) that plugged in to you iPhone. When you open the Map program, you input the location of where you want to go, and instantly, you get a HUD showing a big arrow saying “go that way!” and a floating marker in space above your destination.
Or how about a locator for the person you are talking to.
Or maybe a rendering of a building that you could peel back the layers of.
Or an interactive FPS game that you could play out in a big field, with 3D enemies running around to shoot at.
Or a flight simulator.
Or a photo editing app that floated images in space in front of you, editable with your fingers.
So, Apple is making Star Wars and Star Trek a reality for us all. Can’t wait for the transporter to be made available.
Ooops, there goes the auto industry and our problem with oil disappears.
I want one too! …whatever it is.
@C1
I think you have a couple/three patents there… better get on it quick.
“Imagine a pair of glasses (or something more elegant) that plugged in to you iPhone.”
Or go the Carlos Castaneda route, eat some peyote and become the iPhone.
KEWWWWLLLL!!!
@ChrissyOne,
Imagine if they had real time satellite imagery! You see Paris Hilton’s cootch when she gets out of a car anywhere on the planet.
@ChrissyOne
I hope that comes with an iVomit bag – for when all that cross-eyed interaction begins to take its inevitable toll on the user. The main reason these things have never caught on, even though the tech has been around for donkey’s years.
I wonder if it inverts if you turn your head upside down.
Holography perfectly compliments Apple’s vaporware.
Meanwhile Microsoft extends its lead by shipping REAL products today that people can actually use like Vista and Zune.
Your potential. Our passion.™
some patent images here, here and here.
Will the screen be glossy? :ducks:
The projection screen has got to be crucial to this invention. What kind of material would allow for infinitely programmable angles from any direction simultaneously? Perhaps a reflective liquid with modulated ripples? We don’t know what magical mojo they’ve created but it will surely be amazing whatever it is. Can’t wait!!
@ Twenty Benson
Aw, I think you’ve just seen The Jerk one too many times. I don’t think these problems are insurmountable, they just haven’t been given enough attention yet, mostly because prior implementations of 3D interactivity have been cumbersome and kind of dorky. Get it down to a sleek pair of glasses that you can see though, yet can be made opaque to overlay HUD elements, and you have the next revolution in I/O.
If any company can do this, it sure ain’t Microsoft.
The porn industry will probably be *visibly excited* by the idea of 3D screens.
Next year Apple is patenting the Flux Capacitor.
It’ll be an accessory for Apple’s Time Machine.
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@auren: So, Apple is making Star Wars and Star Trek a reality for us all. Can’t wait for the transporter to be made available. Ooops, there goes the auto industry and our problem with oil disappears.
We’ve had transporter technology for decades now; who do you think is keeping it suppressed???
gotta love it when idiots like Benson who have no clue what they’re talking about come on and talk like they’re pro’s. The Apple projection system projects a different image to each eye (no strain on the eyes), and it also track where you are in the room – and it works for multiple users.
@The Other Steve
The Vulcan Science Ministry has found that time travel is impossible.