Apple Patent Shows 3D Interface Calibrated by Eye Positioning

Depending on the lighting of your environment, a 3D display could render differently. Image: Free Patents Online

In a recent patent application, Apple shows how an immersive, adjustable 3D user interface could be implemented in future mobile devices.

The patent, titled "Three Dimensional User Interface Effects on a Display by Using Properties of Motion," illustrates how eye-tracking and other sensor data could be used to display a 3D user interface that automatically calibrates itself to a user's positioning and ambient environment.

The method would use data from your iDevice's compass, GPS, accelerometer, and gyrometer to calculate your real-time frame of reference. On top of that, your hardware's front-facing camera would perform eye tracking. This would allow the device to show "more realistic virtual 3D depictions of the objects on the device's display," according to the patent filing.

Users would be able to see the sides and back of a 3D object onscreen. Image: Free Patents Online

No current Apple devices run 3D displays, so for even a glimpse at where Apple may be going with its patent, we would have to turn to the HTC EVO 3D. This smartphone uses the parallax barrier technique for glasses-free 3D viewing, but seeing any semblance of a 3D effect is difficult due to the technology's tight viewing angles. Indeed, current systems like that in the Evo 3D don't take user positioning information into consideration to render the 3D effect.

Ambient lighting would also be factored into Apple's virtual 3D environment, as the image above shows. If an onscreen item had a shadow behind it, that shadow would dynamically change position depending on the location of a light source. And eye tracking would allow you to see not only frontal views, but also the sides and rear views of 3D objects.

Rather than the flat, 2D app icons you see on your iPhone home screen now, this 3D implementation would use a recessed "bento box" form factor, according to the filing. And wherever your gaze falls, a virtual spotlight would highlight what you're looking at. You'd be able to switch this 3D effect on and off using physical gestures like waves.

Apple's method could also be implemented on desktops.

via Apple Insider

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Original Page: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/02/apple-patent-3d-interface/

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