While we continue to hear rumors of the next virtual or augmented reality glasses from Apple, the company continues to publish patents of the most interesting. The most recent is in reference to a system that would allow project augmented reality directly onto our retina.
A system for glasses that we wear for many hours
As we have commented on more than one occasion, patents give us an insight into the interests of the company. It is true that they do not necessarily have to end up taking shape, but what is true is that it shows what is the R&D money being invested in. In this sense, the number of patents on the rumored Apple Glass is most interesting.
In the patent at hand, entitled “Direct retinal projector”, the company explores the creation of a device that can project augmented reality directly onto the retina. A system that could definitively fix the fact that some AR or VR systems cause headache or dizziness to users.
“When the user views images through a virtual reality system, it can feel as if they are moving within the scenes from a first-person point of view,” he continues. “However, conventional virtual reality and augmented reality systems can suffer from accommodation mismatch and convergence problems that cause eye fatigue, headaches and / or nausea.”
“The mismatch between accommodation and convergence arises when a virtual reality or augmented reality system effectively confuses a user’s brain,” says Apple, “generating content from a scene that does not match the depth expected by the brain based on convergence. stereo of both user’s eyes “.
“For example, in a stereoscopic system, images displayed to the user can trick the eyes into focusing at a far distance while an image is physically displayed at a closer distance,” the patent continues. “In other words, the eyes may be trying to focus on a different image plane or focal depth compared to the focal depth of the projected image, leading to eye fatigue and / or increasing mental stress.”
This fatigue and annoyance that we experience with current augmented or virtual reality devices is what Apple seeks to neutralize, since they establish a limit on how many hours we can use systems like this before having to rest. With everyday glasses in mind, this is a limitation that must be taken into account.
Thanks to the technology of projection of the images directly on the retina these discomfort or blur disappear. It is true that other factors such as projection strength, brightness and other variables must be taken into account, but in any case it is a really interesting approximation.
It is clear that Apple has to have the most interesting prototypes in the secret laboratories of Apple Park. Prototypes that must be getting, based on patents, really amazing things. No wonder Tim Cook always comments on how augmented reality will make a big difference, hopefully it comes sooner rather than later.
Image | Vinicius “amnx” Amano