New patent provides further evidence that Apple may enter VR headset market
Apple Inc. has been awarded a patent for a head-mounted device that houses an iPhone as the display for what appears to be a virtual reality (VR) headset.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple U.S. Patent No. 8,957,835, entitled “Head-Mounted Display Apparatus for Retaining a Portable Electronic Device with Display.” That translates to a headset that has an iPhone inserted as the display.
The basic concept is the same as that used by Samsung’s Gear VR, a head-mounted device that houses a Galaxy Note 4 smartphone as the display part of the VR headset. Samsung created the Gear VR in collaboration with Oculus VR, a company Facebook bought last year for nearly $2 billion.
The patent goes on to describe the company’s solution as “temporarily integrates or merges both mechanically and electronically a head-mounted device with a portable electronic device.”
Illustrations show an iPhone being inserted into the head-mounted hardware.
“The frame may place a display screen of the portable electronic device in front of the user’s eyes,” the patent states. “The display screen of the portable electronic device may act as the primary display screen of the head-mounted device.”
The patent also mentions a handheld remote control that, ostensibly, a user will employ to interact with content on the screen.
Although the company has never publicly expressed a desire to enter the VR market, Apple does own a number of other patents related to a video headset. Most notably, in 2009 it was granted a patent for a video headset display using an iPod as the screen, in 2012 Apple was granted a second patent for a video telephonic headset and, also in 2012, the company filed a patent that would allow it to deliver Retina Display like quality to a small display in video glasses.
Late last year, rumors surfaced that Apple was hiring app engineers with VR experience, further suggesting that the company is getting ready to enter the VR space.
If Apple were to enter the VR headset space, they’d be up against the aforementioned Gear VR, the Oculus Rift VR headset and the strangely functional Cardboard from Google Inc.
The patent was first filed in 2008 and Apple credits Quin Hoellwarth as the sole inventor of the concept.
photo credit: depinniped via photopin cc
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