A pair of Apple items.
Apple has been granted a patent to supplement watching sports games using the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Digital scoreboards on screen are absent during live sporting events. Apple thinks people miss these elements when attending in-person games, and the company wants to incorporate them into Vision Pro.
Apple’s patent includes implementing one or more devices that use image sensors and microphones to gather and display sports data and audio during a live game.
These sensors would obtain images of the field, detect moving objects on the field, gather data relevant to the current game, and transparently or translucently display the data on the field for the Vision Pro wearer.
Apple has also filed another patent for a computer with accessory projectors on each side to project images onto nearby surfaces, like the walls behind it. It describes the projector system that could become part of future iMacs. Aside from displaying images on the computer monitor, “the electronic device may project images onto nearby surfaces,” according to the patent publication.
Why do we care?
Spatial computing is finding its use case. The Version One Vision Pro is not going to pull this off. I won’t sit at a Nationals baseball game and wear one of these things in a DC summer. Plus, the battery barely supports a baseball game. But project out to the future, and assume this is smaller, lighter, and has a battery that lasts. Now does the vision make more sense?
And more importantly, consider the projection system Apple is thinking about. Suppose my monitor also displayed additional information on the wall behind my computer.. .or maybe the desk in front of it. In that case, there’s a use case for spatial computing I can again picture.
We care because of the long-term vision, not the specific move. This one is fun to ponder.