Apple has been working on Vision Pro since the first iPhone launched

Vision Pro might solely have been introduced this yr, and go on sale in 2024, however we’ve identified for a few years that the firm was working on a product of this sort. What we didn’t know was fairly how a few years.

A newly-published patent reveals the reply to that query – no less than since 2007, the yr that the unique iPhone launched …

After all, the 2007 patent doesn’t describe the entirety of Vision Pro’s capabilities. Particularly, it describes utilizing a headset to show films and sports activities occasions – however even then, it consists of reference to doing so in a digital actuality setting and describes some surprisingly refined capabilities.

The patent describes how the headset would give the phantasm of sitting in a movie show.

The non-public show system might embody an digital gadget operative to supply media to a private show gadget operative to show the obtained media.

Utilizing a number of optical and digital parts, the private show gadget might modify displayed media to overlay options of a theater, thus giving the consumer of the private show gadget the impression of being in the theater.

It’s additionally not the case that this can be a only a dumb viewing gadget. Even again in 2007, Apple envisaged that it could reply to move, eye, or hand actions.

In some embodiments, the private show gadget might detect the consumer’s actions utilizing a number of sensors and should modify the displayed picture primarily based on the consumer’s actions. For instance, the gadget might detect a consumer’s head motion and trigger the portion of media exhibited to mirror the head motion […]

The consumer might transfer his head, eyes, or one other physique half to trigger the portion of the media exhibited to observe the consumer’s motion. 

It additionally describes making a digital stadium expertise when watching sports activities.

The non-public show gadget might present the consumer with a possibility to view media related to a baseball recreation as if the consumer had been in a baseball stadium (e.g., Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium). 

The non-public show gadget might modify the show of a sporting occasion to mirror the seat in the stadium from which the consumer chosen to observe the occasion.

It additionally describes how sound output could be adjusted to match the digital place, and head actions.

All-in-all, it’s a reasonably refined description of a Vision Pro like gadget!

The patent utility was made in 2007, and it’s unclear why it was solely granted and/or printed yesterday.

Through Patently Apple