Apple’s been looking at Kinect-like 3D gestures for a while now, and now it’s filed for a new 3D GUI patent that would make using an iPhone or iPad a lot like a cross between a portable little Kinect and a window into a parallel world.
The patent lays out an interface that would use proximity sensors to let a user control a “camera view” that would shift around a 3D environment as the mobile device is rotated or moved. Imagine a viewfinder in the middle of a cube, with apps and videos on the walls. The interface itself would be controlled by gestures made above the screen. That seems a bit unwieldy, but being that it’s just a patent application who knows if this ever sees the light of day. [Patently Apple]
Jackson Bison
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:44 AMAwesome – then they’ll sue Microsoft for stealing their patents
bob
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:47 AMBazinga
olearymo
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:03 AMaw you beat me
Todd
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:50 AMThere’s an app called ‘Holotoy’ that displays the same thing, it comes with quite a few demos.
Ozoneocean
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:11 PMSounds exactly the that alternate Windows OS interface that someone bought a while ago… I think it was Google. Anyway, it was this exactly.
Ozoneocean
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 12:51 PMBump-top: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/bumptop-acquired-by-googl_n_560724.html
red t-rex
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 4:49 PMSo after all the initial bagging of Microsoft’s Kinect from other manufacturers they are all following suit with motion and voice control!