Apple could become the front runner in augmented reality if they really go through with incorporating this technology in their upcoming augmented reality glasses. Apple has been working on them for a while now and the latest leaks suggest that the company may be working on a way to have the technology make any surface act as a touchscreen.
This leak was spotted as a patent by Patently Apple, a website dedicated to finding any information about patents Apple has for existing and upcoming products. The patent is actually a CIP or continuation-in-part application that basically builds on a parent patent adding more features to it.
The patent is for a technology that uses thermal scanners to detect the heat signatures generated when a surface is touched by one’s finger. This could be used to make any object act like a touchscreen. You can view how the technology works in the following informative video.
The video is by a company called Metaio who came up with the thermal touch technology and not surprisingly Apple had acquired the company in 2015. The patent now shows that Apple has plans to include this tech into their augmented reality glasses.
The apple glasses will reportedly use almost 15 cameras to aid its wide variety of features. Eight of those will be dedicated to AR features, while six will be used for “innovative biometrics”. The last camera will supply “environmental detection” and we assume that is for detecting the heat signatures.
Even though Apple has the patent doesn’t mean that the first iteration of Apple Glasses will use that technology. Reports say that the technology has really been in development since Apple’s acquisition of the company.
Apple Glasses might just be the dope tech of the future, if they manage to succeed with the thermal technology that is.