Apple AR Glasses may soon be a reality, transition lenses patent registered

Apple AR Glasses have been rumoured for long, but the product may finally see the light of the day soon if technology registered in a new patent is used.

IEEE, the world's largest consortium of engineers, has published an article enlisting a patent that will fast track the development of the technology. The article titled "Why don't we have AR Glasses for consumers yet?" quoted chipset maker ARM's Nandan Nayampally as saying, "It's an application that has very high-performance requirements but with a lot of constraints, so many key technology pieces had to be right. For example, it requires very high levels of specialised computation that fit within certain envelopes of power and size."

The patent lists a "head-mounted device with an adjustable opacity system" an augmented reality glasses system with transition lenses. The patent names three inventors from Apple's home state of California, David Kalinowski, Hyungryul Choi and Jae Hwang Lee, who work towards creating a non-opaque display.

It will also solve the problem of overlaying graphics, particularly in a very bright environment.

The patent reads, "Head-mounted displays may be used to display virtual reality and augmented reality content. A head-mounted display that is displaying augmented reality content may overlay computer-generated images on real-world objects. If care is not taken, the computer-generated images may be difficult to see against the real-world objects, real-world objects may distract a viewer, or other issues may arise with the displayed content."

Whether the product succeeds will depend on its ergonomics. Only something that resembles a regular pair of glasses providing this functionality may succeed. Apple has to miniaturise tech that has been in the past used for creating gaming headsets.

The patent may be an indication that the much-awaited product could be launched alongside the next iPhone in October 2020.