Apple’s AR/VR headset could have some impressive features, not least integration with Continuity and Handoff.
Antonio De Rosa
An Apple patent has hinted that its rumoured AR/VR headset could include impressive links to iPhones and other devices using the power of Continuity and Handoff.
The new Apple patent suggests that wearers of the unreleased headset could be able to easily move documents and other things from their iPhone using nothing more than a glance. It also suggests that music could be transferred from one device to a HomePod in a similar manner.
The patent was spotted by Patently Apple and isn’t shy about what it’s talking about. In one description the patent says that someone would be able to interact with a smartphone using the headset, moving things like an email just by looking at it.
“Implementations of the subject technology described herein provide transfer of content, editing control of the content, and/or control of one or more applications from one device to another device, using an XR system,” the patent’s legalese begins. “For example, with the subject technology, a user drafting an email on their smart phone can place the smartphone in the field of view of an XR device (e.g., a tablet device or a head mountable system) and continue drafting the email in an XR environment created by the XR device.”
This sounds similar to Apple’s existing Continuity feature that allows users to begin writing a document on one device and continue it on another, but the patent continues and makes mention of another feature that sounds similar to Handoff.
Owners of HomePods can transfer streaming music from their iPhone just by placing the two devices close to each other using something called Handoff. The patent imagines a world where a headset wearer would gesture to make that happen instead. One example sees a headset wearer looking at a phone and then gesturing to move the music to a nearby HomePod.
This all sounds like something that could very much be possible using tweaked versions of Apple’s existing Continuity and Handoff technology. How lag-free it would be when you include a third device remains to be seen, however.
Apple is expected to finally announce its headset later this year, although the exact timing seems to be up in the air at the time of writing. It’s also important to remember that not all patents turn into features or products, too.
