Patents

A couple of weeks ago we reported that Apple filed a patent for a projected shared-workspace environment. The idea is to create a unified projected image from several pico projectors. Today we learn that Microsoft also filed a very similar patent (titled "Combined Surface User Interface") - on February 3rd, 2011 - just one week before Apple...

via Engadget

Update: it turns out that Microsoft also filed a similar patent - just one week before Apple...

Apple files a new patent describing a shared-workspace environment that uses several devices with touch (camera) enabled pico-projectors. The idea is that you can project using your phone and your laptop (for example) together on the same surface - to create a unified display:

Apple has filed several pico projector related patents in the past few years (see here, here and here for example). It also registered the ApplePico domain a few days ago - sparking speculation that a pico projector accessory is on its way...

Microvision hosted their annual shareholder meeting last week, and now they posted a presentation from that event. The company says that they are optimistic going forward - direct green lasers will improve performance and cut price, the mobile device ecosystem is booming (new tablets, WP7, Android, etc.), their IP portfolio is getting stronger (especially with the new Motorola patents).

One interesting bit of news is that the PicoP engine is 'reversible' - it can be used to display information and capture information - basically it can become a touch projector (like LBO's solution). This is the first time I see this mentioned and hopefully we'll hear more soon on how they propose to achieve that.

Nikon filed an interesting patent that describes how a DSLR's viewfinder can be used as the pico-projector optics. It's great to see Nikon researching pico-projectors. The company has already released two projector cameras: the Coolpix S1000pj and the new S1100pj (which uses a VGA LCoS pico-projector and is available now for $349).

Here's the original paragraph from Nikon's patent application: “When the photographing instrument is set as electronic view finder mode, the photography person can see the taken image displayed on a liquid crystal display panel by looking into a liquid crystal display panel from an eyepiece. On the other hand, when the photographing instrument is set as projector mode, the light which supported reproduced image information is projected on the screen of the photographing instrument exterior via the eyepiece of an electronic view finder, and two or more persons can see the reproduced image simultaneously projected on a screen.”

Sure, projector-phones and projector-cameras are nice, but Disney has its eyes out for a different kind of combination: a projector-cake. Yeah, this is for real: Disney requested a patent for a projector-cake that uses a pico-projector and a camera to make the cake interactive. How interactive? Disney says that if you cut into a lake that's on the cake, you'd see how water starts to flow from the 'lake' and cake...

Disney also plans to use special utensils - so the fork can be turned into a magic-wand or a sword. These kinds of things are possible today (check out Intel's OASIS system demos for example) but using them to enhance a cake seems, well, a bit silly...

via TFTS

SonyEricsson has filed an interesting patent for a projector-phone with a pull-out screen that you can use as an extended display. The pull-out screen does not contain any electronics (it's just like a regular projector curtain or screen) - so it's thin and light, and perhaps can even be rollable.

This is nice and simple... Of course I'd rather have a rollable/pull-out OLED flexible display...

Microvision has bought a significant pico-projection and display patent portfolio (over 190 patents) from Symbol Technologies, a subsidiary of Motorola. With the new patents, Microvision has over 500 patents now (including pending patents).

The new patents include applications such as automotive heads up displays, 3D projection, range finding, portable media devices, image capture and laptop applications.

We do not know the exact financial details, but Microvision says that the payments include one near-term payment in stock and two longer-term payments in cash. So Motorola is now a shareholder of Microvision.