Apple patent is for 3D remote system for Apple TV gaming
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
May 8, 2008 at 12:03pm
Apple has filed a patent (number 20080106517) for a 3D remote control system employing absolute and relative position detection. It involves a 3D remote control system for that Apple TV set-top box that will apparently implement some multi-touch and Nintendo Wii-like functions.
It involves multi-dimensional remote control systems. The present invention can include three-dimensional remote control systems that can detect an absolute location to which a remote control is pointing in first and second orthogonal axes and an absolute position of the remote control in a third orthogonal axis. Remote control systems of the present invention can employ absolute position detection with relative position detection. Absolute position detection can indicate an initial absolute position of the remote control and relative position detection can indicate changes in the position of the remote control. By combining absolute and relative position detection, remote control systems of the present invention can track remote controls more precisely than systems that only employ absolute position detection. The present invention also can include methods and apparatus for zooming in and out of an image shown on a display based on the absolute position of the remote control in the third axis.
Here’s Apple’s background on, and summary of, the invention: “Some electronic systems can permit a user to interact with software applications, e.g., video games, by manipulating a remote control. For example, the systems can permit a user to interact with an image shown on a display by pointing a remote control at desired locations on or proximate to the display. Using infrared (IR) sources and photodetectors, the remote control systems can detect light produced or reflected by the light sources. The systems then can determine the location to which the remote control is pointing based on the detected light. The remote control systems or electronic devices coupled thereto can then perform one or more predetermined actions.
“The present invention can include multi-dimensional (e.g., 2-D or 3-D) remote control systems that can detect an absolute location to which a remote control is pointing in first and second orthogonal axes (e.g., the x- and y-axes). Remote control systems of the present invention also can detect the absolute position of the remote control in a third orthogonal axis (e.g., the z-axis).
“To determine the absolute position of the remote control, remote control systems of the present invention can employ absolute position detection with relative position detection. Absolute position detection can indicate an initial absolute position of the remote control. Relative position detection can indicate changes in the position of the remote control. When the initial absolute position is combined with a change in the position of the remote control, an updated absolute position can be determined. Because relative position detection can provide greater resolution than some techniques used in absolute position detection, the updated absolute position can be more precise than the initial absolute position determined for the remote control.
“The remote control system of the present invention also can zoom into and out of an image or a portion thereof based on the absolute position of the remote control in the third axis.”
The inventors are Robert Duncan Kerr, Chad Bronstein, Wing Kong Low and Nicoholas Vincent King. The graphic below illustrates one embodiment of a remote control system of the present invention.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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