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AppleGranted patentAR, VR & displaysInterest 6/10

Apple patents virtual shelves that appear when you group 3D objects

Apple has patented a method for displaying virtual surfaces, or digital shelves, in a 3D environment. The system automatically creates these surfaces when a user moves a virtual object close to another one, helping to organize items visually.

Why it mattersThis improves how users organize digital items in mixed reality by providing automatic visual containers for grouped objects.

In the filing’s own words

In some embodiments, a computer system displays a virtual surface for containing one or more virtual objects in a three-dimensional environment. In some embodiments, a computer system automatically resizes virtual surfaces that contain objects. In some embodiments, a computer system displays feedback related to removal and/or addition of objects to virtual surfaces.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: at a computer system in communication with a display generation component and one or more input devices: displaying a virtual content container that includes one or more three-dimensional virtual objects in a three-dimensional environment; while displaying the virtual content container, detecting, via the one or more input devices, a first input directed to a first three-dimensional virtual object of the one or more three-dimensional virtual objects, wherein the first input corresponds to a request to move the first three-dimensional virtual object out of the virtual content container and to a respective location in the three-dimensional environment; and in response to detecting the first input directed to the first three-dimensional virtual object: in accordance with a determination that the respective location in the three-dimensional environment satisfies one or more criteria, including a criterion that is satisfied when the first three-dimensional virtual object at the respective location is within a threshold distance of a second three-dimensional virtual object in the three-dimensional environment, displaying a virtual surface within the three-dimensional environment concurrently with the first three-dimensional virtual object, wherein: the virtual surface indicates a portion of the three-dimensional environment occupied by the first three-dimensional virtual object and the second three-dimensional virtual object; and the virtual surface was not displayed within the three-dimensional environment prior to detecting the first input directed to the first three-dimensional virtual object; and in accordance with a determination that the respective location in the three-dimensional environment does not satisfy the one or more criteria because the first three-dimensional virtual object at the respective location is further than the threshold distance of the second three-dimensional virtual object in the three-dimensional environment, displaying the first three-dimensional virtual object at the respective location without displaying the virtual surface that indicates a portion of the three-dimensional environment occupied by the first three-dimensional virtual object and the second three-dimensional virtual object within the three-dimensional environment.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
Methods for displaying objects relative to virtual surfaces
Patent number
US12737093B2
Application number
18473155
Filed
Sep 22, 2023
Granted
Sep 15, 2026
Inventors
7
Claims
44

Classified under

G06F 3/04815 Physics & computingG06F 3/04845 Physics & computingG06T 15/60 Physics & computingG06T 19/20 Physics & computingG06T 2200/24 Physics & computingG06T 2219/2016 Physics & computing

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.