Apple patents 3D group rules for shared virtual spaces
Apple describes a system where multiple users in a 3D communication session are organized into spatial groups. The filing explains how a device decides whether a user can change shared objects based on their role as the group's local driver.
In the filing’s own words
Some examples of the disclosure are directed to systems and methods for presenting content in a three-dimensional environment by one or more electronic devices in a multi-user communication session. In some examples, a first electronic device and a second electronic device are communicatively linked in a multi-user communication session, wherein the first electronic device and the second electronic device are configured to display a three-dimensional environment, respectively. In some examples, the first electronic device and the second electronic device are grouped in a first spatial group within the multi-user communication session. In some examples, if the second electronic device determines that the first electronic device changes states (and/or vice versa), the user of the first electronic device and the user of the second electronic device are no longer grouped into the same spatial group within the multi-user communication session.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: at a first electronic device in communication with one or more displays, one or more input devices, and a second electronic device: while in a communication session with the second electronic device, displaying, via the one or more displays, a visual representation of a second user of the second electronic device, different from a first user of the first electronic device, and a first object corresponding to shared content in a three-dimensional environment, wherein the first user and the second user are associated with a first spatial group within the communication session; while displaying the visual representation of the second user and the first object in the three-dimensional environment, detecting, via the one or more input devices, an input corresponding to a request to interact with the first object in the three-dimensional environment; and in response to detecting the input: in accordance with a determination that a state of the first electronic device indicates that the first user is a local driver of the first spatial group that includes the first user and the second user, updating, via the one or more displays, display of a visual appearance of the first object in the three-dimensional environment in accordance with the input; and in accordance with a determination that the state of the first electronic device indicates that the first user is not the local driver of the first spatial group, forgoing updating display of the visual appearance of the first object in the three-dimensional environment.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- SYSTEM AND METHOD OF SPATIAL GROUPS IN MULTI-USER COMMUNICATION SESSIONS
- Publication number
- US20260277312A1
- Application number
- 19682114
- Filed
- May 19, 2026
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 24
Classified under
G06F 3/011 Physics & computingG06T 11/60 Physics & computingG06T 15/20 Physics & computingMore from Apple in AR, VR & displays
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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.