Apple patents moving multiple AR objects together with one gesture
This filing describes a system for placing virtual objects in an extended reality environment. It allows users to select a location between two virtual items to create a temporary link, so moving one physical object moves both virtual items together while keeping their distance and angle the same.
In the filing’s own words
Aspects of the subject technology provide a real-time system for positioning and/or arranging application content anchored to locations in a physical environment. The subject technology may include a placement system that facilitates placement of application content relative to the anchors, according to application and/or system preferences and/or requirements for display of the content.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: storing, by a device, an association between a first virtual object displayed at a first anchor location in an extended reality environment of the device and a second virtual object displayed at a second anchor location in the extended reality environment, wherein the association represents a spatial relationship between the first virtual object and the second virtual object; detecting a user gesture indicating selection of a location between the first virtual object and the second virtual object; generating, responsive to the user gesture, a proxy anchor for joint movement of the first virtual object and the second virtual object, the proxy anchor corresponding to a physical object in a physical environment of the device; and moving, based on tracked movement of the physical object corresponding to the proxy anchor, the first virtual object and the second virtual object together within the extended reality environment while maintaining the spatial relationship represented by the stored association.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- OBJECT PLACEMENT FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICES
- Publication number
- US20260277386A1
- Application number
- 19667578
- Filed
- May 4, 2026
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 3/04815 Physics & computingG06F 3/04842 Physics & computingG06F 3/04845 Physics & computingG06T 7/70 Physics & computingG06T 19/006 Physics & computingG06T 19/20 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.