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ApplePatent applicationAR, VR & displaysInterest 6/10

Apple patents 3D interface controls for sharing private and public content

Apple describes a system for managing how virtual objects appear in shared 3D spaces during real-time communication sessions. The interface ensures that private content is hidden from others while shared content is visible, maintaining consistent spatial relationships between participants.

Why it mattersThis filing outlines how Apple might handle privacy and visibility in future immersive social experiences, ensuring users control what others see in virtual environments.

In the filing’s own words

A computer system optionally displays a user interface object that reveals content based on whether the content is private or shared. A computer system optionally displays a user interface object that includes shared content based on whether participants have entitlement to the content. A computer system optionally displays a sharing indicator that indicates that the respective content is shared with one or more other participants.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A computer system configured to communicate with one or more display generation components, the computer system comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for: while a first participant is participating in a real-time communication session that includes a shared spatial arrangement in which one or more virtual objects that are visible to multiple participants in the real-time communication session have a consistent spatial relationship from viewpoints of different participants in the real-time communication session, displaying a representation of a second participant in a three-dimensional environment; while displaying the representation of the second participant, detecting the occurrence of an event corresponding to displaying respective content to one or more of the participants in the real-time communication session; and in response to detecting the occurrence of the event, displaying a new virtual object corresponding to the respective content in the shared spatial arrangement in the three-dimensional environment, wherein: a spatial relationship between a first user interface object that represents the respective content to a first participant and a viewpoint of the first participant from a perspective of the first participant is consistent with a spatial relationship between a second user interface object that represents the respective content to the second participant and a representation of the first participant from the perspective of the second participant; a spatial relationship between the second user interface object that represents the respective content to the second participant and a viewpoint of the second participant from the perspective of the second participant is consistent with a spatial relationship between the first user interface object that represents the respective content to the first participant and a representation of the second participant from the perspective of the first participant; and displaying the new virtual object includes: in accordance with a determination that the respective content includes private content for the second participant, the first user interface object that represents the respective content to the first participant indicates a spatial location of the respective content in the shared spatial arrangement without revealing the private content for the second participant; in accordance with a determination that the respective content includes shared content that is shared between the first participant and the second participant, the first user interface object that represents the respective content to the first participant indicates the spatial location of the respective content in the shared spatial arrangement and reveals the shared content; and in accordance with a determination that the event was initiated on behalf of the first participant, the first user interface object that represents the respective content to the first participant indicates a spatial location of the respective content in the shared spatial arrangement and reveals controls corresponding to the respective content.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
USER INTERFACES FOR MANAGING SHARING OF CONTENT IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
Publication number
US20260288297A1
Application number
19561251
Filed
Mar 9, 2026
Published
Sep 24, 2026
Inventors
14
Claims
22

Classified under

G06F 3/04815 Physics & computingG06F 3/04842 Physics & computingG06F 3/04845 Physics & computingG06F 3/017 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.