Apple patents 3D sports views that show players outside the camera's frame
Apple describes a system that places a 3D model of a sports venue and its participants around a standard 2D video feed. This 3D model can show players and areas of the stadium that are not currently visible in the live broadcast. Users can adjust how this 3D model looks without changing the main video playback.
In the filing’s own words
Some examples of the disclosure are directed to systems and methods for displaying supplemental content for two-dimensional content that is being played back in a three-dimensional environment at an electronic device. In some examples, while a content item is displayed in a virtual playback user interface in a three-dimensional environment, the electronic device displays a three-dimensional representation corresponding to the content item in the three-dimensional environment. In some examples, the three-dimensional representation includes a representation of a venue of the event and/or representations of participants in the event. In some examples, portions of the venue and/or a subset of the participants in the event that are not currently displayed/visible in the camera view of the broadcast/stream of the content item are included in the three-dimensional representation. In some examples, the three-dimensional representation is configurable to be interacted with independently of the display of the content item in the three-dimensional environment.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: at an electronic device in communication with one or more displays and one or more input devices: presenting, via the one or more displays, a three-dimensional environment including a virtual playback user interface that is configured to display content; while displaying a first content item for an event in the virtual playback user interface in the three-dimensional environment, presenting, via the one or more displays, a three-dimensional representation corresponding to the first content item, wherein the three-dimensional representation includes at least one of: representations of participants in the event and a representation of a venue of the event, and wherein at least a subset of the representations of the participants in the event and/or the representation of the venue of the event is not currently displayed in the first content item; while concurrently presenting the virtual playback user interface that is displaying the first content item and the three-dimensional representation in the three-dimensional environment, detecting, via the one or more input devices, a first input corresponding to a request to change one or more visual characteristics of the three-dimensional representation; and in response to detecting the first input: updating display of the three-dimensional representation in the three-dimensional environment based on changes to the one or more visual characteristics of the three-dimensional representation in accordance with the first input, without updating display of the first content item in the virtual playback user interface.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF PRESENTING MIXED MEDIA IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL ENVIRONMENT
- Publication number
- US20260313190A1
- Application number
- 19711235
- Filed
- Jun 17, 2026
- Published
- Oct 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 24
Classified under
H04N 21/4316 Electricity & electronicsH04N 21/2187 Electricity & electronicsH04N 21/4532 Electricity & electronicsH04N 21/8133 Electricity & electronicsMore 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.