New patents reveal that Apple might considering a 3D user interface for the iPhone, Apple Insider reports. The patent, entitled “Sensor Based Display Environment”, would use data from the gyroscope and sensors to navigate the system.
The UI would work in a pretty awesome way: the user would use the iPhone as a viewfinder to look around a virtual room, where various items and information can be placed on the walls, ceiling and even behind them.
This concept certainly sounds very similar to augmented reality, but instead of it being reality, it is virtual. The patent was originally filed back July 2010 and credits one inventor, Patrick Piedmonte.