Apple Foresees 3D Glasses That Use Your iPhone!

Jim here. Apple continues to patent stereoscopic 3D product ideas that seem truly revolutionary and this one is no exception! In fact this is actually a second refinement of a previous patent. The idea is to slide in an obviously VERY high resolution iPhone / iPod Touch into the frame of glasses to achieve 3D viewing for the consumer.

Word is the next iPhone will have even higher resolution, and it has a flat back like the one in this patent image. Could it be that this functionality be in our hands soon? Hard to say. Traditionally though, Apple's patents have been slow to push through and they just don't want to make any more patent mistakes by actually NOT patenting their ideas and having others, *ahem* Microsoft, take them.

Supposedly called iSpecs, the iPhone will slide into it and present side by side stereo images / video which the user will merge together naturally. The iSpecs also has a potential integrated camera which would allow the user to flip from watching media to seeing whatever was in front of them in realtime.

Of course the unit would be able to use the built in accelerometer (an iPhone and iPod touch feature that recognizes its own physical movement) to augment 3D gaming.

Looks like something that would be a no-brainer to me. Use your existing investment to enjoy hands-free 3D. We are seeing smaller autostereoscopic (glasses-free) 3D portable devices appear now, so perhaps iPhone is heading that way too. We'll see soon enough.