The notion of Microsoft releasing its own augmented reality glasses for a future Xbox isn’t new, having surfaced over the summer as part of a 56-page document that purported to detail plans for the next version of the Microsoft console. But a newly released patent application provides another big clue.
The filing, seeking a patent on “Event Augmentation with Real-Time Information,” describes technology for displaying information about a live event in the user’s field of view, using a head-mounted display. It’s similar in concept to Google’s Project Glass, as noted by TechCrunch in a post earlier today. The patent application, which dates to May 2011, was originally spotted by the tech site Unwired View.
Here’s the additional clue that we picked up on: One of the two inventors listed on the patent is Kathryn Stone Perez, who is executive producer on the Xbox incubation team.
A separate Microsoft patent filing that we recently reported on, for a “consumer detector” to manage content rights in the living room, also mentioned head-mounted displays as a viewing technology. Perez and her Xbox incubation team members were listed as inventors on that patent filing, as well.
While the augmented-reality technology could have broad applications in a variety of areas at Microsoft, this growing evidence suggests that the company has been been thinking seriously about augmented reality heads-up displays as it contemplates the future of the Xbox, specifically.
