Author: Lucy

Augmented reality glasses patent awarded to Apple

| February 24, 2015

The technology involved appears to be wearables that will connect to and interact with the iPhone.

Apple Inc. has now been awarded a patent for a type of augmented reality glasses that would function based on a wireless connection with the iPhone and would possibly offer the wearer a three dimensional AR functionality not entirely unlike that of the halted Google Glass product.

The original filing for this AR technology device patent occurred back in September 2008.

The patent involves a mountable device that could be created in the form of wearable technology such as goggles or hats or that could be attached to hats or helmets. The patent doesn’t specifically discuss virtual or augmented reality, but it does show a device that has the potential of offering a split screen capability in order to display several different image frames in order to provide three dimension-like image depth through stereoscopic imaging.

The patent also shows possible augmented reality glasses that could adjust media display beyond the glasses lenses.

Augmented Reality - iPhoneThis would display the images at a distance of about 4 meters (about 13 feet), instead of 20 millimeters (about ¾ inch). That is the concept behind AR technology and it has, therefore, been assumed in many reports that this tech will be the focus of those wearables.

That said, Apple could choose to create integration of further advanced VR or AR functions into a device if it chose to do so, and could opt not to progress with the development. That said, as is always the case with Apple, it declined the opportunity to comment on any of its products that are still in development and that have not yet been officially unveiled.

This technology comes at a time in which Google has recently announced that its own two year old Explorer Program for its Google Glass augmented reality glasses has been shut down. Moreover, that company has hired a former exec from Apple, Tony Fadell, at the head of the company’s redevelopment efforts. It has stated that it will continue to sell the device to enterprise customers, but it is very clear that the company has taken a step backward from the route that it had been taking with that wearable technology.

Mobile technology will play a central role in digital factories of tomorrow

| February 19, 2015

This will be combined with the use of robotics as well as big data in the future of this industry.

According to the results of recent research that has now been published, 36 percent of companies within the manufacturing industry expect mobile technology and apps to play an important role in improving their financial performance both today and into the future.

Moreover, 47 percent of those companies think that big data analytics will be a defining factor in their future.

Another 49 percent said that they felt that advanced analytics would be an important part of the reduction of the cost of operations and to be able to most efficiently use their assets. This was the result of the SCM World report that was entitled “The Digital Factory: Game-Changing Technologies That Will Transform Manufacturing Industry.” It was a collaborative effort between that organization and MESA International that provided data based on a survey that was conducted to better understand the impact of various types of manufacturing tech, including mobile technology, data, and analysis tools in terms of timeline and investment priority.

Online surveys were completed online in order to express opinions regarding mobile technology, big data, and more.

Mobile Technology - FutureParticipants were MESA International and SCM World corporate members. The respondents were excluded from the analysis when they were collected from the software and professional services sectors.

The participants were made up of 22 percent manufacturing and production, 21 percent IT technology, 14 percent operations and engineering, and 8 percent general management. Geographically, 40 percent of the respondents were from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, 38 percent were from North and South America, and 22 percent were from Asia and Australia.

The three most disruptive forms of tech that manufacturers currently see in to the industry were mobile technology and applications (75 percent), big data analytics (68 percent), and advanced robotics (64 percent). SCM World specifically pointed out that mobile tech and apps were seeing notable and growing adoption across the plant floor. It pointed out that this trend was having a considerable impact on the measure, control, and supervision of manufacturing operations.