It’s official. The HoloLens hardware design now belongs to Microsoft. Although we’ve been seeing Microsoft parade around its new augmented reality headset for some time now, the company hadn’t entirely owned the patent for the hardware. Over the years, Microsoft has filed for several head-mounted set patents such as a gaming helmet patent filed in 2010 and another in 2012 that covered Xbox Projector eyewear specifically. With a stable of head gear applications, it’s a bit harder to narrow the original filing date or which of these projects finally resulted in the official HoleLens design patent.

Regardless, Patently Mobile is reporting Microsoft now owns a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office titled “headset with Visor”, otherwise known as the HoloLens. We still have yet to hear Microsoft confirm an actual ship date for the company’s next gamble on future computing. However, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has gone on record with a timeframe for sometime next year. Specifically, enterprise and developers will be among the first to get their hands on the new headset, presumably followed by a more commercial release soon after that.

As the Oculus Rift and Sony’s new VR headsets make it to market also within the next year, we should expect to hear Microsoft speak more about the HoloLens at that time.

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