Dan Pearson Tuesday 20th March 2012 Share this article Share

Companies in this article Microsoft

Microsoft has registered a number of patent applications which appear to relate to head-mounted virtual displays for gamers, with a helmet-style unit envisioned for consoles and a lighter, glasses mounted device thought to be intended for mobile use.

The filings were discovered by PatentBolt, and seem to outline a solution to the problems of space and weight which engineering a close-range virtual display give rise to.

One of the patents deals with this through the concept of a projection device, using RGB lasers to produce a two-dimensional image for the user.

According to PatentBolt, the specifications of the devices as submitted by Microsoft would mean that: "each projector may project a 16:9 aspect ratio image that will appear to the wearer as if it were 21 inches in diagonal and viewed at arm's length."

Also included in the document is the suggestion that the surfaces hosting the displays may be translucent or even transparent, allowing images to be overlaid on the reality outside, allowing augmented reality techniques to be used for gaming or informational output.

The documents were originally filed in October last year, but have only just been made publicly available.