Apple’s three-dimensional virtual objects Patent & the iSlate

In a New York Times article earlier this month an anonymous source at Apple was quoted saying “You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet”. Of course nobody knows what that will mean but it sure got our collective imagination going.

Now the Baltimore Sun has stumbled upon an Apple Patent (illustration on the right) that describes a “touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for manipulating three-dimensional virtual objects”.

That might sounds like augemented reality and maybe it is just that. Reading furter the application also states:

“…[T]here is a need for electronic devices with touch screen displays that provide more transparent and intuitive user interfaces for navigating in three dimensional virtual spaces and manipulating three dimensional objects in these virtual spaces”

A virtual world within a Tablet computer that is augmented in a revolutionary way?

Okay, I still don’t have a clue about what that would look like but it sure would be a very surprising way to interact with a new tablet.