The concept of this Apple patent is fairly simple. The idea is that when you are looking at your monitor it will be more realistic to move your head around and look into the display, just like you would do out a window. The whole idea is based on using your computer either hands free or with minimal input. You can essentially just look around as though your monitor was one big window.
The other idea that goes along with this display is using layers and the movement of your head to open, close or move around layers. At this point the technology is only a patent for an idea as far as anyone knows, but with the recent interest in 3D picking up and motion controls such as Project Natal, you can bet Apple is cooking up something.
For example, the electronic device may define visual properties of different surfaces of the displayed object (e.g., reflection and refraction characteristics), and apply the visual properties to the portions of the detected image mapped on each surface. Using this approach, surfaces with low reflectivity (e.g., plastic surfaces) may not reflect the environment, but may reflect light, while surfaces with high reflectivity (e.g., polished metal or chrome) may reflect both the environment (e.g., the user’s face as detected by the camera) and light. To further enhance the user’s experience, the detected environment may be reflected differently along curved surfaces of a displayed object (e.g., as if the user were actually moving around the displayed object and seeing his reflection based on his position and the portion of the object reflecting the image).
To get a better idea of how this might work you have to check out the video below. The only difference is that Apple’s patent does not specify wearing anything to track movement, such as glasses.
