Apple Patents ‘Virtual Paper’ To Make Displays That Can Be Dog-Eared, Crumpled

Image via Apple / USPTO

Apple is taking skeuomorphism to a whole new dimension, quite literally, with a ‘virtual paper’ patent it just won at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The technology, outlined by Patently Apple, features a graphical display that’s pliable—à la a sheet of paper—allowing the user to bend, fold, crumple it, and turn it around. When the ‘virtual paper’ changes shape and switches perspectives, images projected on its surface will stay intact, the document explains.

Image via Apple / USPTO

The display can work with 2D and 3D graphics and animations, making it most useful when paired with mixed-reality devices, such as the rumored Apple AR/VR headset and Apple Glasses—although Patently Apple notes it could be compatible with iPhones and iPads too.

With this high-tech interpretation of paper, 3D imagery could protrude from the surface, while keeping to the confines of the sheet. Meanwhile, 2D content will stick to the display.

Image via Apple / USPTO

Image via Apple / USPTO

Although Apple has been granted the patent, it’s not guaranteed that the technology will be on its roadmaps, at least in the foreseeable future. However, considering that its mixed-reality headset is seemingly on the horizon—the tech giant subtly confirmed this rumor itself in its iOS software—an unfolding of a ‘virtual paper’ is plausible.

Image via Apple / USPTO

[via 9to5Mac and Patently Apple, images via Apple / USPTO]