US 2,012,249,741 · Filed 2012-03-29

The Patent Behind Placing Virtual Objects on Real Walls

Imagine wearing smart glasses that let you stick digital objects onto real surfaces in your room—a virtual lamp on your desk, a poster on your wall. This patent describes how the system figures out where you're pointing and locks that virtual object in place so it stays there even when you move around.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

What's protected here is a method for anchoring virtual objects to real-world surfaces in augmented reality headsets. The patent covers the process of capturing images and spatial data through a body-mounted camera, receiving user input to select a physical surface (like a wall or table), calculating the spatial relationship between the user and that surface, and rendering a virtual object so it appears permanently attached to that chosen location. It also protects the ability to move that virtual object from one anchor surface to another when the user selects a different real-world target.

Why it matters

This patent addresses a core challenge in augmented reality: making digital content feel genuinely anchored to the physical world rather than floating or drifting. By locking virtual objects to real surfaces, users can collaborate more naturally and the experience becomes less disorienting. This kind of spatial anchoring is foundational to how modern AR apps (like furniture placement tools or virtual design software) make digital content feel like it belongs in your actual environment, making AR more practical and immersive for everyday use.

Real-world use

When you use an AR app to preview how furniture would look in your bedroom—placing a virtual bookshelf on your wall and having it stay locked in place as you walk around—you're relying on this anchoring technology.

Original USPTO abstract

A head mounted device provides an immersive virtual or augmented reality experience for viewing data and enabling collaboration among multiple users. Rendering images in a virtual or augmented reality system may include capturing an image and spatial data with a body mounted camera and sensor array, receiving an input indicating a first anchor surface, calculating parameters with respect to the body mounted camera and displaying a virtual object such that the virtual object appears anchored to the selected first anchor surface. Further operations may include receiving a second input indicating a second anchor surface within the captured image that is different from the first anchor surface, calculating parameters with respect to the second anchor surface and displaying the virtual object such that the virtual object appears anchored to the selected second anchor surface and moved from the first anchor surface.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,012,249,741
Filing date: 2012-03-29
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Giuliano Maciocci / Everitt Andrew J / Mabbutt Paul / Berry David T
Inventor(s): MACIOCCI GIULIANO, EVERITT ANDREW J., MABBUTT PAUL, BERRY DAVID T.
CPC class: H04N5/74

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