Granted Patent B2

US 12,536,762 · App. 18/471,729 · Granted Jan 27, 2026

Inventors: Guillaume Couche (London, GB); Jonny Yeo (London, GB); William D. Lindmeier (San Francisco, CA); Tony Kobayashi (Berkeley, CA)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

G06T19/20

Abstract

Claims (46)

1 . A method comprising:

at an electronic device in communication with a display and one or more input devices:

detecting, via the one or more input devices, a real-world object in a three-dimensional environment;

receiving, via the one or more input devices, a first input requesting generation of a voxel representation of at least a portion of the real-world object;

creating the voxel representation including a first plurality of voxels corresponding to at least the portion of the real-world object in accordance with the first input; and

presenting the voxel representation in the three-dimensional environment at a first location in the three-dimensional environment corresponding to at least the portion of the real-world object, wherein presenting the voxel representation at the first location obscures at least the portion of the real-world object,

wherein a size or resolution of the voxel representation including the first plurality of voxels is based on a distance of the one or more input devices from at least the portion of the real-world object during the first input.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

moving the voxel representation from the first location to a second location different than the first location in the three-dimensional environment in response to receiving a second input requesting movement of the voxel representation from the first location to the second location; and

while moving the voxel representation to the second location, presenting at least the portion of the real-world object at the first location in the three-dimensional environment.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of voxels comprises three-dimensional geometric shapes.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, via the one or more input devices, a second input requesting generation of the voxel representation of at least a second portion of the real-world object different than at least the portion of the real-world object; and

updating the voxel representation to include a second plurality of voxels different than the first plurality of voxels corresponding to at least the second portion of the real-world object in accordance with the second input.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first plurality of voxels corresponds to a first color, and wherein the second plurality of voxels correspond to a second color different than the first color.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the real-world object includes a first color at the first location and a second color different from the first color at a second location, the method further comprising creating the voxel representation including the first plurality of voxels with the first color based on initially detecting at least one of the one or more input devices directed towards the first location of the real-world object.

7 . An electronic device, comprising:

a display; and

one or more processors configured to:

detect, via one or more input devices, a real-world object in a three-dimensional environment;

receive, via the one or more input devices, a first input requesting generation of a voxel representation of at least a portion of the real-world object;

create the voxel representation including a first plurality of voxels corresponding to at least the portion of the real-world object in accordance with the first input; and

present the voxel representation in the three-dimensional environment at a first location in the three-dimensional environment corresponding to at least the portion of the real-world object, wherein presenting the voxel representation at the first location obscures at least the portion of the real-world object,

wherein a size or resolution of the voxel representation including the first plurality of voxels is based on a distance of the one or more input devices from at least the portion of the real-world object during the first input.

8 . The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein creating the voxel representation including the first plurality of voxels includes offsetting a position of at least one voxel of the first plurality of voxels by a threshold amount.

9 . The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the real-world object is a first real-world object, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

detect, via the one or more input devices, a second real-world object different than the first real-world object in the three-dimensional environment;

receive, via the one or more input devices, a second input requesting generation of a second voxel representation of at least a portion of the second real-world object; and

create the second voxel representation including a third plurality of voxels corresponding to at least the portion of the second real-world object in accordance with the second input.

10 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein creating the voxel representation includes an animation of the first plurality of voxels correspond to a motion state with a first frequency, and wherein creating the second voxel representation includes an animation of the third plurality of voxels correspond to a motion state with a second frequency.

11 . The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

increase a resolution of the first plurality of voxels of the voxel representation in response to detecting the first input directed towards the first plurality of voxels for longer than a threshold amount of time or in response to subsequent input directed toward at least the portion of the real-world object.

12 . The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein detecting, via the one or more input devices, the real-world object comprises detecting at least the portion of the real-world object from a first orientation, and wherein the first plurality of voxels corresponds to a first color based on detecting a least the portion of the real-world object from the first orientation.

13 . The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to present a three-dimensional representation of the plurality of first voxels corresponding to at least the portion of the real-world object in response to receiving, via the one or more input devices, the first input requesting generation of the voxel representation of at least the portion of the real-world object.

14 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device in communication with a display and one or more input devices, cause the electronic device to:

detect, via one or more input devices, a real-world object in a three-dimensional environment;

receive, via the one or more input devices, a first input requesting generation of a voxel representation of at least a portion of the real-world object;

create the voxel representation including a first plurality of voxels corresponding to at least the portion of the real-world object in accordance with the first input; and

present the voxel representation in the three-dimensional environment at a first location in the three-dimensional environment corresponding to at least the portion of the real-world object, wherein presenting the voxel representation at the first location obscures at least the portion of the real-world object,

wherein a size or resolution of the voxel representation including the first plurality of voxels is based on a distance of the one or more input devices from at least the portion of the real-world object during the first input.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the electronic device to adjust a material, a size, a shape, a resolution, or any combination thereof of a voxel of the first plurality of voxels based on a second input.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the first plurality of voxels comprises at least a first sphere corresponding to a first size and at least a second sphere different than the first sphere corresponding to a second size different than the first size.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the first plurality of voxels comprises spheres in a first position, and wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the electronic device to move the first plurality of voxels from the first position to a second position different than the first position in accordance with a second input corresponding to movement of a first input device at least a threshold number of times over the voxel representation including the first plurality of voxels.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein at least the portion of the real-world object includes a plurality of colors including a first color and a second color, and the first plurality of voxels corresponds to the first color of the real-world object locked from at least the portion of the real-world object in accordance with the first input.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the electronic device to:

present a user interface element at a distance from a first portion of a first input device in the three-dimensional environment, wherein the user interface element displays a preview of the voxel representation of portions of the three-dimensional environment corresponding to dimensions of the user interface element.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (229)