Apple Takes Out Patent on 'Killer' Holographic Imaging
Everyone remembers the moment in "Star Wars" where a hologram of Princess Leia pops out of R2D2 and calls for Obi-Wan Kenobi. "Cool," everyone in the audience thought, even though they weren't seeing anything like a real hologram at all. 
Now, if Apple has its way and a new patent it has filed works out, people could be seeing the real thing on movie, television, and even computer screens in the near future. That's because a recently granted patent shows that Appel has been working on a new kind of display screen that produces three-dimensional and even holographic images that can be viewed without the need for those nerdy glasses. This is good news for a great many people, for not everyone can see 3-D with those glasses. They involve playing tricks with right and left vision and some peoples' eyes can't adjust.
The Apple technology would require a special screen that would be dotted with tiny pixel-sized domes that deflect images taken from different angles. The right and left eyes would see images from slightly different angles. This would create a stereoscopic image that the brain would interpret as three dimensional. The patent claims that this technology would appear holographic because of the ability to track observers' movements.
According to London's The Telegraph, the patent states "An exceptional aspect of the invention is that it can produce viewing experiences that are virtually indistinguishable from viewing a true hologram. Such a 'pseudo-holographic' image is the direct result of the ability to track and respond to observer movements….It allows the observer, for example, to move around a virtual object and to observe multiple sides from different angles."
In coming years, many television manufacturers are gearing up to sell 3-D sets and 3-D Blu-ray players, but all involve wearing the ubiquitous 3-D glasses. Apple's patent, however, seems to point at abolishing the glasses.
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