Augmented Reality Laser Tag Gaming Patent for the iPhone

There’s a game of laser tag for that. To parody Apple’s trademarked “there’s an app for that” slogan, the company has applied for a patent that will bring augmented reality laser tag-like gaming to the iPhone that would take game playing from the little 3.5-inch screen of Cupertino, California’s smartphone to life size. The patent, called “Interactive Gaming with Co-Located, Networked Direction and Location Aware Devices,” highlights the fact that the iPhone’s camera and geo-location sensors–including GPS, accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope–and wireless radios would be used to constant track gamers in real-time as they move around their environments. Essentially, like laser tag, you can aim your iPhone’s camera at your opponent and “fire” a shot at them, with game play being tracked with GPS location. Could our kids grow up in this high-tech world where the classic game of “cowboys and Indians” get re-written to include the iPhone?

Casey Pham
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Gaming
Tags: Apple Inc, Augmented Reality (AR), games, GPS, iPhone, Patent