Amazon wants to turn your living room into a Star Trek-style holodeck

Amazon has patented technology that could turn you living room into a Star Trek-style holodeck. Augmented reality usually means wearing a clunky headset, but Amazon says it could bring holograms to your living room without the ugly spectacles. Amazon says a ceiling-mounted node could be used to track the movement of all people in a room. A projector would then use this data to create glasses-free holograms that could be controlled using your hands. It is unclear what uses Amazon has in mind for the technology.

A room equipped with computerised projection and imaging systems that enable presentation of images on various objects within the room to facilitate user interaction with the images and/or objects.

The patent document describes the setup

The company has tried - and failed - to experiment with movement-tracking in the past. Amazon’s Fire Phone featured six front-facing cameras which tracked the movement of its user. However, the device did not sell well and it was eventually discontinued. If Amazon does use the patents, it is likely to be years before holograms at home become a reality. Microsoft appears to be the main competitor in the field - it’s releasing its HoloLens headset next year.

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