My highlights and emphasis....
Not so much about Kipman, but about what can happen with his invention -- and what will happen with the company that has the key technology for the display.
You and I are not alone in thinking that this technology is going to change the world profoundly.
European Patent office
"The resulting mixed-reality experience integrates computers seamlessly into daily activities - both at work and play."
Societal benefit
Some industry insiders believe that mixed-reality devices, like the HoloLens smart glasses, could replace smartphones. Experts at Gartner predict that, by 2020, 30% of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen.**** Major drivers for the technology include consumer demand for assisted navigation, gaming and live translations. In fact, by 2020, 100 million consumers will rely on augmented reality - as mixed reality is sometimes called - for personal shopping assistance (comScore).
Developers are currently creating a host of applications for Kipman's data glasses in the Windows Mixed Reality software environment of Windows 10. For example, the thyssenkrupp industrial group includes the glasses in their metering and quality control operations, while the famous American medical institution Cleveland Clinic offers an interactive digital human anatomy curriculum. In 2017, while operating on a patient to remove a malignant muscular tumour, Spanish surgeons used the HoloLens to simultaneously view live diagnostic pictures from magnetic resonance imaging and radiography data feeds.
Economic benefit
Perfected over the course of seven years, the HoloLens was first introduced by Microsoft as a prototype in 2015. It features Kipman's patented sensors for the company's Kinect video game controller. The HoloLens is currently available as a development edition aimed at software programmers for EUR 2 556. An enterprise version costs EUR 4 260.
Microsoft has sold around 50 000 HoloLens units, relatively few compared with sales of over one million virtual-reality headsets in the third quarter of 2017 alone. But the corporation, which earned EUR 73 billion during the fiscal year 2017, is strategically "seeding" the market for mixed-reality products through strategic development partnerships with companies such as Lowe's, Boeing, Saab and Volvo.
Consulting firm Digi-Capital estimated the world market for augmented- and virtual-reality devices at EUR 3.3 billion in 2016. The firm projects that, driven by next-generation mobile augmented-reality hardware, the market will reach EUR 85 billion by 2021. Once Microsoft has built an attractive mixed-reality library, products such as the three-dimensional teleconferencing app Holoportation could well join bestsellers like the Office 365 commercial suite with over 100 million users.
**** "Without a screen" is a key phrase... currently virtually zero web browsing sessions are done without a screen -- talk about a growth opportunity.
Personal computer sales are roughly 200 Million / year (statista) That could be 60 million units of near-eye displays or pico-projection.
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