Two additional Augmented Reality patents allowed

The Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) has allowed Crunchfish two patents in Sweden for ways of discovering passive mobile users located near active users. This is essential to enable communication and information-sharing between all present users. These are Crunchfish’s second and third AR-patents, in addition to the first granted patent published on November 15, […]

The Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) has allowed Crunchfish two patents in Sweden for ways of discovering passive mobile users located near active users. This is essential to enable communication and information-sharing between all present users. These are Crunchfish’s second and third AR-patents, in addition to the first granted patent published on November 15, 2016.

AR-games like Pokémon Go become more social

Pokémon Go made AR (Augmented Reality) known to the world when the game was introduced in 2016. Crunchfish’s product aBubbl® can take Pokémon Go and other apps to the next level by making them collaborative and more social. With aBubbl® in the app the users can:

  • Discover who’s nearby.
  • Make contact and communicate.
  • Broadcast invites.
  • Share information and objects.

With the patented technologies, all active users can discover passive users nearby. The patents have a 20-year validity counted from 2015.

“These patents are commercially very important to Crunchfish since they solve the problem of how passive mobile users can be discovered by active users. This is crucial when offering Crunchfish’s kind of augmented reality to apps in social media, dating, business networking, conferencing or collaborative games.”, says Joachim Samuelsson, Crunchfish’s Chairman of the Board and responsible for the company’s IP-portfolio.

This is how it works

aBubbl® is based on beacon technology originally developed for stationary Bluetooth transmitters with the ability to reach passive mobile users, i.e. users that are not actively using their phone. To preserve battery life, however, it is necessary to limit how often passive users respond to beacons. Normally a passive user only responds to the first beacon signal, and is then unresponsive within the beacon’s range.

aBubbl® enables a dynamic system using mobile Bluetooth transmitters already embedded in mobile phones. Such systems usually have multiple active users. To enable them to discover all users nearby, the system must support a function that allows passive users to be rediscovered. These two new patents protect innovations that enable this, either by instructing active users to temporarily transmit on a secondary beacon channel or by other active users providing a list of passive users they have already discovered.

Crunchfish’s patent portfolio

Crunchfish has 51 active patents and patent applications nationally and internationally, based on 16 patent families within two technology areas – gesture control and Augmented Reality. There are 10 unique innovations within gesture control which all have been granted patents and 13 unique innovations within Augmented Reality of which three are granted. The company owns all its patents and patent applications without restrictions.

Crunchfish’s strategy is to protect the company’s technology in all geographically important markets. Crunchfish intends to expand its patent portfolio continuously to targeted markets by new innovations within both gesture control and augmented reality.

For further information, please contact: 

Joachim Samuelsson, Chairman of the Board, +46 708 464 788 or Joakim Nydemark, CEO, +46 706 351 609.