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As Disney has been experimenting more and more with augmented reality, I’ve tried to imagine scenarios in which the company could put it to use. My focus has always been on the Disney Parks, on how it could allow guests to further interact with exhibits. Apparently, Walt Disney Co. itself has been focusing more on how they can augment our food.
Technology website Gizmag details a recently filed patent by the Disney Company, one that covers the use of augmented reality for cakes. That’s right, cakes. Gizmag says that most of what’s on the patent is still theoretical, but it has a couple plans for how to project an image onto the cake.
This seems really strange, but it actually kind of works, so stay with me. If you’ve seen just about any science fiction or futuristic movie (or even a television show like “Bones”), it’s not that hard to imagine. The augmented reality would project an image onto the cake. It would work like a virtual cake topper. It could cycle through various loaded images, or even play video clips.
The plan in the patent would involve hooking up a computer to an overhead projector. The projector would then display the image on the cake. It seems like a lot of work just for a cake topper, but Disney likes to patent and secure the rights to ideas as soon as it has the inkling.
Although the idea seems really neat, something I could definitely see people doing, and I get why Disney is patenting the idea right away (they always start pursuing legal ownership of things still in the idea stage), I don’t see this happening anytime soon. Can you imagine the technological setup someone would need to make this happen? Cake toppers are still the simpler option, at least for now.
I’m also a bit bemused as to why cake toppers, of all things, are the market into which Disney is patenting its augmented reality. Don’t get me wrong: the world of decorating cake is a vast one. I can just see a new show on TLC or the Food Network all about competing for the best augmented reality on cakes.
What I’d like to know about this patent is: does this mean Disney will be the only company through which anyone could display images or videos on their cakes? Would they be the sole owners of any technology capable of doing so, and be litigious about that? Probably, unless in the future someone would come up with slightly different technology to do the same thing. I’m just imagining a world where we can only display Cinderella’s castle atop a cake, with no other non-Disney-related options.
Well, color me still a bit befuddled by Disney’s foray into culinary technology, but intrigued to see whether or not this will ever become a standard practice in my lifetime. Soon we’ll be blowing fake fire off virtual candles.
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SidebySide: An Innovative Projection Technology
*(The above image by diongillard is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)