OK, there are some ideas born from a need of great importance, which yield some substantial human improvement.  There are others which are just cool, and need to be done, just to be done.  Today’s idea comes after I observed some of the “cutting edge” apps available for smartphones these days.  Apps that give a virtual 3D view at the phone, spawned the idea in my head that it would be very cool if the view of the phone included more than just the option for transluscent windows, and icons over a background image.  What I would like to see, at least as an option, would be a translucent view of those same windows and icons over what is actually behind the phone.  That’s right, you put your hand behind the phone, and you can clearly see your fingers, as well as whatever is behind the phone.  Then another option that immediately comes to mind is the “hands free” mode of view, where you would only see the background, and you would not see anything immediately behind the phone, like the users hand.

To accomplish this, you would need more than just a single camera.  You would need a grid of cameras, and some intelligent software to combine the images into one single image.  I realize that this would be considered wasteful.  There are, of course, other purposes that this “camera grid” could be used for, but staying on the point of today’s post, I will just acknowledge this feature wouldn’t be for everyone.  Just off the top of my head, I would suggest that 4 HD cameras would be at each of the 4 corners of the phone, and 10 or so lower quality cameras would be organized in a grid between them.  The 4 HD cameras would be the basis for the view, and the bulk of the background image would be derived from them.  The advantage of having 4 would be that if you were in the “hands free” mode and did not want to see your hands in the image you would be less likely to block the view with your hand.  The software would know from sampling all 4 of the images that there was a hand blocking one or more of the cameras and it would grab the view from the corner or corners you were not blocking.

Now, in the more realistic “hands included” mode, the display of your actual fingers would be included as part of that background image.  This would be done with coordination of the 4 HD cameras, with the grid of “lesser” cameras.  The software would first use the 4 HD cameras to create an acurate image of what was behind the phone.  Then, all cameras would be sampled to determine exactly what, if anything, was blocking that view.  If you slide a finger directly behind the phone, the cameras will focus on it and using comparative software, be able to create an exact image of what that finger looked like, if the phone and LCD were actually a piece of glass that you were able to look through.

An additional neat function of this grid and software combination, would be the ability to set your phone down nearly right flat directly onto a printed page of paper.   As you sat the phone onto the paper, the image would be gained.  If you were to slide the phone onto another image, the act of that sliding would allow for the camera grid to effectively sample the page, and gain an accurate image, even if certain parts of the page weren’t able to be sampled at any given period of time.   Tiny built in LEDs would be used to light the close up image enough for functional capture.  These LEDs would not need to be bright at all.   Indeed, you could set your phone onto a desk in complete darkness, and if your screen was on, you would see with perfect clarity, perhaps the business card, it was resting on.

Again, not a societal necessity, but a really cool visual on your phone.  For that, you need to see tomorrow’s post on what REALLY mind blowing stuff this technology would allow.