Sony and Lenovo announced they’ve signed a two-year patent license agreement that will allow Lenovo to base a future VR headset off the PSVR industrial design.

Lenovo says the PSVR design will be used in the making of a new Mirage Solo VR headset.

It’s unclear what Lenovo specifically needs from the four year-old headset design, as the company’s Daydream standalone headset Mirage Solo already utilizes a number of design elements popularized by PSVR, including a remarkably similar halo strap and focus-adjustment mechanism.

It’s more likely however that the patent licensing will allow Sony and Lenovo to more closely share design insights as they both look towards the next generation of devices.

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Yao Li, vice president of Lenovo Consumer Tablets and Smart Devices Product and Business Management, says the agreement will allow the companies to “work together to greatly enhance the design sophistication and appeal of the rapidly expanding VR field, and is an outstanding example of how great consumer brands in the VR industry can work together to benefit the consumer VR market.”

Lenovo currently boasts three consumer devices in the area of AR/VR including Lenovo Mirage Solo, Lenovo Mirage AR headset, and Lenovo Explorer, the company’s Windows VR headset.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • JesuSaveSouls

    The mirage is already very sleek and innovative. Similar currently to the psvr without wires,sensors or a console needed.Yet very limited in software.The developers options in the settings let you do many things.Play every google play app in 2d while in vr.Adjusting the screen size and resolution.This enables you to view many non vr media apps in vr like pure flick a Christian alternate to Netflix. You can cast your gaming to chromecast easily and remove the border restrictions too.Being able to walk through the games environment like in the Netflix app.

    • Downvote King

      Being able to use regular android apps in a virtual window is a feature I’ve been waiting on for the Gear VR since launch. The only issue is control for touch driven apps, especially games, although the newer controller could work fairly well in instances that don’t require multi-touch; perhaps there’s some scheme to use the d-pad to alternate modes to simulate that?

  • Downvote King

    Has anyone used either of these headsets that can comment on the stability of the “halo” design during quick movements? This seems to be one of the main points for staying with the old “strap-on” design carried by the Rift and Vive.

    • Dark Evry

      I have PSVR, its unmovable.
      before that I had that expensive sony OLED device that started the VR hype, i purchased for it overhead start, some guy was making them in Japan and selling online and even with that it was the most uncomfortable device, the only way it worked is why lying down, i managed to sell it, thank god.

      basically there is knob behind halo like in helmets and you turn it, the more you do the tighter the hold, the hmd sits on your forehead and backside, very comfortable

      • Downvote King

        Cool – makes me wonder why every manufacturer hasn’t adopted a similar design yet then. Even the new Oculus Quest uses the strap-on design. Is there any down-side you can think of? I never had a Sony device, but I had an old Myvu Crystal set of video glasses that kind of looked like what Geordi wore on Star Trek TNG. They were actually super comfortable, but the screen was a little washed out and on the small side. Still, if we manage to hit that form factor with AR/VR devices I’ll be pretty happy.

        • Dark Evry

          No, thats the problem, when PSVR came out, 99% of people that tried, i mean online reviews, said its the most comfortable HMD ever compared to everything that came before, you can google for old reviews and see for yourself and read some comments how people hoped it will be adopted further.
          So it got adopted by almost everyone who came after, ones that had no previous style of their own. I mean right now 90% of new HMDs all use this style.

          I think for Oculus and Vive it a brand recognition issue, they cant change it to look like Sonys device now that they have recognizable style that they to keep across all otehr models, i means in the front, straps and everything.
          Also tehre are 2 otehr issues:
          1) how both Vive/oculus use cables that go above your head using the over strap as guide.
          2) Both have Wireless devices planed/released and it uses this strap.
          So going Sony style will be serious issue, not just new holder, but they need to find how to connect cable from another side and what to do with wireless modules.

          P.S.Since I mentioned the wirless module, do you mind if I rant?
          I dont know if people are dumb, suicidal or believe in technology blindly, but I would NEVER, not a million years put such a super powerful wireless device on top of my head, you have to complelty mindless and edgy to not consider what could happen?
          Also if im not mistaken some of them are fully wireless and work on batteries, batteries sometimes explode, especially such powerful ones.
          This wireless device is enigma, because putting on my belt near my balls or my otehr side is to get some cosmic hemorrhoid growth i dont really want either.

          I dont know whats the best way to go with high bandwidth wireless, where to wear it, if it was me i would connect it with long cable and drug it like dogs tail a meter behind me, put in rubberized cover so it wont damage

          • Downvote King

            That’s the only reason that has made sense to me as to why Rift and Vive would keep the old head-straps; to avoid seeming to copy Sony. Windows MR didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Hopefully they come around eventually, or at least in time of the 2nd gen products to incorporate it.

            I think wireless is possible if it’s done properly. Like the Quest, which will have wi-fi, a trusted low pawer non-volatile short range wireless signal know to be safe for humans, rather than a new or high power wireless signals that are not well tested or trusted not to effect human cells through the radiation they emit. Similarly, keeping the battery in the front of the headset, on the other side of the screen, should hopefully provide enough of a barrier to make people feel safe with it. Perhaps a lead(Pb) shield could be put in place between the wireless transmitter/receiver and the user’s face as well, to add extra protection from radiation.

            All that said, most of us already live in environments inundated by wireless signals of all kinds, and the best science we have has shown that the only possible danger from approved devices comes from high powered devices placed very close to the body. Hopefully some directional shielding in the headset could alleviate these concerns so no high power signals travel directly through the brain. The funny thing is, most of these technologies could be accurately described as “microwave radiation”.

          • Dark Evry

            Im not one of the people that have wifi and electromagnetic meters and moan about Electric company wireless emitters give them cancer [and tehre are tons of them, they even pay tons of money to buy shield covers for their electric meters, USA has tons of nut cases.
            But wireless is emerging technology, we have almost no idea how it affects on long term, so far not even ONE full generation as in from Birth to death lived with wiffi and otehr mother wireless signals around them.
            Im not expert but what I know is that in medical and scientific statistics they need hundreds of years to be 100% sure about something and have valid data, birth to death cycle, unless that something is clearly damaging.
            They can tell you all the damages from benzine fumes, radioactive exposure, coal pollution and effects of coal when working in coal mine and so on, because it was recorded for tens and hundreds of years, but WiFi is less then 10 years mainstream and 15 years public.
            Imagine a situation that in 50 years the whole population that got exposed to wifi signals for 50 years non stop gets Sterile or worse? I mean there is a chance it can happen, simply because no one lived so long with wifi always on, so we have no idea if its damaging long time.
            Remember that just 20 years ago people used so many chemicals in food and especially agriculture that right now considered almost chemical level poison, or how people lived with asbestos and used it in many things, because its fire proof it was used to make mattresses, beds, sheets and so on.
            Of course not every home had all of this, but some cruise ships and boats did, they had EVERYTHING made from it, bed sheets, beds, chairs, doors, walls, pillows, spoons, forks, trays, whatever you may think of, was made from asbestos [because its type of silicate, they could make both hard products and soft products like fabrics, from 1800 and on asbestos used in textile industry in FULL ON mode] the one huge cruise ship was made from it bottom up, except the hull outside, inside everything was made of it, people slept on asbestos bed and pillows and even the rug and the toilet was from asbestos.
            Or how heroin and cocaine was sold freely in pharmacies, even Heroin for kids cough medicine or pharmacies in USA Actually Sold tobacco Cigarettes as medicine against Asthma

            Anyway, this looks like im writing a BOOK lol, but you got my drift, dont be surprised if in 50 years you wake up and see your balls roll out of bed and your dog grabs them and starts chewing and playing with them.

          • Jistuce

            “But wireless is emerging technology, we have almost no idea how it affects on long term, so far not even ONE full generation as in from Birth to death lived with wiffi and otehr mother wireless signals around them.”

            With all due respect, we can reasonably extrapolate from radio and microwave communications technologies that are MUCH older than 802.11 and Bluetooth.
            And communication satellites operate in a range of frequencies starting around existing 802.11 and BT solutions, and ending much higher.

            If bathing in radio waves was going to sterilize the entire population and transform them into glowing mutants, it would’ve happened already.

            Also, the high-bandwidth wireless on VR headsets is a receiver only. It isn’t a high-power transmitter. And a receiver does not attract and focus radio waves, it merely notices them, so there’s no difference if it is on your head or not.

            There is certainly a return channel, but it is much lower bandwidth, and thus operates at a power level similar to current bluetooth implementations… heck, they could actually USE current Bluetooth implementations for the return channel. You only need the high bandwidth for video, and the headset doesn’t have to send video back to the computer.

          • Downvote King

            Yeah, electromagnetic radiation of all kinds have permeated human cells since the dawn of time. Even light is electromagnetic radiation (obviously some forms of light are quite dangerous to the human body). The effect is relatively well understood. Constant cosmic radiation, terrestrial radiation from the ground, and neutron background radiation always exist, there are the forces that draw a compass to north, even eating a few bananas (high in potassium) is like getting an X-Ray done. Manmade wireless communications, specifically radio communication, have been widely used for over 100 years . All manner of both manmade and natural radio signals are passing through our bodies constantly. Outside of a few known methods of producing radio waves that interact with physical structures in a disruptive manner, they are quite safe.

            High power signals a close range can potentially cause issues, depending on the wavelength, bandwidth, frequency, etc. but they are observable in their effect, and so easily studied. This is how something like a microwave oven is created; you have 1000W of power all directed at short range microwave transmission in a shielded box which reverberates the radio signal inside, allowing none to escape. These are very extreme conditions. The link between even constant cell phone (less than 1W of power) exposure at close proximity (with environmental dispersion, not in a shielded box) with physical effects is very tenuous. In comparison, the very short range communications needed for a VR systems are already exponentially less volatile to physical matter. I would think even a bit of shielding on the user side should remove any doubt.

            Mistakes and oversights can happen in any science, but it is worth noting that the old cases you mention like asbestos, smoking, or even thalidomide, are what lead directly to the rigorous testing paradigms we see today (too bad about asbestos though, it really is a miracle textile besides murdering people). The amount of scrutiny leveled at new products coming to market now is leagues beyond what existed in the past, precisely because of those instances where terrible outcomes occurred as a result of poor due diligence. Still, nothing is perfect I agree. It is funny in the examples of heroin and cocaine that current science actually holds they are not so bad in the end, actually far better than most pharmaceuticals, and much better still than alcohol, which is ironically one of the worst possible drugs despite also being possibly the most widely used besides caffeine.

          • Alexisms

            I remember on a documentary on uk tv many years ago where they took a group of people who claimed to get headaches etc from mobile phone masts or similar to live in a house next to a mast to measure their results. They complained of their usual results and were only told at the end of the week the mast wasn’t switched on or attached to anything at all.

          • Dark Evry

            Self hypnosis is very strong in humans, there is a reason why every time they do Drugs trial for every type of drug, it works like this: One group gets real pills another placebo, no one knows what they get, everyone think they got real.
            And what do you think? Some people that got “sugar powder” in their pills, were healed!

          • Blankfrak70

            That tells me sugar is good for you, yay!

          • Aeroflux

            In regards to wireless, here’s some information I gleaned from EEtimes:

            “Terabeam’s 60-GHz MMW systems are among the safest RF
            communication systems ever designed. Due to their combination of low power emissions and high operation frequency, the Gigalink can be safely installed in any location. The Gigalink is certified as a FCC Part 15 device, placing it in the same category as controllers for garage door openers. Under this certification, the Gigalink is allowed to transmit a
            maximum average power of 9 microwatt/cm2. This threshold represents less than 1 percent of the power limits established by standards organizations and the federal government for the general public’s safe exposure to 60 GHz and similar radio systems.

            In addition to the very low power levels discussed above, 60 GHz systemsdo not penetrate the human body. High-frequency emissions such as 60 GHz are absorbed by the moisture in the human body and are thereby prevented from penetrating beyond the outer layers of the skin. As a result, exposure to 60 GHz is very similar to the exposure to sunlight “but at 1/10,000 of the energy. Lower-frequency emissions penetrate and may even pass completely through the human body. The minimal penetration of 60-GHz energy sets it apart from the debate that currently surrounds the safety of other RF communication systems.”

            Link: https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1282118

            Also, if you want a more scientific study:

            “Human corneal epithelial (HCE-T) and human lens epithelial (SRA01/04) cells derived from the human eye were exposed to 60 gigahertz (GHz) millimeter-wavelength radiation for 24 h. There was no statistically significant increase in the micronucleus (MN) frequency in cells exposed to 60 GHz millimeter-wavelength radiation at 1 mW/cm2 compared with sham-exposed controls and incubator controls. The MN
            frequency of cells treated with bleomycin for 1 h provided positive controls. The comet assay, used to detect DNA strand breaks, and heat shock protein (Hsp) expression also showed no statistically significant effects of exposure. These results indicate that exposure to millimeter-wavelength radiation has no effect on genotoxicity in human eye cells.”

            Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4997488/

          • Rainfox Wolfstone

            cosmic hemorrhoid growth, – best band name ever (:

  • Andrew Jakobs

    The license is more due to them having copied it from the PSVR for their current Mirage headset, but now they spin it in a more marketing friendly sauce..

    • Lucidfeuer

      And your proof of that is…?

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Other media reports that delved deeper into the story.

  • The PSVR is the most comfortable VR headset of the big 3, with VIVE being the worst, by far. Oculus seems to know how to make a simple strap system work just as well as a “halo” design. Outside of the impressions it makes on my face, I find it fine to wear for hours at a time.

    I am crossing my fingers about the Quest. The weight of the built-in battery might ruin Oculus’s great track record of comfortable and low-weight. What’s wrong with a belt-held battery?? :/