HTC may have more than one new headset in sight than we initially thought when it registered the name ‘Vive Focus’ in the EU and US. It came to light via the Dutch publication Lets Go Digital that HTC has also applied for a trademark for the name ‘Vive Eclipse’ in New Zealand.
It was first theorized that the name Vive Focus was intended for the upcoming standalone Vive headset confirmed at Google I/O 2017 developer conference. Neither HTC nor Lenovo headset was named at the time, only showing concept art and a silhouette.
The New Zealand Intellectual Property Office published a summary of the trademark application, showing a filing and submission initiated by HTC on October 6th.
It says specifically under the explanation of goods and services provided by the Vive Eclipse that it’s a “head mounted display for computer simulated reality” and that it specifies “motion tracking sensors” and “handheld computer simulated reality controllers.”
Specification of goods and/or services:
9: Head mounted display for computer simulated reality; computer hardware; computer simulated reality software; computer simulated reality game software; handheld controllers for use in computer simulated reality environment; optical devices, namely, eye pieces for head mounted displays; carrying cases and holders for use with head mounted displays; smartphones; portable computers; wearable electronic devices in connection with a head mounted display for use in computer simulated reality environment; motion tracking sensors; handheld computer simulated reality controllers; computer peripherals for mobile devices for remotely accessing and transmitting data; apparatus for the recording, transmission or reproduction of sound, images, or data; electronic and optical communications instruments and components.
28: Apparatus for games; amusement machines, automatic and coin-operated; game pads and controllers for use in computer simulated reality; counters [discs] for games; video games; controllers for game consoles; toys; portable games with liquid crystal displays; arcade video game machine
It’s unclear at this time what either Vive Focus or Vive Eclipse really are, but we’ll be following the patent filings closely for more information.