Qualcomm · AR / VR · Filed Feb 10, 2026 · USPTO published Nov 12, 2026 · This week's release

Qualcomm Files Patent for AR Meetings Where Remote Coworkers Appear Beside Your 3D Model

Qualcomm's new patent application would put a coworker from another city next to your 3D model, as a stand-in that moves when they do.

By Patentlyze Team · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · 3 min read

Coworkers wearing smart glasses gather around a digital 3D model while a remote colleague appears beside them as a holographic image. Drawing from patent filing US 2026/0358994 A1. — Coworkers wearing smart glasses gather around a digital 3D model while a remote colleague appears beside them as a holographic image.All 14 drawings ↓

Publication number: US 2026/0358994 A1(US20260358994A1)
Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
Filed · Published: Feb 10, 2026 · Nov 12, 2026
Inventors: Alexander TYURIN, Gerald WRIGHT
Status when we published: Waiting for an examiner
Document: 20 claims
US classification: 345/419
Parent application: Continuation of 17/522,797 (filed Nov 9, 2021)(17522797)

What Qualcomm's remote-coworker AR patent does

Every time a team reviews a 3D design on a video call, someone ends up saying, 'No, the part on the left. Your other left.' A flat screen makes it hard to point at things, and harder still to tell where a colleague is looking.

Qualcomm's patent application describes an augmented reality fix. Your headset, phone or tablet shows a 3D object, say a building or a rocket engine, pinned to a spot in your real room. A coworker in a different building shows up as a stand-in placed around that object. The filing calls it a virtual proxy, and it can be as simple as a marker for their headset. When they move around their copy of the object, their stand-in moves around yours.

You can walk around too, and the object stays put in your room. The system also saves the object, so your coworker or anyone else can open it later.

From the filing · CLAIM 2

… receive a request to add a virtual proxy of a user of a second user device located in a second physical environment, the second physical environment being different from the first physical environment …

Translation: The system gets a request to bring a remote coworker into the shared augmented space.

How the headset keeps a remote stand-in in place

The claim covers a device (the filing's examples include a headset or a handheld) that first works out its pose, meaning where it is and which way it faces compared with the room. Based on that, it draws virtual content, such as a 3D model, at a spot that matches a real location in the room.

When the device gets a request to add a remote user in a different physical space, it shows that person's virtual proxy (a stand-in for them) at a set position relative to the content. Then the claim adds three behaviors:

If you move your own device to a new pose, the content stays at its real-world spot and the proxy keeps its place relative to the content.
If the remote user's position relative to the content changes (one dependent claim says this can be movement of their device), the proxy is redrawn in a new place.
The content is stored so the remote user's device can get to it.

The description adds the annotation feature behind the title. On a tablet, a long press on a spot in the model freezes the view and opens a text box with a tail pointing at that spot. In the filing's example, one user types 'reroute conduit,' a second replies 'will do,' and a third adds a separate note. Notes can be text, images, video or audio, and people can add them live or at different times.

From the filing · THE ABSTRACT

… enable a user of the first user device to create media and associate that media with the virtual content in the first image in the form of an annotation …

Translation: Users can attach notes or media directly onto the 3D models in their environment.

What this means for AR design reviews at work

If you have ever tried to review a design, a building plan or a repair job with colleagues in different cities, you know a flat video call is a weak substitute for standing around the same object. This filing describes giving each person a place around a shared 3D model, so pointing and looking carry meaning again. Because notes stay attached to a spot on the model, you could come back later and see exactly what a coworker asked for.

The filing's examples lean toward work: a rocket engine, a building, a note about rerouting conduit. It also covers phones and tablets, not only headsets, which matters because far more people own those. This one is a continuation of applications first filed in 2020 and 2021, so Qualcomm keeps filing on shared AR workspaces.

Qualcomm's 63rd filing we've tracked in our AR glasses race since July adds to a run that includes one on controller lighting and one on network-assisted 3D calls.

Editorial take

The core requirement in claim 1 chains four things together: place virtual content tied to a real physical spot, show it on a screen, let the user attach notes or media to it, and save everything. All four must be present for the claim to apply, so any app that skips saving or skips the attachment step could argue it falls outside the boundary.

The claim names only a screen, a processor, and storage as required hardware, which means it covers ordinary phones and tablets just as readily as expensive headsets. That scope matters because millions of people already carry devices that would qualify the moment they run software following that same sequence.

If granted, this claim would sit in the path of any app combining those four steps, and that is a common enough pattern to reach a wide range of everyday software.

Source: US 2026/0358994 A1 at the USPTO (PDF). Full patent text and figures are in the official publication.

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The drawings · 14 sheets

14 drawing sheets from US 2026/0358994 A1 · click any drawing to enlarge

People viewing a shared 3D building around a tabletop pad, drawing sheet 1 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 1 People viewing a shared 3D building around a tabletop pad

Editing a 3D model while previewing it as a hologram, drawing sheet 2 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 2 Editing a 3D model while previewing it as a hologram

Inside the cross-shaped mat that helps headsets locate 3D models, drawing sheet 3 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 3 Inside the cross-shaped mat that helps headsets locate 3D models

Headset using a front sensor to track the positioning pad, drawing sheet 4 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 4 Headset using a front sensor to track the positioning pad

Clip-on sensor turning a phone into a hologram tracker, drawing sheet 5 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 5 Clip-on sensor turning a phone into a hologram tracker

Tablet screen displaying a digital anchor and virtual rocket, drawing sheet 6 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 6 Tablet screen displaying a digital anchor and virtual rocket

Connecting multiple remote rooms to share one 3D model, drawing sheet 7 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 7 Connecting multiple remote rooms to share one 3D model

How a device anchors a hologram over a physical mat, drawing sheet 8 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 8 How a device anchors a hologram over a physical mat

Show the other 6 sheets

Steps for showing a remote colleague beside a shared model, drawing sheet 9 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 9 Steps for showing a remote colleague beside a shared model

Attaching a digital note directly to a floating 3D part, drawing sheet 10 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 10 Attaching a digital note directly to a floating 3D part

A coworker replying inside the same virtual comment box, drawing sheet 11 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 11 A coworker replying inside the same virtual comment box

Multiple coworkers adding separate notes to different parts, drawing sheet 12 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 12 Multiple coworkers adding separate notes to different parts

How notes on 3D models sync across devices, drawing sheet 13 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 13 How notes on 3D models sync across devices

Internal computer parts that run the augmented reality system, drawing sheet 14 from US 2026/0358994 A1 — Sheet 14 Internal computer parts that run the augmented reality system

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The drawings · 14 sheets

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