On October 28, 2021 during Facebook’s annual Connect conference, Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will transition from a social media platform to a metaverse and thus renaming it – Meta. This happened at a time when Facebook came under fire from revelations by two whistleblowers alleging that Facebook “prioritizes profit over public safety”.
Meta and the metaverse, according to Facebook’s CEO, promises “a set of interconnected digital spaces that lets you do things you can’t do in the physical world”. In the same conference, Zuckerberg also listed multiple functionalities planned for the metaverse. Horizon Home, their “home base” in the metaverse allows users to hang out, watch videos, and play games and apps together. VR calls can also be possible from any Messenger-enabled platform. Outside of the social aspect, he also listed planned functionalities of VR in business, work, and education. Finally, Zuckerberg also hinted at multiple hardware upgrades and releases such as better headsets, better controllers for fitness, smart AR glasses, and a wrist-based EMG input device.
This mini patent landscape report takes a look into Facebook’s patenting activity from 2010-2020 and as it transitions to Meta.