Microsoft Research is one step closer to bringing holograms to consumers. At a Microsoft TechForum event in Richmond, Va., the company's researchers demonstrated three prototypes in areas such as advanced displays and augmented reality applications.

The first is a see-through 3D desktop that could be a vision of how humans interact with computers in the next few years. The user puts his hands behind a transparent OLED display that contains a computer that the user can control with 3D hand gestures. The user can flip through various applications and open windows in a move reminiscent of the Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report." A camera captures head motion to provide accurate viewing angles.

Microsoft also demonstrated a prototype of an augmented reality application that could transmit holograms on the palm of the hand. The system, called the Holoreflector, includes a large translucent mirror with an LCD panel a few feet behind with a motion-detecting Kinect camera on top. The setup allows computer graphics to be displayed in real time on and around people and objects reflected in the mirror. Microsoft researcher Andy Wilson demonstrated the Holoreflector in tandem with sensors in a Windows Phone to display hologram messages in the palm of your hand.

"We've seen a lot of examples of augmented reality where you're looking at a phone and you're seeing graphics superimposed onto a video feed," Wilson said in a promo video. "This is much more about rendering graphics onto the real world, or the reflection of the real world. It's also a study of how we can use mobile phones in a complementary way with Kinect."

The last prototype Microsoft demonstrated is called Illumishare, a desktop peripheral that allows people to share imagery of their own desktop. Microsoft placed a camera/projector above the desks of two users in two different locations. The camera transmits images over a network to the other projector. Users can now share physical workspace that can be used for telepresence, gaming or brainstorming.