Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to a possible future Mixed Reality Headset with back-to-back displays. The internal display allows the user to view mixed reality content whereas the external display may display viewable images that the public could view – including being able to see a virtual face of the HMD wearer. Apple’s granted patent also covers adjustable lenses to accommodate user vision defects.
Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to a possible future Mixed Reality Headset with back-to-back displays. The internal display allows the user to view mixed reality content whereas the external display may display viewable images that the public could view – including being able to see a virtual face of the HMD wearer. Apple’s granted patent also covers adjustable lenses to accommodate user vision defects.
Another aspect of the granted patent relates to the first display (internal display) may have microlenses, tunable lens structures, holograms, lasers, and other structures for displaying images in multiple selectable eye boxes while the electronic device is being worn on the head of a user. These structures may include tunable lenses or other optical components that allow control circuitry in the device to adjust the first display to accommodate vision defects of the user such as nearsightedness.
According to Apple, Inwardly facing displays may have display surfaces (pixel arrays) that are oriented towards a user’s eyes when the HMD is worn on a user’s head. In this scenario, the inward display is hidden from view by individuals other than the user.
In contrast, Outwardly facing displays can provide information that enables outward interactions of the user with the real world (e.g., people in the vicinity of the user).
Outwardly facing displays may, for example, display information about the content that a user is viewing, information on the identity of the user, information on whether a user is occupied or is available for social interactions, and other information on the state of the user.
If desired, an eye tracking system may be used to track a user’s eyes and an outwardly facing display may be used to display virtual eyes that change appearance based on information on the state of the user’s eyes gathered using the eye tracking system or other components.
Facial features such as virtual eyebrows, emojis, and/or other content representative of the user’s current emotional state may also be displayed on the outwardly facing display.
This feature was recently covered in a Facebook patent report that we posted on August 13. Note to Zuckerberg: Apple has been granted patent for this potential feature: Read it and weep. The image below is from the Facebook patent application (not granted patent).
For more details, review Apple’s granted patent 11,435,583.
Apple’s Listed Inventors
Patrick Gill: Optical Research Scientist
Richard J. Topliss: Senior Camera Technology Specialist
James Foster: Industrial Design
Paul Puskarich: Design
Gregory Thomas: Senior Area Manager
