Apple patents lens mounting for head-mounted displays
Apple describes a way to attach front and rear lenses to the frame of a head-mounted display device. The lenses are secured using metal brackets with specific surfaces that hold them in place from either the front or the back, creating small air gaps between the lenses and the internal display components.
In the filing’s own words
A head-mounted device may have a display system that provides display images. The display images may be supplied to eye boxes for viewing by a user with waveguides that have output couplers. The waveguides may be supported by head-mounted support structures between front and rear lenses on the left of the device and between front and rear lenses on the right of the device. The front and rear lenses may be mounted to the head-mounted support structures using front-mounted and/or rear-mounted arrangements. Front-mounted lenses are installed into the head-mounted support structure from the front and may be supported on alignment shelves in the head-mounted support structure that have front-facing surfaces. Rear-mounted lenses are installed into the head-mounted support structure from the rear and may have alignment shelves in the head-mounted support structure that have rear-facing surfaces.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A head-mounted device, comprising: a display system configured to produce a display image, wherein the display system includes a waveguide with an output coupler; a head-mounted support structure comprising a metal bracket that forms a front-facing surface of the head-mounted support structure; a front lens mounted on the metal bracket at the front-facing surface of the head-mounted support structure, wherein the front lens has a positive bias component, and there is a first air gap between the front lens and the waveguide; and a rear lens mounted to the head-mounted support structure, wherein the waveguide is located between the rear lens and the front lens and is configured to provide the display image to an eye box through the rear lens, the rear lens has a lens power with a negative bias component, and there is a second air gap between the rear lens and the waveguide.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Lens mounting structures for head-mounted display systems
- Patent number
- US12730324B1
- Application number
- 17730006
- Filed
- Apr 26, 2022
- Granted
- Sep 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 27
Classified under
G02B 27/0176 Physics & computingG02B 27/0172 Physics & computingG02C 9/00 Physics & computingG06F 1/163 Physics & computingG02B 2027/0118 Physics & computingG02B 2027/0169 Physics & computingMore from Apple in AR, VR & displays
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.