Apple patents display tech that uses light to track your eyes
This patent describes a display system that sends infrared light through a waveguide to track a user's gaze. It uses a specific optical setup to separate the outgoing light from the returning light, preventing stray reflections from confusing the sensor.
In the filing’s own words
A display may include an emitter that emits infrared light and a coupler that couples the light into a waveguide and couples reflected infrared light coaxial with the light out of the waveguide. The optical coupler may include a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) mounted to a lateral surface of the waveguide. A linear polarizer may transmit the light to the PBS, which reflects the light towards a prism or a set of diffractive gratings that couple the light into the waveguide and that couple the reflected light out of the waveguide and towards the PBS. The PBS may transmit the reflected light towards a sensor for gaze tracking. The light and reflected light may be coupled through opposing surfaces of the waveguide if desired. These structures may serve to prevent reflected stray light from reaching the sensor and interfering with gaze tracking.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A display comprising: a waveguide; an optical emitter configured to emit light; a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) mounted to the waveguide; a linear polarizer configured to transmit the light towards the PBS, wherein the PBS is configured to reflect the light into the waveguide, the waveguide is configured to propagate the light via total internal reflection (TIR) towards an object, the waveguide is configured to propagate reflected light from the object via TIR, and the reflected light is configured to be coupled out of the waveguide; and an optical sensor configured to receive, through the PBS, the reflected light coupled out of the waveguide.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Optical systems having optical couplers for sensing light
- Patent number
- US12742969B1
- Application number
- 18349498
- Filed
- Jul 10, 2023
- Granted
- Sep 22, 2026
- Inventors
- 8
- Claims
- 19
Classified under
G02B 27/0172 Physics & computingG02B 6/262 Physics & computingG02B 6/34 Physics & computingG02B 2027/014 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.