Apple patents head-mounted device that types via eye swipes and hand pinches
Apple describes a head-mounted device that uses a gaze tracker to follow your eyes as you swipe across a virtual keyboard on the display. The system combines this eye movement with hand gestures, such as a finger pinch to start typing and a secondary hand movement to confirm or edit the text.
In the filing’s own words
A head-mounted device may have a head-mounted support structure, a gaze tracker in the head-mounted support structure, and one or more displays in the head-mounted support structure. For example, two displays may display images to two eye boxes. The display may display a virtual keyboard and may display a text input in response to a gaze location that is determined by the gaze tracker. The gaze tracker may additionally determine a gaze swipe input, or a camera in the support structure may determine a hand swipe input, and the swipe input may be used with the gaze location to determine the text input. In particular, the swipe input may create a swipe input curve that is fit to the text input to determine the text input. A user's hand may be used as a secondary input to indicate the start or end of a text input.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A head-mounted device, comprising: a head-mounted support structure; a camera in the head-mounted support structure, wherein the camera is configured to determine first and second hand movements of a first hand and to detect a secondary input of a second hand, wherein the first hand movement is a finger pinch at a first time and the second hand movement is at a second time that is after the first time; a gaze tracker in the head-mounted support structure, wherein the gaze tracker is configured to determine a gaze swipe input curve based on gaze locations between the first and second times beginning at the finger pinch; control circuitry configured to determine a text input based on the gaze swipe input curve; and a display in the head-mounted support structure, wherein the display is configured to display a virtual keyboard and to display the text input in response to the gaze swipe input curve and to the secondary input, wherein the secondary input is configured to delete at least a portion of the text input, to select an autofill recommendation, or to pause the gaze tracker determination of the gaze swipe input curve.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Head-mounted device input
- Patent number
- US12754607B2
- Application number
- 18614219
- Filed
- Mar 22, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 6, 2026
- Inventors
- 6
- Claims
- 11
Classified under
G06F 3/013 Physics & computingG06F 3/017 Physics & computingG06F 3/04815 Physics & computingG06F 3/0487 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.