Apple patents method to check lens prescription using light reflections
Apple describes a system that shines a specific pattern of light onto an attachable lens to measure its focusing strength. The device uses a camera to capture how the light bounces off the lens surface, then calculates the prescription based on the reflection pattern and the known position of the lights.
In the filing’s own words
Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that determine a lens characteristic of an attachable lens using reflections. In some implementations, a method can include producing a pattern of light using an arrangement of light sources. Then, reflections are detected in an image obtained via an image sensor, the reflections corresponding to light from each of a plurality of the light sources reflecting from a surface of an attachable lens. In some implementations, a lens characteristic of the attachable lens is determined based on the detected reflections and a 3D spatial relationship between the image sensor and the plurality of the light sources. In some implementations, the lens characteristic is a prescription, and content is provided at the electronic device based on the prescription, where the content is viewable through the attachable lens.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: at an electronic device having a processor, an arrangement of light sources, and an image sensor: producing a pattern of light using the arrangement of light sources; detecting reflections in an image obtained via the image sensor, the reflections corresponding to light from each of a plurality of the light sources reflecting from a surface of an attachable lens; and determining a focusing strength of the attachable lens based on a detected pattern of the detected reflections and a 3D spatial relationship between the image sensor and the light sources, wherein different detected reflection patterns correspond to different focusing strengths of the attachable lens.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (APPLE INC.)
- Official title
- Identifying lens characteristics using reflections
- Patent number
- US12761113B2
- Application number
- 18692353
- Filed
- Sep 19, 2022
- Granted
- Oct 13, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G01M 11/0285 Physics & computingG01M 11/0207 Physics & computingMore from Apple in Wearables
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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.