Apple patents headset tech that fixes blurry vision by tracking your eyes
Apple has patented a system for head-mounted displays that checks if the virtual images are perfectly aligned with your eyes. It uses built-in sensors and cameras to detect any drift or misalignment in the optical path. Once detected, the system automatically adjusts the images to ensure they stay sharp and centered.
In the filing’s own words
A head-mounted device may have a left display and a right display that provide respective left and right images. Left and right optical combiner systems may be configured to pass real-world light to left and right eye boxes while directing the left and right images respectively to the left and right eye boxes. Misalignment of the left and right images with respect to the left and right eye boxes may be detected using gaze tracking systems, using cameras such as front-facing cameras in conjunction with a database of known real-world object properties, using visual inertial odometry systems formed from cameras and inertial measurement units, or using one or more sensors in a portable head-mounted device case or other item with a receptacle configured to receive a head-mounted device. Compensating adjustments may be made to the images based on the measured misalignment.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A head-mounted device, comprising: a head-mounted support structure; a display configured to provide an image; an optical assembly configured to direct the image from the display towards an eye box; and a sensor configured to gather gaze tracking information from the eye box, wherein the optical assembly is configured to provide a portion of the image from the display to the sensor and wherein the sensor is configured to measure a misalignment of the image relative to the eye box by sensing the portion of the image from the display.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Head-mounted display systems with alignment monitoring
- Patent number
- US12761484B2
- Application number
- 18805187
- Filed
- Aug 14, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 13, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G02B 27/0172 Physics & computingG02B 27/0179 Physics & computingG06F 3/013 Physics & computingG06T 3/18 Physics & computingG06T 5/80 Physics & computingG06T 7/70 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.