Apple patents AR glasses that adjust lens spacing to fit your eyes
Apple describes a head-mounted device where motors slide the lenses closer together or further apart to match the distance between a user's eyes. To prevent pinching the user's nose, the system uses clutches or sensors to limit the force applied by the motors. The adjustment is triggered by a button, but only works when a sensor confirms the device is not currently being worn.
In the filing’s own words
A head-mounted device may include optical assemblies for presenting images to a user. Motors may be used to adjust the spacing between the optical assemblies to accommodate different interpupillary distances. The force with which the motors move the optical assemblies towards a central nose bride portion of the device may be limited. The force may be limited using a clutch such as a magnetic clutch or a physical clutch based on structures that decouple from each other to limit the force. The force may also be limited by monitoring the force and halting the motors in response to detection of a given amount of force. Sensor measurements and electrical motor load measurement may be used in measuring the force. If desired, motor operation may be controlled by a user-operated button.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A head-mounted device, comprising: a head-mounted housing; optical assemblies in the head-mounted housing that are configured to move towards and away from a nose bridge portion of the head-mounted housing, each optical assembly including a lens and a display configured to provide an image to an eye box through the lens; a button; a head-presence sensor configured to detect whether the head-mounted housing is being worn; and motors configured to move the optical assemblies towards the nose bridge portion in response to the button being pressed and the head-presence sensor determining that the head-mounted housing is not being worn.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Electronic devices with movable optical assemblies
- Patent number
- US12782667B2
- Application number
- 18328082
- Filed
- Jun 2, 2023
- Granted
- Nov 3, 2026
- Inventors
- 8
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G02B 7/023 Physics & computingG02B 27/0093 Physics & computingH02K 49/108 Electricity & electronicsMore 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.