Apple patents chip that projects patterns of light spots onto surfaces
Apple describes a device that uses a chip with many tiny light emitters to project a specific pattern of dots onto a surface. It uses a special glass layer to split the light beams so they hit the target at different angles, creating a tiled image.
In the filing’s own words
An optoelectronic apparatus includes a semiconductor substrate and multiple arrays of emitters disposed on the semiconductor substrate and configured to emit beams of optical radiation. An optical substrate is mounted over the semiconductor substrate. An optical metasurface disposed on the optical substrate includes multiple optical apertures. Each aperture is configured to receive, collimate and split the beams emitted by a respective array of the emitters into a respective group of collimated sub-beams, so as to direct the collimated sub-beams toward a target at different, respective angles to form a pattern of spots on the target.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An optoelectronic apparatus, comprising: a semiconductor substrate; multiple arrays of emitters disposed on the semiconductor substrate and configured to emit beams of optical radiation; an optical substrate mounted over the semiconductor substrate; and an optical metasurface disposed on the optical substrate and comprising multiple optical apertures, each aperture configured to receive, collimate and split the beams emitted by a respective array of the emitters into a respective group of collimated sub-beams, so as to direct the collimated sub-beams toward a target at different, respective angles to form a pattern of spots on the target, the pattern comprising multiple replicas, tiled across the target, of the multiple arrays of the emitters.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (APPLE INC.)
- Official title
- Pattern projector
- Publication number
- US20260287835A1
- Application number
- 19679838
- Filed
- May 18, 2026
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G02B 6/4249 Physics & computingG02B 6/4204 Physics & computingMore from Apple in Chips & hardware
- Apple patents glass chip base that uses light to move data Oct 8, 2026
- Apple patents radar that maps rooms using moving objects Sep 1, 2026
- Apple patents display method that reuses static images to save power Sep 1, 2026
- Apple patents stretchable OLED displays with sealed pixel islands Sep 8, 2026
- Apple patents method to fix color fringes in high-resolution displays Sep 8, 2026
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.