Apple patents new way to fit lenses inside VR headsets
Apple describes a design for head-mounted displays that uses specific shelves to hold front and rear lenses in place. This structure helps position the light-bending waveguides between the lenses so images reach the user's eyes correctly.
In the filing’s own words
A head-mounted device may have a display system that provides display images. The display images may be supplied to eye boxes for viewing by a user with waveguides that have output couplers. The waveguides may be supported by head-mounted support structures between front and rear lenses on the left of the device and between front and rear lenses on the right of the device. The front and rear lenses may be mounted to the head-mounted support structures using front-mounted and/or rear-mounted arrangements. Front-mounted lenses are installed into the head-mounted support structure from the front and may be supported on alignment shelves in the head-mounted support structure that have front-facing surfaces. Rear-mounted lenses are installed into the head-mounted support structure from the rear and may have alignment shelves in the head-mounted support structure that have rear-facing surfaces.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A head-mounted device, comprising: a display system that includes a waveguide with an output coupler; a head-mounted support structure comprising a front shelf that forms a first front-facing surface that faces a given direction and a rear shelf that forms a second front-facing surface that faces the given direction; a first lens attached to the first front-facing surface; and a second lens attached to the second front-facing surface, wherein the waveguide is located between the first lens and the second lens.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Lens Mounting Structures for Head-Mounted Display Systems
- Publication number
- US20260287908A1
- Application number
- 19683314
- Filed
- May 20, 2026
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G02B 27/0176 Physics & computingG02B 27/0172 Physics & computingG02C 9/00 Physics & computingG06F 1/163 Physics & computingG02B 2027/0118 Physics & computingG02B 2027/0169 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.