Apple patents tinted lenses for AR glasses that adjust brightness
Apple describes a display system for augmented reality glasses that uses a waveguide to project images onto a lens. The lens contains an electrically adjustable tint layer that can darken or lighten, with a driver circuit designed to speed up these changes and save power.
In the filing’s own words
An electronic device may include a display with a waveguide that directs image light to an eye box using an output coupler. The display may include an electrically adjustable tint layer overlapping the output coupler and driven by a driver. The driver may be coupled to the tint layer using wires or one or more flexible printed circuit tails. The driver may include different circuit architectures. The driver may overdrive or underdrive the tint layer to accelerate a transition time of the tint layer. The driver may be periodically floated relative to the electrodes to save power. The driver may drive the tint layer at multiple pairs of drive terminals around the periphery of the tint layer. A voltage sensor may measure voltage across the tint layer at sense terminals that are offset from the drive terminals.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An electronic device comprising: a waveguide configured to propagate first light; an optical coupler on the waveguide and configured to couple the first light out of the waveguide; a tint layer overlapping the optical coupler and configured to pass second light to the waveguide, the tint layer having first and second electrodes and an electrochromic material between the first and second electrodes; and a driver configured to generate a voltage across the first and second electrodes, wherein the driver includes a first circuit configured to drive the first electrode based on a reference voltage, and a second circuit configured to drive the second electrode based on the reference voltage.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Display Tint Layer Driving
- Publication number
- US20260329090A1
- Application number
- 19486596
- Filed
- Jun 20, 2024
- Published
- Oct 22, 2026
- Inventors
- 12
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G02B 27/0172 Physics & computingG02F 1/157 Physics & computingG02F 1/163 Physics & computingG02B 2027/0118 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.