A newly granted Vision Pro patent covers Key Sensors integrated into the headset that sense a user's environment & adjusts low light operations

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When Apple's Mike Rockwell, VP, Technology Development Group revealed that Apple Vision Pro, their Spatial Computing headset, was backed by 5,000 patents, it was obvious that a flood of Vision Pro patents would be coming through the U.S. Patent Office over the coming months. Yesterday we covered one of Apple's original patents regarding a future headset dating back to 2007.

The depth of technology that went into Apple Vision Pro is always fascinating to read about, especially if you happen to be a true techie that wants to dive into the technology behind Apple Vision that the public will never know about.

In Apple's granted patent background they note that human eyes have different sensitivity in different lighting conditions. Photopic vision is human vision with high levels of ambient light (e.g., luminance of approximately 10 to 10{circumflex over ( )}8 cd/m{circumflex over ( )}2), such as daylight conditions. Photopic vision is provided by cone cells of the eye that provide sensitivity to different colors (i.e., wavelengths) of light.

Scotopic vision is human vision with low levels of ambient light (e.g., luminance of approximately 10{circumflex over ( )}−6 to 10{circumflex over ( )}−3.5 cd/m{circumflex over ( )}2), such as at night with overcast skies (e.g., with no moonlight). Scotopic vision is provided by rod cells of the eye. Mesopic vision is human vision with levels of ambient light between those for photopic vision and scotopic vision (e.g., luminance of approximately 10{circumflex over ( )}−3 to 10{circumflex over ( )}0.5 cd/m{circumflex over ( )}2), such as at night without overcast skies (e.g., with moonlight) to early twilight times.

Mesopic vision is provided by both the cone cells and the rod cells. As compared to photopic vision, scotopic vision or even mesopic vision may result in a loss of color vision, changing sensitivity to different wavelengths of light, reduced acuity, and more motion blur. Thus, in poorly lit conditions, such as when relying on scotopic vision, a person is less able to view the environment than in well-lit conditions.

Head-mounted display with low light operation

Apple's granted patent/invention covers implementations of display systems, including head-mounted display units and methods of providing content. In an implementation, a display system includes a controller and a head-mounted display unit. The head-mounted display unit includes a display, a head support coupled to the display for supporting the display on a head of a user to be viewed by the user, and sensors coupled to the head support for sensing an environment from the head-mounted display unit in low light.

The sensors include one or more of an infrared sensor for sensing the environment with infrared electromagnetic radiation, or a depth sensor for detecting distances to objects of the environment, and also include an ultrasonic sensor for sensing the environment with ultrasonic sound waves.

The controller determines graphical content according to the sensing of the environment with the one or more of the infrared sensor or the depth sensor and with the ultrasonic sensor, and operates the display to provide the graphical content concurrent with the sensing of the environment.

In an implementation, a display system includes a controller, and a head-mounted display unit. The head-mounted display unit includes a display for displaying graphical content to a user wearing the head-mounted display unit and sensors for sensing an environment from the head-mounted display unit.

The sensors include an infrared sensor, a depth sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a visible light camera. In high light conditions, the sensors sense the environment to obtain first sensor data that is stored in a storage.

The sensor data includes first visible light sensor data obtained with the visible light camera and first non-visible light sensor data obtained from one or more of the infrared sensor, the depth sensor, or the ultrasonic sensor. In low light conditions after the first sensor data is stored, the sensors sense the environment to obtain current sensor data, and the controller determines the graphical content according to the current sensor data and first visible light sensor data.

In an implementation, a method of providing graphical content with a display system includes sensing an environment, processing sensor data, determining graphical content, and outputting the graphical content.

The sensing includes sensing with sensors an environment to obtain sensor data in low light. The sensors are coupled to a head-mounted display unit of the display system and include an infrared sensor, a depth sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor.

The processing includes processing the sensor data with a controller. The determining of the graphical content is performed with the controller according to the processing.

The graphical content includes an ultrasonic graphical component and one or more of an infrared graphical component based on the sensor data obtained with the infrared sensor, a depth graphical component based on the sensor data obtained with the depth sensor, or a combined graphical component based on the sensor data obtained with both the infrared sensor and the depth sensor. The outputting of the graphical content is performed with a display of the head-mounted display unit.

Apple's FIG. 1 below illustrates Apple's XR Headset (Apple Vision Pro) with FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the head-mounted display unit; FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process for determining graphical content with the display system.

To dig further into the details, review Apple's granted patent 11733518.

Team Members behind this Apple Patent

Posted by Jack Purcher on August 23, 2023 at 09:54 AM in 2. Granted Patents, HMDs, Apple Vision Pro, Smartglasses + | Permalink | Comments (0)