Apple has been granted a patent (number 11520152) for “head-mounted display systems with gaze tracker alignment monitoring.” It involves the rumored “RealityPro,” a virtual reality/augmented reality head-mounted display (HMD).
About the patent
Electronic devices such as HMDs may have displays for displaying images. The displays may be housed in a head-mounted support structure.
In the patent Apple notes that an HMD such as a pair of glasses may have displays for displaying computer-generated content. Waveguides may supply the computer-generated content to a user for viewing while allowing the user to view the real world. Gaze tracking systems may monitor the user’s gaze.
The displays of the head-mounted device may supply left and right images to left and right eye boxes. Left and right waveguides may be used in conveying the left and right images to the left and right eye boxes. The left and right waveguides may be transparent. Apple says his allows real-world images to be viewed through the left waveguide from the left eye box and through the right waveguide from the right eye box.
The tech giant may equip its HMDs with left and right gaze tracking system cameras may capture left and right gaze tracking images that reflect from the left and right infrared-light reflectors from the left and right eye boxes, respectively.
About the RealityPro
When it comes to the Reality Pro, the rumors are abundant. Such a device will arrive in 2023. Or 2024. Or 2025, Or 2026. It will be a head-mounted display. Or may have a design like “normal” glasses. Or it may be eventually be available in both. The Reality Pro may or may not have to be tethered to an iPhone to work. Other rumors say that it could have a custom-build Apple chip and a dedicated operating system dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system.”
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “ head-mounted device may have displays that provide images. Waveguides may be used in conveying the images to eye boxes. The waveguides may overlap lenses in a glasses frame or other head-mounted support structure. The waveguides and lenses may be transparent. This allows real-world objects to be viewed from the eye boxes. Infrared-light reflectors may overlap the lenses.
“Gaze tracking system light sources may supply infrared light that reflects from the infrared-light reflectors to the eye boxes to illuminate a user’s eyes. Gaze tracking system cameras capture gaze tracking images of the eyes from the eye boxes to track the user’s gaze. Fiducials associated with the infrared-light reflectors may be monitored using the gaze tracking system cameras. This allows components such as the gaze tracking system cameras to be calibrated.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today