Apple Inc.

James E Pedder

Igor Stamenov

Matthew D Hollands

Richard J Topliss

Gareth D Hastings

Michael David Simmonds

James H Foster

Thomas M Gregory

Ran He

Yuan Li

Peng Lv

Amrith V Ram

Jason Chen

A head-mounted device may include a lens module with a least one adjustable lens. The head-mounted device may be wirelessly paired to an electronic device such as a cellular telephone, watch, laptop computer, etc. To correct for presbyopia, the optical power of adjustable lenses in a head-mounted device may be adjusted when the user is viewing a close object. To allow for intelligent adjustments of the adjustable lenses while minimizing power consumption in the head-mounted device, the head-mounted device may receive sensor data and/or focal point change instructions from a paired electronic device. The paired electronic device may detect a trigger, analyze the user's attention to the paired electronic device, and send focal point change instructions to the head-mounted device based on the obtained information.

Tunable lens in an electronic device controlled using a paired electronic device

An electronic device may include a lens module with a tunable lens. The tunable lens may be operable in multiple modes such as a normal mode, a presbyopia-mitigation mode, a near-focus mode, and a negative power boost mode. During operation, the electronic device may gather data and adjust the tunable lens based on the gathered data. The tunable lens may be switched from the normal mode to the presbyopia-mitigation mode in response to determining that a nearby object is being viewed through the lens module. The tunable lens may be switched from the normal mode to the negative power boost mode in response to ambient light levels being low and/or eye fatigue levels being high. The tunable lens may switch between modes over a transition period. An output device may notify the user when the tunable lens changes modes.

Adjusting a tunable lens in an electronic device

An electronic device may include a display and a lens module through which the display is viewable. The lens module may include a tunable lens with an adjustable spherical power, cylindrical axis, and/or cylindrical power. To tune the tunable lens to compensate for a viewer's eyesight, the display may present at least one target. The optical power of the tunable lens may be set based on the point of gaze relative to the at least one target. Multiple targets with associated optical powers may be presented and the optical power of the tunable lens may be set depending on which target is aligned with the point of gaze. The display may present an image through a masking layer with a ring of pinhole pairs. The electronic device may include an input device that receives user input regarding a perceived image associated with the display and the masking layer.

User interfaces for adjusting a tunable lens

A head-mounted device may include one or more adjustable lens elements. The adjustable lens element may include a transparent substrate, a collapsible wall that forms an enclosed perimeter on the transparent substrate, and a flexible membrane on the collapsible wall that together define an interior volume. The interior volume may be filled with a fluid. The adjustable lens element may include a lens shaping component that applies a force to the collapsible wall to adjust a height of the collapsible wall relative to the transparent substrate, which in turn may be used to adjust the shape of the flexible membrane and thus the lens power of the lens element. The collapsible wall may have bellows that allow the collapsible wall to fold on itself when compressed, thereby minimizing unintended lateral movement of the collapsible wall.

Electronic devices with adjustable lenses

A light system that may project virtual content onto surfaces of a room. The system may include one or more low-resolution light-emitting diode (LED) projectors for emitting light representing low-resolution virtual content, and a high-resolution LED projector for emitting light representing high-resolution virtual content. The high-resolution projector may be used to project a 2D image of augmented or virtual reality content being viewed by a person in a room using a device such as a headset or glasses onto a surface of the room so that other persons in the room can view a representation of what the person using the device is seeing. The low-resolution projector(s) may project low-resolution images onto other surfaces in the room, for example the walls and ceiling. The system may also be configured to emit diffuse light to illuminate a room when not emitting light representing virtual content.

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Thame, United Kingdom

James E Pedder