Apple Inc.

Keenan Molner

Jason C Sauers

Ivan S Maric

Emanuele Mandelli

Qiong Huang

Tom Sengelaub

Marinus Meursing

Florian R Fournier

Martin Haller

Edward Allen Valko

Chengyi Yang

Hua Gao

Branko Petljanski

Andrei Nikiforov

To accommodate variations in the interpupillary distances associated with different users, a head-mounted device may have left-eye and right-eye optical modules that move with respect to each other. Each optical module may have a display that creates an image and a corresponding lens that provides the image to an associated eye box for viewing by a user. The optical modules each include a lens barrel to which the display and lens of that optical module are mounted and a head-mounted optical module illumination system. The illumination system may have light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes that extend along some or all of a peripheral edge of the display. The light-emitting diodes may be mounted on a flexible printed circuit with a tail that extends a lens barrel opening. A stiffener for the flexible printed circuit may have openings that receive the light-emitting diodes.

Head-mounted device with optical module illumination systems

Methods and apparatus for using polarized light (e.g., infrared (IR) light) to improve eye-related functions such as iris recognition. An eye camera system includes one or more IR cameras that capture images of the user's eyes that are processed to perform iris recognition, gaze tracking, or other functions. At least one polarizing element may be located in the path of the light which is used to capture images of the user's eye. The user's eye may be illuminated by IR light emitted by one or more LEDs. At least one of the LEDs may be an LED with a polarizing filter. Instead or in addition, at least one polarizer may be located at the eye camera sensor, in the eye camera optics, or as or in an additional optical element located on the light path between the eye camera and the user's eye.

Eye camera systems with polarized light

Methods and apparatus for fabricating light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that include polarizing or wavefront-altering optical components are described in which additional optical components are added to the LED package to filter or modify the polarization of the emitted photons. Packaged LEDs that include polarizing or wavefront-altering optical components are also described. The packaged LEDs may emit infrared light that is polarized or otherwise altered by the optical components added during the fabrication process.

Light-emitting diodes with optical filters

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Keenan Molner