Apple Inc.

Muhammad F Hossain

Samuel A Resnick

Jason C Sauers

Prashanth Reddy Duvvuru Kamakshi

Stephen E Dey

Jia Tao

Nicholas C Soldner

Riccardo Tarelli

Syed Farhan Mohiuddin

Gabriele D'Amone

Jonathan P Ive

Alan C Dye

Stephen Olivier Lemay

Julian Jaede

Fletcher R Rothkopf

Cheng Kai Chen

Jeremy C Franklin

William A Sorrentino, Iii

Aidan N Zimmerman

Geoffrey Grant Stahl

Arthur Yasheng Zhang

Wey-Jiun Lin

Ivan S Maric

Phil M Hobson

Graham Butler Myhre

Michael J Rockwell

Forrest C Wang

Alex M Lee

Yoonhoo Jo

Yanghai Tsin

Ritu Shah

Marinus Meursing

Kathrin Berkner Cieslicki

Bertrand Nepveu

Tom Sengelaub

Ivan S Marić

Jan K Quijalvo

Jonathan C Atler

Julian Hoenig

Jason L Slupeiks

Hong Pan

Rui He

Vijayanish Varadharajan

Peter Kaufmann

Erique Paul C Apolinario

Alexander M Brukwinski

Aviran Malik

Pyone P Wynn

Amarnath Vuppala

Hnin Ookhin

Anthony Y Fai

Seth E Woiszwillo

Thibaut Weise

Branko Petljanski

James W Vandyke

Hesam Najafi

A connector includes a housing and a release button. The housing defines a recess for receiving a latch member of a receptacle. The release button is operable to cause displacement of the latch member from the recess and has a surface that aligns with a surface portion of the housing when disconnected from the receptacle. The surface of the release button protrudes from the surface portion of the housing when the connector is connected to the receptacle to provide a visual indication that the connector is connected to the receptacle.

Connector having a release button

A head-mountable display device includes a housing defining a front opening and a rear opening, a display screen disposed in the front opening, a display assembly disposed in the rear opening, a first securement strap coupled to the housing, the first securement strap including a first electronic component, a second securement strap coupled to the housing, the second securement strap including a second electronic component, and a securement band extending between and coupled to the first securement strap and the second securement strap.

Head mountable display

A wearable device includes a housing and a display carried by the housing, a capacitive sensor carried by the housing and including a movable outer surface. The capacitive sensor can include a first set of conductors forming a first electrical path, a second set of conductors forming a second electrical path, and a set of non-conductive insulators isolating the first set of conductors from the second set of conductors. A processor can also be carried by the housing and can be in communication with the display and the capacitive sensor.

Multi-input for rotating and translating crown modules

A head-mountable device can be provided with an ability to detect whether a touch input provided to an input detecting element is intentional or unintentional. For example, multiple touch sensors can be provided at different locations on a housing of a head-mountable device. A first one of the touch sensors can be operated to detect a first touch input. A second touch sensor can be operated to detect a second touch input only when the first touch input is detected and/or above a threshold.

Touch input for head-mountable devices

A head-mountable device can include an ability to adjust a fit as needed for a particular user or activity. For example, a light seal module that provides engagement of a user's face and transmits light from a display element can be coupled to an HMD module. The light seal module can be provided in a wide variety of adjustable sizes and/or shapes to allow any given user to select an appropriate one for optimal alignment of an HMD module. The head-mountable device and/or other electronic devices can be operated to guide a user to select the optimal light seal module arrangement for use with an HMD module. For example, the head-mountable device or another device can include sensors for detecting an identity of a user, features of the user's face, forces distributed on the face when worn, and/or an activity being performed.

Wearable devices with adjustable fit

An electronic device includes a housing defining an aperture. An input device extends through the aperture and has a user input surface external to the housing. An inertial actuator is mechanically and fixedly coupled to the input device and positioned within the housing. A mechanical wave dampener provides mechanical wave dampening between the input device and the housing. The electronic device enables haptic feedback to be provided locally to the input device. In some cases, the mechanical wave dampener may dampen shaking of the input device with respect to the housing by at least an order of magnitude.

Modular systems configured to provide localized haptic feedback using inertial actuators

A head-mounted device may have a head-mounted housing. The head-mounted housing may have rear-facing display that displays a three-dimensional image to rear eye boxes. The head-mounted device may also have a front-facing display that faces away from the rear eye boxes. The front-facing display may cover a front face of the head-mounted housing. To share content such as content being displayed by the rear-facing displays with external viewers, the head-mounted device may use the front-facing display or a separate display to display images. An accessory that is coupled to the front face of the housing may reflect an image on the front-facing display towards a viewer for viewing. Sensors in the device may detect presence of the accessory. Display projectors and waveguides or optical layers on the front face that overlap the front-facing display may be used to display three-dimensional images to front eye boxes.

Head-mounted display systems

An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels for displaying images. The electronic device may also have a lens through which the images are viewable on the display. The display may have a display panel that is mounted to a printed circuit stack. The printed circuit stack may include multiple printed circuit layers to which components are mounted. The components may include an orientation sensor overlapped by the display panel. A camera may be mounted to a printed circuit stack and may overlap one or more electrical components such as an orientation sensor. The printed circuit stacks may include rigid and flexible printed circuits coupled together using solder and other conductive connections. Air gaps may be created between stacked printed circuit layers.

Electronic devices with stacked circuitry

A head-mounted device may have a head-mounted housing. Optical components may be supported by the head-mounted housing. The optical components may include cameras such as front-facing cameras and/or movable optical modules that have displays for displaying images to eye boxes. Sensors may be provided in the head-mounted device to detect changes in orientation between respective optical modules, between respective portions of a chassis, display cover layer, or other head-mounted support structure in the housing, between optical components such as cameras, and/or between optical components and housing structures. Information from these sensors can be used to measure image misalignment such as image misalignment associated with misaligned cameras or misalignment between optical module images and corresponding eye boxes.

Head-mounted electronic device with alignment sensors

A system may include a head-mounted device. The head-mounted device may have a head-mounted housing that includes a display. The display is configured to display an image for viewing by a user when the user's eyes are located in eye boxes adjacent to the head-mounted housing. The head-mounted housing may have a compressible opaque light seal. The light seal may have a ring shape and may block stray ambient light around the periphery of the head-mounted housing, thereby ensuring that stray light does not interfere with viewing of the image by the user. Sensors may be provided in the light seal to measure facial expressions and gather other measurements. Information on a measured facial expression of a user can be transmitted to external devices so that the external devices can update corresponding facial expressions on an avatar to reflect the user's current facial expression.

Electronic device with facial sensors

A head-mountable device can securely support sensors in a manner that maintains their positions and orientations over time and avoids applying excessive strain on the sensors, thereby protecting them from harm. The sensor can be mounted on a flex circuit or circuit board, which is rigidly secured within an inner case, including for example a base and an inner shield. The inner case can be suspended within an outer case, including for example a frame and an outer shield. Shock absorbers on opposing sides of the inner case can flexibly couple the inner case to the outer case. The shock absorbers can dampen the effects of vibrations or other forces applied from the outer case. The inner case can decouple the sensor from strain applied from the shock absorbers.

Sensor assembly for head-mountable device

A head-mountable device can include a crown module that receives input from a user and provides localized haptic feedback to the user. A magnetic element coupled to a crown can be moved by inducing magnetic fields, and the position and/or movement of the magnetic element can be detected to provide closed-loop control of the induced magnetic fields. The haptic feedback can be effectively perceived by the user at the crown without causing the entire head-mountable device to vibrate against the head and/or face of the user.

Crown input and feedback for head-mountable devices

An external device, such as a head-mountable device, can be operated with a ring input device worn on a finger of a user. Such devices can be operated to provide inputs that are received and acted upon by the external device. The inputs can be provided as rotating, tilting, and/or sliding at least a portion of the ring input device with another finger of the user. The ring input device can provide feedback to the user as confirmation that the inputs are being received. A feedback system can also be operated to limit or otherwise provide a force on the finger and/or another portion of the hand to simulate sensations perceived by the user.

Ring input devices

A head-mountable device can effectively manage heat with a motor assembly that efficiently and accurately senses a temperature of a motor. A temperature sensor can be provided on an outer surface (e.g., case) of the motor. A flex circuit can be operably connect both the motor and the temperature sensor to a controller of the head-mountable device. The flex circuit can have a first side coupled to the outer surface of the case, a second side supporting the temperature sensor, and thermally conductive vias extending from the first side to the second side to conduct heat from the case to the sensor. The flex circuit can further include a memory comprising calibration data of the temperature sensor and a connector for outputting temperature data based on the temperature sensor and the calibration data of the memory.

Motor temperature sensor for head-mountable device

Growing community of inventors

San José, CA, United States of America

Muhammad F Hossain