Apple Inc.

Stephen E Dey

Hsiang Hung Chen

Yuhao Pan

Jeremy C Franklin

Phil M Hobson

Ahmet Fatih Cihan

Jia Tao

Mengshu Huang

Adrian Z Harb

Mehmet Mutlu

Hao Zhu

Qigen Ji

Zaki Moustafa

Paul Xiaopeng Wang

Trevor J Ness

Ivan S Maric

Killian J Poore

Alex Joseph Lehmann

Ryan C Perkins

Michael J Webb

Osamu Yabe

Jeffrey A Griffis

Clayton J McCoy

Matthew N Van Dyke

Justin T Sawyer

Xingyu Wan

Caitlin M McLain

Fernando F Cunha

Fletcher R Rothkopf

Michael Benjamin Wittenberg

Andreas G Weber

Tong Chen

Wey-Jiun Lin

Benjamin J Kallman

Onur I Ilkorur

Muhammad F Hossain

Benjamin R Blachnitzky

Kuldeep P Lonkar

Erin M Bosch

Gabriele D'Amone

Julian Hoenig

Benjamin Andrew Shaffer

Julian Jaede

Eric Steven Jol

Erik G De Jong

Aidan N Zimmerman

Jason C Sauers

Chang Zhang

Madeleine S Cordier

Mark T Winkler

Luis R Deliz Centeno

Forrest C Wang

Scott W Slabaugh

Kristi E Bauerly

Tianjia Sun

Nicolai Philip Georg

Jian H Li

Anna V Mirabella

Qianyi Zhao

Ivan S Marić

Hongcheng Sun

Jonathan C Atler

Kevin Z Lo

Lilli Ing-Marie Jonsson

Zhenggang Cheng

Runren Zhang

William Whitney

Alhad A Palkar

Minhazul Islam

Joon-Sup Han

Sang E Lee

Paul N DuMontelle

Lilli Ing-Marie Johnsson

Hongchen Sun

Paul N Dumontelle

Luis Deliz Centeno

Nicolai Georg

Jian Li

A wristband can comfortably secure an electronic device, such as a wristwatch or fitness/health tracking device, to a wrist of a user. The wristband can include a number of magnets that allow the wristband to be magnetically coupled to itself when folded over or when separate band portions are overlapping. The magnets can include a polymer mixed with a magnetic material to provide magnetic properties and flexibility. The magnets can be joined together by a continuous support structure that extends through opposing pairs of the magnets. The support structure can provide substantial and ability as well as tensile strength. The magnets and the support structure can be surrounded by a flexible cover to protect the components within.

Wristbands with magnetic coupling

A display and vision correction system includes a head-mounted display unit, a glasses frame, and a removable lens assembly. The head-mounted display unit is configured to be worn on a head of a user and includes a display for providing graphical content to the user. The glasses frame is configured to be worn on the head of the user. The removable lens assembly is removably coupleable to the head-mounted display unit and to the glasses frame. The removable lens assembly includes a corrective lens element.

Display and vision correction system with removable lens

Optical sensors can be used for content generation using an input device without a touch sensitive surface. In some examples, the optical sensors can be used to detect characteristics of the input device including position, orientation, and/or motion of the input device. In some examples, some or all of the characteristics of the input device can be used in processing to generate content, including textual character input and three-dimensional objects. In some examples, the generation of content can use information from one or more additional sensors of the input device and/or from additional devices in combination with the characteristics of the input device based on the optical sensors.

Input device with optical sensors

A display system includes a controller and a head-mounted display. The head-mounted display 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 sensing 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.

Head-mounted display with low light operation

A head-mounted device may have a display with first and second pixel arrays that display content for a user. A head-mounted support structure in the device supports the pixel arrays on the head of the user. A left positioner may be used to position a left lens module that includes a left lens and the first pixel array. A right positioner may be used to position a right lens module that includes a right lens and the second pixel array. Sensing circuitry such as proximity sensing circuitry may be used to detect relative positions between the left and right lens modules and facing surfaces of a user's nose while the user is wearing the head-mounted support structure. Control circuitry may adjust the positions of the left and right lens modules using interpupillary distance information for the user and using information from the sensing circuitry.

Head-mounted electronic display device with lens position sensing

A wearable electronic device including a housing that is worn by a user and a SMI sensor contained within the housing. The SMI sensor may include an emitter that outputs coherent light toward the skin of a user when the housing is worn by the user. The SMI sensor may also include a detector that detects a portion of the coherent light reflected towards the sensor and generates electrical signals that indicate displacements of the skin based on the portion of coherent light received at the detector. The housing may include a transmitter that is operatively coupled with the SMI sensor and is configured to transmit physiological data to a receiving device based on electrical signals output from the SMI sensor.

Wearable self-mixing interferometry device used to sense physiological conditions

A system may include one or more finger devices that gather input from a user's fingers. A finger device may include one or more self-mixing interferometric proximity sensors that measure a distance to the user's finger. The proximity sensor may measure changes in distance between the proximity sensor and a flexible membrane that rests against a side portion of the user's finger. The self-mixing interferometric proximity sensor may include a laser and a photodiode. In some arrangements, a single laser driver may drive the lasers of multiple self-mixing proximity sensors using time-multiplexing. The self-mixing proximity sensor may operate according to a duty cycle. Interpolation and stitching may be used to determine the total displacement of the user's finger including both the on periods and off periods of the self-mixing proximity sensor.

Finger devices with self-mixing interferometric proximity sensors

Display backing components for head-mounted devices (HMDs) are described that reduce eddy currents in magnetic fields generated by a coil. A HMD may include a coil that is used to generate a magnetic field that may be used to track position of other devices with respect to the HMD. Display backing components, used to provide rigidity, are modified with holes or other gaps to interrupt the path of the eddy currents and reduce the interference with the magnetic field, thus improving the power efficiency of the coil and of the HMD. These modifications may be formed by casting, drilling, cutting or otherwise perforating the display backing during manufacture.

Display backing

A tracking system includes a stylus comprising a light emitter, a head-mounted device comprising an optical sensor configured to detect the light emitter, and a processor communicatively coupled to the optical sensor and configured to determine a position of the stylus based on detection of the light emitter.

Stylus-based input system for a head-mounted device

A system may include one or more finger devices that gather input from a user's fingers. The system may include control circuitry that sends control signals to an electronic device based on the input gathered with the finger devices. A finger device may include one or more proximity sensors that measure a distance to the user's finger. The proximity sensor may be a self-mixing optical proximity sensor having a laser and photodiode. The proximity sensor may have submicron resolution and may be configured to detect very small movements of the finger as finger pad is moved around by a thumb finger, by a surface, and/or by other finger movements. The proximity sensor may measure changes in distance between the proximity sensor and a flexible membrane that rests against a side portion of the user's finger.

Finger devices with proximity sensors

A head-mountable device can include multiple microphones for directional audio detection. The head-mountable device can also include a speaker for audio output and/or a display for visual output. The head-mountable device can be configured to provide visual outputs based on audio inputs by displaying an indicator on a display based on a location of a source of a sound. The head-mountable device can be configured to audio outputs based on audio inputs by modifying an audio output of the speaker based on a detected sound and a target characteristic. Such characteristics can be based on a direction of a gaze of the user, as detected by an eye sensor.

Head-mountable device with indicators

A finger device may be worn on a user's finger and may serve as a controller for a head-mounted device or other electronic device. The finger device may have a housing having an upper housing portion that extends across a top of the finger and first and second side housing portions that extend down respective first and second sides of the finger. Sensors in the side housing portions may measure movements of the sides of the finger as the finger contacts an external surface. To ensure that the sensors are appropriately positioned relative to the sides of the finger, the housing may include one or more adjustable structures such as an elastomeric band, a drawstring, a ratchet mechanism, a scissor mechanism, and/or other adjustable structures for adjusting the position of the first and second side housing portions and associated sensors relative to the upper housing portion.

Finger devices with adjustable housing structures

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Stephen E Dey