Like millions of consumers, I use wireless headphones from Sennheiser daily so that I could watch TV and movies or music as loud as I want to without bothering anyone in the house or neighbors. I charge them overnight on a stand and are usually good for 18+ hours of usage. Some Apple fans have written to me lately hoping that Apple's future head mounted display system would be wireless and today it's finally been made crystal clear in a patent application that it's on the drawing board.

Technically, Apple's invention covers a head-mounted display which includes a display unit, a head support, a power storage device, and one or more receiving coils.

The power storage device is coupled to the display unit for storing power to be supplied to the display unit. The one or more receiving coils are coupled to the head support and located rearward of the display unit for inductively charging the power storage device.

The head-mounted display may include two or more of the receiving coils spaced apart along the head support. The head support may include a receiver having a housing containing a receiving coil, the receiver defining an aperture for receiving a protrusion having a transmission coil of a power supply device.

The power storage device is coupled to the display unit for supplying power to the display unit. The receiving coil is coupled to and co-located with the head support for inductively charging the power storage device.

The power supply device includes a base, a transmission coil, and a power source. The transmission coil is coupled to the base. The power source is coupled to the transmission coil. The head-mounted display and the power supply device are cooperatively configured to align the transmission coil with the receiving coil for the transmission coil to produce an electromagnetic field that passes through the receiving coil for charging the power storage device.

Below are a series of patent figures with some details. Once you enlarge the images, you'll be able to see key features and a few notes to help you identify key aspects of the headset etc.

In the last series of images (4A, B & D along with 6C & D) you're looking a wireless charging stands like you would for wireless music headphones. Apple presents two models. The first series covers a traditional wireless charging stand while the alternative will offer a case like device with a lower profile.

Apple's patent application 20200081490 that was published today by the U.S. Patent Office was filed back Q2 2029. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

Apple's Head Mounted Display, from a patent perspective, is growing leaps and bounds. In 2020 alone our archive has 11 new patents that you could review in our special archive here. This current patent marks Apple's 12th since January and there's two more that were published earlier today for a grand total 14 up until March 12, 2020.