Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to future eyewear such as smartglasses in the form of sunglasses that may include display-optimized lenses. The lenses may be optimized for viewing an external display and/or for viewing a display in the head-mounted device while also providing sun protection for the user's eyes.

The display-optimized lenses may include a polarizer and a color filter that are designed for a given target display. Lenses that are optimized for a display that emits linearly polarized light may include a linear polarizer. Lenses that are optimized for a display that emits circularly polarized light may include a circular polarizer. The circular polarizer may include a quarter wave plate and a linear polarizer. The linear polarizer may be located between the quarter wave plate and the color filter.

The color filter may have a transmission spectrum curve with peaks corresponding to the primary colors of the target display so that the color and brightness of display light is preserved while the brightness of sunlight is reduced. The filter may be provided with other transmission spectrum characteristics depending on the desired filter attributes. For example, the light filter transmission spectrum may be designed to minimize the ratio of sunlight brightness to display light brightness reaching the user's eyes, to minimize color shifts in traffic lights and other driver safety signs, to minimize color shifts in memory colors such as skin colors, sky colors, tree colors, etc., to minimize color shifts in fluorescent lights, and/or to achieve other filter effects.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a diagram of illustrative system that includes eyewear with display-optimized lenses; IG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of system 10 in which sunglasses 14 are optimized for a display that emits circularly polarized light.

Apple's patent FIG. 10 below is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in forming a display-optimized color filter such as light filter 34 for sunglasses 14.

For more details, review Apple's granted patent 11803060. This is the first time that this invention was made public, as Apple filed their original patent application under the names of their engineers (and not Apple) to keep this patent from competitor's eyes.