Apple has several engineering teams working on "Privacy Mode" displays using Apple Vision Pro or some form of smartglasses. Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent for a third form of Privacy Mode by creating an angle-of-view adjustment layer in computer displays, such as future MacBooks.  

In Apple's patent background they note that laptop computers have displays that are typically designed to display images over a relatively wide angle of view to accommodate movements in the position of a viewer relative to the display. In some situations, such as when a user of a laptop or other device with a display is using the device in public, the wide viewing angle is undesirable as it compromises privacy.

Displays With Adjustable Angles Of View

Apple's granted patent covers an angle-of-view adjustment layer may overlap the display layers. The angle-of-view adjustment layer may include an array of adjustable louvers that move from a first position in which the angle of view of the display is restricted for a private viewing mode and a second position in which the angle of view of the display is not restricted for a normal viewing mode.

The louvers may contain electrophoretic particles. The louvers may be tapered and may have a narrow end that is less than ten microns wide to increase transmittance in normal viewing mode. The electrophoretic particles may form isolated clusters on a lower substrate in normal viewing mode to further increase the transmittance of the display in normal viewing mode.

In some arrangements, the angle-of-view adjustment layer may include adjustable light blocking structures formed from electrochromic material. The electrochromic material may be a patterned coating of electrochromic material that is interposed between first and second electrode layers.

When it is desired to operate the display in a private viewing mode, control circuitry may apply a current to the first and second electrodes that causes the electrochromic material to become more opaque, thereby restricting the angle of view of the display in public viewing mode.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below presents the target device for today's invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device (FIG. 1) having a display that includes an eye and head tracking system; FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative display having an angle-of-view adjustment layer.

Further to FIG. 2, Apple notes that the laptop / MacBook Device #10 may include cameras and other components that form part of gaze and/or head tracking system #30.

The camera(s) or other components of the system may face a user's eyes and may track the user's eyes and/or head.  This eye-location information obtained by the system may be used to determine the appropriate direction with which display content from the display #14 should be directed.

For example, if the display is operated in privacy mode using an angle-of-view adjustment layer that restricts the viewing area to a particular region, eye-location information from the system may be used to determine the appropriate viewing region and adjust accordingly if the user's head location changes relative to the display.

If desired, image sensors other than cameras (e.g., infrared and/or visible light-emitting diodes and light detectors, etc.) may be used in system #30 to monitor a user's eye and/or head location (depending on the device the system is associated with).

Apple's patent FIG. 25 below is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative display having a first display module for providing display content and a second display module for adjusting the angle of view of the display content; FIG. 26 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative display having a first display module for providing display content, a lenticular lens array for adjusting the direction of the display content, and a second display module for selectively blocking some of the display content.

For more details, review Apple's granted patent 11822165. Apple assigned 14 engineers to this invention.