Earlier this morning, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple invents an Apple Vision Pro 'Fit Guidance' system & iPhone app to assist users keep their HMD in proper alignment over time." In a second Apple patent application made public yesterday titled "Head-Mountable Electronic Device Spacer," they dive deeper into the available adjustment mechanisms for HMDs. Whether what's being described is available for the first version of Apple Vision Pro or a future version isn't known at this time.

In Apple's patent background they note that recent advances in portable computing have enabled head-mountable devices that provide augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) experiences to users. Various components of these devices, such as displays, viewing frames, lenses, batteries, motors, light seals, speakers, and other components, operate together to provide an immersive experience.

Each user has unique anatomical features, including head size, eye location, cheek and forehead bone structure, and so forth, which must be accommodated by the head-mountable device to provide a custom, comfortable fit for a fully immersive experience.

A user, upon donning a head-mountable device, may need to make adjustments to provide the intended customized experience. These adjustments may include adjusting straps, viewing frames, lens width, depth spacing, speaker volume, component locations, or other desired adjustments.

Adjustments to the viewing frame spacing and lenses can be particularly important, since these adjustments affect the visual quality and content of the device as experienced by the user.

Some devices may only provide a limited number of adjustments and may not be calibrated to the user, which can cause an image to become distorted when a user is viewing visual content, detracting from an optimal viewing experience. Additionally, creating variations of a single device to accommodate individual users can create the need for additional stock keeping units (SKUs) in addition to adding time, manufacturing complexity, and cost to the product.

Therefore, what is needed in the art are devices and systems capable of providing user specific spacing for head-mountable devices to meet the individual needs of the user.

HMD Adjustment Mechanisms and Spacers

Apple's invention relates to adjustment mechanisms and spacers, devices, and systems for head-mountable electronic devices that are simpler, require less parts than conventional adjustment mechanisms, and which can be easily, precisely, and accurately adjusted by the user, retailer, or manufacturer without the need for multiple Stock Keeping Units (SKUs).

When donning wearable electronic devices, including head-mountable AR/VR devices, the position of certain components of the device relative to certain features of the user can affect the quality of the user experience. One example includes the distance of one or more displays relative to the user's eyes. Each user may have unique facial characteristics, such as variations of cranial width or length, which can be caused by variations in facial bones that press against head-mountable electronic devices. The facial anatomical variations between users complicate the issue of providing components positioned within the tight dimensional tolerances relative to the user's eyes required for an optimum viewing experience.

Additionally, the adjustment mechanisms and adjustment spacers for electronic devices described herein can be manufactured using a minimal number of SKUs while enabling user specific adjustments to customize the placement distance and angle of displays, lenses, or other components of head-mountable electronic devices.

The adjustment mechanisms can enable users to easily self-adjust components or manufacturers and retailers to adjust components as needed to accommodate each user profile, providing an optimal viewing experience for the user. In at least one example, adjustment of the angle and distance of the display screen can be modified by an adjustment mechanism coupled to a housing and a light seal.

The light seal can be designed to press against the user's face, for example around the user's eyes and over the nose, to minimize outside light exposer to the user while maintaining an optimal viewing distance and angle of the display screen as applicable to the user.

In another example, a light seal, which can be constructed of a compliant material, can extend from the housing by use of an adjustment mechanism containing a foot. The foot of the adjustment mechanism can press against the user's face in such a way that light is minimized and the correct viewing distance and optimum viewing angle is maintained. In doing so, the user is provided with a more immersive individual experience.

Similarly, there can be two, four, six, eight, or more adjustment mechanisms that are each tailored to the particular facial anatomical variations of the user. This can provide the user with increased levels of comfort while properly shielding the user from external light pollution, which can be caused by ambient light, by having the adjustment mechanisms at least partially embedded within the internal volume of the light seal.

Apple's patent FIG. 4 below illustrates an example of contact regions of a head-mountable device overlying the face of a user. The contact region #414 represents an area of the user's face that may be contacted by the various light seals described herein. The contact region encloses the user's eyes such that light projected to the user's eyes via the one or more devices and displays is isolated from ambient light of the external environment. The contact region can also extend across the bridge of a user's nose and be shaped to conform to the typography of the face over the nose, on the cheeks, and around the user's eyes to the forehead as shown.

In addition, FIG. 4 also illustrates four contact datum locations #416a-d. The contact datum locations 416a-d shown in FIG. 4 represent approximate locations where adjustment mechanisms altering the thickness of a light seal, and therefore a distance of a display housing relative to the user's face, can be located. Manipulating adjustment mechanisms located at these contact datum locations 416a-d, in at least one example, can be sufficient to adjust the light seal of devices and thus adjust relative positions and angles of display screens of devices described herein to customize head-mountable devices to specific users regardless of varying facial dimensions and anatomical features.

There are details below patent FIGS. 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13 outlining the parts that are adjustable. To go deeper into the details of each patent figure, review patent application 20240004206.