Yesterday the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 61 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. In this particular report we briefly cover Vision Pro's Optical System With Ghost Image Mitigation, and another covering a Method and Device for Spatially Designating Private Content.  Apple was also granted a design patent and as always, we wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple this week.

Optical System With Ghost Image Mitigation

Some of the intricacies behind the Apple Vision Pro display are incredibly complex and in this latest granted patent titled "Optical System With Ghost Image Mitigation," we get learn that if care isn't taken, reflections within the lens (#20 of FIG. 1 below) may produce ghost images (noted as "G" in FIG. 1) that are visible to user's eye.

The display system (#11 of FIG. 1) may include ghost image mitigation structures that serve to eliminate or minimize ghost images such as ghost image G.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a diagram of an illustrative head-mounted display showing components of an illustrative optical system in the head-mounted display. The HMD could be Apple Vision Pro and a future pair of smartglasses; FIG. 2 is a diagram of an illustrative head-mounted device in one example where a curved pixel array is incorporated into the HMD.

Apple's patent FIG. 3 above is a diagram of processing circuitry for mitigating ghost images in an HMD; and FIG. 5 is a flow chart of illustrative steps involved in mitigating ghost images.

Apple's granted patent 11885959 is very technical. For those wishing to explore the details, click here.  

Method and Device for Spatially Designating Private Content

In Apple's granted patent background they noted that while in a copresence experience, a user may not wish to expose graphical content (e.g., extended reality (XR) content) to other users and to maintain privacy over some graphical content.

One way to maintain privacy over graphical content includes manual designation of specific content as private based on voice commands, gestural commands, or the like. As such, in some implementations, the innovation described in this granted patent provides an alternative scheme including a spatially defined region in which graphical content is private to the user and graphical content outside of the region is publicly viewable to other users in the copresence experience.

Apple's patent covers devices, systems, and methods for spatially designating private content.

According to some implementations, the method is performed at a computing system including non-transitory memory and one or more processors, wherein the computing system is communicatively coupled to a display device and one or more input devices.

The method includes: presenting, via the display device, an indication of a private viewing region relative to a location of the computing system; determining a first location for presentation of graphical content (e.g., extended reality (XR) content); and presenting, via the display device, the graphical content at the first location.

Apple's patent FIGS. 7B and 7D below illustrate a sequence of instances for a content delivery scenario.

(Click on Patent Figure to Enlarge)

Further, as shown in FIG. 7B above, during the instance #720 (e.g., associated with time T.sub.2) of the content delivery scenario, the electronic device #120 (HMD, iPad or Mac) detects, via the hand/finger/extremity tracking engine, a gestural input with a right hand #151 of the user associated with translating the XR content #604. As shown in FIG. 7B, the electronic device presents a representation #711 of the right hand of the user within the XR environment #128.

As shown in FIG. 7D, the electronic device determines that the XR content #604 is now outside of the private viewing region #702. According to a determination that the current location of the XR content 604 is outside of the border or boundary of the private viewing region, the electronic device provides sensory feedback including a text notification 706A (e.g., “Content Privacy Status Changed from Private to Public”) and an audible notification 706B (e.g., “Content Privacy Status Changed from Private to Public”). For more on this, review granted patent 11886625.

Design Patent

Years after Apple TV with Siri remote came to market, Apple has been granted a design patent for the Siri Remote icon under patent #D1012967. Apple originally filed for this design back in June 2021.  

This Week's Remaining Granted Patents