Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to systems and methods of detecting skin-to-skin contact, and more particularly, to detecting contact between two hands or between two fingers for input in VR/AR environments and Macs. While using a VR headset, the actions that could be taken using skin-to-skin contact include, but are not limited to, moving an object such as a cursor or pointer, scrolling or panning, adjusting control settings, opening a file or document, viewing a menu, making a selection, executing instructions, operating a peripheral device connected to the host device and much more.

In Apple's patent background they note that many types of input devices are presently available for performing operations in a computing system, such as buttons or keys, mice, trackballs, joysticks, touch sensor panels, touch screens and the like. In some examples, contact between two different parts of a user's body may be used for input. For example, cameras in a head-mounted display can be used to track movement of fingers to detect a finger in contact with an opposite hand, or to track movement of a finger along an opposite hand surface.

Additionally, or alternatively, a radiofrequency-based system can be used to detect a finger in contact with an opposite hand, or to track movement of a finger along an opposite hand surface. However, camera-based systems and/or radiofrequency-based systems may have difficulty detecting the difference between a finger touching the opposite hand or proximate to without contacting (hovering above) the opposite hand. Additionally, camera-based systems require the finger and opposite hand be in the field of view of the cameras for operation.

Apple's approach is a little different. Apple's invention covers devices and methods of detecting contact between a first body part and a second body part. Sense circuitry can be configured to sense a signal at the sense electrode (e.g., configured to contact the second body part) in response to a drive signal applied to the drive electrode (e.g., configured to contact the first body part).

Processing circuitry can be configured to detect contact in accordance with a determination that one or more criteria are met. The one or more criteria can include a first criterion that is met when an amplitude of the sensed signal exceeds an amplitude threshold and a second criterion that is met when the sensed signal has a non-distorted waveform. Using a robust set of criteria, including an evaluation of the quality of the waveform (e.g., whether it is distorted or not), can improve the disambiguation between a skin-to-skin contact event and a proximity event.

This also relates to devices and methods of detecting a movement gesture using contact between two fingers of the same hand (e.g., to enable one-handed skin-to-skin input gestures).

Sense circuitry can be configured to sense a signal at a sense electrode (e.g., configured to contact a finger of a hand) in response to a drive signal applied to a drive electrode (e.g., configured to contact a different finger of the hand).

Processing circuitry can be configured to detect a movement gesture (e.g., a slide gesture) in accordance with a determination that one or more criteria are met. The one or more criteria can include a first criterion indicative of contact between a first finger and a second finger and a second criterion indicative of movement of the first finger along the second finger.

Apple's patent FIGS. 3A-3B below illustrate a proximity and a contact, respectively, between a first body part and a second body part.

Apple's patent FIGS. 7A-7B above illustrate an example system for detection of a skin-to-skin gesture. In particular, FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate a slide gesture between a first finger and a second finger.

In some examples, the first wearable device can be a finger cuff and the second wearable device can be a ring. In some examples, the first and second wearable devices can be implemented as part of a VR glove. 

Apple's patent FIG. 10 below illustrates a wearable device in the form of a ring; FIG. 11 is a system block diagram of a ring device; The rest of the patent figures presented below illustrate various gestures a user will be able to make to control as aspect of a display, such as an XR headset display.

Apple further notes that actions of the user's hands with the rings on can include, but are not limited to, moving an object such as a cursor or pointer, scrolling or panning, adjusting control settings, opening a file or document, viewing a menu, making a selection, executing instructions, operating a peripheral device connected to the host device, answering a telephone call, placing a telephone call, terminating a telephone call, changing the volume or audio settings, storing information related to telephone communications such as addresses, frequently dialed numbers, received calls, missed calls, logging onto a computer or a computer network, permitting authorized individuals access to restricted areas of the computer or computer network, loading a user profile associated with a user's preferred arrangement of the computer desktop, permitting access to web content, launching a particular program, encrypting or decoding a message, and/or the like.

For more details, review Apple's granted patent 11941175. Today's granted patent adds 20 new patent claims to this invention.