Apple smartglasses patents are being published at a fever-pitch level at a minimum of 20 since January alone – separate from the many filed in earlier years. Earlier today we posted a report titled "Apple Invents 'Frame Antennas' for Future Smartglasses that will be able to handle Cellular low band and GPS frequencies."  A second smartglasses patent for today covers the use of progressive lenses that addresses a need for Apple's adult customers using such lenses in their every day standard glasses.  Apple is known for taking a holistic approach to a project on a new device and the diverse array of patents for smartglasses that Apple has amassed to date proves that out once again.

Smartglasses Displays having Progressive Lenses

Adults with presbyopia or children with myopia may prefer progressive lenses in their glasses versus bifocals or trifocals. Progressive lenses, also called multifocal lenses, give's a user three zones of vision – near (for reading), intermediate and distance – in one lens without noticeable lines like in a bifocal.

Apple, thinking ahead, wants to be able to provide adult customers who are currently using progressive lenses for their glasses with that same option for smartglasses.

Apple's patent covers a smartglasses display that includes a waveguide that directs image light towards an eye box within a field of view (FOV). A first lens may transmit world light to the waveguide and a second lens may transmit the world light and the image light to the eye box. One or more surfaces of the first and second lenses may collectively have a first region with a first optical power, a second region with a second optical power, a corridor with gradient optical power and constant astigmatism, and blending regions with variable astigmatism. The second region may be shifted downwards in elevation angle, the corridor may be elongated, and/or the blending regions may be disposed away from the FOV to prevent the blending regions from introducing astigmatism to the image light at the eye box.

Apple's patent FIG. 4 below is a front view showing how illustrative bias lens(es) may be provided with a far-field region with a first optical power within a first portion of a field of view, a near-field region with a second optical power within a second portion of the field of view, a corridor of constant astigmatism extending from the far-field region to the near-field region, and blending regions between the far-field and near-field regions and extending around the corridor of constant astigmatism.

Apple's patent FIG. 5 below is a front view showing how illustrative bias lens(es) may be provided with a geometry that optimizes display performance by extending a corridor of constant astigmatism, lowering a near-field region, and/or moving blending regions outside the field of view of an eye box.

Apple's patent FIG. 6 above is a cross-sectional side view showing how illustrative bias lens(es) may be offset with respect to each other and provided with an integrated optical wedge that mitigates the offset.

To review the full details of this deeply detailed invention, review Apple's patent application 20240201500.

Inventors 

• Johnny (Hyungryul) Choi: Engineering Manager:  Investigates new display and optical technologies for future Apple products
• Kevin A. Keilbach: Senior Optical Engineer (A member of SPIE: The international Society for Optics and Photonics
• Barbara Kruse: Design and Engineering – Specializes in Optical Systems