Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 62 newly granted utility patents for Apple Inc. In this particular report we mainly cover two patents. The first covers possible future touch controls for HMDs. The second covers deformation-resistant foldable displays including a tri-fold display like what Huawei unveiled yesterday. Our report also links to two other patents of interest to some while wrapping up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of some of the other patents granted to Apple this week.

 

Touch Input for HMDs

Head-mountable devices, such as head-mountable displays, headsets, visors, smartglasses, head-up display, etc., can perform a range of functions that are managed by the components (e.g., sensors, circuitry, and other hardware) included with the wearable device. The head-mountable device can provide a user experience that is immersive or otherwise natural so the user can easily focus on enjoying the experience without being distracted by the mechanisms of the head-mountable device.

It can be desirable to provide a mechanism for a user to provide inputs to a head-mountable device to facilitate user interaction with the head-mountable device. Such inputs can include touch input, where input detecting elements are provided, for example, on an exterior surface (e.g., housing) of the head-mountable device. The input detecting elements can provide an ability for the user to provide instructions to the head-mountable device, which can then perform actions corresponding to the instructions received from the user. It can be desirable to provide easy access to such input detecting elements, so that the user can readily achieve performance of the corresponding actions. However, where input detecting elements are exposed to an external environment, the user or an object can inadvertently and unintentionally activate the input detecting elements, which may cause the head-mountable device to perform the action contrary to the desires of the user. The user may then be required to take steps to terminate or cancel the action. In some cases, the action may be performed without the knowledge of the user and with a result that is not desired by the user.

According to embodiments disclosed herein, head-mountable devices can be provided with an ability to detect whether a touch input provided to an input detecting element is intentional or unintentional. For example, multiple touch sensors can be provided at different locations on a housing of a head-mountable device. A first one of the touch sensors can be operated to detect a first touch input. A second touch sensor can be operated to detect a second touch input only when the first touch input is detected and/or above a threshold.

Apple’s patent FIG. 2 below illustrates a front view of a head-mountable device (#100) that can include multiple touch sensors #150 and/or #160 distributed different sides of the housing (#110).

For example, a touch sensor can be positioned at one or more of left side #116, right side #118, top side #120, and/or the bottom side #122. At least two of the touch sensors can be on the same side, different sides, and/or opposing sides of the HMD.

The touch sensors can include one or more contact sensors, capacitive sensors, strain gauges, resistive touch sensors, piezoelectric sensors, cameras, pressure sensors, photodiodes, and/or other sensors operable to detect a touch input. In some embodiments, the first touch sensor #150 can detect a magnitude of force applied thereto by a user. In some embodiments, the second touch sensor #160 can detect a position and/or movement (e.g., direction and speed) of a touch applied thereto by a user. Each of the touch sensors can detect multiple touch inputs simultaneously (e.g., at different regions thereof), and/or multiple touch sensors can be provided.

In patent FIGS. 4 and 5 above, touch inputs provided by user can be received by head-mountable device that performs certain actions in response to and based on the touch inputs.

The user interface #142 of FIG. 5 can be altered somewhat based on detection of touch inputs. For example, movement detected as touch inputs by the second touch sensor #160 can cause the HMD to alter the user interface #142 in a manner that corresponds to the detected movement. By further example, one or more visual features of the user interface can move in a manner (e.g., direction, speed, etc.) that corresponds to the detected movement.

For example, the user interface 142 can be altered somewhat based on detection of touch inputs. For example, sliding gestures detected as touch inputs by the second touch sensor 160 can cause the head-mountable device 100 to scroll through a list of menu items. A tap detected as a touch input by the second touch sensor 160 can cause the head-mountable device 100 to perform an action corresponding to a selected one of the menu items from the list.

For full details review granted patent 12086299.

Apple invents Deformation-Resistant Displays for Possible Future Foldable iPhones and/or iPads

Apple's granted patent covers an electronic device that may have a display that is resistant to deformation-induced damage due to contact by a finger, stylus, or other external object. The electronic device may be a foldable electronic device having a foldable display. The foldable display may have a display cover layer and display panel that bend around a bend axis.

The display panel may have an array of pixels configured to display an image through the display cover layer. The pixels may be formed from thin-film display circuitry that is supported by a flexible substrate. The flexible substrate may be supported by a display support plate that bends about the bend axis. If desired, the flexible substrate may be supported by a display support plate that bends about multiple axes (e.g., in a tri-fold device). Interestingly enough, Huawei unveiled their tri-fold smartphone yesterday in China.

Apple's patent FIG. 2 below illustrates a foldable device which Apple lists as either an iPhone (cellular phone) or iPad (tablet computer) that includes a hinge #30 that supports folding.

To allow the metal layer, glass layer, and/or other rigid layer(s) that form the display support plate to bend about bend axis #28, a strip-shaped portion of the display support plate that overlaps and runs along the bend axis may be provided with flexibility enhancement openings such as through-hole openings and/or openings that pass partially through the plate.

This type of arrangement is shown in the top view of illustrative display support plate #58 of patent FIG. 5 above, which has openings #60 in a strip.  The openings could be circular, oval, rectangular, hexagonal, slot-shaped, and/or may have other shapes. The openings could also have lateral dimensions of at least 100 microns, 150-200 microns, less than 300 microns, less than 100 microns, less than 75 microns, or other suitable size; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of a display.

For full details, review granted patent 12087187.  

Other granted patents that may interest some includes one titled “Remotely Updating A Hearing Aid Profile” (12089008).  Apple introduced a hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro 2 just yesterday during their ‘Glowtime’ event. Another granted paten of interest is titled “Artificial Intelligence Based Channel State Information Framework” (12088380).

More of the Remaining Granted Patents issued Today