Today, 9 HMD / Vision Pro patents were published by the U.S. Patent Office covering a wide array of technologies and/or future features. The first relates to enrolling a user's eyes for both ID and gaze control.

Devices, Methods & GUI's for User Enrollment and Authentication

In November 2023, Patently Apple posted a Patent report titled "Two Apple patents published today cover Apple Vision Pro's Biometric System known as Optic ID and its associated Enrollment Process." Today, a new patent application came to light that describes both an enrollment process, but more importantly, a target-based test for "gaze" controls that will apply to all future "Vision" devices from XR Headsets, to Smartglasses through to smart contact lenses.

The system will also apply to the iPhone, iPad, Macs and TVs. The patent figures generally show smartglasses and iPads as examples, with FIG. 7k2 below being a gaze control enrollment test for smartglasses.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

Apple notes that in some embodiments, the first user interface object is a gaze target that is used for biometric authentication (e.g., eye-based biometric authentication) of a user. The computer system detects the gaze of the user. When the gaze of the user is not directed towards the first user interface object, the computer system displays a first animation of the first user interface object. When the gaze of the user is directed towards the first user interface object, the computer system ceases display and/or forgoes display of the first animation of the first user interface object. In this way, the computer system directs the user to look at the first user interface object (e.g., so that the computer system can perform eye-based biometric authentication of the user).

This is a very long, detailed patent with a lot of graphics. For those interested in diving in, review patent application 20240353922.

Other HMD Patents Published Today

20240353440: Sensor Assembly

A sensor assembly for a head-mountable device, the sensor assembly comprising: a flex circuit, an inertial measurement unit coupled to the flex circuit, an enclosure disposed around the inertial measurement unit and a portion of the flex circuit, to define a sealed volume containing the inertial measurement unit and the portion of the flex circuit. Thereby, a head-mountable device can securely support sensors in a manner that maintains their positions and orientations over time and isolates the sensors from an external environment. The sensor can be mounted within a sealed enclosure while maintaining an operable connection to the sensor. The sensor assemblies provides high robustness during the entirety of the service life of the head-mountable device without placing strain on the sensors themselves. The seal of the enclosure can isolate the sensor from external influences by preventing ingress of elements through the case and plate.

20240353923: Hybrid Gaze Tracking System

Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that perform gaze tracking using combinations of ultrasound and imaging data. Some implementations detect a first attribute of an eye using imaging measurements in a first image of the eye, and a first location associated with the first attribute is determined in a 3D coordinate system based on depth information. A second attribute of the eye is detected based on depth information from ultrasound based measurements of the eye, and a second location associated with the second attribute is determined in the 3D coordinate system based on the depth information and a 3D model of a portion of the eye. A gaze direction in the 3D coordinate system is determined based on the first location and the second location. In some implementations. user characteristics are identified (e.g., authentication) using ultrasonic biometric characteristics with imaging biometrics.

20240353684: Waveguided Display Systems With Dynamic Tinting

20240355246: Electronic Devices With Dynamic Brightness Ranges For Passthrough Display Content

20240355081: Visual Techniques for 3D Content

20240355058: Presenting Labels In Augmented Reality

20240357069: Electronic Device With Motion Based Color Correction

20240353708: Catadioptric Lens Assembly