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Apple Invents a Wearable Power Management Storage Case for Future HMDs

1 cover HMD Power Case

Today the U.S. Patent Office published a patent application of Apple's that relates to power management for future Vision related headsets.

Power Management at Head-Mounted Devices and a Storage Case

Apple invention relates to a wearable electronic device that can interact with a charging case to maintain appropriate power-consumption states while readily transitioning to other states in anticipation of user operation.

As the wearable electronic device is accessed from the case, the wearable electronic device can transition to an active state earlier than if the wearable electronic device were to detect the user before transitioning to the active state. In the active state, the wearable electronic device can perform one or more of a variety of actions that are not performed in the sleep state or the off state.

For example, by initiating a transition to an active state before the user dons the wearable electronic device, the displays can be ready to output the view earlier so that the user does not spend any or a substantial amount of time being unable to see or waiting for the displays to become active.

As shown in Apple’s patent FIG. 2 below, a head-mountable device #100 and a case #200 can, together, form a system #10 in which the head-mountable device and a case can interact with each other; As shown in FIG. 3, the head-mountable device can be placed within the chamber #220 of the case. As further shown in FIG. 3, the case can include a case communication interface #216 that operably connects to an HMD communication interface #116 of the head-mountable device. While the head-mountable device is connected to the case, for example via the case communication interface and the HMD communication interface, the head-mountable device and the case can communicate and/or transfer power there between;  As shown in FIG. 4, the lid #230 can be transitioned to the close configuration to enclose the head-mountable device within the chamber of the case. In response to a detection that the lid has been closed, the head-mountable device can change its operational state, for example to conserve power. In some embodiments, the head-mountable device can change from an active state to a sleep state while within the case and while the lid is closed.

3 hmd charging case

As shown in FIG. 11 above, when the head-mountable device is brought to the face and/or head of the user #2, the head-mountable device can transition to an active state. When removed from the case and/or otherwise brought to the face of the user, the sensor #170 can detect or confirm that the user is wearing the head-mountable device and enable it to operate in an active state.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 12, the head-mountable device can transition to an active state while remaining coupled to the case. For example, the case can move up to the face of the user along with the head-mountable device as the user holds the head-mountable device to the face. This can allow the user to perform certain actions (e.g., observe environment, receive information, capture images with a camera, etc.) without requiring full donning of the head-mountable device and/or decoupling from the case.

For full details, review Apple's patent application 20240377877.

Inventors

Darshan Kasar: Manager, Product Design - Vision Products Group

Sam Resnick: Senior Product Design Engineer – now with Humane

10.51FX - Patent Application Bar