This week the U.S. Patent Office published a patent application of Apple's that relates to emitters for an HMD that tracks a user's hands, torso & handheld controller. Apple also filed for two Figurative Trademarks for Passwords and Siri (Apple Intelligence).

Apple's patent covers an HMD (like Vision Pro) that may include one or more scene cameras configured to capture images of a scene, one or more hands sensors configured to detect a user's hands, one or more supplemental emitters configured to provide supplemental illumination for the user's hands, and control circuitry configured to determine whether the user's hands are sufficiently illuminated, to determine whether the captured images are properly exposed, and to adjust the one or more supplemental emitters based on whether the user's hands are sufficiently illuminated and based on whether the captured images are properly exposed.

The control circuitry can activate the supplemental emitters when the captured images are too dark or when one of the detected hands is too dark. The control circuitry can deactivate the supplemental emitters when one of the detected hands is too bright or when the captured images are overly exposed.

In Apple's patent FIG. 3 below we see a cross-sectional side view of a head-mounted device (HMD #10) in which the device includes different types of sensors for monitoring the environment surrounding the HMD including optical sensors. These sensors may include cameras. The cameras have lenses and image sensors that are configured to capture images at ultraviolet light wavelengths, visible light wavelengths, and/or infrared wavelengths.

The HMD may also include other cameras that can be used in tracking the positions and movements of external objects. As an example, tracking cameras may track a user's hand or the user's torso or other body part(s). 

Hand gesture input may, as an example, be used in controlling operation of the HMD. Body part monitoring may be used to allow a user's body motions to be replicated by content displayed in a virtual environment.

If desired, the HMD may also include cameras that are used in tracking the position of external accessories (e.g., the position and movement of controllers that are moved by a user to control the HMD. ).

In some scenario, visual inertial odometry (VIO) systems or other systems that determine the position, movement, and/or orientation of the HMD relative to the environment surrounded by the HMD may be formed by combining data from one or more cameras in HMD with additional sensor data (e.g., data from an inertial measurement unit). Cameras may perform dedicated functions (tracking, visual inertial odometry functions, scene capture, ranging, three-dimensional image capture for facial recognition and environment mapping, etc.) or two or more of these operations may be performed by a shared camera.

Apple's patent FIG. 5 above is a block diagram of an illustrative electronic device having scene cameras, hands cameras, and supplemental emitters for hands tracking;  FIG. 6 is a flow chart of illustrative steps for operating an HMD.

Apple's patent application was filed for in March 2024 and published on November 28, 2024 with two inventors being credited: Christophe Seyve (Senior Camera Algorithms Engineer; and Hengzhou Ding (Camera, imaging+).  

New Figurative Trademarks Filings

 Siri (with Apple Intelligence)

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Appl's "Figurative Trademark" under number 98873683 on November 26, 2024 under International Class 09. Apple also filed for this trademark in Hong Kong under number 306738977. To keep it a secret until now, Apple filed the priority application in Liechtenstein in May 2024.

Passwords

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Appl's "Figurative Trademark" under number 98875844. Apple filed for this trademark under International Class 042 for managing passwords and passkeys+. Apple filed a second U.S. trademark for this trademark under number 98875814, and filed it under International Class o9.

Apple's priority filing was made in Liechtenstein in  June 2024 under number 2024-0446. Apple also filed for this trademark in Hong Kong this week under number 306740910.