Of late, 80-90% of Apple's published patent applications published each week have been mainly patent updates known as continuation patents. Hopefully that will change in the coming months. Today's report mainly covers a new patent relating to Hand Tracking based on Wrist Rotation and Arm Movement. In addition, our report touches on a series of key inventions that were updated today and a new design patent for vision Pro with an added head band.

Hand Tracking based on Wrist Rotation and Arm Movement

Apple's invention covers devices, systems, and methods that tracks hand motion (e.g., hand moving while a finger pinches) and interprets the hand motion as a scroll based on determining scroll momentum from the hand motion.

The hand motion may be interpreted based on determining whether the hand motion involves the hand moving with the arm, and/or the hand rotating about the wrist (e.g., while the arm rests on a surface).

In some implementations, interpreting the hand motion based on type of motion involves mapping a given hand motion to more/less velocity or distance based on the type(s) of motion involved. Doing so may provide a more sensitive/responsive mode for motion that is mostly wrist-based than for motion that is mostly whole arm-based, such that user interface elements may be scrolled more and/or more quickly for wrist-based scroll motions.

In another example, interpreting the hand motion based on type of motion involves interpreting the hand motion using a reference (e.g., a pivot point or coordinate system) that is selected based on the type of motion. In some implementations, the hand motion tracking and motion type identification may be based on tracking two points, a wrist pivot point (e.g., approximating a wrist joint), and a pinch centroid.

In general, one innovative aspect of this patent can be embodied in methods that include the actions of, at a device having a processor and one or more sensors, obtaining sensor data associated with a hand via the one or more sensors in a physical environment, the hand including a wrist and is associated with an arm, determining positional data corresponding to three-dimensional (3D) positions of two points on the hand based on the sensor data, based on the determined positional data, determining whether a movement of the hand includes a wrist rotation associated with the hand rotating about the wrist, an arm motion associated with movement of the arm, or a combination of the wrist rotation and the arm motion, and determining the movement of the hand as a user interaction event based on the positional data and whether the movement of the hand includes the wrist rotation, the arm motion, or a combination of the wrist rotation and the arm motion.

These and other embodiments may each optionally include one or more of the following features:

In some aspects, a sensitivity of determining the movement of the hand as the user interaction event is increased based on determining the movement of the hand includes at least the wrist rotation.

In some aspects, determining the movement of the hand based on the determined positional data includes determining whether the movement of the hand is classified as a wrist-based motion or an arm-based motion.

In some aspects, the movement of the hand is determined based on a pinch centroid about an arm pivot in response to determining that the movement of the hand is classified as an arm-based motion. In some aspects, the movement of the hand is determined based on a pinch centroid about an arm pivot and the pinch centroid about a wrist pivot in response to determining that the movement of the hand is classified as a wrist-based motion.

In some aspects, determining whether the movement of the hand includes wrist rotation includes determining a type of motion based on an amount of wrist movement compared to a threshold. In some aspects, the user interaction event includes a scrolling action.

In some aspects, determining the movement of the hand is based on an angular change. In some aspects, a first point of the two points on the hand includes a wrist joint, and a second point of the two points on the hand includes a pinch centroid associated with at least two fingers of the hand. In some aspects, determining the positional data corresponding to the 3D positions of two points on the hand is initiated based on identifying a pinch action associated with two or more fingers of the hand.

In some aspects, determining the movement of the hand as the user interaction event is initiated based on a first user action. In some aspects, determining the movement of the hand is stopped based on a second user action.

In some aspects, the method further includes the actions of determining a velocity of the movement of the hand and updating the positional data corresponding to the 3D positions of the two points on the hand based on the velocity of the hand exceeding a threshold. In some aspects, the method further includes the actions of obtaining a second sensor data signal associated with a pose of a head or a device worn on the head via the one or more sensors in the physical environment.

For full details, review Apple's patent application 20250036206.

Below are a few other patents of interest today that include both new and updated patents. Patent updates carry new patent claims at the end of the document that you could review.

20250037404: "Virtual Paper" – updated patent – original report here.

20250037387: (New) "Method And Device For Invoking An XR Writing Surface."

20250037510: (Invention Update) "Identity Recognition Utilizing Face-Associated Body Characteristics." This is part of Apple's Home Security Camera System invention.

20250040061: "Flexible Display Devices" (one of Apple's original folding device patents). This is an updated patent. Our original report dates back to 2014.

On Tuesday, two new Apple Vision Pro headset design patents were granted. The one presented below is design patent  D1059355. The second design patent D1059355 (not shown) is the same design though focused on partial design elements.