The Ray-Ban Meta camera glasses are simple and straightforward. Apple, on the other hand, isn’t all that interested in rushing their first pair of smartglasses to market because they think of a possible new device holistically. They work on things like using elastically deformable materials, securement systems, an advanced carrying case and so much more that you could review in our HMD Archive. Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple yet another smartglasses patent that relates to a system for calibrating adjustable lenses.

In Apple’s patent background they note that eyewear may include optical systems such as lenses. For example, eyewear such as a pair of glasses may include adjustable lenses that allow users to view the surrounding environment.

It can be challenging to determine where a user is trying to focus while wearing glasses with adjustable lenses. Traditional methods for determining where a user is trying to focus may not be sufficiently accurate or may involve excessively complicated sensor fusion arrangements. This is where Apple’s focus is in their latest granted patent.

System For Calibrating Adjustable Lenses

Apple notes that eyeglasses may be worn by a user and may include one or more adjustable lenses each aligned with a respective one of a user's eyes. For example, a first adjustable lens may align with the user's left eye and a second adjustable lens may align with the user's right eye.

Each of the first and second adjustable lenses may include one or more liquid crystal cells (or other voltage-modulated optical material), one or more Alvarez lenses, one or more fluid-filled lenses, or other suitable adjustable lens.

In a liquid crystal adjustable lens, each liquid crystal cell may include a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between transparent substrates. Control circuitry may adjust the optical power of the lens by applying control signals to an array of electrodes in the liquid crystal cell to adjust a phase profile of the liquid crystal material.

Eyeglasses may be calibrated using an external electronic device with a depth sensor. During fixation distance calibration operations, a user wearing the eyeglasses may view the electronic device while the electronic device provides instructions for the user to hold the electronic device at different distances from the user.

At each distance, a depth sensor in the electronic device may determine the distance to the eyeglasses and a camera in the eyeglasses may be used to determine a distance between the user's pupils.

The display may display a visual guide with a characteristic that changes as the distance between the eyeglasses and the electronic device changes to help guide the user to different distances as calibration data is gathered.

The calibration measurements may be used to generate calibration data that maps different pupil locations to different fixation distances. Control circuitry may process the calibration measurements to generate calibration data that maps different pupil locations to different fixation distances.

The calibration data may be stored in the eyeglasses so that control circuitry in the eyeglasses can determine a user's fixation distance without requiring an outward facing depth sensor in the eyeglasses.

Granted patent 12271062 is deeply detailed. To review it in full check it out here.