Apple has won a patent for the Ultimate Workplace & Student 'Privacy Mode' feature that Requires Visionware
Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to an Apple system that will allow a user wearing future Apple smartglasses or Vision Pro (Visionware) to work on a MacBook, iPad or even an iPhone in private mode. The system can be set so that whatever is on the screen a user is working on is actually blank to outsiders but seen perfectly in the AR devices.
In Apple's patent FIG. 4 below, Apple notes that the display of the external device can only be viewed by the user (such as in the case of a personal headset worn by the user), this feature provides privacy by allowing the user to operate a MacBook while preventing other people from viewing the content on screen (e.g., e-mails, documents, applications, etc.).
For example, FIG. 4 above illustrates device #400 (e.g., a MacBook) operating in private mode with user wearing a head mounted system #450. As shown in FIG. 4, the MacBook can be seen through the display #452 of the head mounted system and is being used to edit a confidential document that is only presented display #452. Since the content of the document is only displayed on display #452 of head mounted system, the MacBook can be used privately to edit the document.
In patent FIGS 3B and 3B below, external device #300 is a head mounted system (e.g., a head-mounted device that allows the user to see a physical view of what's on device #200 (which could be an iPhone or iPad device) through (at least partially) transparent displays in combination with virtual object(s) (e.g., GUI screen) displayed by the head mounted system.
In some embodiments, the head-mounted device is a projection-based or other SR system that carries out a computer simulated reality technique. In some embodiments, the head-mounted device is connected by a wire or wirelessly (e.g., via Bluetooth protocol).
To review the full details of this invention, check out granted patent 12265647.
Apple has been working on display privacy modes since at least 2020. Here are a few other patents on this subject matter: (01, 02 and 03).