Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 47 newly granted utility patents for Apple Inc. In this particular report we briefly cover patents for a ‘Conformable HMD Interface; Vision Pro’s EyeSight Feature; and a MacBook with an expandable display. Apple was also granted a design patent for the Mac Studio. Lastly, we wrap up this week's granted patent report with a listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple this week.

Conformable Facial Interface

In this granted patent Apple describes facial interfaces of HMDs (head-mountable devices) that can dynamically conform to provide increased comfort, flexure, and fitting.

In Apple’s patent FIG. 6 below we’re able to see a side perspective view of a frame #604, linkages #606, and facial interface #608. In some examples, the facial interface includes relief cutouts #660 which could take on various forms such as holes, slits, grooves, recesses, or other absences in the facial interface that allow for reliefs in the material and for changes to the arc length of the facial interface. In some examples, the reliefs are changes in material rather than absences in the material. The change in material can include changes in the thickness or dimensions of the material or changing the material to a different material.

In addition to better allowing flexure and conformation of the facial interface, the relief cutouts provide weight advantages while maintaining the structural integrity and shape (e.g., deflection integrity, stress integrity, etc.) of the facial interface. For full details, review Apple’s granted patent 12276804.

Granted Patent for Vision Pro’s Eyesight feature

Apple’s granted patent 12277361 titled “Wearable Device For Facilitating Enhanced Interaction” describes Vision Pro’s EyeSight feature this way;  “Wearable head-mounted displays, such as virtual reality systems, present immersive experiences and environments to a wearer. However, the head-mounted displays, as well as the immersive environments that they produce, limit the wearer's ability to interact with outside observers. For example, a wearer may not be able to see outside observers, and outside observers may not have any insight to what the wearer is experiencing or where the wearer's attention is directed. Accordingly, a wearable electronic device may include an outward-facing display configured to display information to outside observers, such as images of the wearer's face or images that represent or indicate the state of the wearer and/or the head mounted display.” Review the full granted patent details here.

Electronic Devices Having Sliding Expandable Displays

On January ninth, Samsung Display announced that mass production of the world’s first rollable OLED display for laptops will begin in April 2025. Lenovo will use this Samsung display in their ThinkBook Plus G6 Rollable laptop. The rollable laptop screen offers a unique mobile computing experience with adjustable aspect ratios for enhanced multitasking.

Today, Apple was granted patent 12279385 titled “Electronic Devices Having Sliding Expandable Displays.” While Apple’s patent places emphasis on a possible future iPhone or iPad with a sliding expandable display, the patent in fact also adds that the invention also applies to a Laptop (MacBook) with a scrollable/Rollable/Slidable display under patent point #26. 

Overall, Apple’s granted patent covers an electronic device that may have a display mounted in a housing. The housing may have portions that slide relative to each other. When it is desired to place the device in a compact unexpanded state, the housing portions may be slid towards each other. When it is desired to expand the viewable size of the display, the housing portions may be slid away from each other.

The display in the device may be a flexible display such as an organic light-emitting diode display. The display may be doubled back on itself once or twice when it is desired to store a portion of the display. A tensioner may be used to provide the display with tension and thereby maintain the display in a desired shape such as a desired planar shape.

The housing portions that slide relative to each other may have interdigitated fingers or other slidably engaged housing structures. The display may be supported on a surface of the housing such as on a front face of the housing. The housing and display may be adjusted by a user. For example, the housing portions may slide between an unexpanded state in which the display has an unexpanded viewable area on the front face and an expanded state in which the display has an expanded viewable area on the front face that is greater than the unexpanded viewable area. For more details review Apple’s patent here.

While it's a longshot to be sure, Apple will likely to monitor the success of Lenovo's new laptop with an expandable display to see if it's worth while pursuing as a specialized MacBook. 

Granted Design Patent

This Week's Remaining Granted Patents