Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200073122) for a display system that involves “Apple Glasses” with a low-power state and a high-power state.
That’s the name of the rumored augmented reality/virtual reality head-mounted display (HMD) that the tech giant is working on. Such a device will arrive this year, next year, or 2021, depending on which rumor you believe. It may or may not have to be tethered to an iPhone to work. Other rumors say that Apple Glasses could have a custom-build Apple chip and a dedicated operating system dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system.”
Per Apple’s patent filing, a display system may allow a user to perceive a real environment, while providing the user with content. For example, a head-mounted display unit (HMD), which is worn by a user on their head, allows the user to see and hear the real environment that they are present in and also provides content to the user visually and/or aurally.
What’s more, Apple says it would be desirable for the head-mounted display unit to operate in and transition between modes of operation in which low power and high power is consumed (e.g., a low-power or sleep state and a high-power or awake state, respectively), for example, in providing the content to the user.
Apple’s idea is that a wake control system determines when to operate in the high-power state. The wake control system may assess a first wake criterion with low power, assess a second wake criterion with higher power than the first wake criterion upon satisfaction of the first wake criterion, and cause the head-mounted display unit to operate in the high-power state upon satisfaction of the second wake criterion.
