‘Apple Glasses’ may have virtual distance adjustment features, corrective lens

Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,983,352) for a “display system with virtual image distance adjustment and corrective lenses.” It involves making the rumored “Apple Glasses” — an augmented reality/virtual reality/mixed reality head-mounted display — convenient to use for folks like myself who wear glasses.

In the patent data, Apple notes that some users of head-mounted devices have visual defects such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, or presbyopia. It can be challenging to ensure that an optical system in a head-mounted device displays computer-generated content satisfactorily and provides an acceptable viewing experience for users with visual defects. 

Apple says that, if care isn’t taken, it may be difficult or impossible for a user with visual defects to focus properly on content that is being displayed or content may otherwise not be displayed as desired. The company wants to make sure this doesn’t happen with Apple Glasses by the implementation of, among other things, removable/replaceable corrective lenses.

Here’s the summary of the patent: “A head-mounted device may have a display that displays computer-generated content for a user. The head-mounted device may have an optical system that directs the computer-generated image towards eye boxes for viewing by a user. The optical system may be a see-through optical system that allows the user to view a real-world object through the optical system while receiving the computer-generated image or the optical system may include a non-removable lens and a removable vision correction lens through which an opaque display is viewable. 

“The optical system may include a removable lens. The removable lens may serve as a custom vision correction lens to correct for a user’s vision defects. The optical system may have a projection bias lens that places computer-generated content at one or more desired virtual image distances and a corresponding compensation bias lens.”

When it comes to Apple Glasses, such a device will arrive this year or 2022, depending on which rumor you believe. The Sellers Research Group (that’s me) thinks Apple will at least preview it before the end of the year. 

It will be a head-mounted display. Or may have a design like “normal” glasses. Or it may be eventually be available in both. The Apple Glasses 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.”