Apple has been granted yet another patent for an “Apple Ring.” Number 11,409,365 is for “self-mixing interferometry-based gesture input system including a wearable or handheld device.”
It involves … well, a ring that can be used alone or in pairs and work in tandem with an Apple Pencil). Or it could be used with the rumored “Apple Glasses,” an augmented reality/virtual reality headset.
About the patent
In the patent, Apple notes that sensor systems are included in many of today’s electronic devices, including electronic devices such as smartphones, computers (e.g., tablet computers or laptop computers), wearable electronic devices (e.g., electronic watches or health monitors), game controllers, navigation systems (e.g., vehicle navigation systems or robot navigation systems), and so on. Sensor systems may variously sense the presence of objects, distances to objects or proximities of objects, movements of objects (e.g., whether objects are moving, or the speed, acceleration, or direction of movement of objects), and so on.
The tech giant adds that, in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) applications, as well as other applications, it can be useful to track a user’s finger movement(s) and/or identify a user’s gestures (e.g., gestures made with one or more fingers, a hand, an arm, etc.). In some applications, it is useful for a user to be able to provide input to a system by interacting with a surface (e.g., making a gesture on any random surface, such as a tabletop, wall, or piece of paper), or by making a gesture in free space.
In such applications, an SMI-based gesture input system may be used to track a user’s finger movements with reference to any surface, including, in some cases, the surface of another finger, the user’s palm, and so on. An Apple Ring could offer such functionality.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A wearable device includes a device housing configured to be worn on a first surface of a user, a set of one or more SMI sensors, and a processor. The set of one or more SMI sensors is mounted within the device housing and configured to emit a set of one or more beams of electromagnetic radiation, with each beam emitted in a different direction extending away from the first surface. The set of one or more SMI sensors is also configured to generate a set of one or more SMI signals containing information about a relationship between the device housing and a second surface. The processor is configured to extract the relationship between the device housing and the second surface from digitized samples of the set of one or more SMI signals.”
