Apple has been granted a patent for a “Wearable Device For Facilitating Enhanced Interaction” — the wearable device being the Vision Pro.
About the patent
The patent relates generally to wearable electronic devices and, more particularly, to head-mounted displays (HMDs) with both internal and external displays. The external display may facilitate interaction between a wearer and another person or an environment.
In the patent Apple notes that head-mounted displays (HMDs) such as the Vision Pro may be used to present virtual content and experiences to a user. HMDs take various forms, including goggles, helmets, masks, visors, glasses, and the like. For example, HMDs may provide “virtual reality” experiences in which an HMD presents a virtualized environment to a user via one or more screens or other display components in the HMD. HMDs may also or instead provide “augmented reality” or “mixed reality” in which both virtual and real world objects may be visible to the user via the HMD.
Due to the interactive, immersive nature of the environments presented to a wearer via an HMD, as well as the fact that the HMD may cover the wearer’s eyes, wearers can become completely immersed in the virtualized experience. These factors can reduce the wearer’s awareness of and engagement with the real-world environment, and reduce the ability of external observers to interact and engage with the wearer.
Apple’s patent is designed to overcome such issues.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “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.”
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