Apple has filed for a patent for “Electronic Device Support” for its rumored “Apple Glasses.”
About Apple Glasses
Apple is purportedly working its own version of smart glasses, though such a device (“Apple Glasses) isn’t expected until 2027. These will have a design more like traditional eyewear than the Apple Vision Pro.
In an X post, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo Kuo says Apple will ship 3-5 million units or more of the device. He says core features will include audio playback, camera, video recording, and AI environmental sensing. Kue also thinks that Apple will offer multiple material options for frames and temples, with Apple actively testing 3D printing technology for production.
About the patent filing
The patent filing relates generally to electronic devices, such as electronic glasses or head-mountable devices. More particularly, it involves electronic glasses (“Apple Glasses”) including a support.
In the patent filing Apple notes that Recent advances in portable computing have enabled head-mountable devices that provide augmented reality and virtual reality experiences to users. Various component of these devices, such as display windows, viewing frames, securement arms, speakers, batteries, and other components, operate together to provide an immersive and comfortable experience for the user.
However, the anatomy of each user’s head is unique. One user’s head can be larger than another, or one head can be a different shape than another. Similarly, variations of a surface profile (e.g., bony crests and valleys) are prevalent across different users.
Other anatomical features, including relative positions of a user’s nose, forehead, and ears, can also vary widely between users. Apple says that the anatomical variety of heads presents a challenge for head-mountable devices designed for comfort and reliability. In some head-mountable devices, for example, securement arms that extend along, or make contact with, opposing sides of a user’s head can be used to secure the device to the user’s head.
However, the dimensions, angles, shape, and other physical characteristics of the arms that may be sufficient to comfortably and reliably secure the device to one user’s head may not be sufficient to comfortably and reliably secure the device to another user’s head.
A weight of some conventional head-mountable devices may make universal comfort more difficult. What’s more, Apple sys the securement arms of conventional head-mountable devices are not always compatible (or don’t always provide a reliable fit to a user’s head), particularly for certain user activities (e.g., running or exercising) or use of certain software applications (e.g., vigorous games, productivity applications).
Apple says there’s a need for head-mountable devices and systems that can improve user comfort, in addition to improved reliability for everyday activities and software applications. This is what the company apparently hopes to accomplish with the features mentioned in the newly filed patent.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “A head-mountable device can include a display frame, a display carried by the display frame, an arm rotatably connected to the display frame at a first joint, and a head-engagement member rotatably coupled to the arm at a second joint.”
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