Apple may have canceled its Apple Car project, but the company continues to be granted patents for vehicle technology. The latest is for “Systems With Suppressed Windows Reflections.”
About the patent
In the patent Apple notes that windows such as vehicle windows sometimes include multiple glass layers. If care isn’t taken, the glass layers may give rise to undesired reflections.
Apple’s patent involves windows with structures for suppressing light reflections such as antireflection coatings and circular polarizers. Optional electrically adjustable components may also be incorporated into the windows.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A window may have a structural window layers such as an inner glass layer and an outer glass layer. The inner glass layer may be a layer of tempered glass. The outer glass layer may be a laminated glass layer. The inner and outer glass layers may be separated by an air gap. One or more reflection suppression layers such as antireflection layers and/or circular polarizers may be incorporated into the window to suppress reflections of light from within the interior region off of the window back towards the interior region. The antireflection layers may be formed on one or both surfaces of the inner glass and one or both surfaces of the outer glass. An electrically adjustable layer such as a guest-host liquid crystal light modulator layer or other electrically adjustable optical component layer may be interposed between the outer glass layer and the air gap.”
