Apple granted patent for head support for ‘Apple Glasses’

Apple has been granted a patent (number 11,181,748) for a head support for the rumored “Apple Glasses,” an augmented reality/virtual reality head-mounted display (HMD).

About the patent

The goal is to make wearing it as comfortable as possible. Existing HMDs can be attached to or include comfort headbands. They may be comprised of elastic and/or silicone material. However, Apple says that many sizing options are required for this type of headband to sufficiently cover the spectrum of head sizes of users wearing the head-mounted display. 

What’s more, different users will position a headband in different orientations to achieve a comfortable fit for the head-mounted display, changing forces experienced along various portions of the headband when the different users wear the head-mounted display in different orientations. Apple says the variety of forces experienced by the various portions of the headband can change both performance and comfort of the headband. The tech giant wants to overcome such deficiencies with its Apple Glasses.

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A head-mounted display unit includes a display assembly and a head support coupled to the display assembly for supporting the head-mounted display unit on a head of a user. The head support includes a band and an adjustment mechanism coupled to the band to lengthen the head support. 

“The adjustment mechanism includes a base and a spool coupled to the base, a tape that extends from the adjustment mechanism through the band, and one or more springs rotatably coupled at first ends to the spool and fixedly coupled at second ends to the tape. The springs apply force to the tape to maintain the tape in tension during expansion and retraction of the band.”

About Apple Glasses

When it comes to Apple Glasses, such a device will arrive in 2022 or 2023, depending on which rumor you believe. 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.”