The rumored ‘Apple Glasses’ could sport prescription lens

The rumored “Apple Glasses” could serve as both an augmented reality/virtual reality headset AND a replacement for prescription lens. Apple has been granted a patent (number 11,189,248) for “systems and methods for switching vision correction graphical outputs on a display of an electronic device. As a glasses wearer, I like this idea.

About the patent

Apple notes in the patent that a large percentage of the human population requires prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses in order to see with sufficient clarity. For example, a person with nearsighted vision (myopia) may have difficulty perceiving far away objects. (That’s me.)

Similarly, a person with farsighted vision (hyperopia) may have difficulty perceiving nearby objects. In order to view an electronic display, a person with a vision deficiency may need to put on or remove prescription eyewear to avoid eye strain and/or to view the electronic display clearly. 

If such a person is unable to easily remove or put on the prescription eyewear, it may be difficult to interact with “Apple Glasses,” and a user experience with the electronic display may suffer. Apple doesn’t want this to happen.

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A method of providing a graphical output may include scanning at least a portion of a user’s face using a sensor; generating a depth map using the scan; and determining a similarity score between the depth map and a set of stored biometric identity maps that are associated with a registered user. 

“In response to the similarity score exceeding a threshold, the user may be authenticated as the registered user. The method may further determine a corrective eyewear scenario, select a display profile that is associated with the corrective eyewear scenario, and generate a graphical output in accordance with the selected display profile.”