Apple boss Tim Cook has fueled speculation about a headset for the group’s VR or AR.
(Photo: dpa)
San Francisco For years there has been speculation about the launch of smart glasses from Apple. So far, however, the most valuable technology group in the world has not entered the market for VR glasses. This could change soon. The Handelsblatt has evaluated dozens of patent applications from Apple, which can give an impression of future devices.
This year alone, Apple was awarded numerous patents that can form the basis for a headset. This involves high-resolution displays, innovative sensor technology and improved sound transmission.
Apple is one of the companies with the most patents pending in the world. According to calculations by the Pitchbook analysis platform, the company holds more than 76,000 patents globally, belonging to more than 22,000 patent families. A number of these patents have found their way into products such as iPhones, iPads or Macs.
Because patents are often filed months or even years before a product hits the market, they can provide a preview of future devices.
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Apple Glasses: Headset for AR or VR could come in 2023
The patents in the field of a headset could soon be used. Well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities is based in Taiwan and has close ties to Apple’s Taiwanese contract manufacturers such as Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, as well as Wistron and Pegatron. Kuo said Apple will probably announce its headset in January 2023.
In his estimation, the headset should only be the first product in a new category of Apple devices. A few years later, according to Kuo’s predictions, Apple will launch smart glasses. In a further step, contact lenses from Apple with smart functions could even be presented, predicted Kuo.
Apple’s most important patents on virtual reality and augmented reality
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently fueled speculation about the launch of an Apple headset. Speaking to Chinese state media China Daily, when asked about a headset, Cook said: “I couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities in this space. Stay tuned and you will see what we have to offer.”
1. Display and setup for a headset for VR and AR
For iPhones, iPads and other devices from Apple’s product portfolio, the company buys the screens from suppliers. This could also be the case with a smart headset. Patent applications give an insight that Apple is developing numerous technologies to best use a display in a headset.
The technology is designed to help keep headsets cool even when in continuous use.
(Photo: Apple)
For example, cooling is often a problem with currently available headsets. The displays develop a higher temperature over time. A device that is sometimes intended to be worn on the face for hours quickly becomes uncomfortable. Apple has filed a patent for a cooling system (2021/0185855) that is supposed to ensure sufficient air circulation in a headset.
Existing headsets have the problem that the heat generated reduces the performance of the built-in components and is simply uncomfortable for the user, argued the Apple team led by Ivan Maric in the patent application. To prevent this, air is routed past the hardware in the headset to cool it. “The cooling system can also be used to cool the user’s face,” wrote Maric and his team.
2. Room recognition for virtual reality and augmented reality
A hurdle with many VR headsets is the lack of room recognition. If a person wears the device, they can hardly move. A new technology from Apple is designed to help users distinguish real objects from virtual objects even with a VR headset on their face.
The patent is intended to help VR users distinguish between virtual and real objects.
(Photo: Apple)
This would allow users to move further through a room without bumping into objects. At the same time, real objects could also be integrated into the experience within a virtual world. The basis for this could be provided by the patent registered under number 11,361,735.
Paul Wang and the other Apple inventors who filed the patent describe, among other things, a scenario in which two people could wear headsets. Both headsets have the ability to identify virtual and real objects. In this way, both people could hand over objects without having to take off the headsets. The system should be able to recognize all possible types of objects: from objects to people to buildings or landscapes.
3. Finger tracking for VR and AR
So far, larger controllers, such as those used in video game consoles, have often been necessary to move around in virtual worlds. A new technology from Apple could change that. Under patent number 11,360,558, the technology group has applied for an approach that people can use to make entries using a device worn on their fingers.
Apple has patented finger control technology.
(Photo: Apple)
The most recent patent in this area dates from June 2022. However, Apple’s first applications for finger control go back years. In 2019 alone, Apple filed three patents for an input device that rests on the fingers.
The latest application from a team led by product designer Paul Wang describes a device that is a bit reminiscent of a thimble. In virtual worlds, existing solutions such as gloves are often not comfortable for users. Therefore, a focus on finger input could create an alternative, argue Wang and his team.
>>>Read also: How haptic technology can make the metaverse possible
The device by Wang and the other Apple developers is said to be equipped with numerous sensors. They should be able to determine whether and how the object is being moved. This would allow inputs to be made with gestures, for example. For example, a sensor can determine how much force is applied with the finger.
4. Wireless audio transmission for Apple headsets
You can immerse yourself in virtual worlds not only with good pictures, but also with the right sounds. Apple has also filed a number of new patents in this area. Patent 11,234,078 granted in January 2022 is of particular interest.
The patented technology should make audio transmissions significantly faster.
(Photo: Apple)
With this technology, the developers at Apple have developed an approach that allows a headset to be connected to wireless headphones. In contrast to existing headphones, which usually rely on the Bluetooth radio standard for wireless transmission, the developers have provided a different technology in this case.
Data can also be transmitted to the headphones via optical signal. This should increase the amount of data transmitted, prevent interference and thus allow a better sound experience.
Apple’s head of audio Gary Geaves provided the background for this in an interview with the British audio magazine What Hi-Fi at the end of last year. There could be delays in the playback of sound via Bluetooth, especially when the head is moving. That has to change. “We’d like to have more bandwidth,” Geaves said at the time. The new, optical transmission path could be the solution to ensure that there are no delays in the audio signal even with fast movements with the headset.
5. Headset with VR or AR for Apple iPhones
As early as 2008, developers submitted the first patents for a headset that uses the iPhone as a display. One of these patent families was expanded this year (patent number 11,258,891). This could be an indication that Apple is working on an entry-level device into the headset market.
In a simpler headset version, the iPhone could act as a display.
(Photo: Apple)
Previous registrations from the same patent family for an entry-level headset indicate that no special audio solution is used in this version, but that the well-known Bluetooth headphones Airpods are likely to provide the sound.
Since filing the first patent application for this generation of headsets, Apple developers have expanded the patent family more than a dozen times over the years. The most recent patent application alone is 53 pages long. Product developer Quin Hoellwarth describes detailed solutions on how the device could work, where and how a smartphone is inserted and how the device can be worn on the face.
Few of Apple’s patent filings are as detailed. Aspects such as power supply, cooling or the position when worn on the face are broken down in more than 30 diagrams. However, that says nothing about whether a corresponding entry-level device could really be launched on the market. Some of the charts even seem outdated because they show depictions of older iPhones that are no longer sold.
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First publication: 07/26/2022, 3:12 p.m.