IP Library Granted Patent US 12,455,451
Granted Patent B2
US 12,455,451 · App. 18/407,267 · Granted Oct 28, 2025

Tunable lens in an electronic device controlled using a paired electronic device

Inventors: James E Pedder (Oxon, GB); Igor Stamenov (San Ramon, CA); Matthew D Hollands (Cambridge, GB); Thomas M Gregory (Cambridge, GB)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
G02B27/0172G06F3/013G06F3/017H04W4/80
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,455,451
App. No.
18/407,267
Granted
Oct 28, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A head-mounted device may include a lens module with a least one adjustable lens. The head-mounted device may be wirelessly paired to an electronic device such as a cellular telephone, watch, laptop computer, etc. To correct for presbyopia, the optical power of adjustable lenses in a head-mounted device may be adjusted when the user is viewing a close object. To allow for intelligent adjustments of the adjustable lenses while minimizing power consumption in the head-mounted device, the head-mounted device may receive sensor data and/or focal point change instructions from a paired electronic device. The paired electronic device may detect a trigger, analyze the user's attention to the paired electronic device, and send focal point change instructions to the head-mounted device based on the obtained information.

Claims (40)

1 . An electronic device, comprising:

a head-mounted support structure;

an adjustable lens that is coupled to the head-mounted support structure; and

wireless communication circuitry configured to wirelessly receive information from a paired electronic device, wherein the adjustable lens is adjusted in response to the information received from the paired electronic device, wherein the information received from the paired electronic device comprises information regarding a gesture made with the paired electronic device, and wherein an optical power of the adjustable lens is increased in response to the information received from the paired electronic device indicating that the paired electronic device is being used.

2 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the information received from the paired electronic device further comprises orientation information for the paired electronic device, the electronic device further comprising:

an accelerometer that is configured to obtain additional orientation information for the electronic device that is used along with the orientation information for the paired electronic device to adjust the adjustable lens.

3 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the information received from the paired electronic device comprises user attention information and wherein the user attention information comprises information on whether a user is gazing at the paired electronic device.

4 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the information received from the paired electronic device comprises information regarding a trigger event at the paired electronic device.

5 . The electronic device defined in claim 4 , wherein the information regarding the trigger event at the paired electronic device comprises information regarding a button press at the paired electronic device.

6 . The electronic device defined in claim 4 , wherein the information regarding the trigger event at the paired electronic device comprises information regarding an incoming notification at the paired electronic device.

7 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the information received from the paired electronic device comprises a distance between the paired electronic device and the electronic device.

8 . The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the distance between the paired electronic device and the electronic device is determined using ultra-wideband communications.

9 . The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the distance between the paired electronic device and the electronic device is determined using a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor.

10 . The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the optical power of the adjustable lens is adjusted based on the distance between the paired electronic device and the electronic device.

11 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the optical power of the adjustable lens is decreased in response to the information received from the paired electronic device indicating that the paired electronic device is no longer being used.

12 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication circuitry is configured to wirelessly receive the information from the paired electronic device using Bluetooth communications.

13 . An electronic device, comprising:

a head-mounted support structure;

an adjustable lens that is coupled to the head-mounted support structure; and

wireless communication circuitry configured to wirelessly receive information from a paired electronic device, wherein the adjustable lens is adjusted in response to the information received from the paired electronic device and wherein the information received from the paired electronic device comprises information regarding a raise-to-wake gesture made with the paired electronic device.

14 . An electronic device, comprising:

an accelerometer that is configured to obtain first orientation information; and

wireless communication circuitry configured to communicate with a head-mounted device having an adjustable lens, wherein the wireless communication circuitry is configured to:

receive second orientation information from the head-mounted device; and

after a trigger event and based at least on the first orientation information and the second orientation information, transmit information to the head-mounted device that causes an adjustment to the adjustable lens in the head-mounted device.

15 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the adjustment to the adjustable lens comprises an adjustment to an optical power of the adjustable lens.

16 . An electronic device, comprising:

a head-mounted support structure;

an adjustable lens that is coupled to the head-mounted support structure;

wireless communication circuitry configured to wirelessly receive user attention information from a paired electronic device; and

a manual control, wherein the adjustable lens is adjusted in response to the user attention information received from the paired electronic device and in response to the manual control.

17 . The electronic device defined in claim 16 , wherein the user attention information comprises information on whether a user is gazing at the paired electronic device.

18 . An electronic device, comprising:

a head-mounted support structure;

an adjustable lens that is coupled to the head-mounted support structure; and

wireless communication circuitry configured to wirelessly receive information from a paired electronic device, wherein the adjustable lens is adjusted in response to the information received from the paired electronic device and wherein the information received from the paired electronic device comprises information regarding an incoming notification at the paired electronic device.

19 . An electronic device, comprising:

a head-mounted support structure;

an adjustable lens that is coupled to the head-mounted support structure; and

wireless communication circuitry configured to wirelessly receive information from a paired electronic device, wherein the adjustable lens is adjusted in response to first information from the paired electronic device and wherein the adjustment of the adjustable lens is disabled in response to second information from the paired electronic device.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 9, 2024
From: PEDDER, JAMES E; HOLLANDS, MATTHEW D; STAMENOV, IGOR; GREGORY, THOMAS M
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 066064/0783 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63485810 · Feb 17, 2023
Related Publication 20240280817A1 · Aug 22, 2024
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