Apple invents an Adaptive Display to assist users avoid eye discomfort transitioning from a dark VR Headset to a bright environment – Patently Apple

On Tuesday, Patently Apple posted a granted patent report titled "Apple wins Patent for a unique lighting system designed to assist a user's eyes adjust from a bright environment to a dark VR Headset" and vice versa. The original title of the patent was " Electronic device with adaptive lighting system." The image below is from Apple's granted patent.

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to adaptive displays for head-mounted devices, that shares the same foundation as the patent granted to Apple on Tuesday. The title of this patent is close but different: " Electronic Device with Adaptive Display." The focus in this patent is on the adaptive display and not necessarily the lighting system.

Apple's introduction of the patent is the same presented in the granted patent as follows:

"Head-mounted devices such as virtual reality glasses and augmented reality glasses use displays to generate images to a user.

If care is not taken, a head-mounted device may be cumbersome and tiring to wear. The images on the display may appear too dark and washed out when the user first puts the head-mounted device on his or her head. The user may experience dazzle or discomfort when transitioning out of a virtual reality viewing experience. The dynamic range of a head-mounted display may be perceived as insufficient depending on the adaptation state of the user's eyes."

Apple's latest patent application covers control circuitry in an electronic device that may estimate a brightness adaptation state of the user that is wearing the electronic device. The control circuitry may adjust a brightness of the display based on the user's adaptation state. This may include, for example, optimizing a brightness range of the display for the current adaptation state of the user, adjusting a brightness range of the display to have a desired effect on the user's adaptation state (e.g., to help "guide" the user's current adaptation state to a different adaptation state), adjusting a brightness range at certain periods of time to boost the perceived dynamic range of the display, adjusting brightness in some regions of an image differently than in other regions of an image to account for the user's adaptation state, and/or taking other actions based on the estimated adaptation state of the user.

The control circuitry may gather ambient light information from an ambient light sensor, may gather physiological attributes of a user such as blink rate, pupil size, and eye openness from a camera, and may gather gaze position information from gaze detection circuitry. Gaze position may be combined with image data (e.g., frames of display data that are being displayed on the display) to determine the average pixel luminance at a location on the display that aligns with the user's gaze position. Based on this information, the control circuitry may determine a brightness adaptation state of the user.

When a user first turns on the display of the electronic device, the user may be bright-adapted (due to the ambient light in the room where the electronic device is located). The control circuitry may account for this adaptation state by starting at a first brightness level and gradually reducing the brightness of the display to a second brightness level. By the time the second brightness level is reached, the user may be dark-adapted.

When a video ends or a user exits a video playing mode and enters a home screen on the display, the control circuitry may increase the brightness of the display gradually to increase the user's adaptation level. This helps avoid dazzle or discomfort when the user takes off the electronic device and is greeted with a brightly lit room.

The control circuitry may also use adaptation state information to increase the perceived dynamic range of the display and to selectively adjust the brightness of portions of an image based on where the user is looking.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a diagram of an illustrative head-mounted device such as a VR Headset, though smartglasses could apply; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how a tone mapping circuitry may use information about a user's adaptation state to implement content-luminance-to-display-luminance mappings.

Apple's patent FIG. 6 below is a graph showing how a display may temporarily be optimized for an adaptation state that is different from that of the user's to gradually increase the user's adaptation level before the user transitions out of a virtual reality experience; FIG. 7 is a graph showing how the brightness of a display may be adjusted before and after a large brightness increase to enhance the perceived dynamic range of the display.

Apple's patent FIG. 9 above is a flow chart of illustrative operations involved in using a head-mounted device with a display.

Tuesday's granted patent and today's patent application (not a continuation patent) are covering the same project from different perspectives. For instance, today's patent adds more emphasis on the display and gaze detection in five patent claims. In Apple's patent claims #2 and #3 below state the following:

(Claim #2): "The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising gaze detection circuitry that determines a gaze position, wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust the brightness of the virtual reality content based on the gaze position."

(Claim #3): "The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine an average pixel brightness at a location on the display that aligns with the gaze position."

To dig deeper into the details of today's Apple's patent application number 20210134245, click here.

Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

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Apple invents an Adaptive Display to assist users avoid eye discomfort transitioning from a dark VR Headset to a bright environment - Patently Apple