An Apple patent hints that its forthcoming smart glasses or headsets could alter their lenses on the fly to correct the wearer’s eyesight. A lot has been said about Apple’s new smart glasses and virtual reality headsets over the last year. The devices are said to be on the way, although the company hasn’t acknowledged or refuted these rumours.
As far as tech businesses are concerned, smart glasses have not lived up to expectations. Many of these items, such as the Ray-Ban Stories, Bose Frames, and Snap Spectacles, are still on the market. There are many devices in this category, but one of the most well-known is the Google Glass. It was first released in 2013, but it was quickly pulled after a torrent of public ridicule and major privacy concerns.
This week, Apple is said to have received a patent for a new type of smart glass. New patent information obtained by Apple Insider implies that the device will make it possible for people who use prescription glasses to do so without difficulty. Customers who have myopia or hypermetropia would be able to use the device without the need for corrective glasses, according to the patent, which is titled “Tunable and foveated lens systems.” Each eye would have a stack of lenses that would be filled with “voltage-modulated optical material.” It would also have electrodes around the lenses, which would be used to apply power while moving. Also, the glasses are said to use eye-tracking to improve the user’s vision.
In the previous few years, several of these patents have been granted to Apple, with one of the most recent being granted last year. Another patent for an “electronic device with tunable lens” was granted to the company in late 2020, which likewise deals with eyesight correction using adjustable lenses in a virtual reality headset or smart glasses. It is possible that Apple’s smart glasses with the new technology will be able to adapt to the wearer’s vision, regardless of whether they suffer from myopia, hypermetropia, presbyopia, or any other ailment that requires corrective lenses.
Apple hasn’t said anything about its rumoured smart glasses, but patents show that the company is working on one. It’s not clear when the glasses will be released. However, the company gets a lot of patents on a regular basis, but only a few of them end up in commercial products.
