Patents Assigned to Apple
  • Patent number: 11805345
    Abstract: A method of providing a haptic output includes detecting a condition; determining if a head-mounted haptic accessory comprising an array of two or more haptic actuators is being worn by a user; determining an actuation pattern for the array of haptic actuators; and in response to detecting the condition and determining that the head-mounted haptic accessory is being worn by the user, initiating the actuation pattern to produce a directional haptic output that is configured to direct the user's attention along a direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Micah H. Fenner, Camille Moussette
  • Patent number: 11803060
    Abstract: Eyewear such as sunglasses may include display-optimized lenses. The lenses may be optimized for viewing an external display and/or for viewing a display in the head-mounted device while also providing sun protection for the user's eyes. The lenses may include a polarizer and a color filter that are designed for a given target display. Lenses that are optimized for a display that emits linearly polarized light may include a linear polarizer. Lenses that are optimized for a display that emits circularly polarized light may include a circular polarizer. The circular polarizer may include a quarter wave plate and a linear polarizer. The color filter may have a transmission spectrum curve with peaks corresponding to the primary colors of the target display so that the color and brightness of display light is preserved while the brightness of sunlight is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Bennett S. Wilburn, Jonathan C. Moisant-Thompson, Alexandre Chapiro, Seth E. Hunter, Ove Lyngnes, Nicolas P. Bonnier
  • Patent number: 11804187
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a display having an array of pixels and a backlight that provides backlight illumination for the array of pixels. The backlight may be a direct-lit backlight with a two-dimensional array of light-emitting diodes operable in a local dimming scheme. The electronic device may include control circuitry that provides pixel signals to the array of pixels and backlight signals to the backlight. The control circuitry may adjust the pixel signals and the backlight signals to compensate for brightness and color non-uniformity in the backlight. To compensate for image-dependent backlight non-uniformity, the control circuitry may simulate artificial backlight data based on the target image to be displayed and stored point spread information. To compensate for white-point-dependent backlight non-uniformity, the control circuitry may use measured actual backlight data that describes color variations across the backlight for a given target white point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Fang-Cheng Lin, Chengrui Le, Yi-Pai Huang, Suraj P Gorkhali, Tobias Jung, He Li, Yansong Liu
  • Patent number: 11803480
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for storing and accessing sparse data is disclosed. A sparse array circuit may receive information indicative of a request to perform a read operation on a memory circuit that includes multiple banks. The sparse array circuit may compare an address included in the received information to multiple entries that correspond to address locations in the memory circuit that store sparse data. In response to a determination that that the address matches a particular entry, the sparse array may generate one or more control signals that may disable the read operation, and cause a data control circuit to transmits the sparse data pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael R. Seningen, Ben D. Jarrett, Edward M. McCombs, Greg M. Hess
  • Patent number: 11804197
    Abstract: A display may include illumination optics, a ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (fLCOS) panel, and a waveguide. The display may include a temperature sensor that gathers temperature sensor data. Control circuitry may select a non-square wave drive voltage waveform based on the gathered temperature sensor data and/or based on frame history information for the fLCOS display panel. The control circuitry may control the fLCOS panel to produce image light by driving the fLCOS panel using the selected non-square wave drive voltage waveform. The non-square wave drive voltage waveform may be an overdrive waveform or an underdrive waveform. This may serve to optimize the reflectance of the fLCOS display panel and thus the optical performance of the display module regardless of operating temperature and frame history.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aaron L. Holsteen, Xiaokai Li, Yuan Chen, Zhibing Ge
  • Patent number: 11803233
    Abstract: Touch detection may include determining, based on data from an IMU on a first device that monitors movement of a touching object, a touch event, wherein the touch event indicates contact between the touching object and a surface, obtaining a depth image captured by a second device, comprising a touch image, determining a touch point of the object based on the touch image, and providing a response based on the touch point of the object and the touched surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Lejing Wang, Rohit Sethi
  • Patent number: 11805629
    Abstract: An electronic device can include a housing defining an aperture and at least partially defining an internal volume of the electronic device, an electromagnetic radiation emitter and an electromagnetic radiation detector disposed in the internal volume, and an optical component disposed in the aperture. The optical component can include a first and second transparent portions disposed above the electromagnetic radiation detector and the electromagnetic radiation emitter, and an opaque portion disposed between the first and second transparent portions. A conductive component can be in electrical communication with the opaque portion and one or more components of the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Maegan K. Spencer, Brian R. Land, Naoto Matsuyuki, Erik L. Wang, William C. Lukens, Steven C. Roach
  • Patent number: 11805169
    Abstract: A mobile communication device is configured to receive updated network data, such as updated Content Delivery Network (CDN) data utilized to access a first network, without accessing the first network and a second network, such as a Wi-Fi or cellular network. The mobile communication device periodically transmits, via a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, a beacon signal indicating a network data request for the updated network data. A rate at which the mobile communication device periodically transmits the beacon signal is based on various criteria, such as an origination date of network data stored on the mobile communication device, an amount of time between the origination date and the present date, a battery health of the mobile communication device, and/or various inputs to the mobile communication device. An additional mobile communication device receives the beacon signal and transmits the updated network data to the mobile communication device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Dhruv Khati, Krishna Myneni, Shiva Krishna Narra, Sanjeevi Balasubramanian, Anjaneyulu Maganti
  • Patent number: 11803219
    Abstract: A power converter circuit included in a computer system may include a phase circuit and a sample circuit. The phase circuit compares a voltage level of the regulated power supply node to a reference voltage to generate a demand current that is used to adjust the voltage level of the regulated power supply node. The phase circuit also digitizes the demand current and stores the resultant bit stream in a memory circuit. The sample circuit generates timestamp information that points to particular storage locations in the memory circuit that correspond to trigger events, allowing the operation of the power converter circuit to be analyzed during different circumstances as well as to adjust operating parameters of the power converter circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Shawn Searles, Fabio Gozzini, Sanjay Pant, Inder M. Sodhi
  • Patent number: 11805382
    Abstract: A binaural sound reproduction system, and methods of using the binaural sound reproduction system to dynamically re-center a frame of reference for a virtual sound source, are described. The binaural sound reproduction system may include a reference device, e.g., a mobile device, having a reference sensor to provide reference orientation data corresponding to a direction of the reference device, and a head-mounted device, e.g., headphones, having a device sensor to provide device orientation data corresponding to a direction of the head-mounted device. The system may use the reference orientation data to determine whether the head-mounted device is being used in a static or dynamic use case, and may adjust an audio output to render the virtual sound source in an adjusted source direction based on the determined use case. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Darius A. Satongar, Afrooz Family, Sylvain J. Choisel, Juha O. Merimaa
  • Patent number: 11803471
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) including a plurality of processor cores, a plurality of graphics processing units, a plurality of peripheral circuits, and a plurality of memory controllers is configured to support scaling of the system using a unified memory architecture. For example, the IC may include an interconnect fabric configured to provide communication between the one or more memory controller circuits and the processor cores, graphics processing units, and peripheral devices; and an off-chip interconnect coupled to the interconnect fabric and configured to couple the interconnect fabric to a corresponding interconnect fabric on another instance of the integrated circuit, wherein the interconnect fabric and the off-chip interconnect provide an interface that transparently connects the one or more memory controller circuits, the processor cores, graphics processing units, and peripheral devices in either a single instance of the integrated circuit or two or more instances of the integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Per H. Hammarlund, Lior Zimet, Sergio Kolor, Sagi Lahav, James Vash, Gaurav Garg, Tal Kuzi, Jeffry E. Gonion, Charles E. Tucker, Lital Levy-Rubin, Dany Davidov, Steven Fishwick, Nir Leshem, Mark Pilip, Gerard R. Williams, III, Harshavardhan Kaushikkar, Srinivasa Rangan Sridharan
  • Patent number: 11804012
    Abstract: In some implementations, a method of navigation mesh exploration is performed at a virtual agent operating system. The method includes: determining one or more first sensory perception regions for one or more senses of a virtual agent based on a first perceptual vector associated with the virtual agent; generating a first portion of a navigation mesh for the XR environment based on the one or more first sensory perception regions, wherein the first portion of the navigation mesh includes candidate subsequent locations different from the first location; and in response to detecting movement of the virtual agent to a respective candidate subsequent location among candidate subsequent locations, generating a second portion of the navigation mesh for the XR environment based on one or more second sensory perception regions for the one or more senses of the virtual agent relative to the respective candidate subsequent location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Laszlo Kovacs, Payal Jotwani, Dan Feng
  • Patent number: 11803348
    Abstract: An electronic device may include control circuitry that allows a user to listen to audio playing from an external speaker in the environment from the user's personal speaker device such as a pair of headphones, earbuds, or a personal loudspeaker. In response to receiving user input, the control circuitry may gather audio input from the environment with a microphone. The control circuitry may process the detected audio input to identify what audio track is currently playing from the external speaker and to determine which part of the audio track is currently playing. The control circuitry may then start playing the identified audio track from the user's personal speaker device in sync with the audio track playing from the external speaker. The electronic device may search music streaming platforms, public radio station information, and other public music content sources to anticipate and buffer upcoming songs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Paul G. Puskarich
  • Patent number: 11803162
    Abstract: Wearable electronic devices, such as watches, can provide a seal member to form a fluid barrier between an inner chamber therein and outer chambers, as well as an external environment. Components within the sealed inner chamber can be protected from elements from the external environment (e.g., water ingress, etc.). The components outside of the inner chamber can include sensor modules and the like. Such components can be operatively connected to components within the inner chamber, for example, by a flex circuit that extends across the seal member. The component can interact with a watchband when coupled to a watch housing of the watch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Sameer Pandya, Daniel J. Hiemstra, Zaki Moustafa
  • Patent number: 11805432
    Abstract: Technology for a user equipment (UE), operable for monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is disclosed. The UE can monitor a downlink (DL) control channel for DL control information (DCI) at a predetermined monitoring occasion, wherein the predetermined monitoring occasion has a periodicity of P slots or P symbols with an offset Os. The UE can monitor a downlink (DL) control channel for DL control information (DCI) at a predetermined monitoring occasion, wherein Os has an offset with respect to a first slot in subframe number zero (SFN #0). The UE can monitor a downlink (DL) control channel for DL control information (DCI) at a predetermined monitoring occasion, wherein P is a positive integer greater than zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Yongjun Kwak, Gang Xiong, Hong He, Yujian Zhang, Debdeep Chatterjee, Honglei Miao, Bharat Shrestha
  • Patent number: 11803056
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display that emits image light, a waveguide, and an input coupler that couples the image light into the waveguide. Beam splitter structures may be embedded within the waveguide. The beam splitter structures may partially reflect the image light multiple times and may serve to generate replicated beams of light that are coupled out of the waveguide by an output coupler. The beam splitter structures may replicate the beams across two dimensions to provide an eye box with uniform-intensity light from the display across its area. The beam splitter structures may include stacked partially reflective beam splitter layers, sandwiched transparent substrate layers having different indices of refraction, a thick volume hologram interposed between substrate layers, or combinations of these or other structures. The reflectivity of the beam splitter structures may vary discretely or continuously across the lateral area of the waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Guolin Peng, Eric J. Hansotte, Francesco Aieta, Graham B. Myhre, Hyungryul Choi, Nan Zhu, Paul J. Gelsinger-Austin, Se Baek Oh, Scott M. DeLapp, Bradley C. Steele
  • Publication number: 20230344792
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for determining whether a message received by a client may be spam, in a computing environment that preserves privacy. The message may be encrypted. A client invokes the methods when a message is received from a sender that is not known to the client. A client can decrypt the message, break the message into chunks, and apply a differentially private algorithm to the set of chunks. The client transmits the differentially private message sketches to an aggregation server. The aggregation server receives a large collection of such message sketches for a large plurality of clients. The aggregation server returns aggregated message chunk (e.g. frequency) information to the client to assist the client in determining whether the message may be spam. The client can process the message based on the determination without disclosing the message content to the server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Eric D. Friedman, Ritwik K. Kumar, Lucas O. Winstrom
  • Publication number: 20230345146
    Abstract: Systems and methods for down-scaling are provided. In one example, a method for processing image data includes determining a plurality of output pixel locations using a position value stored by a position register, using the current position value to select a center input pixel from the image data and selecting an index value, selecting a set of input pixels adjacent to the center input pixel, selecting a set of filtering coefficients from a filter coefficient lookup table using the index value, filtering the set of source input pixels to apply a respective one of the set of filtering coefficients to each of the set of source input pixels to determine an output value for the current output pixel at the current position value, and correcting chromatic aberrations in the set of source input pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Guy Cote, Simon Wolfenden Butler, Joseph Anthony Patolino, JR., Joseph P. Bratt
  • Publication number: 20230345162
    Abstract: This disclosure includes several different features suitable for use in circumaural and supra-aural headphones designs. Designs that enhance user comfort and improve user control of the headphones are discussed. Various sensor configurations and electronic component positions are also discussed. User convenience features that include detachable cushions and automatically detecting the donning and doffing of headphones are also discussed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Dustin A. Hatfield, Michael B. Minerbi, Eugene Antony Whang, Benjamin A. Shaffer, Edward Siahaan, Daniel R. Bloom
  • Patent number: D1003285
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jody Akana, Bartley K. Andre, Shota Aoyagi, Jeremy Bataillou, Daniel J. Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, M. Evans Hankey, Julian Hoenig, Richard P. Howarth, Jonathan P. Ive, Duncan Robert Kerr, Matthew Dean Rohrbach, Peter Russell-Clarke, Mikael Silvanto, Christopher J. Stringer, Eugene Antony Whang, Rico Zörkendörfer