The Vision Pro’s EyeSight feature could display Zoom eyes and symbols like Do Not Disturb to indicate to others that the wearer might be in an important meeting.
EyeSight might even display weather forecast | Image: Apple/USPTO
One of the defining features of Apple’s Vision Pro headset is its outward-facing OLED panel, called EyeSight, which displays the wearer’s digital eyes or colorful patterns when fully immersed in virtual environments or recording spatial video.
Apple has considered other applications for the Vision Pro’s outwardly-faced screen, like displaying a Do Not Disturb symbol, rendering virtual sunglasses on the wearer’s face and replacing their eyes with Zoom icons, to mention but a few.
Apple granted a patent for the Vision Pro’s EyeSight display
These and other potential EyeSight use cases were revealed in a new patent granted to Apple, titled “Wearable device for facilitating enhanced interactions.”
I’m liking those heart icons! | Image: Apple/USPTO
PatentlyApple discovered this Apple patent grant in the United States Patent and Trademark Office database, filed under the identification number 11861255.
While it doesn’t mention EyeSight, the filing talks about head-mounted displays with an outward-facing output system for showing others what the headset wearer is looking at inside the device, which sounds awfully similar to EyeSight.
Future use cases for the EyeSight display
One of the patent drawings illustrates displaying the weather forecast on the device’s outward-facing screen or an image of a tropical island.
EyeSight could show a range of moods and emotions | Image: Apple/USPTO
Another demonstrates a Do Not Disturb sign on the EyeSight screen to indicate to others that the wearer is currently busy. Yet another one envisions showing the title of the video game that the user is playing on the headset.
Additional drawings show rendering digital sunglasses or even replacing the eyes of the wearer with Zoom icons to indicate they’re participating in a meeting.
One of the weirder drawings accompanying the patent shows the EyeSight feature displaying an array of dots in place of the wearer’s eyes. Other imagery may be used to convey the emotions or moods of the wearer.
There’s more to EyeSight than meets the eye
EyeSight distinguishes the Vision Pro from other headsets | Image: Apple
The detailed patent suggests we might see additional EyeSight use cases beyond indicating what Apple has confirmed so far. Apple is also rumored to be working on a more affordable future headset that might not have an EyeSight display.
However, given the complexity of the granted patent, Jony Ive’s team has clearly envisioned more use cases for the EyeSight feature than Apple has announced. Apple may choose to implement some of them in future visionOS updates, but just because it filed a patent around those ideas doesn’t mean they’ll see the light of day.
It’s interesting that Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, is listed on this patent as one of its inventors. This isn’t surprising as an outward-facing display is one of the three distinct features of the Vision Pro that Ive and his team had reportedly pushed for during the development phase.