Electronic Device With Inner Display and Externally Accessible Input-Output Device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020088999-A1
Application number	US-201916409674-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 10, 2019
Priority date	Sep 17, 2018
Publication date	Mar 19, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic device may have an inner display mounted in a housing so that an image on the inner display is presented to an eye box through a lens for viewing by a user while the electronic device is being worn on a head of the user. The electronic device may have input-output devices that are operable on external surfaces of the electronic device. The input-output devices may be used to gather user input for controlling an external device while the electronic device is not being worn on the user's head. The input-output devices may include a touch screen display, buttons, and other input-output components. An input-output component may be formed on a movable member that can be moved between a stored position and a deployed position. A projector may project images onto nearby surfaces. A removable electronic device may be coupled to head-mounted support structures or other housing structures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electronic device, comprising:
a housing; head-mounted support structures coupled to the housing; a lens; a first display in the housing that is configured to present an image to an eye box through the lens; a second display on an external surface of the housing; and control circuitry configured to display content on the second display when the first display is not presenting images.

2 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the second display comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of: a touch sensor that overlaps an array of pixels and a force sensor, wherein the control circuitry comprises wireless communications circuitry that is configured to communicate with external electronic equipment, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to gather input for the external electronic equipment using the sensor.

3 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the electronic device comprises a projector display that is configured to project visual content onto a surface.

4 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the electronic device is configured to removably receive a removable handheld electronic device.

5 . The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the head-mounted support structures are configured to removably receive the removable handheld electronic device.

6 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a movable member that is coupled to the housing and is configured to move relative to the housing between a stored position and a deployed position, wherein the electronic device comprises an electrical component on the movable member that is configured to gather user input.

7 . The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the electrical component comprises a keyboard.

8 . The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the electrical component comprises a touch screen display.

9 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the second display comprises a touch sensitive display, the electronic device further comprising a proximity sensor configured to gather air gesture input.

10 . The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the inner display to display the image while using the outer display to display the content.

11 . The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the control circuitry is configured to display a given image simultaneously on the first display and the second display.

12 . The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the content displayed on the second display is associated with the image displayed on the first display.

13 . An electronic device, comprising:
a housing; head-mounted support structures coupled to the housing; a lens; a display in the housing that is configured to present an image to an eye box through the lens; a display projector; and control circuitry configured to display content on a surface using the display projector.

14 . The electronic device defined in claim 13 further comprising a sensor that gathers user finger input as a user's finger interacts with the displayed content on the surface.

15 . The electronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the control circuitry is configured to display the content on the surface with the display projector while the image is not being displayed on the display.

16 . The electronic device defined in claim 13 wherein the control circuitry is configured to display the content on the surface with the display projector while the image is being displayed on the display.

17 . A system, comprising:
a head-mountable device, comprising:
a housing having a head-mounted support structure;
a lens coupled to the housing;
a display coupled to the housing that is configured to display an image though the lens to an eye box;
an input device coupled to an exterior surface of the housing that is configured to gather user input while the head-mountable device is not being worn; and
control circuitry, and
external electronic equipment that is configured to communicate wirelessly with the head-mountable device, wherein the control circuitry of the head-mountable electronic device has wireless communications circuitry configured to wirelessly provide the user input to the external electronic equipment while the head-mountable device is not being worn.

18 . The system defined in claim 17 wherein the external electronic equipment comprises an electronic device selected from the group consisting of: a cellular telephone, a computer, and a gaming system.

19 . The system defined in claim 18 wherein the head-mountable device has an externally viewable display and wherein the input device comprises a touch sensor that overlaps the externally viewable display.

20 . The system defined in claim 19 wherein the externally viewable display is on a front side of the housing and wherein the external electronic device is configured to receive the user input while the head-mountable device is not being worn, the display is not displaying any images through the lens, and the externally viewable display is displaying content.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Wang Paul X

Classifications

• G02B2027/0156

  with optionally usable elements · CPC title

• G06F3/011 Primary

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• G06F3/017

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title