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A newly public Apple patent shows the company is working on ways to bring haptic feedback to the Apple Vision Pro. Unexpectedly, it may use AirPods to do it.
The patent, dubbed “Input device for head-mountable devices,” describes using unreleased earbuds to generate a haptic output. That output would be dictated by a signal from a head-mounted device, such as Apple’s spatial computer.
While the patent doesn’t mention AirPods by name, it’s easy to see where Apple is going here.
“An earbud includes a housing, a haptic driver carried by the housing, a haptic surface defined by the housing, and an input surface defined by the housing,” the typically dense patent reads.
“The haptic surface is coupled to the haptic driver, which is configured to generate a haptic output through the haptic surface in response to a haptic signal from a head-mountable device,” the patent continues.
Essentially, Apple suggests that a device like the Apple Vision Pro could send a wireless signal to a pair of earbuds whenever haptic feedback is required. That signal would instruct the earbuds to vibrate, providing the kind of feedback currently unavailable.
Such a feature could be used in myriad ways and implemented in a variety of apps. Imagine playing a game and having your earbuds vibrate when you fire a weapon, for example.
Alternatively, the TV app on your iPhone could vibrate the earbuds when a truck rolls by or an explosion takes place. Apple recently previewed something similar with its F1: The Movie trailer that vibrated when viewed on an iPhone.
The patent shows earbuds being used to map out a virtual keyboard area
The patent also includes an image that depicts a user typing on a virtual keyboard. As the invisible keys are tapped, the earbuds could then vibrate to give the feeling of typing on a physical object.
Notably, the patent suggests that the earbuds themselves would be used to “define a touch space on a support surface at which touch inputs can be detectable.”
A patent image shows a user placing the left earbud to the left of a virtual keyboard on a desk. The right earbud would be placed to the right of the keyboard, creating a virtual area between the two earbuds. Tapping in that area would then generate a haptic feedback.
The AirPods charging case would also be used to detect when a haptic feedback should be generated, the patent claims. The charging case could be placed on a surface and then detect when a user’s fingers touch that surface.
However, as is always the case with patents, this should all be taken with a pinch of salt. While it does show that Apple has considered such a technology, it doesn’t mean that it will ever see the light of day.
Apple, like other companies, patents almost everything that its engineers design. Those technologies could be useful in a future product, for example.
Patents also ensure that Apple can make a claim should another company try to use the same technology in its own products, too.
