Apple has won a patent for a gyroscopic precession motor for an HMD that will deliver superior immersive media content for movies and games

Today, the US Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent relating to a gyroscopic precession motor for their future HMDs in the form of an extended reality headset or future smart glasses. A gyroscopic precession engine is capable of delivering superior immersive multimedia content for movies and games.

In Apple’s patent history, they note that Extended Reality (XR), which includes virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) media allow consumers to immerse themselves in content. With increased consumer interest, there is a greater need for immersive content to be created for XR. Haptic motors are an important aspect of the XR, as they transmit physical sensations to the user’s body that enhance the user’s immersive experience. However, typical haptic motors in smart phones and other mobile devices only provide vibration along one axis. Haptic motors that produce vibrations are useful for notification applications, but cannot provide continuous torque or force on handheld devices, such as a head-mounted display (HMD).

Gyroscopic precession motor for HMD

Apple’s invention covers a gyroscopic precision motor for wearable devices.

The patent granted by Apple offers the following advantages. A precision gyroscopic motor provides a continuous torque/force feel over multiple degrees of freedom. The gyroscopic precession motor can be mounted on, or integrated into, a head-mounted display (HMD) or other wearable device to provide spatial guidance in VR and AR applications, for example, guiding the user’s head in one direction particular in synchronization with the immersive visual content viewed by the user.

The Gyroscopic Precession Engine also enhances immersive media content for movies and games by delivering continuous torque/force to the user’s head/neck or other body part that is synchronized with visual content, such as the creating a feeling of air wave pressure (eg, from an explosion scene), creating a feeling of centrifugal force (eg, a bumpy roller coaster ride or car racing), head exercise/ neck/hand/wrist (e.g., providing countertorque to user movement), ergo correction (e.g., warning or guiding the user to poor sitting or standing posture), and providing reaction force feedback in VR applications (e.g. boxing an object and feeling a reaction force on the hand/wrist).

Technically, the patent issued by Apple covers a portable device that includes: a support structure comprising at least one attachment mechanism for attaching the support structure to a part of the human body; at least one gyroscopic precession motor coupled to the support structure, the gyroscopic precession motor comprising: a first motor configured to rotate a wheel support at a first angular velocity; at least one wheel rotatably coupled to the wheel carrier and configured to rotate at a second angular velocity; a second motor configured to rotate the wheel at the second angular velocity different from the first angular velocity; and at least one motor controller coupled to the first motor and the second motor, the at least one motor controller being configured to rotate the wheel carrier at the first angular velocity and rotate the wheel at the second angular velocity, wherein the wheel carrier is configured, when rotated, to move through free space in response to a torque produced by a product of the first angular velocity of the wheel carrier and the second angular velocity and a moment d inertia of the wheel, and in which the portable device moves in response to a force produced by the torque.

Apple’s patent FIG. 1A below is a side view of the #100 gyro precession motor and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the gyroscopic precession motor. The gyroscopic precession motor includes the #102 servo motor, the #103 rotating wheel support, the #104 spinning wheel and the #105 wheel motor. The gyro precision motor can be attached to a portable device, such as an HMD.

Apple further notes that the wearable device (#100) can be worn on the head or as part of a headset, headband, or smart glasses that have small display optics in front of one or both eyes of the user. The wearable device can be used in a variety of applications, including but not limited to: spatial guidance (e.g., to generate continuous force/torque to guide the user’s head as a force guidance), sound enhancement (for example, to improve the feel of sound in games or a movie, such as the wave pressure feel of an explosion in a scene), haptic notification (for example, to provide force pulsing to indicate incoming communication or other force feedback), gaming (e.g. providing sensations, such as a bumpy ride on a roller coaster, car racing centrifugal force, etc.), head exercise/ neck/hand/wrist (e.g. provide counter torque), ergo correction (e.g. warn and guide the user to correct poor sitting or standing postures during long hour use), handle entry device for fo return rce (e.g. object interaction in VR content, such as boxing an object with reaction force feedback), aviation, engineering, medicine, or any other application that could benefit of the sensation provided by continuous force/torque ue.

In one embodiment, the wearable device may be a VR headset that includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a transparent wearable display that reflects projected images.

Apple’s patent FIG. 1C below illustrates a head-centered coordinate system with yaw, pitch, and roll axes: by adding two more precession motors, the design can provide a torque/force feel along the roll axes, yaw and pitch; FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate various configurations for torque direction in a head-centered coordinate system.