If there is one feature that the Apple Vision Pro contributed to the mixed reality headset space that no one knew they needed, it was what the bitten fruit called EyeSight. Which is basically the ability for the headset to track and project the wearer’s eyes onto the outside of the headset, simulating eye contact during conversation. It looks like another headset maker is looking to do something similar. The company in question is none other than Meta, which produces its own Quest headsets.
Published back in May, the Meta patent is titled “Embedded Sensors in Immersive Reality Headsets to Enable Social Presence”. And it is described as “a method for updating a subject avatar with a facial expression collected in real time”. The process involves the headset getting “a signal indicative of a movement in facial muscles” to determine the wearer’s facial expression.
One key difference in the way the Facebook parent company describes its headset is that it tracks the movement of facial muscles rather than using eye tracking cameras. Meta claims that this will result in the same features at a lower cost and needing less power to achieve. And because this tech tracks the muscles on your face, it can theoretically get a readout of your entire facial expression as well.
This ties into the difference in use cases for the Apple Vision Pro’s EyeSight and what is described in this Meta Patent. While the practical use of the former is in the projecting of the wearer’s eyes to the outside of the headset, the patent describes feeding facial data to the wearer’s avatar in a virtual reality environment. That being said, if the tech works well enough, there’s probably no reason why it cannot be used for both use cases besides material cost. With the headset normally only covering the eyes, the external display won’t have to show the full facial readout either.
At any rate, as with any other patent, there’s no indication as to when, or even if, this will result in a Meta Quest product that can be bought. Of course, even when it happens, there’s the price consideration to deal with before deciding you’d want to pick one up.
(Source: USPTO)
