The possibility that the screen of the Mac or iPad can be used as a smart mirror

It has been reported that Apple has filed a patent on devices with screens with reflectivity control, suggesting the possibility that future Mac and iOS terminal displays will become "smart mirrors" in the future.

Future Mac or iPad screens could be used as a smart mirror
https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/14/future-mac-or-ipad-screens-could-be-used-as-a-smart-mirror

Apple notifies the US Patent and Trademark Office "Electronic Device With Adjustable Reflective Display(An electronic device capable of adjusting the reflectance of the screen) ". According to this patent application, Apple seems to aim for the development of a display that can also use a screen like a mirror by incorporating an additional layer above the pixel array of the display part.

This "additional layer" is a linear / reflective polarizer, and furthermore, a liquid crystal layer for managing the polarization level, which can switch the polarizer by using both liquid crystal and dichroic dye molecules It is said that. In theory it is possible to use the screen like a mirror or use it like a normal display, depending on the layer added to the normal display. Therefore, I will report Apple related newsAppleInsiderI call the technology Apple applied for a patent as "smart mirror".

The following image is one of the figures attached to Apple's patent application. "REFLECTIVE POLARIZER (Adjustable Polarizer)" can be used as a display of electronic equipment or as a mirror by adjusting the reflectance of light.


The patent includes elements such as head tracking, gaze tracking, face recognition, gesture fingering, built-in camera and other sensors, and also shows how the user uses the smart mirror It seems that it is done. For example, it is possible to detect whether the user is viewing the notification icon by tracking the user's line of sight, and also allow other content to appear on the screen.

AppleInsider wrote, "If reflectance control becomes possible, for example, if you do not use the iPhone display, it will just be a black screen, but it will become like a mirror."


Googler created it yourselfSmart mirrorOr Amazon'sVirtual fitting mirrorAlthough multiple IT companies have advocated Smart Mirror systems, such as, there are no products actually won a large share in the market. The disadvantage of existing smart mirror systems is that they can not display sharper images than Apple's proposed smart mirror because light needs to pass through the static reflective material.