Personal display with vision tracking
First Claim
1. A method of producing an image for viewing by an eye, comprising the steps of:
- emitting light from a first location;
modulating the light in a pattern corresponding to the image;
producing a positioning beam;
directing the positioning beam along a first path toward the eye;
receiving a portion of light reflected from the eye with an optical detector;
producing an electrical signal responsive to the received reflected light;
identifying a pupil position responsive to the electrical signal; and
physically repositioning the first location in response to the electrical signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A display apparatus includes an image source, an eye position detector, and a combiner, that are aligned to a user'"'"'s eye. The eye position detector monitors light reflected from the user'"'"'s eye to identify the pupil position. If light from the image source becomes misaligned with respect to the pupil, a physical positioning mechanism adjusts the relative positions of the image source and the beam combiner so that light from the image source is translated relative to the pupil, thereby realigning the display to the pupil. In one embodiment, the positioner is a piezoelectric positioner and in other embodiments, the positioner is a servomechanism or a shape memory alloy.
99 Citations
47 Claims
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1. A method of producing an image for viewing by an eye, comprising the steps of:
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emitting light from a first location;
modulating the light in a pattern corresponding to the image;
producing a positioning beam;
directing the positioning beam along a first path toward the eye;
receiving a portion of light reflected from the eye with an optical detector;
producing an electrical signal responsive to the received reflected light;
identifying a pupil position responsive to the electrical signal; and
physically repositioning the first location in response to the electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47)
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12. A method of producing an image in response to an image signal for perception by a user, comprising the steps of:
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emitting, from a first position, light corresponding to the image responsive to the image signal;
directing the emitted light corresponding to the image toward the user'"'"'s eye;
determining an eye position while directing the emitted light corresponding to the image toward the user'"'"'s eye; and
responsive to the determined eye position adjusting the first position to direct the emitted light toward the user'"'"'s pupil.
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18. A method in a display apparatus of identifying alignment of an optical source with an eye, comprising the steps of:
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projecting light from a tracking source onto the eye;
receiving light reflected from a plurality of locations on the eye;
generating electrical signals corresponding to the received reflected light;
responsive to the electrical signals, identifying a region of the eye having a reduced reflectance relative to other regions of the eye; and
comparing the identified region of reduced reflectance with a reference region corresponding to centering of the optical source relative to the reduced reflectance region.
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24. A method of aligning a virtual image to an eye, comprising the steps of:
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directing image light from a first location along a first set of optical paths to the eye produce the virtual image;
directing a tracking beam of light toward the eye such that a portion of the tracking beam is reflected from the eye;
receiving a reflected portion of the tracking beam with a photodetector;
producing an electrical signal in response to the reception of the reflected portion;
responsive to the electrical signal, identifying a region of the reflected portion corresponding to a pupil;
determining an adjustment of first location that increases the amount of image light entering the pupil; and
adjusting the first location responsive to the determined adjustment.
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29. A virtual display for producing an image for viewing by a user'"'"'s eye, comprising:
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an image source operative to emit light in a pattern corresponding to the image along a path toward the user'"'"'s eye;
an optical detector aligned to the user'"'"'s eye and operative to detect a location of a region of the user'"'"'s eye having a reflectance corresponding to a selected eye feature having a predetermined position relative to a pupil of the eye, the optical detector producing a signal indicative of the detected location; and
a positioning mechanism having a control input coupled to the optical detector and a positioning output coupled to the image source, the positioning mechanism being responsive to the signal indicative of the detected location to physically reposition the image source in a direction that shifts the optical path to the pupil.
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36. A display apparatus including eye position tracking, comprising:
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a first scanner;
beam-turning optics aligned to the eye;
an image source mounted to a base and aligned to beam-turning optics at an angle selected to direct light from the image source to the eye;
an optical source aligned to the eye;
a detector aligned to the eye and responsive to output an electrical signal indicative of alignment of the optical source relative to a selected region of the eye; and
a positioning mechanism coupled to the base and responsive to the electrical signal from the detector to physically adjust the relative positions of the base relative and the beam-turning optics.
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46. A display apparatus, comprising a light movable source operative to emit a beam of light modulated according to a derived image, the movable light source being responsive to a position input to vary the effective position of the beam of light, an exit pupil expander positioned to receive the emitted beam of light, the exit pupil expander being responsive to emit a plurality of exit beams in response to the received beam of light;
- an eye tracker oriented to detect a user'"'"'s eye position and configured to output an electric signal corresponding to the detected eye position;
a positioner having an electrical input coupled to the eye tracker to receive the electric signal, the positioner further being coupled to the light source, the positioner being operative to provide the position input in response to the electrical signal.
- an eye tracker oriented to detect a user'"'"'s eye position and configured to output an electric signal corresponding to the detected eye position;
Specification