ELECTRONIC UTILITY DEVICES INCORPORATING A COMPACT VIRTUAL IMAGE DISPLAY
First Claim
1. An electronic utility device comprising a user input interface and a user output interface, said user output interface including a compact virtual display for providing visual information to the user, said compact virtual display including:
- (a) a light-transmissive substrate;
(b) an input diffractive optical element integrally formed with said light-transmissive substrate;
(c) an output diffractive optical element integrally formed with said light-transmissive substrate laterally of said input diffractive optical element; and
(d) an image source for producing a real image, said image source optically communicating with said input diffractive optical element so as to collimate said real image into plane waves transmittable along an optical path through said light-transmissive substrate, such that when said plane waves impinges on said output diffractive optical element said plane waves are focused to form a virtual image which correspond to said real image and which is viewable by the user.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic utility device is provided. The device includes a user input interface and a user output interface, the user output interface including a compact virtual display for providing visual information to the user, the compact virtual display including (a) a light-transmissive substrate; (b) an input diffractive optical element integrally formed with the light-transmissive substrate; (c) an output diffractive optical element integrally formed with the light-transmissive substrate laterally of the input diffractive optical element; and (d) an image source for producing a real image, the image source optically communicating with the input diffractive optical element so as to collimate the real image into plane waves transmittable along an optical path through the light-transmissive substrate, such that when the plane waves impinges on the output diffractive optical element the plane waves are focused to form a virtual image which correspond to the real image and which is viewable by the user.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An electronic utility device comprising a user input interface and a user output interface, said user output interface including a compact virtual display for providing visual information to the user, said compact virtual display including:
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(a) a light-transmissive substrate;
(b) an input diffractive optical element integrally formed with said light-transmissive substrate;
(c) an output diffractive optical element integrally formed with said light-transmissive substrate laterally of said input diffractive optical element; and
(d) an image source for producing a real image, said image source optically communicating with said input diffractive optical element so as to collimate said real image into plane waves transmittable along an optical path through said light-transmissive substrate, such that when said plane waves impinges on said output diffractive optical element said plane waves are focused to form a virtual image which correspond to said real image and which is viewable by the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification