DISPLAY APPARATUS

• US 20100097580A1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kasazumi, Kenichi, Itoh, Tatsuo, Kurozuka, Akira, Yamamoto, Kakuya, Sugiyama, Keiji
• Granted Patent: US 8,246,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 353/69
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/011 comprising device for correcting geometrical aberrations, distortion
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/10 Scanning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/101 with both horizontal and vertical deflecting means, e.g. raster or XY scanners colour television using laser beams scanning a display screen H04N9/3129
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0172 characterised by optical features

Abstract

A display apparatus that displays an image on a retina of a user, the display apparatus comprising: an image output unit (100) which includes a light source (101, 110), a wavefront shape change unit (102, 109), and a scan unit (103, 108) and is configured to output display light for displaying the image; and a deflection unit (104, 107) configured to deflect, toward an eye of the user, the display light outputted by the image output unit (100). The deflection unit (104, 107) has a deflection characteristic of suppressing image distortion caused by a change in relative position of the deflection unit (104, 107) with respect to a pupil of the user.

Claims

1. A display apparatus that displays an image on a retina of a user, said display apparatus comprising:

an image output unit configured to output display light for displaying the image; and

a deflection unit configured to deflect, toward an eye of the user, the display light outputted by said image output unit,

wherein said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of suppressing image distortion caused by a change in relative position of said deflection unit with respect to a pupil of the user.

2. The display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said image output unit includes a light source which emits a beam for drawing each of pixels constituting the image, and a) scan unit configured to two-dimensionally scan the beam emitted from said light source, and

said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam scanned by said scan unit such that at least a portion of the beam passes through the user'"'"'s pupil at a position other than a center of the user'"'"'s pupil.

3. The display apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam scanned by said scan unit such that the beam passes through different positions on the user'"'"'s pupil depending on an incidence angle at which the beam enters the user'"'"'s pupil.

4. The display apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam such that:

a beam scanned on a left deflection area, which is on the left of a virtual line, passes through an area of the user'"'"'s pupil on the left of the pupil center; and

a beam scanned on a right deflection area, which is on the right of the virtual line, passes through an area of the user'"'"'s pupil on the right of the pupil center, the virtual line extending through the pupil center and being perpendicular to said deflection unit.

5. The display apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam such that the beam scanned on the left deflection area and the beam scanned on the right deflection area are bilaterally asymmetric with respect to the virtual line in incidence angle at which the beam enters the user'"'"'s pupil and distance between the pupil center and an incidence position at which the beam enters the user'"'"'s pupil.

6. The display apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein said deflection unit includes a left-eye deflection unit configured to deflect, toward the user'"'"'s left eye, the beam scanned by said scan unit, and a right-eye deflection unit configured to deflect, toward the user'"'"'s right eye, the beam scanned by said scan unit,

said left-eye deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam such that:

an incidence angle at which the beam scanned on the left deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil is smaller than an incidence angle at which the beam scanned on the right deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil; and

a distance between the pupil center and an incidence position at which the beam scanned on the left deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil is longer than a distance between the pupil center and an incidence position at which the beam scanned on the right deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil, and

said right-eye deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam such that;

an incidence angle at which the beam scanned on the right deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil is smaller than an incidence angle at which the beam scanned on the left deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil; and

a distance between the pupil center and an incidence position at which the beam scanned on the right deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil is longer than a distance between the pupil center and an incidence position at which the beam scanned on the left deflection area enters the user'"'"'s pupil.

7. The display apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam such that:

the beam scanned on an upper deflection area, which is above the virtual line, passes through an area of the user'"'"'s pupil above the pupil center; and

the beam scanned on a lower deflection area, which is below the virtual line, passes through an area of the user'"'"'s pupil below the pupil center.

8. The display apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein said deflection unit is a hologram which deflects the beam by diffraction.

9. The display apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said deflection unit includes a left-eye deflection unit configured to deflect, toward the user'"'"'s left eye, the beam scanned by said scan unit, and a right-eye deflection unit configured to deflect, toward the user'"'"'s right eye, the beam scanned by said scan unit, and

said left-eye and right-eye deflection units are provided in such a positional relationship that a pupil-to-pupil distance and a focus-to-focus distance are different from each other, the pupil-to-pupil distance being a distance between a pupil center of the user'"'"'s left eye and a pupil center of the user'"'"'s right eye, and the focus-to-focus distance being a distance between a beam focusing position on the user'"'"'s left eye and a beam focusing position on the user'"'"'s right eye.

10. The display apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising

a deflection unit position adjustment unit configured to move said left-eye and right-eye deflection units such that the pupil-to-pupil distance and the focus-to-focus distance are different from each other.

11. The display apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

a light detection unit configured to detect light reflected from the pupils of the user'"'"'s left and right eyes; and

a deflection unit position control unit configured to calculate the pupil-to-pupil distance based on the detection by said light detection unit, and to cause said deflection unit position adjustment unit to move said left-eye and right-eye deflection units such that the focus-to-focus distance is different from the pupil-to-pupil distance calculated.

12. The display apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising

a beam amount control unit configured to cause said light source to increase an amount of the beam deflected by one of said left-eye deflection unit and said right-eye deflection unit when said beam amount control unit determines based on the detection by said light detection unit that the beam deflected by the other one of said left-eye deflection unit and said right-eye deflection unit has not entered an eyeball of the user.

13. The display apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein said light detection unit is configured to detect the reflected light by separating the reflected light according to a predetermined wavelength.

14. The display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said image output unit includes a light source which emits a beam for drawing each of pixels constituting the image, and a scan unit configured to two-dimensionally scan the beam emitted from said light source,

said deflection unit includes a left-eye deflection unit configured to deflect, toward the user'"'"'s left eye, the beam scanned by said scan unit, and a right-eye deflection unit configured to deflect, toward the user'"'"'s right eye, the beam scanned by said scan unit,

said left-eye deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam such that the beam scanned on a left deflection area which is on the left of a virtual line and the beam scanned on a right deflection area which is on the right of the virtual line are bilaterally asymmetric with respect to the virtual line in incidence angle at which the beams enter the user'"'"'s pupil, the virtual line extending through a center of the user'"'"'s pupil and being perpendicular to said left-eye deflection unit, and

said right-eye deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam such that the beam scanned on a left deflection area which is on the left of a virtual line and the beam scanned on a right deflection area which is on the right of the virtual line are bilaterally asymmetric with respect to the virtual line in incidence angle at which the beams enter the user'"'"'s pupil, the virtual line extending through the pupil center and being perpendicular to said right-eye deflection unit.

15. The display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said image output unit includes a light source which emits a beam for drawing each of pixels constituting the image, and a scan unit configured to two-dimensionally scan the beam emitted from said light source, and

said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam scanned by said scan unit such that beams are focused on a first focal point and a second focal point different from the first focal point.

16. The display apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising:

a light detection unit configured to detect light reflected from the user'"'"'s pupil;

a pupil position detection unit configured to detect a change in pupil position based on the detection by said light detection unit, the pupil position being a center position of the user'"'"'s pupil; and

a control unit configured to control output of said image output unit such that a virtual image viewed by the user before a change in the pupil position and a virtual image viewed by the user after the change in the pupil position are seen in a same direction when the detection by said pupil position detection unit shows that the pupil position has moved from a position including the first focal point to a position including the second focal point.

17. The display apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein said control unit is configured to control the output of said image output unit such that the beam for drawing pixels before the change in the pupil position and the beam for drawing same pixels after the change in the pupil position are substantially parallel in an area toward the user'"'"'s eye from said deflection unit.

18. The display apparatus according to claim 17,

wherein said control unit includes an output image control unit configured to cause said light source to emit, in a shifted direction along which the user'"'"'s pupil position has changed, the beam for drawing each of the pixels, such that the beam for drawing the pixels before the change in the pupil position and the beam for drawing the same pixels after the change in the pupil position are substantially parallel in the area toward the user'"'"'s eye from said deflection unit.

19. The display apparatus according to claim 18,

wherein said output image control unit is further configured to control the output of said image output unit such that a size of the virtual image viewed by the user before the change in the pupil distance equals a size of the virtual image viewed by the user after the change in the pupil distance.

20. The display apparatus according to claim 17,

wherein said control unit includes a scan angle control unit configured to cause said scan unit to scan, in a shifted direction along which the user'"'"'s pupil position has changed, the beam for drawing each of the pixels, such that the beam for drawing the pixels before the change in the pupil position and the beam for drawing the same pixels after the change in the pupil position are substantially parallel in the area toward the user'"'"'s eye from said deflection unit.

21. The display apparatus according to claim 15,

wherein said deflection unit has a deflection characteristic of deflecting the beam scanned by said scan unit such that beams are focused on the first and second focal points, the second focal point being above the first focal point with respect to the user and more distant from said deflection unit than the first focal point.

22. The display apparatus according to claim 21,

wherein the first and second focal points are on a virtual line substantially parallel to a ridge line of the user'"'"'s nose.

23. The display apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein a vertical distance between the first and second focal points is equal to or longer than a height of the user'"'"'s pupil and a horizontal distance between the first and second focal points is equal to or shorter than a width of the user'"'"'s pupil.

24. The display apparatus according to claim 23,

wherein said deflection unit is configured to simultaneously deflect, toward the first and second focal points, the beam scanned by said scan unit.

25. The display apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising:

a relative position detection unit configured to detect a change in relative positions of said deflection unit and a center of the user'"'"'s pupil with respect to each other; and

a scan unit position adjustment unit configured to move a position of said scan unit such that a direction of the beam scanned by said scan unit on said deflection unit changes from a first direction to a second direction different from the first direction when the detection by said relative position detection unit shows that the user'"'"'s pupil center has moved from a position including the first focal point to a position including the second focal point,

wherein said deflection unit is a hologram having a first interference pattern for focusing, at the first focal point, beams incident from the first direction, and a second interference pattern for focusing, at the second focal point, beams incident from the second direction.

26. The display apparatus according to claim 25,

wherein said relative position detection unit includes:

a rotator which is provided at a position to be in contact with the user'"'"'s nose, and which rotates when said deflection unit makes a vertical movement; and

a relative position calculation unit configured to detect a change in the relative positions of said deflection unit and the user'"'"'s pupil center based on a rotation angle of said rotator.