Adjustable Attachment for Attaching Head-Mounted Display to Eyeglasses-Type Frame

• US 20110012814A1
• Filed: 07/06/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: TANAKA, Mitsugi
• Application Number:
  US12/830,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20110012814A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/8
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0178 Eyeglass type eyeglass details G02C
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/0176 characterised by mechanical features

Abstract

An attachment device for attaching a monocular head-mounted display device (HMD) to an eyeglasses-type frame worn on a head of a viewer is disclosed. The attachment device is configured to include: a main body detachably attached to the eyeglasses-type frame; a movable member disposed between the main body and the display device, angularly and linearly displaceable relative to the main body; and a mode changer configured to change between a small-rotation-angle mode and a large-rotation-angle mode, in a mechanically synchronized manner with a relative linear displacement of the movable member to the main body. The small-rotation-angle mode enables the movable member to be angularly displaced through an angle smaller than 180 degrees, while the large-rotation-angle mode enables the movable member to be angularly displaced through an angle equal to or larger than 180 degrees.

Claims

1. An HMD attachment device for attaching a head-mounted display device (HMD) to an eyeglasses-type frame worn on a head of a viewer, wherein the HMD is mounted on the head of the viewer for projecting imaging light representative of an image onto one eye of the viewer, to thereby display the image to the viewer, the HMD attachment device comprising:

a main body detachably attached to the eyeglasses-type frame;

a movable member disposed between the main body and the display device, wherein the movable member is angularly displaceable about a rotation axis, relative to the main body, the movable member is linearly displaceable relative to the main body, and the movable member is held at a selected one of possible angular positions and a selected one of possible linear positions; and

a mode changer configured to selectively change a mode in which the movable member is angularly displaced relative to the main body, between a small-rotation-angle mode which enables the movable member to be angularly displaced through an angle smaller than 180 degrees, and a large-rotation-angle mode which enables the movable member to be angularly displaced through an angle equal to or larger than 180 degrees, wherein the mode change is in a mechanically synchronized manner with a relative linear displacement of the movable member to the main body.

2. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the movable member is selectively switched by the viewer, between a first region and a second region which are in a linear array along a direction of the relative linear displacement, and

the mode changer selects the small-rotation-angle mode when the movable member is located in the first region, and selects the large-rotation-angle mode when the movable member is located in the second region.

3. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the small-rotation-angle mode is a mode in which the relative angular displacement of the movable member is limited, while the large-rotation-angle mode is a mode in which the relative angular displacement of the movable member is not limited.

4. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the rotation axis is linearly displaced with the movable member, in synchronization with a linear displacement of the movable member relative to the main body.

5. The HMD attachment device according to claim 4, further comprising a linearly-displaceable member which is linearly displaceable relative to the main body, in a direction parallel to a centerline of the main body, and which is held at a selected on of possible linear positions,

wherein the movable member is attached to the linearly-displaceable member, such that the movable member is not linearly displaceable relative to the linearly-displaceable member, and such that the movable member is angularly displaceable about the rotation axis, relative to the linearly-displaceable member, to thereby cause the rotation axis to be linearly displaced with the linearly-displaceable member.

6. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the movable member allows the viewer to adjust a position of the display device in an up-and-down direction, relative to the one eye of the viewer, by the viewer'"'"'s manipulation of linearly displacing the display device relative to the main body, with the HMD attachment device mounted on the eyeglasses-type frame, and

the movable member further allows the viewer to adjust an angular position of the display device within in a vertical plane, relative to the one eye of the viewer, by the viewer'"'"'s manipulation of angularly displacing the display device relative to the main body.

7. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the movable member is attached to the display device via a position adjuster,

the position adjuster is configured to allow the viewer to linearly displace the display device relative to the main body, in a direction crossing the centerline of the main body, and

the position adjuster is further configured to retain the display device at a selected one of the possible linear positions.

8. The HMD attachment device according to claim 7, wherein the position adjuster al lows the viewer to adjust a position of the display device in a right-and-left direction, relative to the one eye of the viewer, by the viewer'"'"'s manipulation of linearly displacing the display device relative to the main body, with the HMD attachment device mounted on the eyeglasses-type frame.

9. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the mode changer is configured to include:

a first engagement portion formed in the main body, wherein the first engagement portion has a first engagement surface which extends along a centerline of the main body, locations are arrayed on and along the first engagement surface, the locations have respective lateral distances from the centerline of the main body, and the lateral distances vary at least in part between corresponding respective linear positions arrayed on and along the centerline of the main body; and

a second engagement portion formed in the main body for allowing for mechanical engagement with the first engagement portion, wherein the second engagement portion has a second engagement surface which extends generally along at least a part of a circle about a center point identified by viewing the rotation axis in a direction thereof, locations are arrayed on and along the second engagement surface, the locations have respective radial distances from the center point, and the radial distances vary at least in part between corresponding respective angular positions arrayed on and along the second engagement surface.

10. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the mode changer is configured to include:

a groove formed in the main body so as to extend along a centerline of the main body, wherein the groove has a pair of facing side-wall surfaces which are symmetric with respect to the centerline of the main body, the pair of side-wall surfaces are spaced wall-to-wall distances apart at respective longitudinal positions arrayed on and along the centerline of the main body, and the wall-to-wall distances vary at least in part between corresponding respective longitudinal positions, and

an engagement protrusion formed in the main body so as to have a center axis which is coaxial with the rotation axis, wherein the engagement protrusion has a cross section taken on a plane perpendicular to the center axis of the engagement protrusion, the cross section has an outer circumference generally in the form of a circle about the center axis, the outer circumference is mechanically engaged in part with the pair of side-wall surfaces of the groove, locations are arrayed on and along the outer circumference, the locations have corresponding respective radial distances from the center axis, and the radial distances vary at least in part between corresponding respective angular positions.

11. The HMD attachment device according to claim 10, wherein the groove has first and second zones which are in a linear array along the centerline of the main body and which located at respective different positions,

the wall-to-wall distances within the first zone are smaller than those within the second zone,

the outer circumference has a pair of first arc segments, and a plurality of straight segments each of which extends from one of both ends of a corresponding one of the pair of first arc segments and which is tangential to the corresponding first arc segment at the one end,

the pair of first arc segments, when the engagement protrusion is located between the pair of side-wall surfaces within the first zone, is allowed to be brought into an engagement state in which the pair of first arc segments are mechanically engaged with the pair of side-wall surfaces within the first zone, and is allowed to be slidably rotated relative to the pair of side-wall surfaces, in the engagement state,

the straight segments, upon entry from a state in which the pair of first arc segments are mechanically engaged with the pair of side-wall surfaces within the first zone, into a state in which the engagement protrusion is slidably rotated relative to the straight segments, in a direction allowing the pair of first arc segments to move toward the straight segments, is brought into abutment with the pair of side-wall surfaces within the first zone, to thereby allow the engagement protrusion to act as a stop which blocks the engagement protrusion from further slide rotation in the same direction, to thereby achieve the small-rotation-angle mode of the movable member, and

the straight segments, when the engagement protrusion is located between the pair of side-wall surfaces within the second zone, does not act as the stop, to thereby achieve the large-rotation-angle mode of the movable member.

12. The HMD attachment device according to claim 11, wherein the outer circumference further includes a pair of second arc segments on a circle having a diameter larger than a diameter of a circle on which the pair of first arc segments, and

the pair of second arc segments, when the engagement protrusion is located between the pair of side-wall surfaces within the second zone, is mechanically engaged with the pair of side-wall surfaces within the second zone, and is slidably rotated relative to the pair of side-wall surfaces, to thereby achieve the large-rotation-angle mode of the movable member.

13. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the main body has a shape symmetric with regard to a centerline of the main body.

14. The HMD attachment device according to claim 1, wherein the display device is configured to project the imaging light onto the one eye of the viewer, along an optical pathway extending generally on and along a horizontal plane.